Be Excellent To Each Other

So many stupid decisions.

The Doctor leaves Clara a zillion messages, so she just ignores them. It's not like he would have something important to say.

The UNIT leader wanders off to ToC on her own? And then trusts the first person she meets, when everyone has been killed by shapeshifters? I'm really hoping that the reason we didn't see her die/get captured is because she knew all along and actually lured the Zygon into a trap, and now she's playing them at her own game. She's been shown as being competent before now, so hopefully she's not just slowly wandered into a trap for no reason.

Why did The Doctor use the plane? Did they just want more use out of the set they built? Or is there an actual reason, because him thinking it is cooler is a bit stupid when they're under severe time pressure and he has a fucking TARDIS just sitting there. There'd better be some reason attached, and also some reason why the PRESIDENT OF EARTH's plane doesn't have some countermeasures against RPGs.

The UNIT... ummmm... unit that got killed. That was stupid. I get the emotional ties to a parent or loved one, but he ascertained she was a fucking Zygon and then they all just wandered to certain death anyway. Not one of them thought, "Hang on, they've got the exact right loved ones for each of us [note - I assume that's who the other were, if not then an unrelated person could surely just tap the bastards in the head; these are special fucking forces!], and they know nothing about us at all, and any question, even simple ones, they have failed to answer. Maybe we should discuss this further outside?"

And why was the commanding officer conveniently miles away from every single one of her men?

It somehow managed to make the end of the world boring.

It did pick up towards the end though, as Evil Clara is deliciously evil, and some of it is a good idea just executed poorly (and without the necessary budget).

I appreciated the analogies to Islam/refugees etc, though I thought they plastered it on a bit heavy for the slow folk at the back.

Hopefully the second half will redeem it.

It was appalling, even for unit soldiers, you'd think one of them got off a shot. They should employ some Americans.

Also, the drone thing was silly, because how would the Zygon know who was flying a drone a hundred miles away, also the UAV we see being loaded with weapons is a plane, planes don't hover.

Or 'Torchwood'. Though that would likely end up with Jack screwing his mum.
I was expecting the tension to be broken by a trigger-happy private or for the Doc to walk in and take charge.

the entire scene with the boxes

...I called that the UNIT lady (not Osgood) hadn't been fooled by the Zygon. She's been shown as clever and competent too many times to have been fooled. Glad that worked out.

The boxes bit

"I will kill you all because of stuff oh wait let's be friends I will guard the boxes now in the secret hq"

It's one of those things/stories where the end is breaking the 4th wall without explicitly doing so, as a little twist.

I mostly liked it, but the monsters being made of the crap in your eyes was just stupid.

if she'd walked out the door and we were left to imagine it

part one of a two or three parter so they could just be building

I liked the scenario and our attention wasn't as clunkingly drawn to the allegory as previous episodes but was more skilfully made. Whenever I see Enchilada I do find myself thinking of Ace, but my memory of her, other than the two McCoy DVDs I've watched, is very sparse.

Re the death tattoo thing - I thought it was explained that you could transfer it (which is obviously how Clara ended up with it), or that it could be stopped/removed by the person who sent it in the first place. Am I imagining I heard that, or what? If it was true, Clara could have been saved presumably?

it could only be stopped if it hadn't been transferred, for some reason.

Even though you can transfer it but not cheat death, I can take it back from Riggsy because of <reasons>, because the raven was promised a soul, or something. But I can't take it back from Clara because lol

perhaps she's not dead. Maybe.

Ashilda had a contract with the shade whereby she could remove the 'curse'. Clara effectively changed that contract, cutting out the only person who had bargained with that in mind.

I thought it was good, and it being her fault was interesting.

Capaldi is still ace.

I enjoyed the way it played with one of the philosophical problems with teleportation too.

So much in this!

-The seabed with billions of skulls was scary enough, then you realise whose skulls they were.
-Working out that what we see is probably not the first time he's gone through the loop
- The moment when how he'll escape becomes clear
- The obligatory nod to Nosferatu
- The fact that for 45 minutes it's only one man and a guy in a sheet creating the drama.

'Me' is Enchilada. Obviously.

his coup in Gallifrey (although, frankly, timelords in stupid hats can go and commit anatomical impossibilities in several dimensions, so far as I'm concerned) and how they made us think Clara had no recollection of the Doc at the start. The ending for Enchilda was pretty satisfying too.

retro TARDIS!

Round things!

hybrid, the introduction of galifrey, the timelords and the coup, and Enchilada

the desperation and love he has for Clara and the extreme lengths to which he would go for her

I also think Maisie Williams is great as Ashilda, and Clara is always fun, though I'm slightly conflicted on her not being dead.

Spin-off special featuring the girls in space! That'd be fun.