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Monday, November 3, 2014

Doctor Who: Dark Water Review

Doctor Who's season is coming to an end with the first part of the two part season finale, "Dark Water."

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

Doctor Who finales are always a unique thing, but not always in a good way of. Often times, they are a bit hit and miss, with seasons two and five being personal highlights. So, does "Dark Water" also fall short in the first part of the finale?

"Dark Water" kicks off with a conversation between Clara and Danny with Clara telling him to that she loved him, but then their conversation is cut short. Someone else picks up the phone, and Danny is dead. Is it just me or did the episode give the vibe of dying from the start? As soon as Danny started to cross the road, I knew that he would get hit by a car before it happened. Was that intentional of the director to flag it so quickly? Either way, Danny's death did not seem all that impactful considering that we all expected him to return later in the episode in some capacity. Despite my reaction, Jenna Coleman certainly sold her scene with near perfection. Even though Jenna Coleman has been given some inconsistent material at times, her is nearly unmatched among companions, at least to me. She continues to excel at being the most human of the companions with the most believable emotional scenes. If it was up to me, she is a top contender for best actress of television. 
Coleman's performance is also a large part the following scenes worked so well. In the wake of Danny's death, Clara is not able to come to terms with him dying in such a mundane way. Thanks to Coleman's strong performance, she was able to sell the audience on the scene effectively. However, she one ups herself again with the next scene with the Doctor in the volcano. Seeing Clara throw the keys of the TARDIS in the volcano while trying to make the Doctor save Danny was a powerful and effective scene. Capaldi's performance was also very strong as to be not be overshadowed by Coleman's exceptional performance. Also, The Doctor's line "Go to Hell" made me double-take, but it was rather clever.
As for the plot, "Dark Water" had me conflicted at first. Throughout the season Missy's scenes with various characters who died during the Doctor's travels rarely seemed to fit. However, my aversion to the scenes was likely the fear that the season finale would end in a convoluted and disappointing mess. During the majority of the episode, the idea of the episode's "afterlife" did not work for me. It was just annoying. Not until the end of the episode, when the true plot behind this "afterlife" was revealed, everything came together in a big "Aha! The Cybermen!" moment. Even though a picture of Missy and the Cybermen was leaked before the season began, being the spoiler-phobe that I am, I only saw it in passing once, and quickly forget it, which made the big reveal actually rather shocking. If you knew, then the shock-effect is likely diminished.

When they said that the bodies are in exoskeletons, I did not connect the Cybermen to the skeletons, and as soon as the water began to drain, revealing the distinctive handles on the head, it worked brilliantly. 
 
After brief glimpses of Missy throughout the season, Michelle Gomez's performance and my general impression of the character is much better than originally expected. Missy's first encounter with the Doctor is absolutely hilarious, yet not in a way that diminishes the ominous and eerie tone of the underworld setting. The Twelfth Doctor gets his first official snogging, and his reaction to Missy, who he believed to be an android, is hysterical! Also, when he was told to hold his hand to her chest, with Clara reminding him, "You can put your hand down," was great. Of course, the biggest reveal of the episode is that Missy is, in fact, a female version of the Master, and that Missy is short for Mistress. When Missy was first revealed, many fans, myself included, did speculate that she is the Master, so it was not a big shock, but it was a good reveal nonetheless. Making the Master is an idea that I get behind. Considering that we did not see the Master during the entire Smith era, bringing the Master again works.
Before the reveal, the build is quite effective, particularly the disturbing "Don't cremate me!" line as the inspiration of 3W. Andrew Leung as Dr. Chang gave a surprisingly strong performance for a character with the sole purpose of providing exposition to the Doctor, Clara, and the audience. 

Another strong element is Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink, who continues to give a top notch performance. The scene with Danny seeing 

Some elements of the episode actually reminded me a bit of the season 2 two-part finale "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday," in that the ghosts of the supposed dead people, who turned out to be the Cybermen. 

With the method of these dead people being abduct revealed, why or how did the clockwork robot in the first episode end up with Missy? According to what she said, it was made to capture humans, so why would an android be there? It did say that it was looking for the "Promised Land," but it still does not make sense.

Steven Moffat's writing is particularly clever with the build up the Cybermen threat before the big reveal. All of the dialogue highlights both the actors' strong points and Moffat's strong suit of having humorous dialogue intertwined in the eerie atmosphere. 

Director, Rachel Talalay, does an exceptional job with the episode featuring some superb set design that is incredible reminiscent of the underwater city of Rapture in the Bioshock video game. In same vein as Bioshock, the city in the episode is equally as creepy to point where I would be surprised if a Big Daddy (picture left) came around the corner. 
Thus far, this is shaping up to have one of the best finales of Doctor Who.

Overall: 9.0/10- While the true impression of conclusion will ultimately be in the next episode, as a setup for what is to come, "Dark Water" is about as good as it gets.

Please check back tomorrow for the first part of my breakdown of Marvel Phase 3.

Dark Water review by Gypsy King

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

17 comments:

  1. *Major Spoilers Below!*
    About the Half-Faced Man: I think he ended up there because he was technically almost half human, remember what the Doctor said? Something along the lines of 'this is a machine turning itself into a man', so I suppose that's why Missy brought him into the Promised Land/Matrix/Underworld thing-y.
    The episode was positively hilarious at times, which is a bit shocking given it's location: the Doctor's reaction to being snogged made me fall of my bed, I was laughing so hard. To the point where I must've missed a few scenes of the episode because I got up to get some tea.
    The Clara/Danny scenes were extremely well done, and I was just go 'No!' in an appalled sort of way when Danny 'died'. I know Danny's a bit of a divisive character in the fandom (some love him, some hate him) but I like him. He's not a favorite character, but he's nice, so it was a bit of a shock that they killed him off.
    The reveal at the end though, left me speechless for ten-twenty minutes after the episode, no words were forming. I think I might have made a hysterical 'WHAT?' when she/he/they said 'I couldn't keep calling myself the Master, now could I?'. Wow. Can't wait to see what next week will bring! Excellent review, James!
    -Tegan

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    1. Ah, you are probably right, although you would think that without a human brain, it would be able to upload to the Cybermen thing.

      "Is it over yet?" That made me laugh so much as well! That is a bit surprising in regards to the fandoms reaction to Danny. He may not be the best character, but he has his moments, that's for sure.

      Haha, great reaction! That is essentially what happened to me after the Age of Ultron trailer! Thank you Tegan.

      -James

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  2. ugggh. I accidentally closed the tab while I was still writing and my in-progress comment got deleted. Argh.

    *MAJOR SPOILERS*

    Overall, I really liked this one- it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I was quite the bundle of nerves! :D I too had speculated correctly on Missy's identity, but I still ended up being in shock over it because while I had entertained the thought of The Master as a possibility, I never really thought they'd actually DO it.

    Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are amazing actors- I could watch them all day. I agree, I think the last time we got a finale this good was back with Season 5. The whole "heaven" thing was handled so much better than I was dreading (indeed, "convoluted mess" was the exact scenario I was afraid of) and I was NOT expecting the skeletons to be encased in cybermen...even though I knew the cybermen were in this episode, too.

    Anyway, I'm sitting on pins and needles for the next episode! :D

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    1. I hate it when that happens. :/ Thanks for coming back to comment though!

      Same here. I did not entirely expect Missy to be the Master, but just considered the concept.

      Agreed, this is the best start to a finale since season 5, and it may end up being even better after the next episode!

      -James

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  3. I loved it, especially 'Don't Cremate Me' and Chris Addison in the Nethersphere. I quite like the idea of a female Master but hope that Gomez tones it down a little, and gets rid of that bloody hat. I just hope the Moff can follow through next week - his arc climaxes can be rather hit or miss.

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    1. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Addison. He was very good. I will agree with you on Gomez needing to tone it down, and about getting rid of the hat.

      -James

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  4. This episode was creepy as heck, but I loved it! There was a scene when two doors with the 3W close, and my brother and I both started freaking out "IT'S THE CYBERMEN EYESSSS"
    And we were right lol
    but yeah, I can't wait to see how it will be continued!

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  5. Great review! :D I agree, this episode was fantastic! :D I've been really enjoying season 8(and enjoying it the most I have since season 4) and this episode really delivered. AND I LOVE THE TWIST THAT MISSY IS THE MASTER! :D I had thought about it, and seen theories on tumblr about it, and I thought it was possible, but I didn't think they'd go along with it. I am very glad they did! :) Very happy that the Master is a girl(hopefully she's be around for a while). The only thing I didn't get is why she couldn't keep calling herself the Master? (also, didn't like the kiss scene, since it was forced).
    I agree, Jenna Coleman is a very amazing actress. I remember seeing her in her first episode and thinking "wow, she's really good." I think she has been given some really great work this season and she has really gotten to shine(she's now one of my favorite companions- in season 7 I wasn't too interested in her for the second half of the season, but she's been just awesome this season). I've probably mentioned this before, but 12 and Clara are now one of my favorite Doctor-Companion relationships. Also, loved that they madet the Cybermen creepy again :)
    Can't wait for next week's episode! :D

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    1. Thank you! :D The main reason is to draw out the mystery throughout the season until the big reveal. :) I will agree that the kiss scene was a bit forced, but the Doctor's reaction was so funny!

      I have to agree with you that Clara and Capaldi are one of the best Doctor/Companion teams. They work so well together! :D

      -James

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  6. I agree, this finale does have a bit of an Army of Ghosts / Doomsday feel to it. I've been disappointed with this season so far, but this episode... LOVED IT. The whole thing with the Master played out quite well. As you said, it wasn't a surprise with all the theories going on, but that didn't really matter. The kiss scene was hysterical - even my little sister who usually turns her face away and goes "ewww" enjoyed it.

    Can't wait for next week! I just wish the season had been this good throughout...

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    1. Glad you liked this episode! Haha, that's funny about your sister's reaction. Thanks for commenting!

      -James

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  7. I must be the only person who must have been able to avoid the Cyberman photo and spoilers! I had no idea they were coming! I was also very surprised about The Master reveal, although I still don't like Missy, I can't really buy her character because she's SO over the top. Just, wow.

    I didn't like the opening/first third of the episode but once The Doctor and Clara arrived in the building and we saw where Danny was taken, I really enjoyed it! Can't wait for the last episode! I hope they wrap it up well!

    ~Jamie

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    1. I suppose you probably were, lol. Interesting reaction to Missy.

      -James

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  8. I'm afraid that this episode was very annoying to me. I did think that the dark water hiding the Cybermen was very well played -- didn't see it coming even though I knew Cybermen were in the episode because of the symbols on the door!

    I figured it out pretty early that Missy was the Master though, and then it got annoying. I didn't mind Missy's little cameos, but I am not impressed. Now that she's such a big character there's almost no chance of her being permanently defeated this Sat. I wanted them to include the Master at some point, but really, I was hoping they'd make him -- well, first of all, a him -- less petty and trite and flirty and more of an awesome dark super-villain type. Oh well...

    I am glad you liked it so much, and I am still interested to see where the plot goes to the end!

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    1. Interesting. I don't mind the change to the Master, since the previous one was never a big favorite of mine. He was good, but it would have been interesting if they went dark. Thanks for commenting with your thoughts about it!

      -James

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