BAD WOLF: "Closing Time"



Hello again Whovians,

                  The time is almost upon us and yet another episode of Doctor Who has made me break down and regenerate into the form of a crying ‘Stormageddon” and question all the theories I’ve formed about the finale. For ‘Closing Time’ we rejoin a somber Red Bowtie Doctor visiting Craig (from ‘The Lodger” in series five) on a ‘pop-in-pop-out’ visit that turns into a hilarious fan-service adventure full of dead Cybermen and amazing jokes concerning the nature of Craig and the Doctor’s relationship. Which despite all the fanfic on the internet, remains a solid and definitive friendship in canon.  Just friendship.  Sure. 
You're not fooling anyone boys.

                   A huge logistical problem I noticed in this episode: The Doctor claims that tomorrow he’s going to face his death. Anyone who’s seen the episode knows where I’m going with this. We’re being slowly lead to the series six intro episode ‘The Impossible Astronaut” in which, a Doctor claiming to be 200 years older invites the Pond-Williams family to attend his death at Lake Silencio, Utah via a few TARDIS blue envelopes. This is verified easily by the envelopes of the same color the Doctor borrows from Craig before his departure to the series finale.  This means the Series six intro was a preview of the future we were allowed to view long before it’s actual occurrence, and tells me that within this season and perhaps within Moffat’s run as head writer, that we’ve been viewing the series from a non-linear perspective.  This ALSO means that between “The God Complex” and “Closing Time” there is a span of at least 200 years for this specific Doctor. This allows for a hole in my Ganger Doctor theory from last week. I’ve been theorizing under the assumption that the story was linear which is admittedly a very big mistake for someone who writes reviews of a show about time travel.  
My bad...

                        If we've been constantly switching between immediate-post IA Doctor and near death future Doctor there is no necessity for either to be gangers, just the same old timey-wimey stuff that time travel necessitates. Meaning instead my idea that one Doctor was locked up or busy somewhere and that one was travelling around in the TARDIS, they both could exist and have different habits because one is an older version. I know it’s heavy and now I’ve begun to ramble. Either way I still feel confident that I got something right. That the Doctor has been visiting planets and destinations based on the knowledge he has of his own death and his desire to find a way to avoid it… 
 From the fanatic’s perspective of the acting this episode was great. Matt Smith has truly grown into his role as the Doctor and a loveable one at that. Even as he’s practically mourning his own death he’s laughing at toddler’s books and making silly off the cuff jokes and it all feels as genuine as saving your human friend from cyborgs below a mall really can. The mood this Saturday was melancholy and resembled that of the calm before the storm. So many things to wonder about. Why the eyepatches? How are the "The Silence" and those scary creatures they roll with still operating? What is the question that will make the Silence fall? I’m nervous, and I trust Moffat’s writing, but based on the few spoilers I have seen for “The Wedding of River Song” Things are about to take a turn for the wibbly-wobbly boys and girls. So hold on to your Stetsons and Fez’s and I’ll see you next week.
Goodbye Sweetie
-Zach C.

3 comments:

kathy rudden said...

We have nothing to add this time! You just wrote a great post. Super cool to hear your insights after having just viewed the episode. Oh, and the how to video about fish fingers and custard we mentioned last time was by Charlie McDonnell and not Mc Donahugh as I wrote. Cheers, and Thanks again for great writing. Sincerely, Katharine and Steve

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8htMWfgl10U

Zach Cox said...

And thank you both for reading and leaving such lovely comments! I didn't get a chance to reply to the comment you left on the God Complex review, sorry about that, but you know how it is, universes to travel, beings to see.
There's not much to add when it came to this episode, it was a pretty straightforward lead in to the finale so all I had to work with was the feeling of giddiness and dread it left me with. All the same it was still fun and it sounds like you guys enjoyed it to!
Thanks again for being lovely.
-ZC

Zach Cox said...

too*