This being a regeneration story, it’s amazing how much time we spend with the Paternoster Gang, developing them a little more and more Strax hi-jinks. One of the major insights we get is into the relationship between Madame Vastra and Jenny Flynt. Naturally, as an interspecies lesbian married couple, they’re already pretty interesting to watch in terms of character dynamics but we find out that while they present the veneer of master and maid to the outside world, it kind of bleeds into their home life, something that Jenny takes exception to. There’s also the fact that Vastra has a bit of a wandering eye and can be quite flirtatious with other women. They’re by no means a perfect couple but their affection feels legitimate and I think that makes them feel like better characters, with a fun back and forth that makes them a delight to watch.

Strax is also funny as usual, with Clara acting as his straight man for many scenes. Not much in terms of character development but he’s the comedic potato and that’s good enough for me.

The villain of the week is actually a nice throwback to an older episode. Tell me if this sounds familiar! Clockwork robots, cannibalising humans for spares and repairs? That’s right, these are the same clockwork droids from Season 2’s The Girl in The Fireplace. Well, not the same exact robots, these being from the sistership of the SS Madame de Pompadour, the SS Marie Antoinette. They’re okay antagonists but they’re really there to job out to the new Doctor and not a lot else.

Clara’s role this episode is as audience proxy, naturally. This isn’t our prancing, young handsome Doctor and that’s just not on! Or do we need to accept that this old dude is the new norm and accept that he’s still the Doctor? Of course we do, this may be a radical change for fans who have only seen the revived series but this old hat for older fans.

Peter Capaldi’s first outing is manic, delusional and all together unsettling. His mad ramblings and underlying hostility to everything around him has shades of dementia to it, as he struggles with his new face. Since Capaldi has already appeared in Who (namely Season 4) it’s good that they address it as the Doctor struggles to remember who this face belongs to and where he’s seen it before. Capaldi also has some fun with his new Scottish accent. Being his first outing, I’m still not sure on this Doctor’s personality but his underlying principles are still the same.

And finally, we come to this lady. Half-Face awakens in a seeming paradise and Missy is there to welcome him. She claims to be the Doctor’s girlfriend and instantly establishes herself as untrustworthy and devious. She clearly has an agenda and will be the over-arcing villain for this season.

This episode sets the tone for the upcoming season quite effectively, coming off as so much darker and less whimsical than previous seasons. The villain tries to escape in a hot air balloon MADE OUT OF SKIN! If that’s not an indication of how dark this season’s going, I don’t know what is. A disorienting 76minute affair but a solid story and a nice set up for the stories ahead. Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you guys next week!

With the announcement of the new 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) to the series I’m in even more of a Doctor Who mood than usual.
Not that I’m glad Matt Smith is leaving, what’s done is done, I understand and I think Peter Capaldi will be fine.
SO. . . When I first saw this 11th Doctor-inspired Mr. Potato Head I knew I had to have one!
BUT it seems (for now) that it was a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive.
Well, crap.
Here it is if you haven’t seen it yet:

Now that Hasbro/ Playskool has opened the Rift to the possibilities to other Doctor Who characters and all other (re)generations of Doctors,
I thought these guys were the first logical choice as what should come next:

With the life-like Strax-face edition be some kind of exclusive.

When bodies begin to turn up in the canal afflicted with a look of terror and a scarlet hue, this naturally earns the interest of Jenny and Vastra: Rescue Rangers. With their Sontaran footman in tow, they set out to infiltrate Sweetville, a factory-come-gated community that has something of Willy Wonka about it but somehow less insidious. It’s naturally a front for Mrs Gillyflower and her silent partner Mr. Sweet’s grand plan of poisoning the planet. The Doctor and Clara have already fallen foul of this plot and it’s up to Jenny, Vastra and Strax to save the day.

How can you not love these two?

I really enjoyed this episode, Mark Gatiss as writer is in his element, the creepiness of Sweetville is much like a watered down version of Royston Vasey. Diana Rigg’s performance as the insane, manipulative Mrs Gillyflower is one of the better villains of this season. She’s pure evil and Diana Rigg conveys her unrelenting zealotry beautifully. Her silent partner is revealed to be a Red Leech that has attached itself to her and formed a symbiotic relationship. Mr Sweet is kinda cute for a horrifying crab leech thing.

Look at this horse, it’s less than amazing!

This episode is also pretty damn funny! Jenny and Vastra are always a fun couple to be around and their interaction with regular denizens of the time period is often slap-sticky and fun. As with every other episode featuring this trio, Strax steals the show. Between a sugar rush assault on Sweetville to killing horses because they fail him., Strax is often the funniest part of any episode featuring him. Unfortunately, he had to share the same scene as “Urchin Boy”, as he’s named in the credits but “Thomas Thomas” in the episode. F*** this character. It’s a GPS gag. It started out as a weird juxtaposition of GPS speak coming from a street urchin that I thought was a sly hint at something unsettling but no, it’s a f***ing TomTom gag. Sorry for swearing but it’s a really fucking stupid gag and I hate it. I hope the poor kid who had to act that part gets better roles in the future, I’d hate for his sole entry on IMDB page to be “F***ing TomTom Kid”.

You and me both, Strax

Venting over. Calm blue TARDIS. The episode ends on an interesting note. The kids that Clara looks after have twigged onto her being a time-traveller without ever seeing the TARDIS or interacting with the Doctor. Them some clever kids! They threaten to tell their father of Clara’s escapades, which is stupid but perfectly reasonable kid logic, unless she takes them travelling with her. For the second time (but not wiped away by a “big friendly button”) Clara is made away of her past life as she sees a picture of her Victorian counterpart amongst the pictures from different time periods. I hope to see this kick-off next episode when Clara confronts the Doctor.

Next week we step into twisted realms of Neil Gaiman once again and see the return of the Cybermen. This episode is looking to be a real Nightmare in Silver.