06 May 2013

A Battenberg episode (Review: 'Doctor Who' 33.11, "The Crimson Horror")

The Doctor, Clara and the Vastra gang try to stop an insane factory owner in 1893 Yorkshire.

 

This one was a fast-paced episode that rattled along with barely time to breathe:

 

·         Great pre-titles sequence; it had the air of a classic pastiche of Victorian times about it.

·         Dame Diana Rigg, bringing out a far more Yorkshire accent than most of her roles have had, did a great job throughout, although crediting her as ‘Dame Diana Rigg’ seemed a bit strange.

·         The ‘sat nav’ joke was excellent; although the name of the kid was obviously telegraphed.

·         Strax, Jenny and Vastra were wonderful, although I’m not sure what ‘limbo vapour’ is…

·         Starting a story in media res that way was a novelty for the show and worked well in this case, even it is seriously overused at other times.

·         There were some superb supporting characters, especially the pathologist.

·         The alien we saw was well realised – kudos to the creators for this.

·         Matt Smith had less to do than usual, but was still good; he can certainly rock a bowler.

·         Clara seemed a bit more subdued – she wasn’t in much of this and when she was on, her normal sass wasn’t fully present.

·         Bringing the two kids along for a ride next week could either be great or a recipe for disaster – the show does not take minors on the TARDIS and I suspect many would not like for the Doctor to have a kid companion.

 

Conclusion

 

Another treat from Mark Gatiss, but this is a Battenberg cake of an episode… enjoyable, but too many will make you sick.

 

8/10

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