Doctor Who: The Girl Who WaitedClassic
Doctor Who rarely delved into the emotional lives of the companions and the impact that traveling through time with the Doctor had on them. (The NAs started this, though their take that every companion was somehow permanently stunted by traveling with the Doctor got a bit old after a while). The new series, especially under the direction of Steven Moffat has delved a bit more into this and, for the most part, the results have been pretty solid.
And then they go and hit you out of left field with something like this episode. I have to be honest--based on the preview I wasn't expecting much. So, I was surprised about halfway through the story when I found myself completely caught up in what was happening.
Amy's waited for the Doctor all her life. It's part of her story (and to a lesser extent, it's part of Rory's as well). She waited for him to come back all growing up and here she's forced to wait for him to come back and rescue her again.....a wait that takes almost 36 years. Give Karen Gillan credit for pulling off the two versions of Amy and doing it well. What we saw here with the older, much more bitter Amy was some of her best work in the show. Could it be that the fact that she lost not only much of her childhood, but also her daughter's childhood and is then forced to survive alone as she awaits the Doctor's rescue has finally pushed her over the edge?
This sequence, coupled with the fact that the Doctor lies to all of them about being able to save both Amys leads me to suspect somehow the older, bitter Amy could be in the space suit.
It's my theory for now and it makes a good bit of sense. (Again, at least for now)
The episode, written by Tom DeRae, did just about everything right. It should be interesting to see what, if any, impact these events have on the bigger questions lingering over the final run of episodes this season.
Breaking Bad: Hermanos, BugOver the past season, I've been predicting that the IRS would enter the picture at some point and, quite possibly be the way in which Walt is brought down. And it appears that is coming to fruition with the IRS sniffing around Ted Beneke's finances. And since Skylar's name is all over those books, it's only a matter of time before they start looking into her financial situation--especially if she does what I am afraid she might do and pays off Ted's IRS debt. As we've seen all season, Skylar is comfortable on the surface with Walt being a high power criminal player. But when reality rears its ugly head, she isn't quite as comfortable with things and she, like Walt, scrambles to find a solution of whatever corner she's painted into for the moment without thinking how it will impact things long term.
Speaking of Walt, watching the last two episodes, I couldn't help but wonder if the show is trying to create some parallels between Walt and Gus. Both men entered into the world of producing meth with certain naive ideas of how things would unfold, only to see reality smack them firmly in the face. The one big difference between the two (so far) is that Gus seems less reactionary that Walt. Walt wants immediate revenge or satisfaction. Gus seems to have a long term vision for how to enact his revenge or how to take advantage of the opportunities as they arise. The final scene last week when he tormented Tio summed that up fairly well. This week, however, it looks like Gus may be losing some of the control he's worked so hard to create. He's giving in to the Cartel's demands for the blue-meth formula (possibly to take the heat off him from Hank?) and he seems to be ready to cut Walt out of the picture. I wonder if someone close to Walt will die before season's end in much the same way Gus' original partner did in the flashback?
In between these two is Jesse, who is conflicted in his loyalties. Both Gus and Walt are offering bits of what he needs most, but neither offers it enough to help him make a decision. The fight between Gus and Walt was a long time coming and whether it signals a permanent rift between the two remains to be seen. Could we see Walt betrayed by Jesse? Or even Jesse using the poison Walt has created against him?
And suddenly we have only a few episodes left in the season to answer these questions. I'm also sure Vince Gilligan and company will come up with a few more twists and turns along the way to make sure the wait for new episodes is a long one....
Labels: Breaking Bad, Doctor who, tv round-up
posted by Michael Hickerson at 9/15/2011 12:28:00 PM |
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