Review "Kerblam" by Brice Baker

It finally happened. Like scratching that lottery ticket and winning $100, we finally got a Doctor Who episode this season. We’ve had decent ones and painful ones, but with "Kerblam", we finally have a real one.

First, we have links to the past that we haven’t really seen up to now. The fez was obvious but welcomed and the Agatha Christie comment was icing on the cake. Next, we have the Doctor blundering into a situation without any plan. She actually gets in the way by overthinking things when the system initially puts her in custodial. It was much more of a fluid situation which she had to adapt her plans to on the fly as opposed to "Rosa" and "Demons of Punjab", where she was basically protecting a forgone conclusion. Also, The companions were real active in parts of the plot instead of being sent away on some unrelated side quest. And finally, the thing that put it over the top for me was the twist. Making a common item scary or dangerous is a long tradition (Autons and Angels to name a few), and lethal bubble wrap just adds to this. I don’t know if it was an intentionally homage to the green bubble wrap monsters in arc in space, but I like to think it was.

In other words, this episode had a nice mix of mystery, fun, history and some relevance to today, as a good episode should. Without hitting us over the head with it. I’ll give it 4.5 out of 5 Tardises.

Review "Demons of the Punjab"

It's that time again to review the newest Doctor Who episode and I'm sure I will hate it.  And..... I didn't hate it. There's a first for me. I know most of you think I will hate everything this new Doctor does, but that's not true. Actually, there were other episodes that I liked, but it always ended up being my partner in crime, Brice Baker's turn to review it.  So here's my chance. Now, let's not get carried away. I didn't love this episode, but it was Ok. 

Review "The Tsuranga Conundrum"

We are onto episode 5 of this season and thank goodness, there were no spiders in this episode. "The Tsuranga Conundrum" features the Doctor and her companions on board a medical ship that is being eaten by a small creature called a "Pting", who has an insatiable appetite for energy and will stop for nothing to devour all of it. Plus as an added obstacle, if they deviate the ships' path the people controlling it will blow it up. Sounds like a pretty juicy episode, right? WRONG!

This episode was a complete waste. First they make the baddie, the Pting look like a cute little chubby creature that you might want to snuggle with. Not that menacing. I know why Chris Chibnall created the Pting like this, because he always wants to be different and do unconventional things. But there's a reason why you don't make the monster a cute a little creature, because it doesn't work. 

Review "Arachnids" by Brice Baker

With Arachnids in the UK, this season continues on its steady improvement. The characters are fleshing out nicely and supporting family and friends adding to their dimensions. I found the reasoning for each to continue being companions particularly interesting.

The story was a nice change. It wasn’t an alien invasion, it wasn’t in London and it was in the present. The Doctor is very proud of herself that she got them to the right place for a change! She is fantastic at the socially awkward one liners and her facial expressions are over the top. This story continued the tradition of seemingly unrelated threads coming together in the end. The spiders are all going crazy without an obvious reason. The Doctor finds a strong advisor who begins to bring the mystery together. The Doctor’s unique ability of seeing connections, places a bulls-eye on a swanky new resort. We meet the owner, a stereotypical American businessman, who is a shoot first control freak. As his eyes are opened to the damage he has caused, he becomes angrier and eventually killing the “mother spider”. A brief mention of a toxic waste disposal company ends up tying up the loose ends.