Skip to main content

The Long Game S01E07

 1. Summed up in one sentence

The one in which peoples' foreheads open up while fake news is transmitted straight to their brains by a globby creature with fangs that hangs from the ceiling. 

2. The Doctor

The Doctor had enough to deal with in the past episode so he gets to have a break and just do what the Doctor does best: get worried about the state of reality, ask questions, maim electronics with his sonic screwdriver, get to the bottom of the mystery, you know, stuff like that. 

He is also very supportive of Rose and what she wants to do, even when that includes bringing along that one douchebag from the previous episode she has a crush on. What's his name? 

Adam?

Brian?

I'm pretty sure he's Adam. 

Anyway, not important. He doesn't last long. 

But as I was saying, the Doctor plays the wingman to Rose, urging them to go explore together on a date, helping Rose to impress her boy toy. It's an uncharacteristically nice thing for the Doctor to do this since we know how impatient he can get with people he doesn't like, and we know he doesn't like Adam.

None of it really works though cuz Rose finds out he's an idiot.

3. The Companions

I know I should include Adam as a companion in this episode, but I don't want to. He's so forgettable and irritating. He plays a small part in the end, but Rose dumps him on his ass pretty quick, so who cares?

Actually it's the forgettable douchebag that helps Rose to remember just how much she loves the Doctor. It's unclear if her affection for him at this point is platonic or something more. Her mom Jackie seems to think Rose fancies the Doctor, and you know moms and their instincts. Back in the episodes with the farting aliens, Rose is willing to do what the Doctor might ask of her, even if it ended in her death. She didn't even have to know what it was. She was already in. That takes some kind of passion on her part. 


This affection didn't not go unnoticed by the Doctor. He seemed both alarmed and touched at the same time. It reminds me of a later time next season when Rose is willing to do what it takes to save the world and stay with the Doctor, even if it meant not seeing her family ever again. The Doctor had a very similar reaction to her dedication, alarmed, touched, scared, in love, except this time he also had heartbreak as he took it upon himself to make the terrible decision for her. 

But those tears are for another time!!!


4. The Villain

As mentioned before, the big baddie is what you would imagine a large, gelatinous hookworm would look like. It's pretty nasty. It delivers the news to the humans, only slanted for its own nefarious purposes. This is a villain that is very familiar to us in the modern age, news being altered either by biased networks or narcissistic dictators. Seeing it personified as a gross parasite hanging from the ceiling isn't stretching reality too much.

5. The Score  

6/10

It's an interesting premise, but a bit forgettable, probably because it follows hard upon "Dalek" and doesn't completely blow your socks off. Also probably because there is a lot of focus on douchebag Adam who is so unremarkable and irritating that we try to forget he's there even while he's on screen.

6. The Very Whoiest Moment

The thesis statement of this episode can be identified in one scene in particular, when Rose and the Doctor are talking to one of the head journalists, asking her questions about how the news station is run and whatnot. Rose and the Doctor both find it interesting that this journalist gets uncomfortable with questions, and that she knows so little about where the news actually comes from. They both conclude it's not very journalisty. She does have very awesome hair though.

The Doctor explains to the journalist and Rose that the human race is much more behind than he would expect it to be at this point in history. He does mention that the technology is lackluster, but his main concern is the mindset of the people, not questioning anything and doing exactly what they're told. I think he makes an interesting point, that a civilization's technology isn't the only measurement of their advancement, but rather a more important aspect to look at is the minds of the people, both as individuals and as a collective whole.


I'm pretty excited for the next one, so watch out!


PS- This was a thing in this episode.


Ummm . . . . How?







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'll stick with you baby for a thousand years. Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years.

By this time in our trip, our group has already seen Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well at the Globe . . . which was superb. Today, we got to take a tour of the theatre itself. Might be one of my favorite sight seeing things I have done. It's just that I have spent so many school years learning about this theatre and the time of Shakespeare. I feel like all I had learned didn't really stick until today. I was there. I was in the space where it all happened. It's true what my English professors say, that if you really want to major in English, your life wouldn't be fulfilled to you come to England. Everything I have learned just gels together all of a sudden. It's beautiful. A wonderful event in earth's history. A stunning creation wrought by humankind. For instance, I learned that the people who watch from the ground are called "groundlings." Makes sense. They were also called "penny stinkers" because they paid one penny to get i...
4 comments
Read more

In the spring I shed my skin and it blows away with the changing wind.

And so begins my Brighton Beach Memoirs. Most of our group took a day trip on Friday to Brighton. After taking the train out through gorgeous green country, we reached the coast. Can you see the ocean yet? How about now? And there it is. It was a tad chilly and pretty windy, but there was sun and ocean, so we were happy :) It was such a relief to be able to leave the rushed city of London and go to Brighton. We were able to take it slow and just relax. A pebble beach isn't nearly as comfortable as a sand beach, but it is something to look at. Here it is ladies and gentlemen. Legit fish and chips on the sea side of Brighton. It was good, except I didn't have nearly enough tartar sauce. This is a lovely pier that goes out a ways and has treat shops and a mini theme park. It's adorable! We then basked in the generous sunlight right beside King George's little vacation palace. Don't ask me which King George. I wasn't enough in the touristy mood to take note! Then c...
5 comments
Read more

Yeah, I went to Spain.

So this is naturally where our journey begins to Madrid. But I've never had to climb up a latter to get to my plane before. That was a brand new experience for me. I felt like I was in the movies! Can you believe this view from my plane window! Gorgeous! It was refreshing to rise above the overcast London sky and pop out into this sunset. The sky was bidding us welcome on our journey to Spain. So we arrived to our first hostel around midnight that night. To be honest, we were all a bit nervous to be staying in the part of the neighborhood we did. There were a bunch of men out, with hardly any women on the streets. But as you can see here, this view from our hostel seemed much friendlier in the morning. This hostel was the worst, so it was good to get it over with. My group was terrified at the possibility of bed bugs and the beds felt like they were made of cardboard. The street in front of our first hostel. Yeah. A little shaddy :) To be honest, not really. Cuz you see tho...
4 comments
Read more