After last week I was braced for the second part to not quite match my high expectations but Flesh and Stone was another cracker from the pen of Steven Moffat.
The plot trundled along nicely while setting up a host of high points - such as Amy's "blind walk", her chilling countdown during the excellent chase through the Byzantium, and the Doctor and Octavian's final chat - as well as adding lashings of intrigue into the mystery melting pot surrounding both the season "story arc" and the tale of River Song.
River could have proved a cumbersome piece of baggage but, handled in this way it greatly improved my views towards her character and the ending left us crying out for the next installment of her and the Doctor's adventures. Does she kill him?! What exactly is the nature of their future relationship? How does she know his real name?!
The story looked great too. The Angels themselves are a fantastic monster that must become a regular feature but the ship, forest and last week's Maze of the Dead looked great and added to the wonderfully eerie atmosphere.
Yet again it is a tad frustraing that events at the end have dominated much of the "post match" discussion. This week it wasn't Graham Norton but Amy's advances on the Doctor that raised a few eyebrows. It did grate a little bit for me but the Doctor's wonderfully slapstick awkward-ness in those moments was amusing and, like it or not, it does not take away from a top-notch two-parter.
I thought the story as a whole did well at evoking some of the classic elements of old school Who, with the right blend of the modern day thrown in for good measure. I hope that, after a couple of stories that lacked a little depth, this proves the blueprint for things to come.
Episode 8/10
Story 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment