Fear Her

[drakyndra]

Completely spoiler free, because I am too lazy to do a proper review or anything right now, but all I have to say is that I really liked this episode, and I haven't the faintest idea why.

I mean, it hasn't got the gorgeous visual style of Tooth and Claw or Girl in the Fireplace. It hasn't got the brilliant emotional stuff like GitF or School Reunion. It hasn't got the creepiness and philosophising of The Impossible Planet two parter, or the deeply fun vibe of Rusty's eps, or even the Mickey stuff that made me like the Cyberman eps. It hasn't even got the fandom imploding ability of Love and Monsters

But, I still really liked it. And I haven't the foggiest why.

Maybe it's the Matt Graham effect (I still can't define exactly what it is about Life on Mars that makes me like it so much). Or maybe it's just the fact I've finished exams, which puts me in a good mood.

Also, the trailer for the next ep? Is rocking my world.

ETA: Everywhere I go, I see hating on this episode. WHY? How can people hate something that made me cry? Yes, I am terribly soppy, but still...

Comments

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

I quite liked it too. And I am creeped the fuck out by the trailer for next week, yay!

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this one, too. And I'm suddenly craving those little edible ball bearings.... *grin*




not to mention marmalade.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time, I knew the proper name of those edible ball bearing things. And now I have forgotten it. Woe.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

*flails* WHY IS EVERYONE HATING ON IT?

Everywhere I go, people seem to hate this episode. :(

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

Nonpareils, I think....

I just ran a search and couldn't find any silver ones, though. Drat! :)

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

No, I stand corrected -- it's dragees.

Here's some as an example. (http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/flowers/dragees.htm) The disclaimers and shipping restrictions crack me up.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

They are inedible ones. I know you can get edible ones, because my Mum used to decorate cakes with them. And I would sneak them out of the jar and eat them.

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

Yeah... me too. :)

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

OH NOES THE EDIBLE BALL BEARINGS HAVE POISONED OUR BRAINS!

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

That explains everything!! ;)

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Edible Ball-Bearings: Causing Tennant!Lust in females. Discuss.

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

Or anything he's expressed the desire to put into his mouth, really.

Ahem.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

Oh God! I nearly died when he stuck his finger in the jam jar and sucked on it!

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

He's a kinky bastard, out Ten.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

I loved this ep, too! Sure, you can nitpick about the cheesiness of Rose's "they're trying to separate us but we'll always be together" or whatever it was she said, and a few other small things, (like the fact that the torchbearers hand off and usually do a lap of the stadium, too and oh - all these people had just disappeared and reappeared a few minutes ago and nobody is shocked and there's no police or security freaking out and well, okay, but it's just Doctor Who and it's supposed to be a bit campy) but my God! I used to nitpick Star Trek TNG eps to death (And I won't even start with the original series! *g*) but I still loved them. (Well, most of them *g*)

I'm a bit wary about the DW fandom as a whole - meaning I have learned to avoid the message boards over at OG. I've seen some lovely people here on LJ, and it's obvious that they love the show and the franchise, but I swear, some of the episode backlash for this second season is worse than what JKR received when HBP came out. So many people have all these expectations and a number of them have such feelings of entitlement and take it all so personally. To be honest, I don't understand where it comes from - why it's so deep anyway, and I'm sure a lot of that is because I'm a total newbie to DW. But it's a bit scary.

For me, I'm just enjoying the show, I could care less about camera angles, I love the character pieces and especially love banter and interaction, I love the sexual innuendo (and I LOVE(D) Jack!) and I'm just having a blast with it all. It's fun and it's entertaining. And I love that we have hot sexy doctors in this new incarnation!

(And I am glad the fart jokes haven't made a new appearance, but Chris saying "would you mind not farting while I'm trying to save the world" was hilarious! *g*)

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! God, I'd love to see him with Jack! The banter and the looks... *dies*

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

There would be no "sub" in that text.

...That sounded a hell of a lot less kinky in my head. LOOK AT THE EFFECT EVEN WRITING ABOUT THEM HAS!

[danel4d.livejournal.com]

People are hating on this ep? Why in the world would anyone do that? I loved this one - and even more to the point, so did my little sister, so much so that she watched it twice. Weirdness... oh well, guess I'll go see what people are saying.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

hahahaha! A Tale of Two Doms!

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I've seen some lovely people here on LJ, and it's obvious that they love the show and the franchise, but I swear, some of the episode backlash for this second season is worse than what JKR received when HBP came out. So many people have all these expectations and a number of them have such feelings of entitlement and take it all so personally.

There's also some batshit ones with some serious hate going down on LJ, too. (Srsly, doctorwho has some heavy hate at the moment, methinks) And I just don't get it.

Then again, I am not good at hating when it comes to fandoms. Quiet simply, I either like something (even if it's for the so-bad-it's-good factor), or I am not interested in it. If I'm not interested? I don't get involved in the fandom. I find it almost impossible to hate things like that.

So I really don't get how people can get involved in something they see, to have such antipathy for. I mean, I understand that it comes from entitlement and expectation issues, but I don't comprehend it, if you get what I mean.

I just want fandom to be fun!

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

doctorwho might be a good place to check out. And I don't get it, either.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Rowr.

[danel4d.livejournal.com]

Hrm... they're very angry, aren't they? Some of them sound like the stereotypical fanboys - "Emotions! Emotions! Away! Get them away, they burn!"
Hmm. It is all very odd.

But it does raise an interesting thing - a question about acting. Maybe it's because I used to be an actor, so from my perspective whether someone is a good or bad actor is to be broken down into what they did well or not. But from the perspective of reviewers, "So-and-so can't act" is an expanded comment on the episode - the problem being that whether or not someone is a good actor is so horrendously subjective as to be almost meaningless - was the kid in this episode good, or the worst actor the series has ever seen? And no discussion on this point is possible, since no one explains why they so hated her performance.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

It just annoys me that people only ever say "X can't act" when they don't like the episode, and then use that supposed lack of acting skills as a reason why the episode was bad.

You know, it's really annoying when people use a subject thing such as that to try and objectify something else that is just as subjective.

Also, watching things from the POV of someone with experience in acting must be really interesting. Especially when it comes to reviewing.

[tencrush]

I DON'T KNOW WHY I LOVED IT SO. But man, did I love this episode. I am purposely avoiding OG and stuffs because I just know the h8 will be strong. (Plus you've just told me it is)
I don't want to read any h8 for this ep, it was perfect in more ways than I can even begin to describe. And so much oral, Ten is really spoiling us. And neck, and manly hairy hands and backcombing and
*thud*

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

It just has some mysterious quality about it that makes it lovable, doesn't it? Weird.

But the hate is a bit depressing. And I'm shying back from the OG and all, partially for reactions, and partially because I don't want to get any more spoiled for the finale than I currently am.

And Ten is teh love, truly. Mmm, oral fixation...

[tencrush]

It had a strange greatness about it, the dialogue was at times some of the best yet. Ten really did it for me, talky-wise. And in many other ways which I shan't go into.
MMMM ORAL *THUD AGAIN*

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Yes, there was some fabbo dialogue. Ten was all chatty and snarky, and I love chatty snark. No shouty bits, either. And as predictable as it was, Ten with the torch made me laugh so incredibly hard.

Ten is all mouth, oh yes indeedy.

[tencrush]

There seems to be a lot of hate for chatty snarky Ten, and it's precisely what I love about him. I don't understand why people have such a problem with it.
All mouth, oh yes.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's the fact that I come from Buffy and Angel and all those shows that are all about the dialogue, but I have deep love for anything that is as intensely quotable and fun as the scripts for Doctor Who. And Tennant seems to pull off the kind of dialogue I like better than Eccleston did.

But then I always preferred spending time with chatty people than silent types.

[xwingace]

Not feeling the hate either. It had a few deeply anvilicious moments, but most things felt right, for a change.

I'm actually sort of sorry I saw the preview. Not sure I want that sort of thing on my mind the whole week.

XWA

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

There was a bit of anvilling, but since I still one hundred percent believe in the Rose leaves of her own choice thing, I'm seeing it as reverse psychology, and so bizarrely enough it works for me.

As a result of that trailer, i am now trying to avoid getting any more spoilers, because it looks so good and I want to be surprised over it.

[tencrush]

Hmmm, Tennant does the chatty thing so goddamned well, it makes me freaking hot. I was never overly keen on Eccleston's delivery of teh funneh.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

He does do it well. And people who claim they can't understand him baffle me, because I've never had a problem. And I had the same deal with Eccleston - quickfire witticisms aren't what I'd consider his forte,

[aervir.livejournal.com]

I just saw on the who_daily report that someone called it a giant pile of steaming crap, which really, really baffles me.

It may not have been the most orginal or most subtle episode ever. But it felt emotional in the right sort of way in some scenes, it had funny repartees in the dialogue, David Tennant was in top form as the Doctor, and Rose came off rather well this week.

In conclusion: I have no idea where the hate comes from, either; and I'm not even going to read reviews like the one cited above because I see no point in spoiling my enjoyment. :)

Loved the Vulcan greeting, by the way!

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

That's what I was like - There are quite a few episodes this series that I would rank above it, and yet... I can't see how it is in any way bad. Yeah, the message has been done before, but it was touching enough to get me crying with the Mother and Daughter singing together bit. And the Olympic Torch thing made me laugh so much.

The hate is rather bewildering, actually. I mean, last week I could understand it, even if I didn't share it. I just can't understand it. And like you, am keeping away.

And I loved the greeting too, that was fun.

[xwingace]

Well, yes, the "they'll never separate us" was the biggest anvil of them all, but really 'an oncoming storm'...? And something I'd group under anvilicious, but is probably more in the 'cheesy' camp: The Doctor picking up the torch and lighting the big flame. (So now he's literally carrying a torch for humanity, haha...)

I'm a bit confused how this oncoming storm thing should work, though. I mean, I presume they're back in London in 2007 or maybe 2008 next week, in which case the whole even had already happened this week and the oncoming storm sensation had to have either been absent or noticeable a lot sooner than two seconds before the end of the episode. *Or* it's set in 2012 in which case why didn't we notice any of those things in this week's ep, and why doesn't Jackie look six years older?

This episode and LoM both seem to have a theme of people's subconscious manifesting in common. As well as daddy issues and creepy little girls. The Matthew Graham touch was obvious in that, at least.

XWA

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the line was "a storm coming" which isn't quite the same thing. And I took it to be the Doctor having a bad feeling about their personal future, rather than the linear future. And so the Doctor's just getting the build up of bad things coming (you know that feeling you get, when you know something's going to happen, but you don't know what), and it takes Rose's words about the inseperability of the two to trigger him into sharing it.

And as cheesy as the Doctor with the torch thing was, it worked for me - I literally laughed out loud. I think it was just the sheer joy he seemed to have about it. It seemed so genuine.

And I think I am rather fond of Mr Graham, now. He's got ore episodes in the works, if I recall correctly.

[fin.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen this episode. However, I have to say that, despite the great directing and acting, I really didn't like Love and Monsters. It just strayed a little *too* far from the genre for me to be able to appreciate as being an episode of Doctor Who. It could have worked as a spin-off short film or something, but just felt like a filler episode. :(

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Yes, but there is a big difference between saying "I didn't like it because..." and giving a reasoned answer like you did, and just saying "OMG IT'S A STEAMING PILE OF CRAP!!"

[fin.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course. I thought it was an excellent piece of television. Which, in a way, is more annoying, because if they could get match the excellent writing and directing with a cool "Doctor Who" storyline, then you'd have an awesome series... and David Tennant has been an awesome Doctor, but he hasn't had the greatest material to work with... :(

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Well, I quite liked most of it, except that bloody monster - though I'm a fan of outsider POVs, so it was a concept that automatically had me on it's side, if you know what I mean.

And I generally find that this series has had very very good individual episodes (as in stand-alone quality), but has had a few inter-episode issues. Then again, I find Tennant so watchable, that even not as good stuff seems to work well for me. I'd still put my least favourite episode of this season above at least four from last series. And the good stuff has been good.