Asylum of the Daleks: second attempt at a review

[randomgirl666.livejournal.com]

I decided to delete my first review of this and try again, because my first review was boring and did not say all the stuff I wanted to say, so let's try again:



PROPER SCARY DALEKS: The best dalek in nu-Who was in The Big Bang. It didn't have a flash paint job, it didn't cry because Rose touched it, it didn't have pig slaves, it didn't have hoardes and hoardes of shiny daleks backing it up and it wasn't snarking at any Cybermen, but it was still my favourite dalek of this series, because it was genuinely bloody dangerous. It wasn't all "let's stand around and talk for half an hour," it just wanted to kill things. And that's one reason why I loved this episode, because these daleks in the asylum don't have a plan, they just want to kill stuff, but because they're malfunctioning they have the limited capacity to do so. Whenever a dalek comes onscreen, you don't know if it's going to blow you up or blow itself up or blow up all the other daleks instead. Unpredictable daleks are something we haven't had for a long time. So yay on that.

AMAZING NEW COMPANION: I love Oswin. I love that she tries to block out all the dalek-ness by thinking about loud music and baking souffles. I love that she's so strongly in denial that she concocts this entirely different reality for herself. I love that when she thinks she potentially has a chance for rescue, she still finds time to snark about the Doctor's chin and Rory's nose. I love that she's almost as manic as the Doctor. I just love her, right, that is all. Well done the internet for not fucking up the surprise. And I would like to take the opportunity to say here, as a real life bisexual, that I'm not really bothered about the fact that Oswin was "going through a phase" because in real life, there are people who are bisexuals and there are people who go through phases and the two things are not the same.

THE DOCTOR: Did you notice at the start of this episode, the Doctor is a little flat? There's almost an air of "oh, this again" when the daleks turn up. He's standing there, being disgusted with daleks and all of a sudden there's a girl baking souffles in the midst of the madness and suddenly he's the Doctor again. Bless. The Doctor needs snark and he needs snarky companions, preferably snarking at him rather than each other. This is something pretty much every incarnation of the Doctor has had in common. If he had his way, he would spend all day running around being snarky and doing ludicrous things. And then there are daleks and divorces getting in his way. So I don't have any problem at all with this "Doctor Who? Doctor WHO?" stuff because he's obviously going to be happy about the daleks not remembering him - it wipes out a lot of the nonsense that gets in the way of him doing his favourite things. And frankly, I don't find it annoying, I think it's cool and it makes the show's title seem clever instead of stupid. Okay?!

AMY AND RORY: I got no problem whatsoever with Amy being a model, because as a feminist my issues are with the modelling industry, not models themselves. What Amy does for a living is just as valid as working in a shop or being a temp, every industry has its drawbacks but you can't attribute those same drawbacks to everyone who happens to work in that industry. We all do what we have to and at least Amy's career affords her a decent living. As for Amy and Rory's relationship problems, whilst I enjoy Rory's line about her "pouting into a camera" I do think this divorce thing is a bit sudden and stupid. It's as if they'd never even discussed any of this until now, which is fine except they have ALREADY SIGNED DIVORCE PAPERS. It makes them both look a bit dim, to be honest. There are plenty of valid reasons why Amy and Rory would be going through a tough time, but none of that is really discussed here, it just seems to be Amy saying "you want kids, I can't have" but then not even telling Rory that this is why they're breaking up. Which is silly. However, having said that, both actors gave good performances here.

NEXT EPISODE: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Sounds like an awesome idea. Have you ever actually seen Snakes on a Plane? The idea is much better than the execution. I will reserve judgment, but frankly not a fan of Chris Chibnall and I'm a bit disappointed in the fact that there are TWO episodes by him before we get to another Moff episode in a few weeks.

THE FUTURE: I hope the companion we meet at Christmas isn't going to be a version of Oswin from earlier in her timeline or someone who looks a lot like her or whatever. Because that would be lame. I would love to see a dalek trundling around after the Doctor, but that's probably not gonna happen either. So I hope when we meet Oswin/Clara/whatever again at Christmas, it won't somehow invalidate the events of this episode. Because you can only get away with that "it was actually the Tesselecta" thing so often.

ANYWAY: This is probably a 9/10 episode, which happens about once or twice a season for me, so I'm pretty damn happy.

ETA: Not really bothered if Skaro was "timelocked" either. BIG SHOT OF DALEK STATUE > CONTINUITY.

Comments

[rabiya-al-basri.livejournal.com]

1)I disagree with you about the "going through a phase" line, mostly because Moffat has shown a pattern of consistently using queerness in all forms as, essentially, a throwaway line. Also because I would love love love a snarky female Captain Jack. But it's more of a "really? *again*? ...Whatever Moffat." than a "I AM UP IN ARMS ABOUT THIS."

2)OMG OSWIN IS SO AWESOME I HOPE THAT WHOEVER THE NEW COMPANION IS SHE IS LIKE OSWIN WAS IN THIE EPISODE BECAUSE THIS, THIS IS AWESOME.

3)While a "parliament of the daleks" was laughably stupid (if you took any aliens from Doctor Who and asked "how certain are you about whether they are governed by a democracy," at the very top of the results for "certainly not" would be "Daleks"), the Asylum was much more plausible, and in any case, I don't really care.

4)See, I thought the Doctor looked *crushed* when he realized that the Daleks didn't know who he was, particularly the first time. Even though he's not a fan of being called a predator, being remembered is his *thing*, and the idea that his ancient foe wouldn't even know who he was anymore was clearly *really* depressing. The Daleks were the other party to the time war, and even when he thinks he's sacrificed everything to get rid of them they keep coming back...so that now, similar to the Master, as much as he hates them they're one of the only things keeping him from being truly "alone in the universe." In losing that enemy, he's alone all over again. .....I think the smile at the end isn't "oh I'm free of them forever now" but "oh I'll get them back, they're going to remember me from just this tiny bit and all that "Doctor WHO?!?!??" is the start of something new, not just the end of something old."

5)I just assumed that Skaro was only timelocked up to and before the end of the Time War. There's no need to keep the smoldering ruin timelocked, no?

[randomgirl666.livejournal.com]

I think the parliament doesn't represent anything other than a big room really. Many countries have parliaments that are just for show. I don't see the daleks holding votes and stuff either, but I do see them calling their big meeting a room a "parliament" just because they have a flare for grandiose nonsense.

See, the one-liners don't really bother me. If we're going into the whole "it was all different under RTD" thing (which I don't want to really), there were lots of jokey one-liners then too (that one about Donna's boyfriend painting his nails really annoyed me). But there have also been actual gay characters, so I'm cool with it.

If anything I'm a bit more annoyed at fandom thinking that "a phase" (and they do happen, people do have them) is comparable to bisexuality.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

I feel the same about the line. I'm bisexual, too, and I don't find half of the stuff in Moffat's episodes (or a lot of other things dealing with LGBT issues) as offensive as others do. A lot of girls and boys do develop crushes which are "just a phase". It's a part life as a human being. It doesn't automatically make that person anti-gay when they decide it is. When she said that, I didn't immediately think, "Moffat's a LGBT hater and a bastard for telling children if they feel something for the same sex, it's likely just a phase and you're not really gay". And who is to say Oswin may not have decided later she was bisexual or lesbian? She didn't look as though she could've been more than 22 or 23 years old. I mean, not everyone knows whether they're gay or straight or bisexual - for certain - when they're 22/23. Lots of people around then experiment with their sexuality because they're not sure. We've all heard stories from someone (even ourselves) about what goes on at colleges. At that age, you're trying to find out who you are in a lot of ways.

[loolaa.livejournal.com]

I didn't find the 'going through a phase' line offensive at all. At no point did Oswin mention she was bisexual anyway. I just took what she said as her being an individual (straight or maybe bi if you want to speculate) who went through a phase at some point when she was young. Because some people do go through phases of various kinds.
It's gotten to a point where it seems like those who dislike Moffat are just nit picking now.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

Amy and Rory: Was I the only person who heard him say "I know" when Amy told him she couldn't have kids because of Demon's Run? I rewound that part about four times on my third viewing and I'm sure he said "I know". Which makes it even sillier, the whole divorce nonsense based on it, but I like how it makes Rory look. Having known all of that time and never brought it up as an issue, since it wasn't for him.

[welshgirl15.livejournal.com]

I agree, he did say "I know"

[randomgirl666.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I heard it too. It makes them both look a bit stupid, really. Like they didn't even bother to have a quick chat before getting divorced...

Hang on, what happened to those divorce papers? Are they on a bus somewhere? Be nice if some kindly soul decides to hand them in to the solicitors.

[jiatilocal.livejournal.com]

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