Between the holidays, parties, visitors, and other brouhaha, we only this past weekend had a chance to watch the final two episodes of Series 2 of Doctor Who.
It was worth the wait.
The main plotline is a scosh goofy, albeit the sort of thing to make fanboys drool — “Who would win in a battle between X vs. Y?” Well, now we know. And it all gets wrapped up in a nice, neat, deus ex machina bit of technobabble that Star Trek: TNG would be proud of, albeit with some dandy twists and cliff-hangers.
But, then, that isn’t what the pair of episodes — “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday” — is all about. Instead, it’s about wrapping up a half-dozen plot threads (and characters), twisting our heroes through an emotional wringer (one that’s been building all season, and the previous one), and letting David Tennant finally give a performance as the Tenth Doctor that he can be proud of. There are some faboo character pieces here, some huge, steaming gobs of poignancy, and just enough unexpected (yet fitting) humor
at the end to make the wait for Series 3 intolerable.
Nicely done. Not going to say much more — but the Series 2 DVD set is already available (and, cough, on order), so there’s no excuse for not seeing it pretty soon now …
(The soundtrack is also in pre-order — woot!)