awkwardreviews

Today, the Doctor saved face! (And everyone turned into slendermen!)

This episode pretty much hammers in all the preconceived notions about Dr.Who. Is it weird? Yes! Is it loud? Yes! Is it silly? Yes! Is it campy? Yes! Is it fun? Yes! And is it well acted? Yes! Most of these can be perceived as good or bad, but I think I’ve watched Dr.Who enough to appreciate the campiness, embrace the silliness, and just have a great time! So was “The Idiot’s Lantern” a success? Yes!

We have an alien named “The wire” (not to be confused with the hit TV-show) that pretty much feeds off people’s faces… yep… faces. Or at least that’s what it looked like, apparently it’s something to do with the brain. The main fault of this episode was that it pretty much finished its story before the opening credits even started, as we already knew what was going on, there really was hardly any mystery. We know the Doctor was going to defeat the alien… we were just eager to figure out how.

The setting did wonders though, they went back to the early 1950’s at the same time the new Queen was being crowned, so the entirety of this episode was well-shot and very pretty setting wise. The story was decent, however, I still firmly believe that this show does a fantastic job of writing convincing background/guest characters.

The dysfunctional family with the verbally abusive father is another addition into the long line of fantastic guest stars, knowing how to drag the emotion out of the admittedly sobby scenes, quite well. I actually very much enjoyed seeing that kid go along with the Doctor and save the day, instead of the Doctor handling everything.

I will admit that the lady whom acted “The Wire” was on and off, and I’m not sure if she was meant to give such a stilted performance. As in, at times her dialogue came off as forced to the point of cringe-inducing gags, however, other times she was the perfect amount of both chipper, and threatening.

I however, don’t have too much else to say about this episode, it was a decent entry in an above average season of Dr.Who. I’m eager to look into the next episode, as its title is already very intriguing!

P.S- Yay for more side-characters being awesome!

Grade: B