"I'm the Doctor and I will be your victim this evening!"

[eve11]

I found myself laughing out loud a lot at this episode, which is surprising because it is also quite dark. Um, it seems below I also am just re-posting lines or in places full conversations that took my fancy without actually commenting on them. Just so you know.

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Ah, that mummy is actually scary! Holy crap I hate its feet.

Yaaay credits.

Clara's outfit is awesome. She looks beautiful.

Sad smile is confusing. "It's like your mouth is malfunctioning" :( Poor Doctor.

Is that shrimp in the champagne?

"I really thought I hated you, you know?"
"Well, thank God you kept that to yourself. There was this planet, Obsidian, planet of perpetual darkness--"
"I did. I did hate you. In fact I hated you for weeks."
"Good, fine, I'm glad that we cleared that up. There was also a planet made completely of shrubs--"
"I went to a concert once. Can't remember who it was. But do you know what the singer said?"
"Well frankly that would be an absolutely astonishing guess if I did know."
"She said, 'hatred is too strong an emotion to waste on someone that you don't like'."
"Were people really confused, because I'm confused; what, did everybody leave?"
"Shut up. Look what I'm trying to say is, I don't hate you. I can never hate you. But I can't do this anymore, not the way you do it."
"Can I talk about the planets now?"
(Oh Doctor, your words and your body language are malfunctioning.)

I feel like I've heard Daisy Beaumont's voice before, but I'm not sure where. Was she in any Big Finish plays?

"What exactly are you a Doctor of?"
"Now there's a question that's not asked often enough. Let's say, 'intestinal parasites.'"
"I'm beginning to think Miss Pitt is right about you."

Ha, I love him talking to himself in bed. And yeah...subjective probabilities; that's the trouble with them. "Really? You've just dropped 24 percent."

OMG Peter Capaldi so totally just channeled a conversation between him and Tom Baker! "A Mummy! That only the victim can see! I was being rhetorical!"

Ah the computer voce was John Sessions! Which led me to look up John Sessions' old Whose Line is it Anyway sketches which sent me to This (With bonus Peter Cook!)

Also I like Perkins a lot! I am glad he did not (so far) turn out to be a bad guy. However I think he might show up later--possibly as one of Mad Missy's crew?

Jelly Babies! More Four :D

"Hoping to meet a real monster." Oh the subtext here, as he's talking with the Oncoming Storm.

"I'm your worst nightmare!" "A mystery shopper, oh great!" "Really, a mystery shopper, that's your worst..." And then he goes with it.

"Yes sir. I'm obviously the mummy! Or perhaps I was already looking into this." Perkins = awesome.

"Were the good times all like this?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it."

I love that Clara has a girlfriend to talk to about how much of a jerk the Doctor was. "Oh he was wrong! And high-handed! And arrogant!" :D

"You can't end on a slammed door."
"Yes you can, anyone can do it."

LOL the sarcophagus full of bubble wrap. Don't get close, because that stuff is dangerous (see "the Ark in Space").

Oh they want to reverse engineer the Mummy's abilities. That does sound very much like Missy.

I hope the Doctor doesn't tell Clara that his phone call cost the lives of the poor kitchen staff. This is a dangerous episode to be in. Lots of collateral damage.

How/why would the soldier/mummy pick up the weaknesses of everyone?

"You sir, are a genius! This explains everything, apart from what it is and how it's doing it. Sorry, I jumped the gun there with the 'You're a genius, that explains everything' remark."

"Hello! I'm so pleased to finally see you. I'm the Doctor and I will be your victim this evening! Are you my mummy?"

Why would the Mummy's markings from his--tattoos? Skin?--be underneath his ribcage?

"You're relieved, soldier." Wow, I kind of can't believe that no-one said "We surrender" to it before, though.

Oh man, that whole scene on the beach was well done. I love his little laugh after "No I just saved you and let everyone else suffocate" line. And, "So you were pretending, to be heartless?" "Would you like to think that about me? Would that make it easier?" Though, how/why did Clara get from inside the TARDIS to out on the beach? And what was the Doctor drawing in the sand, more equations?

Oh dear, Clara hears "I love you" possibly for the first time from Danny and then runs away. That is um, not healthy. Clara, you learned nothing from the last two episodes? This will not end well!

"Are you sure about this?"
"Are you? Have you ever been sure?"
"No."

Somehow I feel like that last little "no" there, was the biggest line in the episode. It's like all of Twelve's kid-like impulsivity and adult vulnerability and ancient history and pain and excitement just rolled into one. And you know--you KNOW--he is not sure about the emotions of smiling and sadness at the same time but in his hearts, he knows that Clara is lying to him. But he tells her the truth--rather a childlike honesty there, and he knows the responsible (adult) thing to do but ignores it and flies off anyway. So that, finally, is Twelve. He is the most powerful, loneliest, richest, smartest eight-year-old in the universe, with impulse control issues and 1992 years of experience.

Comments

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

I found the "Would you like to think that about me" line ambiguous. Was the Doctor asking Clara if she'd like to think that he was pretending to be heartless (even though he wasn't) because it makes it easier for her to stay (which he wants), or believe that he actually is heartless because it would make it easier for her to leave him (and he's goading her with the line to get her to stay)? (And kudos to anyone who can actually parse the sentence I just wrote.)

The one thing I'd add to your last sentence is "co-dependent." The Doctor is terrified of being alone. Clara, the control freak, abuses that need by maintaining optionality with the Doctor and Danny through lying to them both. The Doctor's only counter-leverage is to punish her by being verbally and emotionally abusive to Clara, but it's a delicate balancing act avoiding going too far and actually succeeding in driving her away.

I'm also starting to think that his "fear is a companion that can make you do great things" is a BS, neurotic rationalization. I think that old self-help book has the more correct interpretation: "What would you do if you weren't afraid?"

[eve11]

To me it was not about Clara leaving or staying, but more about putting the complex situation in simple black and white terms. I think he clears up the ambiguity a bit in the next few lines. The truth is he didn't know if he could save Maisie when he called. He couldn't save the others, he couldn't make any promises, and he essentially couldn't afford to make it a decision of the heart. It was a bad choice and he made it. The way it was delivered seemed more like he was trying to work out how Clara viewed him, and what that said about their relationship.

I don't quite see co-dependent; I can see how it would come across that way but I don't think it is intentional. Wouldn't the leverage of verbal and emotional abuse be more like passive-aggressive barbs (and generally also accompanied by threatening violence)? Plus the Doctor also is looking for others to stay with him as well (Courtney, Perkins, etc). He needs someone, yes, but it's not clear that he particularly needs Clara to the point of co-dependency.

I like the idea of "what would you do if you weren't afraid", that seems like a good way of looking at it. Perhaps if one can get over the initial flight or fright response, the adrenaline might help you do better the things you would do without fear?

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

I don't think co-dependency and p/a behavior are necessarily inconsistent. The neurotic tension between the dependency and the loathing of the dependency, I think, could easily erupt in abusive words or actions (not that I think the Doctor would physically attack Clara, though we have seen Clara slap the Doctor). The reference at the end of this last episode to addiction is what caught my ear -- co-dependency being a form of interpersonal addiction. (Disclaimer: I am not a therapist, nor to I play one on television.)

[eve11]

Right, I agree that co-dependent and p/a are consistent; I just didn't really see the Doctor's remarks as passive-aggressive. I don't think the remarks arise because he's angry or resentful; at least canonically we are supposed to believe he's just clueless. Eleven had a bit of that (thinking specifically of "Are you pregnant?" in Amy's choice), but I think it's supposed to be playing up the Doctor's "alien" factor. I don't think they are doing that very well, mind you.