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shadowkat1. Prime Suspect - unlike the previous American version of this series, this one is a bit too close to the original for its own good. As a result, it's a bit jarring for those who've seen the Helen Mirren British version. The production value, direction, casting and acting are all top notch. Writing isn't bad either - better than most network television procedurals. At times, the cinematography and acting made me think of The Wire and Homicide. Also the talent behind this thing - is possibly the best we're going to get - Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights), Maria Bello (History of Violence), Aiden Quinn (Legends of the Fall, amongst other films), Gerety (the Judge in The Wire), the guy who played Charlie (from Fringe)...but it is almost too raw. I wanted to hit most of the characters, and it made me edgy and angry. That said? If you are a fan of Breaking Bad or The Killing? You might actually like this quite a bit. It has the same tonal quality and production value of those series. Gritty, raw, what I like to call hyper-realism. Very little make-up for Bello and she does get beaten up by a perp, she's chased down, and still has the bruises.
Not comforting tv, but definitely quality. Just wish it were fresher - since there's a very odd sense of deja-vue throughout, and I kept wanting to just rewatch the original.
2. Doctor Who's Closing Time - I'm reminded of something I read recently in an interview between Dominic West and Clark Peters (both from The Wire, and West most recently from The Hour) in which West states that the main problem with British TV is they have a lot of producers but not many writers. You usually have this sole genuis, and a bunch of crappy amateurs. While in the US, with shows like The Wire - you have this genuis and a bunch of talented novelists...all shooting ideas off each other. This, I didn't know, but it does explain the uneven writing of Doctor Who and other British Series, quite a bit. Stephen Moffat is an excellent writer, the others that make up his crew? Not so much. I think the only one that I've liked so far is Neil Gaimen and he was a guest writer. Shame he can't be full time. Gaimen and Moffat working off each other for a full season would be an interesting experiment.
This episode grated on my nerves. I also realized...that while I adore Matt Smith's interpretation of the Doctor and find him rather amusing, I don't find him physically attractive for one very simple and incredibly odd reason - the man has no eyebrows, or he does, but they are barely there. Yes, I have an eyebrow fetish. It's rather amazing how expressive he is without them - somewhat captivating in fact. Smith's actually more expressive without much of an eyebrow than some actors are with them.
Also, alas, another episode with cybermen. With Who it's either the Daleks or the Cybermen. I personally prefer the Weeping Angels and The Silence - find them scarier for some reason. But Doctor Who is a kid's show - so...
That said? There were a few good bits here.
* The Doctor reconnecting with his love for humanity and the realization that love can save the day. After last week's episode - The Doctor had lost his faith. This week he regains it.
*The guy he revisits has once again overcomes computer programming and technology, with love. His love for his child overwhelms the cybnermen's programming and destroys them. (I think I've seen this done somewhere else before, but can't remember where.) Even though they encase him in a suit, attempt to eradicate his emotions, turn him into their hitman, and hopefully leader of destruction - his love for his son Alfie overcomes all of it - he's able to fight back and break free of his suit, regain his humanity and not become merely one of their soulless tools.
Which reminds the Doctor of the power of love. The man's faith in the Doctor and love for his son, saves the day. The last episode was about faith in false hope and false gods killing you. This episode it's about how faith in the power of love can save you.
* Encasing in Armor Metaphors: The other parallel is of course to Doctor River Song - who much against her will is drugged and encased in an astronaut suit - much like the one she'd escaped from years ago as a child. And ironically enough - similar to the one she dies in - in the episode Forests of The Dead, when the Doctor first meets her. The parallel to the man being encased in the cyber armor is far too similar to be coincidental. Also this happens literally in the same episode. And...the metaphors, throughout the series regarding "armor". Rory encased in the Centurion uniform - which turns him into a killer, where he shoots or tries to shoot Amy in the previous season. River stuck in her astronaut uniform in Forests of the Dead and Silence in the Library - when we first meet her. The child Melody - shot by Amy and wounded, in her astronaut costume, screaming for help. Amy putting on the armor of the robohealers in The Girl Who Waited, to survive, and reprogramming one to be a companion while she waits.
The metaphor of being encased in the cocoon and changed, with love breaking you free. Old Amy is freed of her armor and dies protecting young Amy and Rory. Alfie's father in this episode frees himself of the cyber armor to save the day. He's the hero not the Doctor.
River...is encased and told she is to kill the man she loves. She is to kill the Doctor. And they cruelly place her at the bottom of Lake Silence. In her astronaut suit, gun in hand, in a daze. This happens after she has just graduated from the University and become Doctor River Song.
*Farewell Tour? : Meanwhile Doctor Who prepares to go willingly to his death. His flown about and back. Time has passed. Amy has become a celebrity - with her own perfume. He stays a bit longer on earth than he should this round...and after he helps save the world from cybermen, he cleans his friend's apartment and the man gifts him with the hat he wears in the first episode of the season - the Stetson that River Song shoots off his head, and the invitations that he sends to his friends.His farewell tour he tells us. Time to go willingly to my death.
*The Silence: The question unanswered is what is the question asked and answered before Silence falls. And why did the Silence create River Song from Melody Pound, Amy and Rory and the Tardis' child - to kill the last Time Lord?
* Father/Child: Another interesting bit about the episode is once again we have the whole father/child bit repeated, a recurring theme this season. Daddy and the Dark Stormlord are a pair, and the baby doesn't recognize it's father or his father's name for him until the end - in which he's proud of what his father did. In the two episodes in which Rory and Amy aren't featured - the guest star is a father taking care of his kid, while Mom is away or gone. And the kid is either in danger or dangerous. And the Doctor in both cases helps the kid communicate to his father, acts as a sort of second Daddy. In this episode - when the lady calls the Doctor, Daddy number 2, he disappears to clean Daddy #1's home.
If we jump back a bit to A Good Man Goes to War - The Doctor bonds immediately with little Melody Pound and speaks her lingo. And he swears to find her, distraught that he may never do so...until River tells him it will work out. That she's Melody.
This is not a Mother's story -no, that was last season. No, this is a father's tale.
Hence the emphasis on Rory this season, more so than last. And Rory's relationship with the Doctor. Amy's role was oddly diminished. We see Rory hunting Amy, Rory worrying, Rory bonding and fighting with the Doctor.
* Power of Love?: Also throughout the story - are robots or people being encased - Amy and Rory are taken inside a robot replica of Amy, intent on killing her daughter, Melody for the worst crime - the death of Doctor Who. Justice - blind and robotic. Then in the next episode - Amy is turned into a murderous wooden doll - that Rory has to fend off, until the Doctor convinces a father to tell his alien child that he loves him no matter what and would never abandon him. Each episode talks about traps, opened by love. We've got the Girl Who Waited who melts at young Amy's words of love. Let's Kill Hitler - where Amy and River melt at the Doctor's speech reminding both of their love for each other. The God Complex - where Amy sees the Doctor for who he is, a madman in a box, and loves him anyway. The love a parent has for a child, a man for his wife, a wife for her husband...a friend for a friend. Not just any love but unconditional love...seeing someone for who they are, warts intact, and loving them anyway. Which is a far more mature type of love than well romantic love.
Which leads me to believe that the Doctor isn't going to exactly die in the finale, or not how we think. And a father's love for his child plays a part in the mix. Which means it may well be Rory that changes things not Amy...or Rory who frees River. That is if if the finale sticks with the pattern set to date.
Also, I can't imagine the BBC allowing Moffat to kill off the Doctor permanently. It's too popular a franchise. They've got to make money after-all.
[Like with all episodic bits, I prefer the serial thread to the metaphorical front tale every time.
Yes, I know why the tv formula works this way, but I don't have to particularly love it.]
Not comforting tv, but definitely quality. Just wish it were fresher - since there's a very odd sense of deja-vue throughout, and I kept wanting to just rewatch the original.
2. Doctor Who's Closing Time - I'm reminded of something I read recently in an interview between Dominic West and Clark Peters (both from The Wire, and West most recently from The Hour) in which West states that the main problem with British TV is they have a lot of producers but not many writers. You usually have this sole genuis, and a bunch of crappy amateurs. While in the US, with shows like The Wire - you have this genuis and a bunch of talented novelists...all shooting ideas off each other. This, I didn't know, but it does explain the uneven writing of Doctor Who and other British Series, quite a bit. Stephen Moffat is an excellent writer, the others that make up his crew? Not so much. I think the only one that I've liked so far is Neil Gaimen and he was a guest writer. Shame he can't be full time. Gaimen and Moffat working off each other for a full season would be an interesting experiment.
This episode grated on my nerves. I also realized...that while I adore Matt Smith's interpretation of the Doctor and find him rather amusing, I don't find him physically attractive for one very simple and incredibly odd reason - the man has no eyebrows, or he does, but they are barely there. Yes, I have an eyebrow fetish. It's rather amazing how expressive he is without them - somewhat captivating in fact. Smith's actually more expressive without much of an eyebrow than some actors are with them.
Also, alas, another episode with cybermen. With Who it's either the Daleks or the Cybermen. I personally prefer the Weeping Angels and The Silence - find them scarier for some reason. But Doctor Who is a kid's show - so...
That said? There were a few good bits here.
* The Doctor reconnecting with his love for humanity and the realization that love can save the day. After last week's episode - The Doctor had lost his faith. This week he regains it.
*The guy he revisits has once again overcomes computer programming and technology, with love. His love for his child overwhelms the cybnermen's programming and destroys them. (I think I've seen this done somewhere else before, but can't remember where.) Even though they encase him in a suit, attempt to eradicate his emotions, turn him into their hitman, and hopefully leader of destruction - his love for his son Alfie overcomes all of it - he's able to fight back and break free of his suit, regain his humanity and not become merely one of their soulless tools.
Which reminds the Doctor of the power of love. The man's faith in the Doctor and love for his son, saves the day. The last episode was about faith in false hope and false gods killing you. This episode it's about how faith in the power of love can save you.
* Encasing in Armor Metaphors: The other parallel is of course to Doctor River Song - who much against her will is drugged and encased in an astronaut suit - much like the one she'd escaped from years ago as a child. And ironically enough - similar to the one she dies in - in the episode Forests of The Dead, when the Doctor first meets her. The parallel to the man being encased in the cyber armor is far too similar to be coincidental. Also this happens literally in the same episode. And...the metaphors, throughout the series regarding "armor". Rory encased in the Centurion uniform - which turns him into a killer, where he shoots or tries to shoot Amy in the previous season. River stuck in her astronaut uniform in Forests of the Dead and Silence in the Library - when we first meet her. The child Melody - shot by Amy and wounded, in her astronaut costume, screaming for help. Amy putting on the armor of the robohealers in The Girl Who Waited, to survive, and reprogramming one to be a companion while she waits.
The metaphor of being encased in the cocoon and changed, with love breaking you free. Old Amy is freed of her armor and dies protecting young Amy and Rory. Alfie's father in this episode frees himself of the cyber armor to save the day. He's the hero not the Doctor.
River...is encased and told she is to kill the man she loves. She is to kill the Doctor. And they cruelly place her at the bottom of Lake Silence. In her astronaut suit, gun in hand, in a daze. This happens after she has just graduated from the University and become Doctor River Song.
*Farewell Tour? : Meanwhile Doctor Who prepares to go willingly to his death. His flown about and back. Time has passed. Amy has become a celebrity - with her own perfume. He stays a bit longer on earth than he should this round...and after he helps save the world from cybermen, he cleans his friend's apartment and the man gifts him with the hat he wears in the first episode of the season - the Stetson that River Song shoots off his head, and the invitations that he sends to his friends.His farewell tour he tells us. Time to go willingly to my death.
*The Silence: The question unanswered is what is the question asked and answered before Silence falls. And why did the Silence create River Song from Melody Pound, Amy and Rory and the Tardis' child - to kill the last Time Lord?
* Father/Child: Another interesting bit about the episode is once again we have the whole father/child bit repeated, a recurring theme this season. Daddy and the Dark Stormlord are a pair, and the baby doesn't recognize it's father or his father's name for him until the end - in which he's proud of what his father did. In the two episodes in which Rory and Amy aren't featured - the guest star is a father taking care of his kid, while Mom is away or gone. And the kid is either in danger or dangerous. And the Doctor in both cases helps the kid communicate to his father, acts as a sort of second Daddy. In this episode - when the lady calls the Doctor, Daddy number 2, he disappears to clean Daddy #1's home.
If we jump back a bit to A Good Man Goes to War - The Doctor bonds immediately with little Melody Pound and speaks her lingo. And he swears to find her, distraught that he may never do so...until River tells him it will work out. That she's Melody.
This is not a Mother's story -no, that was last season. No, this is a father's tale.
Hence the emphasis on Rory this season, more so than last. And Rory's relationship with the Doctor. Amy's role was oddly diminished. We see Rory hunting Amy, Rory worrying, Rory bonding and fighting with the Doctor.
* Power of Love?: Also throughout the story - are robots or people being encased - Amy and Rory are taken inside a robot replica of Amy, intent on killing her daughter, Melody for the worst crime - the death of Doctor Who. Justice - blind and robotic. Then in the next episode - Amy is turned into a murderous wooden doll - that Rory has to fend off, until the Doctor convinces a father to tell his alien child that he loves him no matter what and would never abandon him. Each episode talks about traps, opened by love. We've got the Girl Who Waited who melts at young Amy's words of love. Let's Kill Hitler - where Amy and River melt at the Doctor's speech reminding both of their love for each other. The God Complex - where Amy sees the Doctor for who he is, a madman in a box, and loves him anyway. The love a parent has for a child, a man for his wife, a wife for her husband...a friend for a friend. Not just any love but unconditional love...seeing someone for who they are, warts intact, and loving them anyway. Which is a far more mature type of love than well romantic love.
Which leads me to believe that the Doctor isn't going to exactly die in the finale, or not how we think. And a father's love for his child plays a part in the mix. Which means it may well be Rory that changes things not Amy...or Rory who frees River. That is if if the finale sticks with the pattern set to date.
Also, I can't imagine the BBC allowing Moffat to kill off the Doctor permanently. It's too popular a franchise. They've got to make money after-all.
[Like with all episodic bits, I prefer the serial thread to the metaphorical front tale every time.
Yes, I know why the tv formula works this way, but I don't have to particularly love it.]
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 02:18 pm (UTC)Interesting perspective on Prime Suspect. I've been wondering how much it was like the original, since I never saw it. I'd agree that this first episode was almost brutal to watch, but it's the one TV show from this week that I'm tempted to rewatch. Mostly for Jane being angry at people.
I liked the balance of Jane's work face versus her real feelings as shared with husband (? I'm assuming) and father.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 08:18 pm (UTC)And thank you.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 08:55 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed 'Closing Time' - I think the humor kept it from being too sentimental - it was very classical Who (hitting everything I like best about the series).
I found this season's Doctor Who to be very satisfying, particularly when contrasted with my disappointment over this season's Torchwood.