Doctor Who - Series 9 Review "Updated"
Series 9 is becoming one of the strongest seasons in Doctor Who I have seen. Thanks to the great performances of Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald, the show keeps going strong.
With only 3 more episodes left plus the Christmas Special. I couldn't be more excited and cannot wait what they are going to do in the finale.
Here there are the reviews from the six last episodes!
1. The Magician's Apprentice (9.5)
2. The Witch's Familiar (9.5)
3. Under the Lake (8.7)
4. Before the Flood (9.0)
5. The Girl Who Died (8.5)
In a Viking village, a girl named Ashildr (played by Maisie Williams) is about to make a desperate mistake. The Mire are the deadliest mercenaries in the galaxy, famed for showing no mercy and Ashildr has just declared war on them. The Doctor and Clara have 12 hours to turn a peaceful village into strong fighters, ready for the deadly Mire.
The Doctor's back in his most emotive performance ever. While the plan to save the viking's village success, a life is lost and his grief is perfectly acted. Peter Capaldi puts a lot of feeling will make you feel sorry for him. There's also another scene where a baby is heard crying and the Doctor (who speaks baby, of course) translates its crying into a beautiful poem, very touching.
We also get the change to finally discover the reason the Doctor choosed that face. If you're a fan of the show, Capaldi appeared as a roman named Caecilius back when David Tennant was the Doctor in an episode called "Fires of Pompeii". Back then, he decided to break the rules and change story by saving this family from the volcan eruption. This new face was a reminder he's able to save the people he wants.
· Quote of the Episode: "I'm the Doctor and I save people"
"No no no. Not Vikings. I’m not in the mood for vikings"
"I’ll lose any war you like. I’m sick of losing people."
· What I liked most: Brilliant and emotive performance from Capaldi. Maisie Williams character very interesting. We finally know about the Doctor's face and its conection with "Fires of Pompei"
· What I didn't like: The ending and final fight seemed a bit rushed. Plot was simple and dull.
6. The Woman Who Lived (8.0)
England, 1651. A deadly highwayman known only as 'The Nightmare' plagues the dark streets of London, his fire-breathing accomplice by his side. There's something clearly more than human here, and that includes the loot as much as the outlaws. Who are these creatures, and are they enemies to be fought, or friends who might possibly save the Doctor from certain doom on the gallows?
The Nightmare is Ashildr (played again by Maisie Williams), a future version of her with 800 years old. Now she doesn't remember much of her past and doesn't care about her own name or the people she lost. She tries to convice the Doctor to take her away with him but fails for the Doctor's own reasons. A she keeps saying, she will do anything to go to the future, or a better place.
The mistery of this character keeps going, I personally thinkg we'll see more from her in the future (she's inmortal now, duh!) now she calls herself as the "anti" Doctor. The Beast-Lion was an weird adding and a disappointment as his plan was very expected.
The relation between Her and the Doctor is closer than ever, they show great chemistry together, you can even tell she's her new companion as Clara doesn't show up until the very end of the episode where she shares a warm and cute hug with the Doctor.
· Quotes of the Episode: "Do I look like some feckless thief? I'm on your side. I'm an undercover constable from Scotland Yard. Do you have Scotland Yard yet?"
"I'm not his dad, I'm the Doctor."
· What I liked most: The Doctor and Ashildr relationship is strong and believable. Doctor sunglasses and guitar are back. The ending scene with the girl claiming she's the anti Doctor is great plus the other ending scene with Clara hugging him, very cute and funny.
· What I didn't like: The episode felt out of place. The bad guy was very predictable and one of the worst villians I've seen in a long time...
7. The Zygon Invasion (7.5)
The fragile peace between the Humans and the Zygons is on a knife edge. Tensions run high as factions within the Zygon community seek to incite violent action against Humans. Called in by UNIT, the Doctor and Clara fight to bring he situation under control. But one question remains: Where on Earth is Osgood?
Osgood is back, after the events of "Death in Heaven" where we see her killed by Missy, she shows up again but we don't know if she's the human or zygon version of herself. She's kidnapped by the Zygons and UNIT requests the help of the Doctor to find her. Meanwhile, Clara is there too trying to figure out the zygon's plan to rule the world.
This is the most political episode I've seen in Doctor Who, we get to see how he gets international acting as the "President of the World" again (he calls himself Doctor Funkenstein and Doctor Disco) trying to help the army to get Osgood back but failing when the Zygons "dresses themselves" as family members from the soldiers.
Back to Clara, things get more interesting. She discovers they are trying to get every Zygon in the planet together to erase humans once and for all. We then discover Clara was get and alien was acting as her, she calls herself as Bonnie. The last scene is seen Clara claiming her friend is death and shooting a missile to the President's airplane, where the Doctor is.
Very political and the Zygons are not my favourite aliens particulary. the only best part is the Clara scenes which make it more interesting and the final revelation was quite shocking but expected if you watch the episode carefuly.
· Quotes of the Episode: "I'm sorry, Clara is dead. Kate Stewart is dead. The UNIT troops are all dead. Truth or consequences."
· What I liked most: The Clara plot twist at the end. The Doctor acting as the President once more!
· What I didn't like: The main plot is too political and boring, the Zygons are not that interesting...
8. The Zygon Inversion (8.0)
With the Zygons invading England, and UNIT neutralized, the Doctor stands alone to stop the Zygons from taking over the entire planet. But how can he stop the Zygons? And how can he save his friends?
The entire planet seems to be losing against the Zygons but the Doctor has always an ace under his sleeve. After surviving the plane explosion, The Doctor and Osgood do everything they can to survive and get into the Tardis while dealing with some Zygons in disguise.
Clara is still imprisoned while Bonnie acts like her trying to find those Zygons who are against them to destoy human race.
The Zygons are still not a good villian but this episode has some memorable moments, especially at the ending when we are back, once again since "The Day of the Doctor" at the secret chamber in the Tower of London where the Zygons and UNIT, once again, discuss a possible extintion of one of the races. The Doctor delivers a beatiful speech claiming they are not doing things correctly and we get to see, for the first time, Bonnie speechless at the Doctor's compassion.
The chance to see Clara as the villian is something new and she does it amazingly good, you can see a total different persona from the Clara we all know and love. Another plus is the fact we discover Osgood's fate and that she didn't die at all.
· Quotes of the Episode: "The only way anyone can live in peace, is if they're prepared to forgive."
"You know, I'm over two thousand years old. I'm old enough to be your messiah."
· What I liked most: Clara as the villian, she rocks! The Doctor's speech sounds will make you feel.
· What I didn't like: Same as the past episode, still too political and the Zygons...
9. Sleep No More (7.2)
Vision recovered from the wreckage of Le Verrier Space Station shows how the Doctor and Clara became entangled in a rescue mission. As the footage plays out, a horrifying secret is uncovered. Some monsters called "Sandmen" start appearing and killing everybody they see until we discover the secret, in fact, those monsters were once the people who lived in that space station.
The episode looks like a found-footage tape, while it looks different and new, it actually works well. Some people may not like it but it felt like a new way of watching Doctor Who that works. But that's not the problem of this episode, while it sounded like a nice idea to have a new kind of classic monster, it is poorly executed with a disappointing ending raising more questions than answers.
It looks like its being recorded with some helmet cameras, but this small detail has an interesting and completely unexpected twist. The Doctor and Clara have to face a survival horror space movie where they'll try everything to survive and discover the secret that doesn't actually satisfy that much, while the idea is great, it doesn't fit so good. Sorry, but this is the worst episode of this season so far...
· Quotes of the Episode: "No no no no you don't get to name things. I'm the Doctor. I do the naming."
"24 hours ago this station fell silent. No comm signal, nothing. Dead. We've come to find out why."
· What I liked most: Capaldi's performance is great as always, same goes to Jenna Coleman. The monsters's song is a nice add and catchy.
· What I didn't like: Poorly made and executed, I had big expectations on this episode but it ended up being disappointing...
:: Doctor Who - Series 9 ::
1. The Magician's Apprentice (9.5)
2. The Witch's Familiar (9.5)
3. Under the Lake (8.7)
4. Before the Flood (9.0)
5. The Girl Who Died (8.5)
6. The Woman Who Lived (8.0)
7. The Zygon Invasion (7.5)
8. The Zygon Inversion (8.0)
9. Sleep No More (7.2)
10. Face the Raven (??)
11. Heaven Sent (??)
12. Hell Bent (??)
13. Christmas's Special (??)
