Doctor Who: The Lodger

[eve11]

"I think I can see a Ryman's"... must be a brit thing? I don't get it.

One day later... he must have had cash and the earpiece in his pockets, right?

Also, I wonder which house was the fake? The one with the second floor or without? The roofs look different between Craig's building and the others in the row.

There's an eggshell on the counter already when the Doctor tosses the others over there. Continuity! Also, from this scene I was wondering if maybe a bit got cut out where Craig gets ahead in the call center... he mentions eg that he's got a better business plan and stuff in this scene and nothing comes of it. Fails the Chekov test, that does.

"I've got one of those faces; people are always blurting out their plans when I'm around."

"Oh yes, I'll shout if that happens. Something like, 'I was not expecting this!'"

I think my favorite scene is the one where he's talking with Amy for the first time. "Earth to Pond, come in Pond!" I love when he calls her Pond! And the scrambled dialogue! Also Amy was great in this episode.

More evidence for the Doctor not knowing about the people going up the stairs: the ship lures the sad date lady up at the same time that Amy entreats the Doctor to listen to the TARDIS going bonkers.

"All I've got to do is pass for an ordinary human being. Simple. What could possibly go wrong?"
"Have you seen you?"
"So, you're just going to be snide. No helpful hints?"
"Hmm, well, here's one. Bow tie. Get rid."
"Bow ties. are. cool."

"I could do those things, I don't but I could."

"Amy I said the zig-zag plotter!"
"I pulled the zig-zag plotter!"
"You're standing with the door behind you?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, take two steps to your right and pull it again."
HA!

Grabbed the toothbrush instead of the sonic, ha!

"Football. Okay, well done, that is normal."

"I can't go up to these guys and go hey this is my new flatmate, he's called The Doctor."
"Why not?"
"Cause it's weird!"
*three seconds later*
"Hello! I'm Craig's new flatmate; I'm called The Doctor."

"So where are you strongest?"
"Arms."

I don't know why but that line makes me laugh every time I hear it. *snerk*

Incidentally I like the bit in the Confidential where James Corden tries to convince all of us that they are cgi-ing in Matt's football supremacy. "It's all a green screen. They put the ball in afterward."

"You are so on the team. Next week we've got the Crown and Anchor; we're going to annihilate them!"
"Annihilate, no. No violence, do you understand me? Not while I'm around, not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the Oncoming storm.... and you basically meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Lovely."

All nines is okay... but all fives is "even better." Oh Doctor, you're crap at lying.

"Do I have to stay now?" Love how it ends up that they do what NOBODY wants. That is so real life it kinda hurts. Ha!

He spits the wine back out. And I adore that whole scene to pieces.
"Ah ha! Oh my god, did you see what he just did?"
"No, sorry, what's happening? Are you going to live with monkeys now?"

I couldn't pay attention at all to the hallway scene between Craig and Sophie on account of that totally crazy-weird portrait in the background. WTH art department? Who let that through?

"Meanwhile I shall recruit a spy." The way the scenes play out here, I thought he was trying to convince Craig to do something for him at first, with the breakfast. But that didn't make sense. The cat going up the stairs later on was a bit too subtle of a hint.

"It's a planning meeting; it's important."
"You're important."
oh, I did love that bit.

LOL, the work scene was very Single White Female, wasn't it?

"Madrid? Ha! What a dump. I have to stay!"
This scene also is rather brilliant.

"You've used non-technological technology of [lamasteen? what does he say there?]"
"SHUT UP!"
*dies*

SFX mentioned in one of their spoilers that "one of the most used phrases in this series" gets another go. They meant "Bow ties are cool." I said "Perception Fliter." Turns out we were both right. ENOUGH WITH THE PERCEPTION FILTERS ALREADY! Man, every alien race and their cousin has one, come on!

"Hello! I'm Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue. Please state the nature of the emergency."

"No! Worst choice ever!"

"Will it work?"
"Yes!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"Is that a lie?"
"...Of course it's a lie!"

I love the look on the Doctor's face after he slaps Craig and Craig is like "Sophie!!!" Ha! So cheesy but for some reason that was a lot more fun than eg, the way that love saved the day in Victory of the Daleks. Possibly because it was at least hinted/threaded through the story, and something the Doctor could conceivably have figured out.

Oh, and there's the crack, back again! So not good.

And Amy finds the engagement ring! And she might remember something; was she seeing the crack in her mind's eye or was it appearing in the TARDIS?????

Oh overall I really really loved Matt Smith in this. Reminded me of The Eleventh Hour which I adored but I thought they didn't quite ever get back to that persona, until this one. Anyway, top marks all around.

Next time...

Oh I have the horrible sinking suspicion that the "goblin, trickster, or warrior, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies, the most feared being in the cosmos"... has to be the Doctor, doesn't it? It just has to be. And River is sent to prison for killing the best man she's known... the Doctor? Is she the one who completes the time loop to imprison him in the Pandorica? This is all just my own speculation. I've not read any spoilers.

Comments

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Love what you've pointed out and quoted about this episode. Best bit ever was the discussion about looking normal and bow ties. Ah, Amy. Hee!

[eve11]

Yes, and any ep where the doctor wears sunglasses automatically wins in my book. Also where he's nekkid with barely a towel to save his modesty, and then he deliberately covers up his nipples after being called out on trying to save the day with an electric toothbrush. :D

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Heee! It was wonderfully chaotic. I love that they allowed him not to be perfectly on top of everything that was happening. Because even after all those years of experience, he's only a human timelord.

[barbiejedi.livejournal.com]

Oh Doctor, you're crap at lying.

I kind of love how this Doctor lies his face off and does it so boldly/badly. And admits it when he does. And him trying to act "human" and doing it almost-but-not-exactly right.

Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue

AHahaha, THAT was it! I loved that. XD


Ahhhhhhhhh one of my friends said "Well obvs. it's gonna be the Doctor in the box right?" and it was like AHHHHHH I HAD NOT THOUGHT OF THAT NOOOO. I... I hope it isn't. Because he's not a warrior not really, is he? Trickster I get, Goblin not so much, soaked in blood and most feared definitely, but but but but-- I don't know, I just don't want him to be in the box. Unless it's like the Dream Lord thing where it's like, The Valeyard or something. But I don't want Eleven in the box. Maybe Fourteen or Fifteen, but not Eleven. D:

[eve11]

Someone mentioned it might be "Captain Troy Hanson of International Rescue" which is apparently a shout-out to Thunderbirds? I dunno. crazy brits. ;)

I can't think of anything else it would be in the Pandorica. I think somehow the Doctor gets trapped inside it in the past; there is a time loop or something so that between either the finale and the christmas special, or the penultimate and ultimate episodes here, the Doctor spends a few hundred years trapped inside the Pandorica, trying to figure out how to stop the loop happening again. Also having to deal with a blown-up TARDIS, if the chunk he pulled out of the crack earlier is any indication.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one getting tired of perception filters.

Since I've really avoided all spoilers for the ending, this is the first I've had any inkling what the Pandorica is. If it is the Doctor inside it, it would have to be a future version of him, right? Or is it going to be like Angel getting sent to Hell for three hundred years and coming back a couple weeks later. Either way, next week's ending is guaranteed to be a frustrating cliff-hanger.

[eve11]

Yes, the perception filters are popping up all over the place; it's like the new lazy explanation on top of the sonic screwdriver. There was one around the door in The Eleventh Hour, there was mention of it in Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone (low-level perception filter or maybe we're just thick), the vampire ep had kind of the same idea of perception filters in the cloaking device that Rosanna and Federico used, I keep thinking there was something else too but at any rate, yeah, enough with the perception filters. It's lazy writing.

[promethia_tenk]

Here from who_daily :-)

I too thought it was lazy writing at first, but I think it's gone beyond that to thematic arc--it fits in with all the eyes, images, disguises, appearances, dreams, etc.

[eve11]

Hi and welcome :) I suppose there is a bit of a theme going on, with the eyes and the perception filters and stuff; but I just wish there was a less generic term.

Douglas Adams would have loved perception filters, he being the inventor of the SEP field (Somebody Else's Problem), that basically does the same thing. I think the SEP field was how the Immortal creature who decided to go about insulting every known creature in the universe (in alphabetical order) landed his spaceship on a football pitch with no one noticing? I may be glomming together a few things there... ;)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

One day later... he must have had cash and the earpiece in his pockets, right?

I love calapine's suggestion that he called up the Brigadier and demanded his back pay, but took the two thousand pounds happily because that sounded like a lot to him.

And if he didn't have the earpiece in his pocket, I bet he cobbled it together out of random bits of broken electronics. :)

[eve11]

lol, "Is that a lot? I can never tell..."

heh, now I want to see a scene where Eleven and the Brig are having a high-class kind of stuffy catching-up conversation, but Eleven is ever-so-slightly mucking it up. Can you imagine if he started out that convo with a kiss-kiss? :D

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

That would be hilarious. :)

[meremoon.livejournal.com]

Perception filters are the new deadlocks.

[eve11]

Yeah, and that came up too! Come on, how can someone's hand be deadlock-sealed to an electric-arcing sphere? Really...

[infiniteviking]

"Oh yes, I'll shout if that happens. Something like, 'I was not expecting this!'"

Someone has to write a fic where River appears in the middle of the episode and he does have to shout that. :D

I couldn't pay attention at all to the hallway scene between Craig and Sophie on account of that totally crazy-weird portrait in the background. WTH art department? Who let that through?

He mentioned the Doctor at one point while looking at the portrait. I lold.

"You've used non-technological technology of [lamasteen? what does he say there?]"
"SHUT UP!"

I also thought it was Lamasteen. Wonder if there'll be any other references to it.

ENOUGH WITH THE PERCEPTION FILTERS ALREADY!

*agrees*

the "goblin, trickster, or warrior, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies, the most feared being in the cosmos"... has to be the Doctor, doesn't it?

the way that love saved the day in Victory of the Daleks.

I was amused at Amy's reaction -- "bleh!" -- and wondered if she felt that way because she couldn't remember Rory, and whether she still could have had that insight in VotD if he'd disappeared before then.

I keep thinking it couldn't be -- they wouldn't create canon about the last Doctor ever that would then have to be rewritten someday, would they? *also isn't reading spoilers*

[eve11]

Is Lamasteen a thing? If so I've no clue what it is. Sounds like gibberish to me... maybe there's a scrambler in use.

I keep thinking it couldn't be -- they wouldn't create canon about the last Doctor ever that would then have to be rewritten someday, would they? *also isn't reading spoilers*

I don't think it's the last Doctor ever; I think it's this Doctor, and him getting released by himself sets up a Time Loop whereby some time way in the past he gets trapped and waits in the Pandorica until he comes along and releases himself. Once he releases himself, his previous self what was trapped might do some backtracking to try and stop the cracks, hence the two Doctor theory. I'm guessing after the finale that we will pick up with the Doctor what's been in the box a few centuries.

Um, anyway, that's my theory. But now I have a time travel headache.

i am wholly unspoiled

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

And River is sent to prison for killing the best man she's known... the Doctor?

my immediate reaction to that conversation except....the Bishop. he'd never met the Doctor but knew whomever River had killed; knew him and obviously respected the man greatly.

/two cents.

Re: i am wholly unspoiled

[eve11]

Hm, well he knows River is a criminal, but yeah, I'll have to go re-watch; maybe he knows of the man she killed without really having met him. But you have a good point. Still, who else could it be?

Re: i am wholly unspoiled

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

it could be anybody, honestly. it would be interesting, potentially, if it were the Doctor, but that would also, imho, be too obvious, which is why i hope that isn't the case.

and re the Bishop - at least as i interpreted the scene - he knew the man that River killed, and that man wasn't the Doctor. that scene would play really, really weird if it were.

though, you know, i've been TOTALLY wrong before. :::laughs:::