I'm a little bit behind with this post as ‘Cold Blood’, the episode of Doctor Who I'm reviewing here, was broadcast on May 29th, nearly two weeks ago! I will probably review more, so I'll try and keep up to date with those.
Written by Chris Chibnall, ‘Cold Blood’ was the final part of a two-episode story that begun with the previous week’s ‘The Hungry Earth’, which reintroduced an enemy that the good Doctor has met at least twice before in the Classic ‘Who’ series, The Silurians. More commonly referred to by the Doctor’s eleventh incarnation (Matt Smith) as “Homo Reptilia", they occupied the Earth (presumably during its actual Silurian period 409 million years ago...thanks, Mac Dictionary!) prior to its present tenants, the Homo Sapiens. Now, thanks to a big drilling project in the Welsh countryside having woken up the lizard people, they think it’s a pre-emptive strike and decide to fight back by kidnapping the Doc's companion, Amy Pond (gorgeous Karen Gillan) and a Welsh father and son. The first part ended with the Doctor and drill co-creator/scientist Nasreen (Meera Syal) infiltrating the Silurian underworld to find their friends...
‘Cold Blood’ is one of the better episodes of Doctor Who series five, with a strong message of sharing the planet. This was put across a bit heavy-handedly, however, when the Doctor warned young Elliot, who looked to be the target age of a Doctor Who viewer, about being open-minded towards those different from us and learning to share what we have. This theme was rather reminiscent of ‘Avatar’ with regard to the idea of two species warring over a planet, yet this episode packed more plot into 45 minutes than Cameron’s opus did in nearly 3 hours. I was also reminded a little of ‘District 9’, especially by the plot point of a human character infected by enemy DNA and slowly becoming one of them (although not strictly alien here, since the Silurians originate from Earth). The narration by the wise old Silurian president/Prime Minister/whatever at the episode’s start and end was a little like that of Timothy Dalton’s Time Lord President during the 2009 Christmas special ‘The End of Time - Part One’. This is more of an observation than a criticism, since it gave the show more of an epic feel, hinting that Homos’ Sapiens and Reptilia eventually do learn to get along, despite their losses but also at the losses the Doctor himself must face.
This episode saw Matt Smith demonstrate the more genuinely alien eccentricity, compared to David Tennant’s slightly forced attempts, although Smith’s relentlessly chirpy attitude (“squeaky-bum time!” indeed) grates a little, making him seem a bit too cool under pressure sometimes. The Doctor retrieving a broken piece of TARDIS from another of those pesky Cracks in Time was a real shock, which made me recall a moment near the end of ‘Flesh and Stone’ where another Crack threatens to engulf everything and the Weeping Angels (the villains of that episode) tell the Doctor that the only way to stop it is for a “time and space event" such as he to be thrown into it. The thing is, the Angels are also such events, as the Doctor well knows, sending them flying into the Crack instead, sealing it. Yet, has the Doctor avoided this fate? Will he still have to sacrifice himself to stop the ever widening cracks erasing time and space? Yet, if he pilots the TARDIS into the Crack, wouldn’t that erase his own existence, creating a Doctorless universe; all his good work undone by his total erasure from time and space, not least the destruction of creation by his own people as they tried to win the Time War against the Daleks? The Doctor remembers the Angels, despite their vanishing into a Crack, so maybe he would be remembered too? That must be the case, if he can still find a bit of the destroyed TARDIS from the future. Paradoxically, perhaps, in flying into the Crack in Time to seal it, the explosion of the TARDIS is what causes the Crack in the first place? Oh no, I’ve gone crossed-eyed! ...I think I can see a real, bright light...
I’m glad Rory’s dead, his whole existence sucked into the Crack for good (or is it? If the Doctor can remember him and finds a surviving piece of the TARDIS from the future, maybe there’s hope...? Yet, I hope not...ah, that bright light again...so beautiful to me! I have to take a look...) It was hard to believe that plucky, sexy Amy would marry such a mopey, wussy bloke who, I must admit, reminded me a little of myself. That said, Rory grew some balls throughout the series though, getting into a sword fight (from which Amy had to save him), standing up to the Doctor on occasion (with the prescient line, “you’re a danger to people because you make them want to impress you!”) and, at the last, giving his life to save the Time Lord’s (whom I'm sure was well impressed by this). Despite my dislike of him, Rory's death was a surprise that, afterwards, had me wondering about what he’s done throughout the five episodes he’s been in so far and whether the fact that he’s now never supposed to have existed changes anything. I guess not. One thing’s for sure, I’m really excited about the series finale, now. Only four episodes to go…do you see the light?
