that instead, every time we met a black character, I was jerked right out of the story by the inevitable knowledge that that person was about to die. By the time we got to the three kids in the back-street at the end, I was half-expecting the black one to be struck by a falling piece of satellite debris, just to make up a full house.
This is a long-established problem in New Who, which people like
miss_s_b and
pickwick have been pointing out for years. So I went into this episode with an already heightened expectation that the black characters would die. But even against that background, this story really stood out as a particularly egregious example of the trope. It's not just that all of the black characters (well, except the kid in the alley-way) were treated as disposable - it's that meanwhile, every single white character survived unharmed.
I don't doubt that it arises unconsciously, and indeed partly out of a well-meaning desire to cast more black actors. There was a great blog post which did the rounds recently (but which I can't now track down), all about how casting agents unconsciously replicate the limitations of established screen representations, only ever placing black actors in secondary roles because that's where they're used to seeing them. But oh my word it really needs to be consciously recognised for what it is and addressed, because it is a serious blight on Doctor Who right now.
And then there was the painfully overplayed joke around the mistaken belief that the Doctor and Craig were a gay couple; and the revisitation of the 'daddy issues' that were right at the heart of Night Terrors as well... And now I've practically talked myself out of even liking this story at all. Oh, Moffat (and your minions), why must you do this to us?
OK, so let's try to get back to the goodness. There were Cybermats! Looking as cute-yet-scary as they always should have done, although it required a little more imagination to see that back in the Seventies. And there were Cybermen dying of an emotional overload, just like in The Invasion! Also, although the thinking-they're-a-couple joke was overdone, I did appreciate the fact that Craig rejected the Doctor's attempt to kiss him not because he (the Doctor) was a bloke euw gross!, but because he (Craig) was already taken. And the Amy-Rory cameo was sweet and affecting, and I liked the way Amy's fame drew cleverly on Karen Gillan's star image as someone whom we all know has also worked as a model.
As for next week's episode, it feels a lot like we're under full steam towards a fairly inescapable end-point now. But of course we all know that the Doctor can't really die - not properly - so there is bound to be some kind of unexpected twist coming up. I'm hopeless at predicting these things in detail, but I would just finish by picking out two small details from this week which I think are likely to be significant.
First, the use of a mirror hiding the entrance to the Cybermen's underground lair. Mirrors and reflections have come up a lot this season, and I'm sure this theme is going to pay off next week, at the very least as another reference to parallel universes, and probably also to someone encountering their double and / or everything being reversed.
Secondly, the name-badge which the Doctor wore as a shop assistant was a very nice way of reminding us all that as far as we and all characters throughout the show's entire history are concerned, "The Doctor" really is his name. If Moffat is going to probe further into that territory, as he has been hinting ever since we first met River, then that is a useful sort of reminder to drop just before doing so.
Anyway, all to be revealed - along with some alt-universe Romans - next week!
[And I will finish and post my review of last week's episode shortly, I swear. I've just been rather overloaded with work and short of available spare brain-juice in the last week. It's half-written, but needs smoothing out from some random notes into something tolerably fluent before I can post it. I hope to get that done before heading for bed tonight.]
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On the whole, this was a great episode. Funny, nicely-plotted, and leading neatly and sometimes quite poignantly towards the heavily-signposted events of the season finale. I should have loved it. But what a pity
This is a long-established problem in New Who, which people like
I don't doubt that it arises unconsciously, and indeed partly out of a well-meaning desire to cast more black actors. There was a great blog post which did the rounds recently (but which I can't now track down), all about how casting agents unconsciously replicate the limitations of established screen representations, only ever placing black actors in secondary roles because that's where they're used to seeing them. But oh my word it really needs to be consciously recognised for what it is and addressed, because it is a serious blight on Doctor Who right now.
And then there was the painfully overplayed joke around the mistaken belief that the Doctor and Craig were a gay couple; and the revisitation of the 'daddy issues' that were right at the heart of Night Terrors as well... And now I've practically talked myself out of even liking this story at all. Oh, Moffat (and your minions), why must you do this to us?
OK, so let's try to get back to the goodness. There were Cybermats! Looking as cute-yet-scary as they always should have done, although it required a little more imagination to see that back in the Seventies. And there were Cybermen dying of an emotional overload, just like in The Invasion! Also, although the thinking-they're-a-couple joke was overdone, I did appreciate the fact that Craig rejected the Doctor's attempt to kiss him not because he (the Doctor) was a bloke euw gross!, but because he (Craig) was already taken. And the Amy-Rory cameo was sweet and affecting, and I liked the way Amy's fame drew cleverly on Karen Gillan's star image as someone whom we all know has also worked as a model.
As for next week's episode, it feels a lot like we're under full steam towards a fairly inescapable end-point now. But of course we all know that the Doctor can't really die - not properly - so there is bound to be some kind of unexpected twist coming up. I'm hopeless at predicting these things in detail, but I would just finish by picking out two small details from this week which I think are likely to be significant.
First, the use of a mirror hiding the entrance to the Cybermen's underground lair. Mirrors and reflections have come up a lot this season, and I'm sure this theme is going to pay off next week, at the very least as another reference to parallel universes, and probably also to someone encountering their double and / or everything being reversed.
Secondly, the name-badge which the Doctor wore as a shop assistant was a very nice way of reminding us all that as far as we and all characters throughout the show's entire history are concerned, "The Doctor" really is his name. If Moffat is going to probe further into that territory, as he has been hinting ever since we first met River, then that is a useful sort of reminder to drop just before doing so.
Anyway, all to be revealed - along with some alt-universe Romans - next week!
[And I will finish and post my review of last week's episode shortly, I swear. I've just been rather overloaded with work and short of available spare brain-juice in the last week. It's half-written, but needs smoothing out from some random notes into something tolerably fluent before I can post it. I hope to get that done before heading for bed tonight.]
Click here if you would like view this entry in light text on a dark background.
Comments
I enjoyed this episode more than I thought I would, but I would have like the ratio of scary Cyberman stuff to funny Doctor-Craig-and-a-baby stuff reversed, really.
I enjoyed the comedy in this one, but the back of my sofa has never been more deserted.
It did go a bit deus ex at the end, but it wasn't too bad although if I hadn't enjoyed the rest of the episode so much I'd have probably been throwing shoes at the telly and shouting TRITE B*llox. However, even that was done in a brilliantly knowing way, which made me wonder how much of that episode would have sucked if RTD had written it...talking of RTD - is it just me or did there seem to be a few sly digs at rtd - the kid is referred to as boyo, the dr's comment about the love saves all thing and more?
There seems to be a central theme around parental love in this series so it will be interesting to say how that plays out.
I'm very much looking forward to next weeks' episode.
Parental love certainly is a theme, but I'm still annoyed by how Amy and Rory are supposed to be just fine about having missed Melody's early childhood and the experience of being proper parents to her together. I hope that will somehow be resolved at the end of the next episode - perhaps they'll get a second chance at bringing her up after all? But even if it is, I feel that failing to explore what should be really huge emotional consequences coming out of that is making everything else that's happening in the series appear really hollow to me.
I know what you mean about amy and rory not being too bothered, it's very strange, I'm also hoping that they put something in there to resolve what happens to Melody it would be a complete shame if they bypassed that completely in favour of some big bang episode.
I was thinking about the Dad aspects in this episode & other recent episodes. What with the missing Melody story line there is quite a lot on patenting in this season.
I missed the race element in this story. I missed the bit where the supervisor went missing at the beginning.
Overall, I liked the episode. Not my favourite of this season but top 3.
I still think the major story arc would be better run over 2 or 3 seasons but I'm now keen to see the denouement rather than resigned to it.
Fathers are for physical protection through actual, threatened or implied violence. Men are not proper parents and unworthy of a parental designation until they demonstrate a willingness and ability to violently protect their offspring. You are not a father if you spend time just looking after your child.
Minor irritation and probably outweighed by the fact that Corden's character was actually looking after a baby and had it in a sling having a cuddle.
*admittedly through the power of paternal love but still, it might as well have been magic or a special beam weapon, there were exploding heads.
I kind of feel this but only because people keep saying it. Wasn't the doctor who died meant to have lived 200 years more than the one we've been following for the series? I was genuinely shocked when Moffat on a confidential said something about the doctor dying at the end of the season. I figured it would get resolved in some way but it doesn't feel like the doctor from the last episode is the one who should be about to die. Except he said he did.
I was also surprised because I assumed this being the penultimate episode (as I understand it) that it would be part one of a two parter.
I did quite enjoy it though otherwise. I take your points on the black people dying but I did enjoy the rest. The doctor is starting to get a bit whiny annoying with his "I can't have companions" (didn't we cover that with tennant already)? And also I'm a bit unsure about the whole amy and rory thing. him leaving them still feels a bit weird to me and their cameo seemed a bit gratuitous.
On Amy and Rory's cameo, I've heard some speculate that it was done mainly so that the actors' names could legitimately be included in the closing credits, thus preventing fans who were scouring casting details in advance from being pre-warned about them 'leaving' last week. That does sound like the kind of thing Moffat might do, too.
Who fans have from time to time done systematic analyses of the ways underprivileged characters are treated on Doctor Who, and I've managed to track down one about female characters, but can't find one about black characters right now. Indeed, there may not be one, though I've definitely seen one about queer characters somewhere in the past.
From my unsystematic observations, though, I would strongly expect any such analysis to show a well above average death rate for black characters. There has also been discussion about just how positive the treatment even of Martha really was since back in season 2. It's a real issue, and I think it may even be getting worse at the moment rather than better.
The natural follow-on is that the black characters are more likely to get killed off... although even then, you'd expect more to survive, but that's where you do get into the unconscious tendency to follow stereotype and let your most prominent people be white, I suppose.
I enjoyed the episode--loved the bit where Craig was taking the doctor's declaration of love seriously and almost eagerly, enjoyed the first time they got mistaken for partners, but yeah, that got overdone.
Also, because I do have a baby, I got a big kick out of the baby's cry being the emotional trigger. I know it was a bit mushy for many people, but for me it rang completely true. And I don't think of it as being mushy, because when you've spent months subjected to your hormonal response at the sound of your baby's crying, you don't view it in a particularly sentimental light!
That said, I spent the entire episode leading up to it thinking that Craig wasn't nearly enough of an emotional wreck to convince as a new parent...
Sorry for commenting a week after the fact and when you're all into the latest episode. We've got behind in our viewing again. :p
I think you're right that the problem with the black characters getting killed off arises from a well-meaning attempt to cast black actors in non-evil roles, but it isn't quite just a desire to portray them positively that gets them killed. It is that they regularly play minor secondary characters, who are generally quite liable to die in an action-adventure show like Doctor Who. And as this episode proved, even within that category, they seem to be more liable to die than their white equivalents. Of the two shop assistants we met in the first scene, it was depressingly predictable that the black one would die while the white one survived - but there wasn't really any other significant difference between those two characters. :-(
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the season finale. It managed to avoid racefail of the type we saw in this story - but probably mainly because it simply didn't feature any black characters. :-/