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I want to talk to you guys about Doctor Who and Downton Abbey.

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Okay folks, just a heads up here: this post is going to be spoilers. Just a whole, tangly, Medusa’s head of spoilers biting and snarling and slithering over each other. So here is my spoiler warning:

  • If you haven’t watched the latest Doctor Who episode, “Asylum of The Daleks” and you don’t want spoilers, stop reading this post. 
  • If you haven’t watched the Christmas episode from season 2 of Downton Abbey and you don’t want spoilers, stop reading this post. 
With that in mind, allow me to provide a little spoiler space for you:
That otter has literally nothing to do with the post, I just thought it was cute as hell. OMG, have you seen the video of the otter talking?
Sorry for the digression. Joe is actually watching me type this post and he said, totally exasperated, “So, what does this have to do with the Doctor or Downton Abbey?”
Nothing at all.
First, I have a mixed bag of feels about “Asylum of The Daleks.” I feel like the quality of the writing is not up to par with some of the classic Doctor Who episodes. I was watching The Aztecs the other day (one of my favorite First Doctor adventures), and it occurred to me that in recent years, the show has been less about the Doctor travelling through all of space and time and having adventures, and more about making the audience sad. I “discovered” Doctor Who in 1996. It wasn’t until the Tenth Doctor wiped Donna Noble’s memory that I could say, “Hey, remember that episode of Doctor Who that made me cry so hard I burst blood vessels in my eyes?” It just doesn’t seem right, to someone who came to the fandom through the classic series (prompted by Paul McGann’s epic turn as Eight in the tv movie), that the show should be such a downer all the fucking time. We came into this season with me fervently wishing we could get away from the melodrama about relationships and into more adventure.
But holy shit, did it throw me for a loop when the new companion showed up in this episode! I had no fucking clue she was going to be in there, and I have a google alert for news stories about Doctor Who. How did they keep that a secret? How did none of that leak? That’s fucking epic, and I quite like her.
HOWEVER.
If the Doctor does not save her from becoming a Dalek, if it’s all this bullshit about “I ruin people’s lives/I can’t change the past/Woe is me Time Lord,” I am going to roast the surface of this planet in my utterly incandescent fury. This is something they have to change. They have to undo that end to her story line, or I will never recover. Enough of Stephen Moffat writing Angst, Hurt/Comfort Doctor Who fanfic and foisting it upon us.
Feel free to discuss, in the comments. Tell me what you thought of “Asylum of The Daleks.”
Okay, onto Downton Abbey. I had a nightmare about Downton Abbey last night. Keep in mind that when I say “nightmare,” it’s like, a fangurl nightmare, not a dream that would be actually frightening or troubling to anyone who wasn’t a total freak about fictional happenings.
So, as you know (or don’t, but you DNGAF about spoilers), Mary and Matthew FINALLY GOT ENGAGED at the end of the Christmas episode. I was so relieved. I have been rooting for them to get together for the whole series (as the writers intended). When he proposed, I cried. I didn’t cry when Joe proposed to me, but I cried when Matthew proposed to Mary. Holy cow, did I cry, and squeal, and weep tears of genuine relief.
Last night, I dreamed that I was at Downton Abbey for a wedding. A huge, amazing wedding. Of course, I knew exactly who was getting married. Matthew and Mary! I was at their wedding, omg omg, how exciting, to be a part of all of it!
Until the bride showed up and she was not Mary. I started having a full-fledged panic attack, chest pains, sweating, crying, begging Matthew not to marry this woman that wasn’t Mary. That’s right. I pulled an “I object!” on behalf of someone else. And it was super embarrassing, interrupted the wedding, caused a huge scene, and I woke up the way people wake up from nightmares in movies.
It was super duper pathetic. I’m fully aware of that, and that’s why I’m sharing it with you all. As a kind of penance, I suppose.
Enjoy your holiday weekend, American readers, and a new recap will be posted on Tuesday.

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2 Comments

  1. Kristian
    Kristian

    Oh god all the tears i have cried over shit in doctor who.
    Everyone fucking hates Moffat and i cant blame them at all.
    If i ever had the chance to meet him no one would ever find the body that just all i´m saying.

    February 24, 2015
    |Reply
  2. Ann Onimuss
    Ann Onimuss

    This post highlights one major reason I will not join the Doctor’s fandom anytime soon. I burst enough blood vessels over other stupid shows.

    October 23, 2015
    |Reply

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