Dickens? Shakespear? I can’t keep track anymore!
So the Doctor and his new companion Martha just met Shakespear… and he’s a womanizing drunk who is apparently very smart? This is probably the main gripe I have with this episode. They make him seem so cool and smart, yet we don’t even get a look at HOW he is that smart. How did he know the Doctor had psychic paper? What? My brain! IT HURTS!
Apart from these blatant logical and writing flaws, we also get a witches. Which is… expected? I mean, we got ghosts and zombies, so witches seem like the logical next step in the parade, right? Where they cool, unique, and interesting villians? Nope, they were witches. They weren’t like… interesting witches either. Just witches, doing witch things with their witch brooms and cauldrons.
Perhaps the only interesting aspect about them was the way they controlled people, and how they were defeated. Naming a witch apparently makes her teleport back to her other witch-friends? As you can see, I was left slightly baffled by this episode.
The Doctors performance was spot on, as well as Martha, whom is proving to be a very capable companion. I really love how she doesn’t just fall into shakespear’s arms like some malformed harlot looking for a good time.
Perhaps she was the saving grace of this episode, because it just felt like a bog-standard episode full of things that weren’t too important. There is clearly a budding romance between her and the Doctor and I’m generally curious whether or not he’ll give in. If he does, the writers better explain it as well as their little hearts can, because I’ll be upset if it’s unconvincing and contrived.
The concept of the voodoo doll is something we’ve seen in Scooby doo specials, so it wasn’t frightening or interesting, just a bit… predictable? I will say though, for the material given, the witches did a bang up job with their witchy-ness. As convincing as you can possibly get playing something so silly.
Overall, this episode wasn’t bad, it was just another “meh” episode of the show that seems to be sprinkled throughout the entirety of it because apparently thirteen episodes is too much for the writers to create creative and imaginative plotlines. Overall, it’s not something I really want to rewatch, but it was fun while it lasted.
Grade: C+
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