Last Time: “The God Complex”
SPOILER ALERT!
Sophie is leaving Craig on his own, and she is worried. Remember Craig and Sophie from last season’s episode “The Lodger?” OK, quick recap: While trying to save Amy from a timey-wimey mishap, The Doctor temporarily finds lodging with Craig who, unbeknownst to him, has an alien living in the flat above him. The Doctor figures this all out, plays a game of football — real football, not that American stuff — and manages to get rid of the alien and play matchmaker for Craig and his friend Sophie. Ok, you are up to date.
Sophie and Craig are now, well not married, but living together — permanently — and she is heading away for a weekend to rest:
But no one is certain of Craig’s abilities to cope on his own, lead of all Craig. So it’s fortunate that the Doctor show up on a little social call:
Something is indeed wrong.
Meanwhile, that something is afoot at Sanderson & Granger department store. A clerk closing up shop late at night is confronted in the dressing room by a rather battered looking Cyberman. We know that that can’t lead to anything good.
Oh, Sophie and Craig have a had a baby as well as having moved.
And yet again The Doctor exhibits his unique ability to talk to the babies.
I would prefer Stormaggedon over Alfie any day. I’m not sure why the Doctor then grinds pepper on Craig.
Yep, as we hear throughout this episode, the Doctor is saying good-bye. In and out, nobody gets hurt. Well, until the street lamps begin to flicker:
But you know that’s another thing that will never happen. Next we find the Doctor, he’s working as a sales assistant in the toy department of the very same store where we last saw the Cyberman. I wonder if there’s a connection?
I didn’t say that he was a very good sales assistant. And Craig show up:
Just then something fast, low and silver zips by. That can’t be good. The Doctor tells Craig about all of the people who have gone missing recently. Put that together with power outages, and you’ve got a mystery.
Just one little geeky point: Doctor Who has always referred to transmats, not teleporters. Ok, breath in, out, in, out. Continue.
So The Doctor Boards a broken lift (elevator in Americanese) with Craig and Stormy in tow, and the store suddenly seem to blink out of existence, and find themselves in a spaceship,which Craig seems not to notice at first as the Doctor tries to distract him (expressing his hidden love for Craig), but that can only last so long :
The Doctor does something with his sonic screwdriver, and they are once again back in the lift.
The Doctor has fused the Transmat… errr… Transporter, so the Cybermen can no longer beam down from their ship, at least for now. The Doctor wants Craig to go away, afraid of what might happen to him if he stays, but Craig still has confidence in the Doctor:
They begin their investigation of the department store, splitting up to cover more ground. The Doctor also admits that he keeps a human around as a companion:
The Doctor soon discovers rumors of a “silver rat thing” running around and begins to investigate.
Craig, on the other hand, is not so smooth. While investigating in ladies’ wear, he’s soon mistaken for a pervert. But everyone loves the Doctor:
And then the Doctor sees Amy and Rory across the store. Amy is signing an autograph, and the Doctor looks up to see a large display poster with Amy’s face advertising a perfume called “Petrichor: For the Girl Who’s Tired of Waiting.” In case you have forgotten, petrichor is the smell of rain on dry ground.
He wants to go to her, but doesn’t and the quickly leave, and the moment passes.
The two “partners” get into the department store building after hours to investigate, and catch the cybermat. Cut little bugger… until it opens it’s mouth to reveal some nasty looking
The Doctor hears a screaming and goes to investigates. It was George, the guard, who was captured by a Cyberman. A Cyberman sneaks up on the Doctor and knocks him out.
The Doctor and Craig regroup back at their “base” — Craig’s house — with their captured Cybermat, which the Doctor begins to dissect. but Craig has to run out for milk, leaving the Doctor to take care of Stormy. While calming Stormy down, the Doctor monologues about how old he has gotten
But, as should be expected, the Cybermat wakes up:
The Doctor and Stormy flee the house, getting locked out, just as Craig reenters and is attacked by the Cybermat.
The Doctor reprograms the Cybermat, while telling Craig his woes:
…And Craig has fallen asleep. The Doctor heads off on his own early the next morning, looking for how the Cybermen are getting back down from their spaceship:
The Doctor climbs down and finds the cybership, buried underground, with half built Cybermen skulking about. He gives them a choice, to deactivate themselves, or he’ll do it for them. Craig shows up — don’t worry, Stormy has been left in capable hands — and tries to fend off the Cybermen with a pricing gun. After that fails, the Cybermen capture him, intending to convert him into the Cyberleader:
But what saves the day? Love. Craig hears Stormy crying over the speaker, and his love allows how to fight agains the transformation… with love:
The Doctor says his good-byes, but it’s clear that there is something wrong:
…And the Doctor is off again:
But the episode is not quite over. River song is looking through her diary, when a familiar one-eyed woman appears along with the Silence:
The final verses of the children’s rhyme we’ve been hearing snippets of are finally sung:
The penultimate episode of this series (season to Americans) is amongst my favorites, and certainly my favorite of the last half of the series. The humor was spot on, the villains well played, and the story just touching enough without getting too mushy. Maybe it’s because I’m the father of my own little Stormaggedon, but the father/son storyline was something I could very much relate to. And, although Amy and Rory were missed, it’s good to see Matt Smith able to interact with other characters on the screen.
Now, I’m just wondering how they are going to tie this all up in a single episode.
