The race to catch up to the finale before I glimpse any massive spoilers is causing me great pain. Especially, when I probably need to be writing my dissertation at this exact same moment, and yet, here I am writing about The Crimson Horror, which I only just watched this morning. Spoilers ahoy.
 |
| these ladies are some kickass detectives let me tell you that. caps from here |
Episode Summary: The Doctor takes Clara back to 1893, and instead of arriving in London, they happen upon Yorkshire, where mysterious crimson bodies are turning up in the morgue. They are joined, and saved, by the trio of detectives we saw in last year's Christmas special: the Silurian Madame Vastra, her human (kickass) wife Jenny Flint, and the Sontaran Strax. The resident villain, this week, appears to seek a world of perfection and is preserving those deemed "desirable" in her new world (and wants to kill everyone who isn't). She also has a repulsive little alien thing attached to her. I think that says enough.
 |
| yeah this is pretty darn creepy |
This episode was well paced and enjoyable with a whirlpool of different genres on the table: period feature, sci-fi/fantasy, and a bit of classic horror. As a side-note, Mark Gatiss wrote this episode, and I'm honestly surprised that he didn't write a character for himself because he's been known to do that in the past. Anyway, I was so excited to see my favourite trio of detectives getting up to their shenanigans in Victorian England, and they certainly did not disappoint. Strax provided some much needed comic relief, as he offered suggestions of invasions, explosions, and killing everyone in his way to get where he needed to be. One of his standout lines: "Horse! You have failed in your mission! You're lost with no sign of Sweetville. Do you have any final words before your summary execution?" (It's okay the horse didn't die.) And then there was the wonderful Jenny, who infiltrated Sweetville, saved the Doctor, and then as the duo were surrounded and the Doctor prepared himself for a fight, Jenny ripped off her period dress to reveal tight leather fighting clothing and eliminated the hoard of attractive employees. BOOM. She would make an excellent companion for the Doctor. Madame Vastra sought out information and shocked everyone with her appearance. You go Vastra.
 |
| lookin' mighty fine |
This episode also asked the age old question of perfection and its value in society. This was actually a really interesting concept and it would have been good if this episode had explored this in more depth. Mrs Gillyflower was, as the Doctor said, "nuts" as she recruited people to her own secure town, Sweetville, where only those deemed desirable were allowed through and frozen in time, and the rest were rejected - including her own daughter, who she experimented on. Perfection and desirability have long been discussed in our society and I think there would have been some benefit to have Clara react to this and share her thoughts on these ideas because while we know her, I feel like I don't really
know her, y'know? I'd like to see some more depth to her character.
Observation of things:
- There were some absolutely great lines in this script, from "Oh great ... great. Attack of the supermodels" to "The bright is done, child, and you are for the dark."
- One of the nods to classic horror was Ada referring to the Doctor as her monster, as he had been submitted to the crimson preservation process, and was a surviving reject, that moved stiffly and couldn't speak properly - taking on a few characteristics of Frankenstein's monster, as said here.
- The children that Clara is looks after finally found out that she goes time travelling after finding historical pictures of her and her "boyfriend" - including a picture that was indeed not the same Clara that we've been watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment