Under the Lake (time shift)

It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
- James Thurber

Or, if you want to be all obvious about it:

I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which when you looked at it the right way, did not become still more complicated.
- Poul Anderson

Him:  These names.

Me:  So, what did you think of that then?

Him:  What did you think of that?

Me:  It reminded me a bit of The Satan Pit.  I liked the 'base under siege' aspect of it.  I thought it was incredibly strong.  It zipped by very quickly.  Really well-written, really well-acted, very well-directed.  It looked great.  Tense, edge-of-the-seat stuff.  I thought the music was really good.  I thoroughly enjoyed that.  That's the best episode we've had in a long time. 

Him:  I think I'm too tired to watch these properly.

Me:  Did you enjoy it?

Him:  Yeah, but I just don't remember any of it.

Me:  I think with this one - 'cause there're a few things that've leaked that you don't know about - this one's been told with part two first.  Which is...  Finally.  In a time-travel-

Him:  So, finally, more than fifty years into a time-travel related show they're doing something with the fact that it's a time-travel related show?

Me:  The way that it's structured - even though it's a two-parter - it does remind me of another Doctor Who story.

Him:  Okay.

Me:  It reminds me of The Ark.

Him:  Ooo...  Yeah.  That was about the only other - that was so long ago.1  That one was really good as well.

Me:  And the Monoids...  I think the Monoids might be coming back, 'cause we've seen them as hand puppets in Time of the Doctor.2

Him:  Yeah, The Ark was a good one.  The cliffhanger of the stature being finished-

Me:  Yes!

Him:  That was all really good.  That Monoid guy'd just waited there for them all to come back.

Me:  Under the Lake was very clever.  There's a named character in there, a character called Prentis, who we haven't met yet.  So, do you think the Doctor's dead?

Him:  Oh, yeah.  Definitely.

Me:  Uh huh.  There was a lot to do with sound and vision-

Him:  The second that there was the ghost out there I knew it was going to be the Doctor.  Because that's how it goes.

Me:  Well, yeah. 

Him:  It had to be, because the other ones were in the chamber and while they probably could've got out through the walls - I don't really know why they're stuck in that chamber in the first place...  Do all underwater bases have ghost-proof chambers?

Me:  Yeah, I think so.  It comes as standard.

Him:  Right.  If it had been one of the other people that went with the Doctor...  It doesn't really feel like a cliffhanger.  It feels like a spoiler. 

Me:  But if it'd been all three of them?

Him:  Yeah, that would've been cool.  But it wasn't.

Me:  That was the only bit that almost didn't work.  I knew it was going to be the Doctor - it had to be.

Him:  It had to be.

Me:  Otherwise it doesn't up the jeopardy.  It means that Clara's stuck-

Him:  I feel it would've been better if...  I dunno.  I felt like that bit lasted just slightly too long, with Clara going, "No!  No!  No!  No!  No!  NO!  NO!  NO!  NO!  NO!  NO!"

Sea-badger!

Him:  "NO!"

Me:  Ha!  It wasn't as bad as the Aliens of London one, was it?  There the endings just didn't stop.

Him:  That at least had, like, five endings.  It wasn't one ending that was, "NO!  NO!  NO!"

Me:  We got the, "We need to talk," line in there, but it didn't go all Walking Dead which I thought was quite nice.  "But, don't you see?" got said twice.  Yeah.  Autons and the Nethersphere getting a mention was cool.  The Doctor came across as much more alien than he has done in a long time.  I like the idea that he's got the cards.

Him:  There's something bizarre with Peter Capaldi's Doctor.  He's been written in a really unique way, because he has almost no understanding of people, whereas in the past he's had complete understanding of people.

Me:  Yeah.  I know that the temptation is to say, like I just did, that he's more alien, but I think he's being written more as the god-like figure that he represents.  Like I've said before, the Doctor and the Master are essentially acting as gods and humans that encounter them...  In a weird way, humans are the fleeting ghosts that flicker through a Time Lord's existence.  Everything's temporary, because they're so much more-  Basically, they're gods.  They're immortal.  Near enough.  They could hang around forever.  It's very Greek.  The last two...  I think it's been dialled up a lot more.  Impressive stuff.  Very strong.  Were you expecting the Doctor to say it was a base under siege? 

Him:  Oh, yes.

Me:  That was great.  I've not really got much more to say.  Until we've seen the next part, it's hard to really say anything. 

Him:  It'd be easier to watch if it wasn't so late and I wasn't so tired.

Me:  It's very late now.  Can I act as a bit of a Cassandra?  Can I throw out a  semi-prediction here?  We know that the writing that the TARDIS can't translate - which, obviously we saw in The Satan Pit as well -

Him:  Why does he never assume it's just a scribble?

Me:  It's been scratched in as well.  The rest of it's-  Actually, it reminded me of Quatermass and the Pit.3

Him:  Quamertass and the Hole?

Me:  Ha!  You've got this buried thing...  It was nice seeing the Doctor put all the pieces together and uncover it as it's going along, but...  Here we go.  I think that this ghost process must be reversible.  And we know that Clara got 'infected' as well.  It must be a reversible process.  And I think that's probably going to come in...2

Him:  Maybe it's just really dark?

Me:  Could be, could be. 

Him:  "You want your grown-up Doctor Who?"

Me:  "Here's your grown-up Doctor Who!  Now, stop your weeping."

Him:  Ha!

Me:  I think we'll have to wait until next week to find out what's really going with that, but that's not a bad position to be in.  Are we going to make any noises?

Him:  I thought the next time trailer was bizarre. 

Me:  Any noises?

Him:  I just thought I'd, y'know, fling that in.

Me:  And on that bombshell!

1.  There was a really subtle nod to The Ark in The Magician's Apprentice, don't forget...

2.  I don't.

3.  And - as with Cold War - there's another underwater tribute to the Alien franchise.  Mr Fincher's this time, rather than Mr Scott's first bash.