Doctor Who: The Lion, the Widow, and the Wardrobe Reaction

[lunarsilverwolfstar]

Okay, so I saw this on Boxing Day. Still counts right?

SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Shoot me, but I think I may actually have found a Moffat episode I LIKE (though I say this it honestly bears little meaning; well, besides the two-parter The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and you know Davies was looking over his shoulder every step of the way to make sure he didn't conk that one up and mayhap Blink). It had a happy ending (I REFUSE TO READ THAT TEAR AS ANYTHING OTHER THAN HAPPY) and I am a sucker for them after the angst-travelling (AKA these past two seasons of torture, not really angst 'cause angst you gotta feel and I wasn't feeling it except the angst of the poor Doctor having to go through through these WTF seasons).

Had an LOL and WTF moments the first... 8 minutes? in. Of COURSE the Doctor's the intruder who's blowing things up (YAY FOR THE DOCTOR), but then...okay...space suit...which makes sure the Doctor doesn't get disintegrated entering the Earth's atmosphere okay...not to mention 'swimming' to get said space suit, in SPACE. Sci-fi just became absolutely science-fantasy rather than fiction and that's saying something...

Madge not knowing how to drive well... How does that NOT surprise me, coming from Moffat? Do love how he ended up in a regular ol' police box. *Snicker*

I wanted to hug and slap the Doctor 'cause I forgot how erratic he is. 'Course, it soon developed into wanting to kiss him when he was talking with Madge. She also made me want to cry a lot. LOVED that reaction, because besides bits of annoyance and the occasional VERYOHSOGOOD emotional scene, I hadn't gotten this emotional this quickly over an episode (besides Closing Time of course, but it had CRAIG and Stormageddon in it). It also warmed my heart to see the Doctor so enthusiastic about the children's room.

*Face-palm* "It's not a police box, it's my... wardrobe. I've just painted it to look like a police box." (Or something like that.) Oh Doctor. Brilliant excuse. XD Such a dork!

"Why would you rewire a wardrobe?"
"Have you seen the way I dress?"

*Giggle-snort*

Loved Cyril, curious, but still cautious, but still a kid.

Loved Lily! She asks lots of questions! :D

"Oh grow up Lily!"

Ironic coming from the man who refuses to (or simply wishes he hadn't...okay, did not mean to go down the path of angst...).

"Every rose has its thorns."

I admit it. I squeaked. I'm desperate. So sue me.

TALKING TREES=AWESOME
Did wish for a reference, but, eh. It's Moffat; really, I'm not expecting anything from that man except more horrible-plots-but-not-really-plots.

"There's nothing you could ever say that could convince me you'd use that gun."
"Oh really? Well I'm looking for my children."

RAWR to mamma-bears!

"I met the forest of Cheem once, she fancied me."

EFFIN' YES! Another, count-on-one-hand shout-out to pre-Moffat series. Don't know if I quite liked the way Jabe was mentioned, but I can chalk it off to the Doctor being under stress, trying to save Cryil. Would have so preferred, "I met the forest of Cheem once, she saved my life." But, again, it's Moffat.

THEY'RE GOING TO KILL OFF A WHOLE FOREST FOR BLOODY FUEL?!?!?! I have a friend who is a tree-hugger and I'm pretty eco-friendly myself. Sue me. ~But you won't get a buck outta me~. XD

Hee...I can't help but grin at the Doctor's continuous conversation with his screwdriver... XD

LOVE Madge for offending the Doctor. :D Power to the mommies! At least he didn't get slapped... Hee.

Urg...I knew it. The reason why Lily was strong was 'cause she's female, not 'cause she's young. And of course mommy would be even stronger. CHESS+QUEEN=STRONGEST PIECE. That's they way I decided to take it anyway. I was only upset about this because I didn't want anything bad happening to her. And yes, the Doctor was VERY stupid there. *Sigh* Lol. Also, again with the whole Moffat-has-issues-with-female-characters thing. Really? Just 'cause she's a mommy and she's female. He tries making these strong female characters, but it doesn't quite work out because it's like only their physical/biological attributes are important, not their personality or character. I mean, I quite liked Madge, but the main reason why she was able to help is because she's biologically female, not 'cause she's a strong female character/a mommy who wants to protect her kids.

"Do what I do: Hold tight and pretend it's a plan."

*Shock* The Doctor was honest. :P

"I'm older than I look and I can't feel the way you do."

*SOB*

"Your mother is flying a forest through the Time Vortex, be a little impressed."

I was A LOT impressed! This was awesome! Still, IT'S ONLY BECAUSE OF HER BLEEDIN' BIOLOGY.

I couldn't help but crack up as the Doctor 'dumbed down' his explanation for Madge.

"I imagine you'd prefer to be alone"
"I don't believe anyone would prefer that."

*STAB IN THE ITTY BITTY HEART*

"I'll be right outside."

I eyed him suspiciously, but when he went outside and I saw that look on his face, I was all... OMG, OMG, OMG!!!

'Course, I was tearing up when Madge was telling her kids, then went OMG, OMG, OMG again when she started talking about Reg flying on a night with no moon and no stars 'cause...THERE WAS A FREAKIN' LIGHT, OMG, OMG, OMG, YYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSS!!! (Granted, at first I thought it was the lives of the forest, but it wouldn't make sense since he should have landed on his linear time which would've meant no telegram to Madge, unless he got lost, but...yeah...) Also, it was kinda...uh...a plane survived going through the Vortex, really? I'm not sure how to feel about that, honestly, but then again, there's the vortex manipulator and you travel through without a 'capsule' or whatever, so I guess it's not that off... I WAS JUST TOO HAPPY TO HAVE A DECENT HAPPY ENDING.

AND, AND, AND THE LOOK ON THE DOCTOR'S FACE WHEN HE CAME TO INTERRUPT. IT'S LIKE HE COULD BARELY MANAGE TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT!!! (11 may not have as much of a gob as 10, but all Doctors will always talk and talk and talk so, props!)

SHE FLEW A WHOLE FREAKIN' FOREST AND HER HUBBY HOME! (Okay, yes, it's because she's freakin' biologically female can you tell I have issues with this?, but eh.)

"Got a bit glitchy(?)  in the middle there, but it sort of worked out in the end there. Story of my life."

*Clutches heart*

YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH I WANTED HIM TO STAY!!!

While, yes, Amy and Rory know he's not dead... POWER TO MARGE FOR DEFENDING THE FRIENDS!!!

See, while I may have not liked Amy at first, and had issues with the way she was written out later on where I felt there could have been more, I fell for her a bit once she got over her silly crush on the Doctor and came to love him utterly as a friend. So, I have to admit, while I wish that the Doctor could move on a bit already, I ADORED the little reunion scene. Yes, he should have gotten slapped, BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS. And, again, they knew he wasn't dead, but I'm sure they were still worried about him.

Yes, I wish there was a clean cut already so HE WON'T HAVE TO SUFFER ANYMORE; FOR PETE'S SAKE, CAN'T THE GUY GET A BREAK?!?!?! (I guess that's what this episode was for, a bit...) However, those two are so adorably stubborn! *HEARTS*

"But you didn't know I was coming why would you-?"
"Oh, because we always do. It's Christmas you moron."

This was me: :D LOVE, LOVE!

HAPPY-CRYING FOR THE DOCTOR, CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVED THAT!!! (AND YES IT WAS HAPPY-CRYING AND NO THAT DOES NOT MAKE HIM ANY LESS A TIME LORD 'CAUSE THAT'S LIKE SAYING HIM LOVING ROSE DID THAT SO NONONONONONO IT DOESN'T!!!)

EVERYBODY LIVES, JUST THIS ONCE, EVERYBODY LIVES!

I know I sort of promised myself not to diss on Moffat, but I obviously couldn't help it... First getting ideas from The Time Traveler's Wife AND RUINING IT ENTIRELY, then A Christmas Carol, then The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, AND THEN OF COURSE USING STUFF FROM SIMILAR EPISODES. REALLY, MOFFAT, REALLY? YOU'RE GETTING PAID FOR THIS. I know original ideas are few and far in-between, but can you at least TRY?!

Rant over.

All in all:

Not the best plot-episode overall (but then again, WHERE has there been plot in the past two season?), but I so give it a 3.5/5 FOR FINALLY MAKING ME ~FEEL SOMETHING GOOD!!! Honestly, I think it really kinda sucked mostly, but I do admit to getting emotional (but it could just be the hormones talking... XD).

Comments

[xsilverxlightx.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on pretty much all of this. I liked it but I can't help feeling like a lot of why I was excited about it was because it wasn't as terrible as most of this season was. Madge and her kids were great though.

And I did like the Doctor going to visit Amy and Rory but I feel like them waiting for him to come visit for two years just ties into Amy being the girl who waited when she's supposed to have stopped waiting now. I love Amy and Rory but it does seem like he needs to get to move forward a bit and they need to get to live their lives. A clean break would be helpful for all of them really.

[silverlunarstar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's like it won me over by default, basically...

You're right, though, she is still being depicted as the girl who waited. I really hope there's a good, clean break between them. Won't get my hopes up, though...

[xsilverxlightx.livejournal.com]

I heard there will be next season but yeah, not getting my hopes up either.

[develish1]

I think pretty lowly of SM as you no doubt know. Really though, the only thing really good about the ep for me, was that it wasn't quite as awful as I expected it to be, which is really rather sad

[silverlunarstar.livejournal.com]

I didn't have my hopes up for this episode either and, as xsilverxlightx mentioned, it wasn't as terrible as most of the season was, so it basically won me over by default as I told her. It is truly sad.