Doctor Who: Under the Lake / Before the Flood

The second of this year's two-part Doctor Who stories is much more of a classic tale than the first, in the traditional "base under siege" mold. After the series' massive and chaotic opener, what did the Hurds make of this change of pace?

Matthew:
Watching this first episode, I realised how much I enjoy the Doctor exploring new locations and slowly discovering what's going on. Seeing him creep around an empty base, just as confused and uncertain as we are, is way more interesting to me than when he already knows the situation, like he did with Davros. Likewise, the slower pace and single location let us get properly invested, rather than jumping from space to school to medieval parties.

And yet, at the risk of seeming like a hypocrite, I did think this episode was maybe a little too slow. It might just be the lack of resolution going into the cliffhanger, but the story seemed very slight to me - like not a great deal actually happened. Did you two feel that, or did this work for you?

Amy:
I really enjoyed Under the Lake. It was more of a monster of the week episode than a huge epic adventure. It reminded me a little of The Impossible Planet in some ways: A base at a difficult to get to location with a small crew of people, which is a format that works well. Especially if the other characters are interesting, which I thought they were. I enjoyed the Doctor's handy flashcards.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and don't really have anything negative to say about it! Apart from I still think the sound is off and I really hope the sonic sunglasses aren't here to stay.

David:
Obviously, I really enjoyed Under the Lake as well. It would be hard not to, with its claustrophobic, tension-dripping atmosphere. The episode was a clever homage to the great sci-fi horrors like The Thing and Alien, and was intelligent and well-crafted enough to never feel like a parody or an imitation.

It's always interesting to see the Doctor come across something he's not encountered before, and his excitement about the possibility of real ghost was palpable (even if the crew didn't share his enthusiasm).

This episode built on the strengths of last week's one, focusing on telling a simple story well, with a healthy focus on characters. After all, a horror movie only works if we care about the people in danger, and they made us care, even before the Doctor showed up. Is that the benefit of having a double episode, or are the writers just more confident with Capaldi now? Time will tell, I'm sure.

So what did everyone think of episode 2?

First just let me back up what you two said!

I'm a big fan of the way Capaldi doesn't fuss about or dwell on death, and I thought the flashcards were a great way for Clara to try and deal with that. Likewise, his excitement about new and unusual things - even dangerous ones that are killing everyone around him - is always a joy. I do think this story went a little too far with it's big "kiss it to death" speech, though. Ghosts with an earworm seem quite tame compared to much of what he's faced before, so I never quite bought it.

As for the second episode, I'll try to stay positive for now, and say that I really enjoy the new fourth-wall-breaking openings that we see here and in Listen. That was really fun, and letting him rock out over the opening credits was just awesome. Other than that, the design of the Fisher King looked amazing, but I thought his great design was wasted in this episode because (positivity ends here) everything else about this episode is rubbish.

I agree that the second episode wasn't as good as the first but I wouldn't say it was rubbish. I didn't like that the Doctor kept going on about "the rules". The rules only ever seem to apply when it's convenient to the plot when in many other episodes there doesn't appear to be any rules! I still enjoyed the characters and the setting and it didn't suffer from an overly complicated and convoluted plot, which has been a problem in other episodes.

I actually wasn't too keen on the design of the Fisher King though!

If last week’s episode was The Thing, then this week’s episode was The Thing (prequel), carefully ticking off all the boxes to make sure past events lined up with what we knew about the future. There was even an axe! But like The Thing and The Thing, the original is always going to be better.

That said, I actually enjoyed Before the Flood. Sure, it wasn’t as good as the first part of the story, but there was plenty about it that I liked. I agree that the opening and the design of the Fisher King (very StarCraft II) were very strong, but I was also a fan of the way it balanced the two timelines and the interactions between the characters in the present and the past. This episode continued the strong character work set up in the first episode and kept you caring about the whole crew. (Side note: What is it with Moffat and killing of Doctor fangirls? First Osgood and now O’Donnell!)

Along with the flashcards last week, this episode was also a good reminder of how callous the Doctor can be when he needs to be, allowing people to die to test a theory and valuing Clara’s life over everyone else. While the Doctor has never been afraid to make difficult decisions, after angsty Tennant and Smith, it’s refreshing that Capaldi is so pragmatic about the whole thing. The solution to the episode was obvious from about half way through (of course it was going to be him in the capsule) and the confrontation with the Fisher King seemed to be over before it began, but I still enjoyed it. The moment with the axe and Cass was really effective (and very reminiscent of Ben Affleck’s Daredevil), the lingering question of the bootstrap paradox was well done and the characters were fully formed and worth investing in. If only there’d been more Fisher King…

One bugbear I did have was that the Doctor’s impending death and his acceptance of his impending death. It seems to have been a really reoccurring theme for the last few seasons. We always get teased that this will be the big one, the proper one, and then, after accepting his fate, he finds some way to wriggle out of it. As a plot device, it’s wearing pretty thin. Although I must admit that faking his own death and putting himself in cryo (while a little Jack Harkness) was a much more satisfying workaround than pulling a handy Life Model Decoy out of nowhere à la The Wedding of River Song.

What's funny is that I don't necessarily disagree with anything either of you have said. The setting and the characters did continue to work for me, the split-timeline was a great approach that I'd love to see the show do more with, and I agree that Cass' Daredevil moment was really well handled (though couldn't she just have, y'know, turned around?).

But that's all surface stuff, and I felt like the episode was using it as a crutch - if you go any deeper it all starts to fall apart. Like you said, the totally-for-realsies fakeout death is played out by now, and the nebulous Rules of Time are even moreso. But then there's also the super-disappointing use of the Fisher King, the totally unfunny stuff with the undertaker, the complete waste of the new environment (imagine if that town hadn't been deserted), and that weird Father's Day loop that didn't achieve anything.

Even Capaldi's matter-of-fact attitude to death - which is usually my favourite thing about him - seemed almost callous and unfeeling here, which is not the same thing. He's used death to test theories before, of course (see Mummy on the Orient Express), but only when he can't do anything to prevent them. Here he puts up a token "stay in the TARDIS" objection but, beyond that, doesn't even try to stop O'Donnell running off alone to what he knows is probably her death. In fact, if we accept that he only let her run off to test his theory, then the Doctor directly causes her death by putting her name next on the list. He did that after she'd already died, of course, but also after he decided to break the Rules - paradoxes be damned!

And yet, the entire Bootstrap Paradox only seemed to be there to explain why nothing the Doctor Ghost did made any sense. It was a really stupid, nonsensical way to send a message to the future (and a dangerous one too, since it both unlocked the saferoom and got O'Donnell killed) but we're supposed to let it slide because the Doctor was just acting out the stupid plan he'd already seen, not making up the stupid plan himself. Then the epilogue goes out of its way to smugly point out the paradox, despite how stupid it is, and despite that fact that we never needed it explained any of the times the show has used it before. It's the entire plot of Blink, for goodness sake!

But the worst thing, for me, was when the Doctor started casually throwing around the word "souls" - and going on about how mystic and sacred and pure they are. In other words, Doctor Who suddenly got all religious on us which (as well as just generally bothering me as an atheist) flies directly in the face of the whole last series, where the myth of life-after-death was revealed to be nothing more than a Cyberman trap. Just like in Army of Ghosts, come to think of it.

Basically, I hated Before the Flood. I thought it was a mess of a story that misused its characters, insulted its audience, wasted its villain, and never actually paid off any of its main ideas - yet it seemed convinced that it was being really clever. I did enjoy Under the Lake, and I can see what you two enjoyed in the second part too, even if I didn't. I think that this probably would have worked a lot better as a regular one-part episode but, as it stands, this one simply wasn't for me.

Doctor Who: The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar

It's that time of year again, folks! The UK's best TV programme is back on our screens! But enough about The Great British Bake Off - we're here to talk about Doctor Who.

Series 9 promises to be an interesting and unusual experience, as two-parters not only return for the first time in three years, but actually make up every single episode. It's more in keeping with the original series' classic multi-part stories, but will it work for our more modern sensibilities?

To find out, we've gathered a small herd of Hurds - David, Amy, and me, Matthew - to go over the episodes each week and share our thoughts. Join us below, as we take a look at the first two-parter of the series.

Matthew:
I was planning to start by asking what we thought of the last series and of Capaldi so far, but I feel that will almost certainly come up anyway. But where to start instead? There's just so much going on in these episodes - tanks and planes and invisible planets - that it's hard to pick one.

So let's just start at the beginning, with what I thought was easily the best scene in either episode: a strange warzone with spaceships fighting bows and arrows, super-creepy mines, and one hell of a reveal at the end. I loved this opening - what about you two?

Amy:
I really loved the opening too! There were so many interesting ideas with the hand mines and the spaceships and the wooden bows. I thought it was great! I was disappointed when that isn't what the episode was about though. The interesting warzone was forgotten about and not really explored, sadly.

David:
I thought the opening was great as well - really creepy, really atmospheric and grabbed you straight away. All things that Moffat excels at. And then the Doctor turned up in the nick of time, just like he always does, offering wise words, rambling speeches and a tiny glimmer of hope, just like he always does. It was classic Who.

And then came the reveal. Davros hasn't been seen since 2008, yet the mere mention of his name is enough to send shivers down your spine. That right there is the sign of a great villain. And here he is as a child. A genius twist and a brilliant pay-off for the standout scene in the episode. It's just a shame it peaked so early.

It was a truly amazing setup - to the point that I assumed it was setting up the whole arc of the season, rather than just these first two episodes. I was actually a little disappointed that we reached adult Davros so soon - although I did appreciate seeing the contrast between the two versions. I also think I like this old and tired rendition of the character much more than the crazy, ranting, over-the-top "Daleks' pet" that we saw in 2008 (although that guy does make a brief comeback in the second part). I just sort of wish he had more to do, or more impact on the story. Like Amy said, the first episode sort of forgets what it's supposed to be about.

It doesn't just forget about the warzone though. There were loads of really good, interesting ideas that weren't explored and weren't really explained and didn't really hold that much relevance to the plot; the planes stopping, the planet being invisible, the medieval guitar. It just seemed to have too many ideas all shoved together. As for the plot, I'm not really sure I could tell you what it was. It's almost as if it's trying too hard to be epic and galactic that it forgets the storyline.

Another thing, and I don't quite know if it's the fault of Doctor Who or the BBC or someone else, is that the sound was really strange. The music was really loud and often a lot louder than the dialogue. There were quite a few times when I found myself desperately straining to hear. At the risk of sounding like a moaner watching Jamaica Inn, Davros mumbled a lot and I couldn't really hear a word he was saying!

The first episode was good, don't get me wrong, but it just never seemed to gel. It suffered from what I think is Moffat's biggest weakest - throwing a load of great ideas at the wall and not bothering to see what sticks.

Man made of snakes? Great. Missy back? Great. Planes freezing? Great. Invisible Skaaro? Great. The Doctor throwing an epic party? Great.

All great ideas, but not a single one given the care and attention it needed. Of all the great ideas, the much discussed opening was the one that was give time to breathe, and as a result, was the only part of the episode that truly worked.

Like I said, still a good episode, with lots of good parts, and plenty of great ideas, but it just didn't seem to work as an episode.

I completely agree. The first episode really summed up my feelings about Capaldi's entire run so far. I enjoyed it at the time but looking back, with the exception of a couple of stellar episodes (namely Listen and Orient Express), what I remember enjoying are individual moments or ideas rather than entire episodes or arcs. The whole run has felt kind of disjointed and unfocused, and The Magician's Apprentice really drove that feeling home and made me fear the worst for the series to come.

The second episode, on the other hand, seemed much more assured and comfortable with what it was doing. There was much more of the things that worked the first time, like regretful old Davros and Missy being delightfully sadistic, and those ideas were actually given enough time to breathe.

I agree that the second episode worked a lot better than the first. There were still a few things left unexplained though I think, like how is Davros alive? Didn't he die in that fire at the Medusa Cascade? And Missy not being dead was very briefly glossed over, which I know is kind of an in-joke, but I still feel like it should have been explained a bit more. I also don't really think the snake man was quite used to his full potential.

Although Clara is growing on me, I still think there are inconsistencies in her character. Sometimes she's really clever and works things out really quickly, things that even experts at UNIT can't work out or how Missy and her transported, and yet she couldn't think of a way to let the Doctor know it was her in the Dalek? She just kept saying "I am Clara Oswald" even though it had been clearly established that it didn't work. We know Clara Oswald is in the Dalek's vocabulary (as is "weird" which I found odd) so why not try "Clara Oswald is alive" or "I travel with you" or "Danny Pink".

I half expected her to say "soufflé" actually - it definitely needed an Asylum callback. And while I agree the drama felt very manufactured, I still loved that moment. After two episodes siding with Missy (even though she vapourised those UNIT guys) it was good to have that final betrayal. I am kinda loving Missy in these episodes.

Incidentally, I think this is the first time that we've seen the Master leave present-day Earth since the programme came back. That's something I've been hoping for and I look forward to more of it in the future. Loved that her first ever meeting with Davros amounted to a (literal) poke in the eye for anyone expecting it to be a big moment.

I really liked this second part - it took what worked the first time, and ditched all the unnecessary stuff. I was worried at first, but Moffat managed to turn it around and deliver what might be his first really solid Dalek episode.

I must admit, though, that the final scene of child Davros didn't hit anywhere near as hard as it needed to, in order to pay off that amazing opening. I wanted to see the Doctor properly change something - something timey-wimey to spin this series off from - but what we got felt like a damp squib.

I have to confess to quite liking the ending. You're right in that it didn't hit as hard as the gut-punch of an opener, but it won me over by simply being another instance of Doctor Who using time travel correctly, and I'm always a sucker for that.

I thought the second episode was a totally different story to the disappointing first, and showed off Moffat's biggest strength - waiting to see which great idea sticks, and then basing an entire episode around it. In this case, a quiet and heart-felt conversation between Davros and the Doctor. Might not sound all that exciting for a two-part series opening (especially not when compared to episodes like The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon), but it worked. It really worked.

Overall, I did enjoy the first episode, but it just feels like it's trying too hard. I definitely think the second episode was much better. The Doctor showing his compassion only for it to be his weakness, as always, and then him outsmarting Davros because he'd worked out the plan all along, was great! I would have liked to have seen more of the battle ground and that war, but overall I hope the the series is on the same level as the second episode and not the first.

Trailer Park: Toil and Trouble

You've probably noticed that there's been no new Hex Picks over the last few weeks. Sadly, it looks as though The Trailer Park may be going the same way. The Hex Dimension website is winding down for the time being, if hopefully not forever. It's been a great opportunity to be part of what went on there, and I wish everyone involved the best.

It's good, then, that our last collection of trailers can be quite a strong one. I like the look of almost everything we see here, and even the one that doesn't quite work for me looks pretty damn stunning.

So to read the final Trailer Park before it goes extinct, please click the unexpectedly appropriate dinosaurs below.

Trailer Park: Awakenings

It's been a very odd week for trailers. Not exactly quiet but... smaller? Usually you can count on there being one or two big blockbusters or big names, but this week there's only one on the list that I've ever even heard of - and then only because it's a remake!

Instead, the picks this week are maybe a bit more arty and more indie than usual. But there's nothing wrong with that, and it's nice to focus on the kind of trailers I'd probably have overlooked before I started this feature. Some of them look positively great, too - click below to check 'em out.

Trailer Park: Pixels and Piracy

I like weeks like this one, where there's a strange mix of all different types of film trailers. There's fantasy and sci-fi and horror and comedy and even a biopic, of all things. Some of it looks great - some of it looks bloody terrible. There's something for everyone!

Click on the giant glowing Pac-Man to take a look at our eclectic picks.

Trailer Park: The DC TV Puppetry Jamboree

After breaking one of my unspoken personal rules for The Trailer Park last week (no offensive content), I've gone and broken another one today. I had planned to restrict myself to only one TV trailer per week, and even then only if there weren't enough films. But there were so many good TV promos last week, and so few decent film ones, that I've gone back on that rule too.

Despite this, it's actually a really strong week overall. All five trailers are pretty great, and I absolutely love more than half of them. This feature may have morphed slightly away from how I originally envisiged it, but maybe that's a good thing! You can decide for yourself by hitting the link below.

Hex Picks: Apocalyptic Films

At the end of last week, we in the UK learned that we now have a Conservative majority government.

On a completely unrelated note, our theme this month is the end of the world. Click below to check out our movie choices!

Trailer Park: NSFW

One of my self-imposed unspoken rules when I started The Trailer Park was that it would only include trailers with no age-rating or restrictions. Stuff that anyone could watch, and no-one could find offensive. And it lasted... exactly three weeks.

It's not my fault, I swear! It's just that almost every damn trailer this week was redband or, at the very least, a little bit racy. Even the trailers I left out this week were for a bunch of gore-filled horror films! So, backed into a corner, here's a collection of the week's mostly filthy, mostly naked trailers. Enjoy!

Hex Picks: Apocalyptic Books

May is here, and that means a new theme for Hex Dimension's weekly recommendations. This month we're going big, as we focus on books where the world gets destroyed!

That sounds like it could get pretty dark, for obvious reasons, but I think our picks this week actually show that there's another way, and that humour and joy can be found in anything - even annihilation. Or possibly it just shows that my brother and I are kinda sadistic. Either way, you can decide for yourself by clicking the pic below.

Trailer Park: What a Lovely Kray!

Ah well, there were always going to be weeks like this. It's not a bad week - I like the trailers that came out - there just weren't enough of them. There's only four of them here, and one of those is for a TV series rather than a film! Still, there's some good stuff in the list, and a very generous helping of Tom Hardy. It may not be the best of weeks, but it's a lovely day.

Click below for our collection of the week's best trailers.

Hex Picks: Comic Villains

It's the final week of our month of villain picks, and that means it's comics time! I've really been looking forward to this one, since comics are such fertile ground for cool costumed villains. And yet, somehow, we ended up with quite a short list with only one supervillain on it. Disappointing, perhaps, but in fairness it was the greatest comicbook villain of them all - when this guy's on the list, there's basically no need to continue listing!

But then, I would say that, since that's the one I wrote. Which supervillain was it that rose above all others to appear on our coveted list? Click below to find out.

Trailer Park: Jur4ssicland

Nothing was going to live up to last week's one-two punch of Star Wars and Bat Soup, but I'm actually surprised at what a nice collection of different-feeling trailers we managed to fit into the second episode of The Trailer Park. There's a horror, a traditional mystery, a not-so-traditional mystery, a fun blockbuster, and a sombre, deadly serious blockbuster - there's actually more variety here than last week, which is cool. Hopefully people like it.

There's some slightly different stuff going on - I've messed a little with the layout, and the Trailer of the Week feature is actually visible now - but mostly I feel like the format is working, and five trailers feels like the right amount. I'd love some feedback, though, so please let me know how you feel about all this.
 
As always, you can check out the second Trailer Park by clicking below!

Hex Picks: Game Villains

With Mondays on this blog now occupied by the new Trailer Park feature, I'm shunting our weekly Hex Picks back into the Tuesday slot they were in last year. They're still a Monday thing over on Hex Dimension, of course - they'll just be appearing here on NerdTech a day later.

This week's picks continue villain month, as we choose our favourite villains in gaming. David and I - as seems to have become our tradition - unknowingly wrote about the exact same game again. Because of course we did. Luckily we both managed to pick different characters so, to find out which single game has two equally great villains, click the pic below.

Trailer Park: Ant v Scream: Genisys of the Force

Today saw the launch of a new feature on Hex Dimension. It's a weekly spot that will collect all the week's best film trailers in one place, and give a quick analysis of each. It's a really great idea that I wish I could take credit for, but that honour falls to Emily King. It seems so obvious in retrospect - having one single place to look every week, instead of trawling through film sites - yet I'm not sure I've ever seen it done quite like this before. In the absence of Doctor Who, I've been looking for something I could write regularly (not to mention something I could overanalyse), so when Emily suggested this to the team it seemed like the perfect fit. I took it and ran with it and now it's here!

We call it... The Trailer Park.

There was no real reason why I decided to start it this week - things just worked out that way. Yet, somehow, I managed to choose the week that both the new Star Wars and Batman v Superman trailers broke. There won't be another week with two mega-trailers like that for a while! So, to find out what I thought of the two biggest trailers of the year (and a couple of the week's slightly-less-big trailers) click the pic below. And check back next week for more!

Hex Picks: Film Villains

This week the Hex Dimension team are picking our favourite villains from the movies. While the list is somewhat dominated by supervillains (because, well, supervillains are cool) there's still a couple of unexpected choices. One of the choices is almost entirely redacted, and another is probably the last supervillain you would ever think to include in a list like this (yet it's probably favourite choice on here).

It's a pretty interesting mix, in other words, and you should click the image to take a look!

Hex Picks: Book Villains

Normal service resumes this week, as we move on from our month of TV recommendations (where I sadly missed out on a few weeks) and return to our usual cycle. This month we're looking at our favourite villainous characters from various media, and first up, as always, is books.

Actually, while I said "favourite" villains, that's not actually true. The character I've written about is not one I like or enjoy on any level - this is a truly odious and dispicable individual - and, in the novel at least, they're not actually the villain either. But they absolutely deserve to be on this list, without question. Find out why by clicking the image below.

Hex Picks: TV Shows with Amnesia

Our month of TV picks continues. Like last week, we all chose shows that used a similar plot device - this week it was memory-loss.

This is something that always hits quite close to home for me, and I used this as a chance to write myself some therapy! The specific device I've written about is something that genuinely upsets and disturbs me whenever it appears, yet it's also one of my favourite things on TV. To find out what it is, and which programme it's from, click the... um... click... errrm...

...what was I saying?

Hex Picks: TV Shows with Parallel Universes

We're trying something a little different with Hex Picks this March. Instead of our usual cycle of books, films, games and comics, we're giving the spotlight to TV programmes. Specifically programmes that all feature a specific plot or device. I'm not sure exactly how much mileage there is in this approach but, hey, we're gonna give it our best shot.

This week's common thread (because I honestly hate the word "trope") is shows that cross over into a parallel universe. We've got examples where that's a central element of the series' plot, to examples where it's basically a gag. Click below to check 'em out!

Hex Dimension: Is Marvel teaming up with a Sony a wise move?

This week, a miracle happened. Marvel Studios finally struck a deal with Sony Pictures, allowing Spider-Man to at last appear onscreen with Marvel's other characters. But, perhaps more importantly, that deal establishes that this will be a new version of the character rather than the current puffy-haired, promise-breaking iteration. And, more important still, Marvel will be the ones with creative control, rather than the aimless executives at Sony. This is great news.

Following our reaction piece regarding the Star Wars trailer, Hex Dimension have written a similar piece about this Spidey news. Rather than just squee about how great the news is (like I did above), I tried to find a more interesting angle to look at this from. I think I found one - and you can find it too by following the link below.

Hex Dimension: Spoilers, Bodies, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I am, as you probably know, the kind of person who cries during films. A lot. I'm emotionally very vulnerable to swelling scores and good composition and whatever it is that Pixar always do. But thinking about it, with one single Donna-Noble-shaped exception, I don't think I've ever felt the same level of emotion about televison.

Last week that changed, drastically and painfully. We're currently binge-watching Buffy for the first time, and something happened that completely flattened me. It was just one episode - just one - but I felt numb and drained for days afterwards. Chances are you know exactly the episode I'm talking about - it's the one that stabs you in the heart and twists the knife.

It is, quite honestly, one of the best episodes of television that I've ever seen. And because it is so good, and because I'm still reeling from the power of it, I just had to write down my feelings about it. The team at Hex Dimension have very kindly let me post my thoughts over there, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It ended up being quite a personal piece, I think, but in this case that feels like a positive. In fact, I don't think there was any other way to write it.

So, whether you know what I'm talking about or not, I hope you'll click this image and join me in celebrating this amazing show.

Hex Picks: British Films

A lot of the stuff that we consume - whether it's written or visual or interactive - comes from America. They make more stuff than us, so that's just the way it is. But this February sees Hex Dimension trying to shed a little light on media from our own home shores. All our Hex Picks will be - to some extent - British, and it feels good to be giving them some recognition.

This week is movies (or "films", as we call them over here). There's everything from ultraviolent drama to gonzo comedy, and it's a pretty spectacular list of great films. I chose probably exactly what you'd expect me to choose - but it's one of my absolute favourites and I totally stand by it. So, for the good of the Commonwealth, click below.

Hex Dimension Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

I've been shocked and surprised at the general response to Peter Jackson's final Hobbit film. I liked the first two more than most (but less than some), but I can definitely understand the issues that a lot of people had with them, even if I don't entirely agree.

But this one? This one I loved. From start to finish, there and back again, I loved every single second of it. To see Five Armies facing the same kind of backlash as the first two feels like absolute madness.

To find out what's different this time, and why it worked so well for me, click below for my full review!

The Companion Piece 14: Last Christmas

Christmas is a weird and chaotic time of year. I spent this one juggling two different families, various unexpected houseguests, and a truly terrifying amount of cooking and baking. Thank gods, then, for Doctor Who - the one reliable constant amid all the baubles and madness.

It looked for a while like this latest Companion Piece was going to go horribly wrong. We set a time and a date, and then Christmas got in the way and I ended up stranded in a location with no internet serving food and quite possibly baking again. Big thanks to Emily and Paul B for running the show without me at the last moment - you guys rule!

If you click the link below, you can read all our analysis of Last Christmas. You might be surprised to see that my name and comments are in there too. I'll leave you to figure out exactly how, but suffice it to say the explanation involves timetravel, Santa, and the fact that you're actually still dreaming...