truther

I thought it was sooo much better than last week. It was a good story, coherent, clean, without any glaring WTF moments or plot holes. (I still can't get over how they just let that kid get kiled by birds on the beach and then never showed the slightest interest in his whereabouts.) The music was perfect, the scenes with the companions really fleshed their personalities out for once, and the "prison break" twist was great. Loved the 50p thing. Although I agree with @Llywela about the socially-awkward nonsense, my only real gripe was with the strangely quick and easy way the Doctor sent those two immortals back into that prison. That was too easy by half.

Frankly this is offensive. How exactly do you know the demographics of each and every commenter on here, assuming for sake of argument that such knowledge is even relevant? And how precisely have you gone back and cross-checked their complaints across different seasons of this show and as compared to other seasons of other shows? If you have a different point of view fine, but this should be a place where people can safely express their opinions without being personally attacked or vilified. It's lazy and insulting to respond to ideas you don't agree with by insinuating that the speaker is simply a bigot.

Loved it, and it's always good to see a well-written and well-executed episode. It's interesting that Ruth, if she is the Doctor, was so different from our Doctor. She was violent, incurious, mercenary. I wonder where that came from. Also, and this only occurred to me after watching the episode, but were those two different Tardises? Wouldn't one of them have recognized the other, or something? Gat had that line about how two Doctors can't occupy the same timestream, but I would have thought it's impossible to split our Tardis into two parallel versions and then have them be in essentially the same place. What are the odds that a different Doctor would have a Tardis locked in the same Police Call Box disguise?

Just watched it, and agree with many of the excellent points made by others. The ep was a good idea poorly executed. It had way too many flaws, holes, and WTF moments for what should be a polished product. A few random thoughts: 1. There aren't numerous potential timelines for future Earth. There just aren't. (See, e.g., Great and Bountiful Human Empire.) The show could easily have solved this by simply making Orphan 55 another planet. The idea of "orphan planets" is depressing enough and people will easily get the idea. 2. When you want to visualize a lack of oxygen, don't have fires burning in the background as your main character starts to gasp for air. The show should have had those fires go out -- would have been much more dramatic and actually, you know, shown a lack of oxygen. 2a. Likewise, when you want to visualize your planet being a toxic wasteland, don't have your heroes emerge into a landscape with trees in the background. 3. When you want to blow up a hotel full of innocent people, simply because your mom like abandoned you or something, you are a homicidal psychopath and not a good person. 4. The body count is way too high. Background people are getting killed off almost for lack of anything better to do and none of the main characters seem to care. It was really weird to watch all the hotel characters turn to red dots one after the other, and then to see Benni get caught behind, only for Graham then to rush around looking for Ryan. Like some others, I actually still like this show and like the new Doctor. But these stories are just dumb, and it seems like they could be vastly improved with just a little bit of extra effort. And given that the show took all of 2019 off that's not much to ask -- seems they've had the time to get things right. If this is the best they can do . . . .

This has aired in the USA - I'm watching it now. I miss these people (especially Candice). It's so nice to see them again (especially Candice), and it really contrasts with the contestants this season. Good natured, supportive, fun -- it's what this show should always be.

I have a hard time taking seriously an article asserting a "complete lack of subplots" but which itself is a complaint about how the subplots overshadow the main plots.

Not gonna lie, I wasn't crazy about it. I thought it was slow, a little boring, and fairly unoriginal. It wasn't necessarily bad, so much as forgettable. And I didn't like how blase the show was about killing off extras (eg how nobody even noticed there was a dead GCHQ person in the room with them, or how the soldiers were so easily gunned down), though that might just be a pet peeve of mine.

I'm loving this season and the frog is as good an example as any of why. Every episode is a comparatively low-stakes, low-key story packed with tons of interesting stuff. Like a cute little frog that speaks for an entire universe. I'm just so glad not to be subjected to these endless fate-of-the-universe battles royal that each tries to outdo the one before it.

You know what, I liked it. There I said it. I agree Rahul could/should have been dismissed a couple weeks ago but having made it to the final he deservedly won IMHO. It was clearly Kim-Joy or Rahul at the end and Rahul nicked it. Good for him. (Though those landscapes looked like some third grade save-the-environment themed baking project yuck) Also agree with comments upthread that he must have gotten a harsh edit. This is someone who chose to go on GBBO for example, and who brings baked goods to people to meet and make friends with them. He's clearly a little unusual but by all accounts a wonderful baker. Finally, I for one didn't have a problem with the outdoor cooking technical challenge. That seems the definition of "technical" and I'm glad they did something a bit different that still involved baking. There's a difference between staying in the comfort zone and just endlessly repeating the same things. The contestants were just as wonderful as they are every year. Ps really love Noel, and I never thought I would. He's a lovely addition to the show and you have to take the good with the bad. Things change, but sometimes for the better.

I just noticed something that totally took me out of the show - these events are supposedly taking place end of October/beginning of November, and yet *there isn't a single poppy being worn by anyone*

See the theme here? I too am really enjoying this season's return to a *fun* show where people are having *fun* and the emphasis is on being entertained. One of the great things about this ep was how it was full of little snippets of interesting ideas -- the general, the "pilot's heart" disease, the cloned servant, etc. -- that simply provided background. Your imagination can fill in the rest, the show's got other places to go. Jodie's Doctor is great, just an enjoyable character to watch. I was always rooting for Capaldi but the show let him down, shackling him to these angsty melodramas, and Jodie's performances so far, and the episodes she's been given, totally illustrate that.

That scene with David and his kids ("I just want a hug") was incredible. I haven't seen anyone mention it. Just a great bit of storytelling and so powerful.

I've also just finished the first 3 episodes and while I'm generally liking the show a lot, it's starting to veer into "24" territory. In less than a week of story time we've had a thwarted suicide bombing on a commuter train, a truck bomb/shootout at a primary school, a sniper attack in the middle of London, and now a bombing at a university lecture with heavy casualties. And the conspiracy gets ever deeper and higher. I hope they pull it back a bit into reality.

I liked it, and I'm a little surprised to see opinions vary so much, but c'est la vie. Astos was awesome and the show is naughty for killing him off. @LiveenLetLive suggested a Star Trek shout-out, but I was thinking Alien, what with the crew trapped on a ship with a deadly alien creature threatening to kill them and a guy with something growing in his stomach. Glad that pregnancy storyline worked out so well and I thought it was cute. Also agree that it was hard to follow the conversations. So besides reiterating that Astos was awesome and should have survived, this was a good ep. Something like this every Sunday night is fine by me.

It's a bad sign for an episode that the more you think about it the more flaws you notice. It occurs to me now that one massive problem with the way they abruptly ended the spider issue was that it says violence *does* pay. NotTrump! shot the mama spider and boom, everything was neatly tied up. A single bullet from a shiny handgun and the threat instantly disappears, the loose ends tie themselves, the problems go away. No messy aftermath, no unforeseen problems, no regrets. Our heroes hop in the Tardis and it's off to next week's adventure. (Just like last week, btw, when Ryan zapped the bad guy.)

Did I miss something? The main storyline abruptly ended once Chris Noth shot the queen, even though he still had a panic room full of giant mutant spiders and there were others throughout the city and the toxic landfill under the hotel was still there and people were dead and . . . WTF was that? That record-scratch moment aside, the episode was pretty weak otherwise. Lots of blunt-force storytelling and silly situations. I did like the Tardis scene at the end however. I am so glad to have companions who are awed by and appreciative of what they're experiencing. (Though the Doctor's "I can't ensure your safety" line had me fearful that at least one of these three might not make it to the season's end.)

I loved it. I also just finally managed to watch the whole episode and I'm so happy that the show I love is back. About halfway through it occurred to me that for the first time in literally years I was watching an actual, good, Doctor Who episode in which everything made sense, the focus was in the right place, and it seemed like the people behind the show knew what they were doing. It's such a breath of fresh air. Love the theme song, btw. The original theme is one of the best pieces of music ever composed for TV so I can't understand why they don't stick to it. Why mess with perfection?

Saw the first episode of Season 7. Meh. I've seen every episode of this show. There have been some great storylines and characters, but the other comments are right -- the show has lost its way a bit. There was nothing new going on in this one and no reason to care about what happens next. What's the point of doing new episodes of this show if you're only going to repeat what you've already done? I wonder if the show would be better served by scrapping the formula and going in a different direction. For 7 seasons now it's been English detective, local chief of police, female sidekick and two cops, plus Catherine doing small appearances at the bar. Whenever an actor leaves they replace them with another actor to fill one of those roles. The show has wasted so many good opportunities by not doing anything with Siobhan, or with any of the spouses or love interests, or by doing anything with the core group's own lives.

I thought this was a fitting end to the Moffatt/Capaldi era -- plodding, pointless, and fairly forgettable. Sure there were some wonderful individual moments, especially with Bill, but overall it was yet another episode that I watched, out of some loyalty to the larger show, and don't need to see again. Others have already made so many good comments I won't repeat them. I'll just say that the storyline seemed recycled -- yes, we know people think the Doctor is bad -- and the Testimony concept was again one of those nifty ideas that, when you think about it, doesn't really make any sense. And why hadn't Twelve heard of them? Why didn't he know about any of what had happened to One? And speaking of One, obviously he was mischaracterized for the purpose of clumsily bolstering Thirteen's street cred, but the side effect of such silliness is he came across as the Gallifreyan least likely to ever want to explore the universe in the first place.

I'm another Netflix watcher delurking to say how happy I was Frances won. After the technical challenge I figured it was Kimberley's to lose, and her showstopper really did seem to fall short, and Ruby's was full of problems. That left Frances for the win. Ruby. as always, was just such a downer. And I didn't like the edit Frances got. There were several times in the last couple of episodes where I thought the show was laughing *at* her, rather than with her. For a show that normally goes to such great lengths to portray its contestants positively it troubled me. There was one sequence where Glenn was saying that nobody with friends, or family, or a life, would ever waste their time making puff pastry. Then cut straight to Frances saying she loves making puff pastry. Then in the finale there was the (very funny) exchange between Ruby and Sue once Ruby'd realized she and Frances were both making picnic basket pastries. Ruby said something like it's like finding out you're both wearing the same dress to a do, only the other girl is a 6'3" Brazilian supermodel. Given the show's favoritism for Ruby, and her conventional good looks, this seemed like a shot at Frances' appearance. Then when Ruby pulled that challenge off, Paul told her she'd finally done as well as Frances in the style category (her substance always being good), and again it seemed like a sleight against Frances, who the show has been criticizing every episode. I just kept getting the impression the show was happy to mock Frances in a way they never did with any of the other contestants.

Out and proud member of Team Candice here. I happen to think she's a very attractive woman, with or without the dark lipstick, but more to the point she was a great baker and deserving winner. I never heard her say anything negative about anyone else, or act in any way inappropriately, or otherwise give anyone reason to dislike her. I think she came into the show with some self esteem problems and those manifested in the way she reacted to the judging and how she talked about herself. Her reaction after she'd won really illustrated that. But it also made her even more endearing (to me) and was a lovely little insight into how she ticked. It was great to watch her pull off her ambitious projects every week and I was much happier, and more touched, than I thought I'd be when she won.

There seemed to be a very different edit this episode -- lots of playful interactions between the contestants and extra stuff between the contestants and the judges. It was good. You could really tell that these particular people had gotten used to being around each other. Also loved Jane's comment about how since the tent ovens bake slower than her oven at home, she'd think she'd have bothered to remember that by now. My money's on Candice, though I think any of them can win. But Candice, even when she has an off day, always seems to show some real skill. She's the only one who never really screws anything up.

I watch the episodes in the US, unspoiled, and then come here to read about them. So I don't see any of the other chatter. If the posts above are right, and people have a problem with Jane (or, frankly, any of the contestants) then that blows my mind. Jane seems wonderful! Plus she's a great addition to this TV show, since she really wears her emotions on her sleeve. She looked shattered the one challenge she got wrong this week and looked thrilled after the others. While I also agree that the technical challenge results looked, well, blah, and the showstoppers were a mixed bag, I thought the pies looked phenomenal. One of those times I really wished I'd been there to eat that stuff myself. Sorry to see Benjamina go and it could easily have been Selasi. Not surprised at all to see Candice win and she really seemed to deserve it. And as @ElectricBoogaloo noted above, people have been copying the peacock idea forever. The finished product still has to look and taste great and hers did.

This is what I dread -- that everything will now be viewed through this particular lens, and the show will suffer for it because nothing will ever just be about the story anymore. Think of all the episodes of Doctor Who, all the speeches, all the criticisms, all the foibles and faults, where if the Doctor had been female you could read some kind of misogyny into what was going on.

Another strange edit for Candice. For almost the first ten minutes of the episode it was just the other six contestants, cutting back and forth from one to another as they talked about their baking and interacted with the hosts. Anyway it was good to see Tom enjoy his triumph and I'm happy for him. There was very little from this week that I actually found myself wishing I could eat. As to the tent, I love it. The beautiful outdoors setting is one of the things that makes this show so much better than any other cooking competition.