Labels: who? exactly.
there were so many moments in this episode where i was able to speak the dialogue along with the characters. i attribute this to the fact that the writing was pretty schlocky now and then, since that's more or less how my mind works ("you didn't kill them, martha! the daleks killed them LONG AGO"). i totally called almost everything in this ep, but it was still fun. i mean, c'mon, who didn't see solomon giving that oh-so-beautiful speech (COME ON YOU GUYS CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? INTERGALACTIC PEACE YAY! --complete with a strings section sawing softly away in the background) and then getting freaking pwned by the daleks?! puh-leeze, they don't take that shit from anyone. i was wondering how long they'd let him go on before they snuffed him, and i actually started a little countdown to the Death o' Solomon. and who didn't spot the moment when the Doctor was trying to get the dalekanium off the empire state building (OH GEE I HOPE HE DOESN'T DROP HIS SONIC SCREWDRIVER!....AAAND THERE IT GOES!), or what martha was supposed to do with the psychic paper (THE MASSIVE LIT-UP BUILDING DIRECTLY BEHIND YOU!!!), or that sec was totally gonna get his ass kicked by the real daleks?! it was all over for him once he started to experience human traits, especially guilt and having a conscience. the uprising approacheth!!!!
even though everything could be seen coming from several miles off on a clear day, it was still great fun to watch. my favorite part was the two daleks down in the sewer, looking for all the world like two office workers bitching about their boss by the water cooler, especially the one who swiveled its head around before moving in closer to express its doubts. my question is, where the hell did the hoovervillians (hooverville-ites?) get their hands on all those guns? i know this was before gun control legislation, but sheesh. i didn't mind that martha was so stupid about the psychic paper, since for me it mirrored the very first episode of the 2005 series, with nine not being able to spot the london eye as being the nestene consciousness' transmitter until rose so helpfully pointed it out to him.
i'm not too sure how accurate the scientific stuff was (ballpark guess, not at all), but we all want to see ten don his "look i'm a smart boy oh yes i am because LEARNIN IS SEXEH" glasses and mess about with tubes of colored water and dry ice. it's a measure of how far the Doctor has come that he can see the changes in sec's personality and agree to help him start over. the Doctor is starting to come to grips with the time war and its effects, at least enough to tamp down his bitterness and unite with an old enemy to create a more promising future. unfortunately (but not at all unexpectedly), this warmer, friendlier race of daleks was not to be. did anyone else think "young frankenstein" when sec was showing ten the human who was going to part of the new race of daleks? the cot descending from the ceiling was just too much for me. i kept expecting the Doctor to pull off the sheet and find gene wilder lying underneath.
of all three of the cult of skaro left, why did caan have to be the one to survive? i keep thinking of william shatner's cry of "KHAAAAAAAAAAN!" and i can't help but continue to do so. acting like that you don't easily forget. fantastic when the Doctor squared off against caan in the lab, clint eastwood-style. i was waiting for a tumbleweed to roll across the floor between them.
and the Doctor was just too great, finally rolling up his sleeves and saying "hey, all those hundreds of deaths were just TOO MUCH!!! i can't take ONE MORE DEATH TODAY!!! YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED TO DIE!!!! the universal laws of fluffy happy endings for all decree that I SHALL SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!! fuck the pig slaves and the dalek/Doctor bastard love children! they were just minions anyway. now, laszlo is a man (pigman?) who really deserves saving, if only so he can be with his TRULUV4LYFE tallulah-with-three-l's-and-one-h (who can only be the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother of bad wolf's lynda-with-a-y). is there someone for everyone? the Doctor's not so sure, after losing rose and so many other companions, but he does know that he'll meet caan again. somewhere in his future. there's only one dalek left now, so rtd will have to make this one count. or he can just pull a bunch more from somewhere, like he did in dalek and with the emperor in bad wolf/parting of the ways and with the cult of skaro.
next week, mark gatiss as a genius who performs the lazarus experiment, but from the looks of it, things may not go so well. at least the Doctor and martha are in fancy dress! the last time a mad genius tried to take over the world, the Doctor and rose were just part of the catering staff. so this is obviously an improvement.
