Season Six Sundays: Mid-Season Review

(SPOILER ALERT - Contains slight spoilers and speculation for "A Good Man Goes to War")

 

Ok, thankfully, now that everyone is "up to date" on what's happened on Who (with the exception of New Zealand, but this blog doesn't get traffic from New Zealand. At least, that's what my analytics tell me), I feel slightly more comfortable in providing a post-season wrap-up.

On the whole, and I may be part of the minority, but I have to admit that I'm finding myself having some mixed thoughts around this season. Much of it is due to the split nature of the series - having thirteen episodes run weekly has a slightly different flow; the last two episodes ("The Almost People" and "A Good Man Goes to War") felt rather rushed, as if the production team realized they had a term paper due the next morning, requiring a massive overnight cram session. Of the seven episodes, there were four really good ones ("The Impossible Astronaut", "Day of the Moon", "The Doctor's Wife" and "A Good Man Goes to War") and three OK episodes ("Curse of the Black Spot", "The Rebel Flesh" and "The Almost People".) Although much stronger than past new Who seasons, admittedly....I applaud the production team for taking creative chances, but this is one that (in my opinion) didn't quite gel.

(Of course, once the rest of this season is televised - and I inevitably make it to the DVD release, when I watch all of the episodes in order - I may find myself revising this opinion).

The big "build up" towards the reveal of River Song....quite excellent, and answers a lot of questions while asking a lot more.

The one concept that I really thought was intriguing (SPOILER ALERT) was the idea of a "Time Lord as a weapon." Personally, it makes a lot of sense, given what we know from the past - Time Lords have an idea of the flow of time (fixed points versus events that can be changed), an ability to regenerate into a newer, younger life form after a long number of years, and extremely sharp intelligence. (Plus, if you're working on rudimentary time travel, it's smart to have a species that has evolved towards being able to survive its rigors).

And now, the ranting - thanks to this single scene in "The Doctor's Wife", there is no renewed discussion about bringing back the Time War, doing a TV movie, etc. Personally, I doubt it's either Eccleston or McGann's voice (I think the team is clever enough to hire a soundalike for this one scene), and quite frankly, what would you rather have - a series that actively provokes you to question and seek answers, or one that provides you the answers all in one fell swoop.

Well, now is the long summer....but thankfully, Sherlock will be along soon.

So far, this season is a B - can't wait until "Let's Kill Hitler" in the fall.