TomH1138
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Zarius said:I am rarely disappointed by Moffat's set-ups and resolutions, but I'm probably not alone in thinking that the "everybody lives" thing has completely eroded the consequential drama and sapped all investment from the series in the high-stakes department at times, Jenny's death was stirring and effective...and then she's revived like it's nothing in a few extra minutes.
Back in Davies' day, people died all the time. Kids can handle a bit of brutality, Moffat, just trust them. I grew up on bloodbaths in 80's Who and I turned out....actually, I'd rather not say how I turned out...
I see your point about the characters in this episode. However, to be fair, during RTD's era, he promised and heavily foreshadowed deaths for both Rose and Donna, and then pulled his punch at the last minute. That drove me much more crazy than an episode like this, where Moffat doesn't promise us either way in advance.
Also in the RTD era: "The Doctor's Daughter," where Jenny (the daughter) dies and then gets brought back a few minutes later, and "Love and Monsters," where Elton's girlfriend dies and then gets sort of brought back (which is no better or worse than, say, the talking head of Dorian). I'm sure I could think of many more examples given enough time.
I would say that as many extras died during the RTD era as they do during the Moffat era, but no major characters die in either one.
I wonder if the BBC has some sort of rule about not killing important characters on a family show. It is weird that they keep getting brought back to life. The new series desperately needs its own "Adric."
Anyway, I thought the episode was terrific. The opening sequence alone with its "Trials and Tribble-ations"-type montage honoring the classic show -- that was simply amazing. One of the best moments on the show ever.
I thought the revelation of why Clara is splintered across time was very clever, and it didn't match my theory or any other theory I had seen out there, so kudos to Moffat for keeping it a surprise.
The Whispering Men were really creepy. More effective than the Silence, IMO.
I'm sorry that others didn't enjoy this episode, or seemingly any episode of the Moffat era, as much as I did. I can pretty much guarantee you're not going to like the 50th anniversary episode, either, because Moffat isn't going to change his writing style. But I still can't fathom this "RTD did everything better" mentality. The show was massively cheesy during his run. Moffat has his own problems, but I still think he's 100 times better than RTD.
And that's my two sonic screwdrivers -- er, cents -- about it.