Hello, dear listen, and welcome back to Flight Through Entirety.
The only Doctor Who podcast, which has never found itself weirdly
distracted by the sight of the Venus de Milo.
I'm Nathan.
I'm Todd.
I'm Simon, and I'm a sacrificial Scarlione Mona Lisa for this
one.
Well, implausibly enough, the Dr. Amy and Rory have arrived at
Apalapicia during a global pandemic.
And when their cosplay reenactment of the arc in space part one
goes horribly wrong.
It looks like the cheerful, genial, carefree Amy, we've grown to
love, will be lost forever under a massive layer of latex.
Can the doctor resolve this paradox?
Let's find out as we discuss the girl who waited.
I want to start by saying, I think that the setup makes no sense.
And I don't normally care about these things at all, but I don't
know what this wretched quarantine facility is supposed to be
doing.
Isn't it supposed to be, um, allowing people who have one day to
live to basically live out the rest of their life?
Exactly.
I'm pining for, I'm pining for budget departure lounges as we
speak, that one day, that one day that stretches into what feels
like eternity, who would have thought we would long for such
things?
I think it's the Millennium Centre, isn't it?
The lobbying sort of upstairs.
Really?
I thought it was Cardiff National Airways.
It has featured very prominently as another hospital in New Earth
I think.
We have certainly sort of seen that area before.
No, so it is meant to allow people who have a day to live, to live
a sort of long life in that day, and that's the effect that we
see.
But if they have only a day to live and the time is speeded up, why
is the sort of advancement of the disease not speeded up as well?
Just...
Well, it's clear that Amy, when she was waiting 2 weeks or 3 weeks
or however long it was in that 1st advance that she has, she says
you know, the doctor asks, what did you eat?
And she says, well, I didn't feel hungry.
And so it's obvious to me anyway, that all those things.
Like, it's probably in the 36 odd years that Amy's there that she
doesn't even have a sandwich to keep her going.
It's like, you know, people on television, never having to go to
the toilet.
The same principle applies here.
Yes, okay.
Okay.
So I'm with that.
So there is some kind of metabolic thing happening that means that
they really sort of actually only experience a day.
They're probably peckish by the end of it, you know, at the end of
the day.
Yes, but they're distracted by Disneyland Clom and various other
things.
And so that sort of keeps them going.
I was very, very confused and it's the 1st time I've even thought
to wonder.
Reminds me of a Star Trek Voyager or TNG episode.
It does.
I thought that too. really is.
Is there a specific one?
No, just one. generally.
I think there's a Voyager episode called Wink of an Eye.
Did I dream that?
or Blinker.
I can't remember which of those.
Mid-season, but it is a special, I believe it's also called.
That's right.
It does have a very sort of high concept Star Trek feel to it in a
way that is a little bit unusual for Doctor Who.
But I felt that way initially about Amy's choice last year as
well.
I thought that that was not really a traditional sort of Doctor
Who approach.
Another closely observed story of a tight cast.
May I say, this is one of my favourites of the season and watching
it again.
I like it even more than I did the 1st time.
I agree.
Yeah, I loved it and it only gets better on repeated viewings.
Because it allows the actors to show us the reason they're on
screen.
They're great performers and they have a brilliant dynamic and
empathy with each other and it's a superb episode.
I also think Tom McRae is very good.
Again, I'm surprised at the subtleties.
It shouldn't work.
It's a bit hokey and as you said, it actually feels, I don't even
know if it's Voyager.
It feels more lower decks with less jokes in that it's just, it
just feels one of those tightly confined things that feels as if
it's a lampoon of the show itself or it starts off that way.
Oh, look, there's a choice.
There's a lift.
Oh, we're in a white room.
It's so meta.
And again, Matt Smith and the doctor will also throw in a few of
those lines just to show that, oh, no, it's all a bit light.
And then suddenly, we're facing the idea of ageing alone and being
separated from those we love and having to survive in our heads.
And you didn't mention lockdown, did you, Nathan?
So I shan't.
But I think, Nathan, if I can say, um, and Todd, uh, I think the
reason it feels like uh, a bit like a Star Trek episode, um, and I
don't think it's just the, the art direction.
I think it's the fact that it's one of those examples of the new
series doing a 45 minute episode which feels like it's designed to
be a 45 minute episode.
And that, of course, is what the Star Trek format is.
Yeah.
I think where, I mean, I've heard this conversation many times, I
know, but I'll bring it up, again, I think for me when modern
Doctor Who is unsatisfactory is when it's trying to do a story of
the scope of the classic series in terms of length, but squishing
it into 45 minutes.
Sometimes that works, but sometimes it's just unsatisfactory.
I think when the new series is spectacular, this, the doctor's
wife, for instance, another one notable from this season, it's
when it's doing something that the original series never touched
because it works in the 45 minute format.
Yeah, you certainly, I think, couldn't do this as a four-parter.
No, it'd be terrible.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
This is one of my 3 favourite episodes of the season.
If I don't count the Christmas Carol Christmas special, the
other's been the doctor's wife and next week's episode, the gold
complex, which I think is extraordinary.
But my big question is, like, would you have pushed the green
button or the red button, like, like, I just would have normally
gone for green.
I don't know why, like, you know, like, I just think that's really
funny.
And the doctor's coat.
This is the 1st time he wears that long coat.
No, he actually wore it.
Where did he wear it?
Let's kill Hitler. in Let's kill Hitler.
Yeah, yeah.
Yes, we did have a discussion of it back then and Simon was not a
fan, I seem to remember.
I love the line of the original.
No, Jody wasn't the 1st doctor to go to the op shop.
Do you remember Army?
Do you remember Army Surplus in the 80s when there was a battalion
of students wearing these things?
Yeah.
Yeah, it was definitely a thing.
Often roleplaying games, weren't they?
Well, I'm feeling a bit attacked right now.
You mentioned the God complex, Todd, and this is, I think, Nick
Curran's 1st episode as director, and he will do the God complex
next week, and I think he does an extraordinary job.
He will be back.
I mean, he does the Angels of Manhattan and the Star of the Daleks
and then Dave the Doctor.
And I think all these episodes have the film, the way it's filmed
and the locations.
I just, I think he's a great director.
I really do.
I can see why he's caught back.
Yeah, the white rooms, which could look really cheesy, and in the
classic series, when it sort of attempted to do white rooms to do
sort of ultra modern things, the lighting wasn't up to it, and
perhaps the people painting the sets weren't as careful as they
might have been.
And it never...
There'd usually be footprints.
That's right.
It never, ever quite comes off.
But here I think it's just beautifully done.
And there's an incredible shot actually where the TARDIS is seen
through the doors.
So the doors are the 1st thing that Rory sees when the tartar
store opens.
And they're just sort of perfectly framed.
Like everything is very symmetrical.
Everything is very clinical.
And I think it looks amazing.
And just the fact that those buttons are just essentially lift
buttons.
You know, they're not space buttons or anything like that.
They are exactly what we see every day.
I think it works really well.
And in scenes where you have, for instance, to Amy speaking to one
another, he finds interesting ways of doing that, of, you know, of
getting us to see both of their faces, for instance, in those
scenes.
He's really extraordinary.
He's responsible for a lot of the look of Sherlock, I think, and
it is, I think, a much bigger departure from the way the Doctor
Who has been directed before than it seems initially.
I'll just use the word elegant.
I think that's, for me, the word that summarises the style. not
showy, it's not over the top, but everything feels like it's
placed perfectly.
I mean, there are extraordinary shots though, like and very
strange things.
I think about, you know, there's a conversation that old Amy has
through the Tartar store with Rory, where it almost looks like
they're touching, and it is just a sort of strange fade.
There's some wipes.
There's all sorts of, you know, things that Doctor Who doesn't
normally do, but they're not intrusive.
And yeah, maybe elegant is the right word for it.
Design wise, it's it's actually mannerist, not just with the white
gardens, but also with the topia.
It's, there was that period after, anyway, in the 18th century
when everyone was painting their houses, all ivory.
And doing this sort of thing to their gardens, and you're right
with the swipes, because there's a, it's a whole period of French
cinema that does a very similar thing.
They're very staged shots, you know, right through the, yeah, very
composed, very, very studied, assumed and mannered.
These things don't last long as a period of design and interior.
Sorry, Morm did it to the whole Somerset Morm's wife, apparently
did it to the whole thing.
No coward said, everyone looks anaemic.
You can't touch a thing.
So they didn't laugh, doesn't last long as a design trend.
But it's definitely the style of this.
And that kind of removal that a cinema maker or a filmmaker puts
in when you're aware of stylistic qualities of it, I think, really
serves this because that little bit of removal, when you're
noticing the camera trick, so you're noticing, the position of the
camera, you're noticing the subtleties of it.
It pulls you away and gives you a moment to breathe.
I think it works really well with this sort of thing when you're
encouraged to be so close to the characters.
Yeah, I mean, you basically just have the 3 regulars, don't you?
You've got Emelda Staunton as a voice.
You've got the projected woman kind of behind the reception desk
and that's about it, isn't it?
And the hand bots who have no kind of character.
I never realised it was a melder.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it was only when the closing credits come up, they went, 0
my goodness.
Yeah, well, we had Michael Sheen earlier on this season doing a
voiceover and now we have Imelda Staunton doing one.
So it's...
Just like Frasier.
It's a way of getting shoe horning.
Yes, that's right.
A big name in who might otherwise not have wanted to spend a lot
of time in makeup, I think.
Obviously, Karen spends a lot of time in makeup. or doesn't, as
the case may be.
I actually do think that, um, even on a rewatch, um, the
prosthetics on her, I just wanted to be a bit older.
I mean, I know that sounds incredible to say that.
She's our age.
I think she was thinking that.
I think she looks overdone.
She looks overcooked.
No, I love the prosthetics.
I don't think that high definition is very kind to them, I have to
say.
It's very difficult to do that on the budget for the time and to
get it all effective, but she also does it.
The actress herself does it with the position of her face and the
way her expressions and pulling back and obviously you can't emote
too much when you've got a face covered in Zygon.
It's funny, maybe I've got lower...
Maybe I've got lower standards, but I actually thought that it was
really, really good, ageing prosthetic.
And also, I'm glad that they didn't age her too much.
Like, it feels, it felt sort of almost understated rather than
comedy ageing, and I think that made it more powerful, and
probably does allow just touching what Bridges say, probably does
allow the actress to emote a little bit more through facial
expressions where heavier ageing makeup might prevent that.
I think she's extremely good, and this is obviously her episode to
shine.
And I think old Amy is properly different from our Amy.
And it's also fun to see little moments of our Amy break through
in that performance.
You know, when she smiles, when she laughs, you know, her 1st
laugh in 36 years about the doctor's fares.
And that's a little bit of whiplash, isn't it?
Because we get the relief of seeing that our Amy is still in there
but she immediately has to tell us that she's had a miserable 36
years, sort of straight after that moment, just to kind of make
Rory feel worse, I guess.
Yeah, I mean, what do you think of the performance?
I think there's an underlying anger in it, and I actually think
her performance is great, and going back to the makeup, I think
the makeup distracts me from the performance, like because I
wanted, I wanted to be a little bit more than what it actually is
right?
And I can see why that they've, you know, they want her to remote
through it.
But I just get distracted by the differences between them.
I want.
I just visually, I just want it to be a bit more, but I really
truly thought it was a tour de force, Karen, the only criticism
I'm going to have her entire performance is her.
She's, I don't think she's a natural fighter, and I think, you
know, in the fighting sequences.
It's very choreographed, and at times I just think it doesn't look
she doesn't look natural, like it looks like it's more cut
together, you know, but I think she's just phenomenal in this
episode, really, and, uh, it continues my journey to say that I've
reevaluated Karen quite substantially in what she can deliver.
The, um, fight sequences are pretty amazing again.
Again, it's that sort of dropped frames and use of sort of
speeding up and slowing down and stuff like that to make it kind
of a bit artificial again, to give you the distance that Richard
was talking about and make it a little bit more visually
interesting, I think.
What do you do with a ninja cat lady?
for certain years.
I do wish there'd been a canine cameos somehow.
It just would have felt right or as a cat.
Todd said it.
This works because of Karen, and this was a make or break.
The whole thing posits on her ability to sell the performance.
But I think when they're also together, you really do see the
difference between her normal performance and the older and it's
really quiet.
You do, don't you?
The subtleties are really quite extraordinary.
And I think also having Arthur there, because I think he's amazing
in this as well.
Um, They shine, yeah.
Just about, just to bounce off, you know, really.
Like, he allows her to shine.
He's a strength, I think, anyway.
Is this a Dr. Light episode?
I think it must be.
I was working trying to work that out when I was watching it last
night.
I got that impression because he's basically just in the TARDIS
and immediately in the room outside.
So it's it's the sort of semi-light episode.
Yeah, yes.
A little bit like Karen in The Lodger, where, you know, you could
shoot her stuff in a day.
And so she's sort of not required for most of the episode and
everything that's very complicated involves Arthur and Karen and
Karen in particular who's got makeup and appears twice in the same
scene and stuff like that.
So they keep Matt Smith out of it, a beard.
But he's still...
Rightly so.
I think he's very, very good in it though, I have to say.
He takes the attack very well, doesn't he?
It's exactly the right pitch.
He doesn't argue with her.
He knows when to be quiet and when to when to suffer the righteous
indignation.
I was really impressed with that scene. you know, when you're on
the edge of the sofa.
Don't argue with her, let her speak.
She has every right.
She's carried it so successfully.
John Woodnut didn't have to deal with all of that air galbumin on
his face when he was up to up for Broton, you know.
Hard work.
If I can just touch on what Todd was saying about Arthur and Rory
I think that that performance is so good.
And one of the things I loved about it was the way it communicates
how a relationship can develop over the decades.
You know, having myself now been in a relationship for 22, 23
years.
I'll get into trouble for that later.
Edit that today.
Married legally for 2 of them, but in a relationship for such a
long time.
It's amazing how you do see your other half, almost through the
same eyes as when you 1st met them, regardless of how much the
ageing process changes someone physically.
And, you know, you look at an old photograph and you're reminded
oh my god, that's right. you know, this, this, this bit about them
has physically changed.
And so Arthur, well, Rory is able to accept the older Amy in a
complete way.
And even at the end when, you know, he's been tricked by the
doctor and they are going to leave the old Amy behind, he still
has that connection with her as his wife, as his wife of 36 years
effectively.
And I think that's just so heartbreaking, I felt.
I think it's a great way to spice up everybody's long-term
relationships, shove them in a bit of domaru armour and see what
comes about.
Or duplicating them in some way.
You don't think.
You want 2 husbands, do you?
Yeah, no.
One's enough.
There is that moment, though, isn't there, where, and it's the
thing that convinces Amy, old Amy, um, that young Amy really needs
to be saved, and she says that it's, you were carrying her, and
you were looking at her the way that you used to look at me.
And there's, like, I think the most interesting thing about the
episode isn't essentially the kind of moral dilemma at the end
because that really just happens for space reasons, doesn't it?
Like the only reason we can't have more than one Amy and the
TARDIS is because that's a rule we made up.
There's no kind of...
You watched the 5 doctors as well from my memory after that.
I think it's a little bit more than that.
I think it does make a story sense.
I mean, I know it's a space reason that you can't have the older
AB coexisting with the young AB having had a separate life, but
you know, I think we're allowed to have that as a space reason.
And I'm glad that, yeah.
And I'm glad, though, that that choice isn't taken away from us by
the old Amy being killed or anaesthetised by the robots.
And so she can't get away.
You know, I like the fact that they had to make a choice or the
doctor had to close the door on her.
I think that's so powerful.
They do a fake out though, don't they?
Just before the end of it.
We see her fighting the robots and then Rory sort of runs off with
Amy before she's sort of anaesthetized and we think that that's
going to be old Amy sacrifices herself nobly so that her younger
counterpart and Rory can get away.
And that isn't a thing.
And I also really like too.
Um, I like the fact that we are told by Matt's misperformance that
he's lying to Rory.
And it is just when he just shakes his head subtly when we talk
about the prospect of bringing them both back.
And then he's really kind of playing it straight and he, you know
like, we don't know what the rules are.
We know probably that they're not going to get Karen to be 2
Karens and put on ageing makeup and stuff for the rest of the
season.
We know that's probably not going to happen.
But, you know, when he starts to talk about the prospect of
rescuing them both, and he comes up with all of this sort of
techno babble, why it might work, we already know that he's not
telling the truth.
I can now pick that up in hindsight, but I confess I didn't pick
that up while watching it.
Yeah, there's a little moment, yeah, where he shakes his head when
they're discussing the prospect of it.
You know, I think Rory might be asking, is it possible?
And we just see a shot of Matt looking at that screen and just
subtly shaking his head.
There's no reason why.
Yeah, but there's no reason why, I mean, they couldn't have done
it.
I mean, they could have dropped the old Amy in a parallel universe
like they did with the other David Tennant.
I mean, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
She could have ended up on the planet Kolkakron, which is my
favourite place for dropping people off.
Is that where the garage gets dropped off?
It is where...
Yeah, I mean, they could have done that, but then you lose the
kind of thing at the end.
But I actually think what is more interesting is the way that Amy
convinces the other Amy to rescue, you know, the old Amy is
absolutely adamant that she's not going to permit it to happen.
She's had the conversation as the young Amy before and it didn't
turn out that way.
And so she decides.
And it's it's Rory is the entire reason for it.
You know, this is an episode more than Amy's choice.
I think that it is about Amy's relationship with Rory.
Todd, you were saying before, that this is one of your favourites
of the season.
It's actually my it is my favourite of the season, and I'm
surprised, you know, myself to say it as a fan.
What made it work for you?
Well, I think Karen is that good, but I also, I think Arthur and
Rory's journey, his relationship with the wife and all this
relationship with the doctor is very defined in this, you know, he
especially at the end where, you know, he's quite angry at the
doctor for turning.
You're turning me into you and he doesn't want that.
And I think it underlines their relationship all the way through.
He's there with Amy, but not really with the doctor.
Like, it's always Amy for him.
Um, I think throughout his entire run, really, in the show, um, and
he obviously has a respect for the doctor in the end, but it's
never, they're never like, you know, it's never the doctor in just
roaring.
Do you know what I'm saying?
And I think he looks wonderful, like, with his Rory Cam and having
the big magnifying glass, like his, like, um, um, Indiana Jones or
whatever.
And then we've also got that, we've got the robot Rory, which is
so cute and and, uh, yeah, sit down, Rory.
My favourite beat is where they're sort of hugging or crying or
something and robot Rory just sort of turns, turns away to give
them a little bit of privacy.
I think that's sort of gorgeous.
That's actually super telling, isn't it?
Because she's initially really hostile to Rory, and it looks like
calling the robot Rory is dismissive, and she even refers to him
as her pet.
And that's always this sort of ugly suspicion we have about the
relationship is that Amy just bosses Rory around and treats him
really kind of terribly and stuff like that.
But it absolutely establishes that that's not what the
relationship is at all.
I think that's one of the things here is that what you've just
said, you think that's where it's going, but then it actually
doesn't go there.
Like it actually shows you, And emphatically how much she loves
him and their relationship, whereas there's other episodes that
make you frustrated because it's like, you're treating him like
dirt and you're not showing me that you really love him.
But here I think it really does.
It's also, I think, an acknowledgement that, and I think there has
to be some sort of acknowledgement that there's going to be some
sort of resentment, that she's been left there for decades, uh
left behind, as it were, again.
And so I think, you're right, Told, it communicates at warmly, but
I think it also has that slight little, just enough little edge
there, just to communicate.
Yes, there is some level of resentment.
It sits uncomfortably in a season, well, nostalgically in a season
where it feels like Philip Hinchcliffe is back. giving our heroin
just the right amount of dush that he gave Sarah Jane.
I really want what's going to happen to her next week should be
stuck in a bucket.
Forced to be in a swamp.
She has had a bad time and this is another...
She has to go and save her again.
Not a great year.
Yeah.
We talked a little bit in last week's episode about how that plot
thread about the abduction of Amy's daughter has kind of gone
dormant, and it was for obvious reasons last week, and clearly we
don't want to deal with it this week either.
But it will obviously be back in a few weeks time.
The other thing with its episode.
I guess the reason why I'm really liking it this time through is
because I think maybe the 1st time or through, I was just unsure
whether I really liked it as much as I did, because for me, it
came on the back of a string of episodes which I don't like.
Like, I don't like the gang of stuff.
I don't like the 2 Stephen Moffatt episodes with River.
I mean, there's some clever stuff in there, but I don't think they
hang together.
And I really detest last week's episode.
Sorry.
And then you've got the pirate one.
And it's just like besides the doctor's wife.
Like, this is suddenly a really good episode.
So sometimes I'm a bit sort of like, is it because I've been so
down on things.
Is this shining because of that?
But I don't think so.
I'm really, really think it just is a beautiful shining beacon of
life.
You know?
And I felt that from sort of the moment it starts, there's
something about the way it kicks off, which establishes this
terrible sense of foreboding.
When she presses and we touched on it earlier, you know, Todd, why
would you press the red button, why would you press the green
button?
But as soon as she presses the red waterfall, you know something
is going to go wrong and it's going to be an irrevocable
decision.
That's made as soon as she walks through that door.
And it's established when then Rory tries to come back and walk
through the red anchor door. you know, it doesn't work and that's
kind of reinforced when, you know, after we've established that
Amy's timeline is moving at a far, faster rate.
They go back to the TARDIS and this, you know, 80s bedside digital
clock radio is clicking over at this absolutely rapid rate and it
just makes me, that sort of time disappearing like that, just
makes me sick to my stomach every time I watch it.
It's so subtle. but so disturbing.
Simon, did you think of, I was trying to remember the title?
elevated to the gala?
less, uh, Asansurp or Lesher?
Oh, I'm not familiar with that, sorry.
Anyway, it's Louis Mal.
It's that French film where illicit lovers become trapped in an
elevator and there's a murder plot.
Miles Davis did the score.
It's a beautiful piece of new wave cinema.
And there are some nods to that in this in the way the shots are
composed.
So there's lots of, there's lots of great cred and history in
this.
This isn't an accidental episode.
I'm with Todd when he says, this just feels artfully done, whereas
all the others feel like a panic response to having to do some
wild story arcs and get some drama in.
This is real drama because it's about the relationship of 2
people.
And and that thing about choice, you know, um, There's a story
about human nature where in the original novel, Paul Cornell makes
the, you know, the little, instead of a watch.
It's a cricket ball, I think.
And it's Russell's decision to make it a watch because you can
decide to open it.
And so you can physically see a decision being made just by a
prop.
And then that thing where you have 2 buttons.
There's no reason to prefer one over the other.
You just pick one at random and just the consequences of that are
so great.
And we've seen a hint of it in aliens of London, of all things
where, you know, the doctor sets the Tartars a bit wrong and
suddenly 18 months have passed and, you know, Jackie's life has
been kind of ruined and all of that.
And just the sort of the momentous nature of what the doctor
does.
And I adore that speech where Rory shouts at him and says, you
think you could get a history book out and just find out whether
there's a global pandemic on the planet that we're about to land.
You know, the doctors, the doctor's incredible kind of casual
disregard of things.
And, and the way that, um, the way that time travel in this era is
able to have these sort of incredible bizarre consequences.
So just magnifying that tiny binary choice into this sort of 36
year nightmare just because you press the wrong button.
It's really terrifically interesting, I think.
Amy's very, uh, skilled because she's managed to make a sonic
probe as well.
Yes.
I mean, is she really, is she really that good?
And reprogramming the interface as well.
She manages to do that somehow.
And not eat, as you've said.
There's a few little things here that I find very Star Treky that
you sort of, you gloss over those things or they're in there and
that's fine.
You know, it's probably why it's not my favourite of the season.
I like the Sonic Pro because it is used as a character thing
because she calls it a sonic probe, not a sonic screwdriver
because she hates the doctor.
And then she eventually grudgingly admits that it is a Sonic
screwdriver.
This is exactly how I wanted the 13th doctor to be portrayed.
A really sort of samurai style.
Commodionly and slightly furious with the world and there's
probably a cat there somewhere, probably a whole troop of them.
But yes, and a nice nod to the 6th doctor's sonic probe there
too.
What do we think of the threat?
What do we think of the handbots?
love it Especially when you encounter the secondary injection
system.
With all of them?
That is so good.
Yeah, yeah, that looks properly terrifying.
Because I mean, they're kind of ludicrous.
You just need to, they're another sort of Doctor Who monster that
you can stroll briskly away from.
And I guess it's just the sort of numbers of them that teleport in
and kind of block your path and stuff.
But that secondary injection system, which just looks like a sort
of big Dalek gun coming out of a face with these teeth, like, you
know, like it's so incredibly great.
And designed that.
Who in the, who was part of the medical fraternity of this, of
this relaxation kindness hostice was thinking, how can we...
What about tourist numbers, you know?
It does add to the whole sinister nature of it, because remember
the robots aren't actually there to deliberately try and kill or
harm her.
It's a kindness.
And as the doctor says, their kindness will kill you because, you
know, she's of a different of a different species.
It goes back to what I was trying to say about the let's kill
Hitler things when we were doing that episode, the like the, you
know, the antibody amoeba things in the test select or whatever it
was called.
The catchphrase that they would having was so obvious and basic
this one is, you know, this is a kindness.
Do not be alarmed.
It's the exact opposite of that.
It's an actual nice thing to say, but it's so threatening and
menacing because you know that the kindness will kill her.
And this is what I was trying to say during the Let's Kill Hitler
episode, that it was all a bit too obvious, right?
Whereas this has got that extra layer in it, which makes it so
much more interesting.
No, I agree.
There's something towards the end as well where it sort of takes
on a secondary meaning too, as if releasing Amy from 36 years of
her kind of torment and stuff like that.
The sort of results of that just random decision that she made
releasing her from the sort of torment of that, is accompanied by
the idea that they're doing her a kindness.
So I think it does sort of take on a secondary meaning.
Something that I really like about this is that there's elements
of this that come back into play, perhaps in season 10, like the
whole, the room full of all the doors that Amy has to go through
reminds me of Bill and Nardo having the room full of different, um
uh, doors in that trilogy episode, and obviously we get the
magnificent garden where Missy is, um, and, uh, Is that the same
location, is it?
Yeah.
And also some of the dialogue, like, I was waiting.
I waited.
I waited for you.
This is something that Stephen will bring back with Bill very much
later on.
There's this little, there's this little moments in here for me
having obviously, you know, watched so far ahead that they just
sort of take back or rework, you know, later on, just little
elements.
And I kind of like that.
It's sort of like, oh, wow, you've referenced this or whether you
know it or not.
It's come back into play because it's something that's sort of in
your subconscious and that sort of, I just think underlines how
good it is perhaps, you know?
Yeah.
I mean, it's that Moffat thing of the timing, whiminess once
again.
I mean, I know it's not a Moffat written story, but, you know, it's
in the Moffat showrunner era.
The long way round.
Moffatt loves to play with the aspect of time, which is damaging
which is awful, which, you know, so the long way round in the girl
in the fireplace, you know, Rory takes the long way round by being
the centurion for 1900 years, whatever it is.
You've got Capaldi Laser in heaven sent.
As you sort of mentioned, Todd, these themes keep coming up again
and again, and each time they come up, they're usually somewhat
terrifying.
In fact, even the way Amy and Rory are written out of the program
have that aspect as well.
It's actually incredibly uncomfortable the more you think about it
and that's why I think it's great.
I really think, um, I totally agree with you, Simon there.
But I just think some of the dialogue.
Like, you know, besides, you know, I waited, I waited for you and
other things that we've mentioned.
But, you know, Rory is the most beautiful man.
I'd ever met, or, you know, I'm giving her the days with you.
These lines are so affecting, I think.
And I think underline a bit of their exit, spoiler alert, at the
end of next week.
Like, you know, there is a little bit of, I think, underlining
buildup that they can accept that maybe it is time to move on
because these things keep happening, these bad things and they get
we're always having to save Amy again and she's had to go through
all this and we've had the whole river, daughter saga and
everything that she's been put through this season.
So I actually find that, although it's perhaps not specifically
flag posted, I think there is an underlying current here, which
helps, I think, build to the end of next week as well, I just
think anyway, with their characters.
And the possibility of moving on from the doctor.
You know, there is that central scene, which I alluded to before
where the 2 Amys are speaking and young Amy is trying to convince
old Amy to save her.
And the whole conversation is around Rory.
Um, And it's, it's shot so that we can see both of them at the
same time.
We can watch them react to one another.
And it's another pivotal speech because it's another choice.
You know, it's like Amy's choice between the 2 buttons at the
beginning.
It's a choice that's played out and presumably has continued to
play out circularly as a result of this whole sort of weird
paradox thing.
You know, it's happened over and over again, young and old Amy
talk.
And this time, she is broken out of it by Rory, you know, looking
over at Rory and saying, do you want to deny him those years with
you?
Um, and even the point where they, you know, they come together at
the end and they have to think one thing.
They have to have one thought together and it's the Macarena.
They're doing the Macarena and you think, oh, there's some zany
wacky Doctor Who nonsense that's just, just a few years out of
dates as usual.
But then it turns out that that was that was where their 1st kiss
happened.
You know, even that ends up being about their love for Rory and
their relationship with Rory.
And in a season where, you know, we've seen her sort of play hide
and seek with him and run off or dismiss him for being gay or all
of that sort of thing, it is actually really great that that love
is so central and so apparent.
I think in this episode.
I just found this episode such an easy episode to watch.
I know that sounds ridiculous, but I've just had weeks and weeks
of not finding it easy to watch episodes.
Like I find them hard slogs or just totally mind confusing or
whatever or just, but I just found it just played out and I just
Let it wash over me and I just loved it so much.
I was just happy they turned the lights on for once.
Especially now the last one.
Eventually that does get to you, doesn't it?
I think the thing about this episode is that it just to echo what
Todd was saying is that it's so easy to watch, but I think it's so
easy to watch because it's all on the on the right level, but it's
all on the on the same level.
It's not, there's nothing about it which is confused and despite
the timey, wimey elements.
I don't really feel that there's anything about it which is
confusing.
The visual style is so impactful.
And just going back to the toperi in the garden.
I mean, just, just the Dr. Seussness of it, is just a lovely
little thing just to say we are on an alien planet without having
stupid space things everywhere.
You know, you only need a little bit to communicate that you're
somewhere else and somewhere different.
And so that's why I think that it is such a good episode because
everyone seems to be working towards the same goal and everyone
gets to that goal.
Very much so.
Well, they listener, that's all we have time for this week.
We'll be back next week to confront our greatest cheers, again, in
the God complex.
In the meantime, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts
and you can keep up with us at Flight Through Entirety on Facebook
at FTE podcast on Twitter and on our website, FlightthroughEntirety
com, where you'll find links to our other podcasts, Bondfinger
Jody InterTara, maximum power, and Untitled Star Trek Project.
Until next time, May, all the bacteria you're carrying be properly
registered and authorised.
Thank you very much for listening and good night.
See you soon.
Bye for now.
Good night.
That was Flight Through Entirety, starring Todd Bealby, Nathan
Bottomley, Simon Moore, and Richard Stone.
Theme arrangement by Cameron Lamb.
This episode, the word elegant, was recorded on the 29th of August
2021 and released on the 21st of November.
If you want to recreate the experience of 36 years alone without
having a sandwich or going to the toilet, and I recommend visiting
the planet Earth in the year 2020.
Might be a good idea to get your shots first.
I just need to drop in a little bit of trivia.
Do this.
For those of you who, uh, like Wentworth or have watched Wentworth
and, you know, a friend of the podcast, Pete McTie, the girl who
waited is one of the nods to Doctor Who he gave to an episode
title, I think it was the 3rd episode, uh, Wentworth, and he
called the girl who waited, and um, others being fear her and hell
bent.
I know that has to be mentioned.
Surely there was a love and monsters as well.
If there wasn't, they certainly shouldn't have.
Had a gunfighters, I hope.
Yeah, well.
Prison in space.
But I think the thing about this episode is that it just to
echo...