New episode, new review time. Not much to say about this one.
Ok, so, we'll get this out of the way at the top. I don't have all that much to say about this episode. Not because it was bad or anything, it was actually a really enjoyable episode, there just wasn't an awful lot to it. There were an awful lot of good parts, nothing especially bad in terms of the story or the characters, but nothing hugely outstanding either, nothing that made me go "wow this episode is great" like a few parts of last weeks episode. But again, I will restate, this was not a bad episode.
We start off with a mystery, the TARDIS phone ringing (something which invariably leads to something bad happening) and then we are thrown right into the mystery, which the scene being set by the Architect. Setting the scene really well, plus we get the return of the memory worms from The Snowmen Christmas special from 2 years ago, which was nice. We are introduced to our two episodic companions, both of whom are interesting in their own right, I just really wish I could remember their names, because that is really bugging me at the moment. The augmented thief I have to single out for being a really cool character, glitching out and being brave, but I do think that both he and the mutant girl could have got a bit more to do after their return into the story. They really engaged me as characters in the first half, then they went away and every thought they weren't returning. Then they do, but they don't actually do anything to warrant our attention any more, which I think is a shame.
Next up we have the Bank its self. Really nice design work, both with the CGI and the sets. I'm glad that they've given us an alien planet episode finally, it needed to happen eventually. The alien was very Star Wars-esque, and it had a neat ability with a very disturbing and not anatomically possible side-effect (if the brain is removed the head would still retain its shape because of the skull right?). Oh and Keeley Hawes did a decent enough job too, but I just couldn't get over the fact she was called Ms Delphox. Obviously someone on the Doctor Who writers team is a Pokemon fan.
Plot wise, no complaints. The whole idea of them being led along by someone from the future was cool and then for the twist at the end. Yeah it was a bit predictable, but it worked. Again one slight complaint. The whole "the heist wasn't a heist but a rescue mission" thing was a bit too meh for my liking, they could have done better, but again, it worked in a very plain, boring way. I would have been more impressed/ engaged if the monsters pay off was some way of relieving its self from all of the thoughts it had absorbed, because that was hinted by the Doctor after they're captured. But we got a cutesy "oh there's two monsters isn't that lovely" pay off instead. Meh.
So, overall- good, could have been improved, but nothing to drastically bad that it stopped me enjoying the episode. B-. Sorry this review is a bit all over the place. I was trying to stretch out the stuff I had so it would actually make a full post.
