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potofsoupHoosband and I have not been big fans of Chibnall Doctor Who -- he generally has an interesting premise, and characters that look great on paper (diverse historical characters!), but then... the character beats feel off (like that Ada Lovelace episode, or when the Master is in WWII, or the fact that there's all these Yas-centric episodes but I still don't feel like I know her at all), and the story resolution is messy, sometimes even undercutting the very themes that were set up in the premise (like the Amazon episode -- is technology supposed to be good or bad in that one?)
Anyway, we didn't go into Chibnall's last season with high hopes -- it's a 6 episode story arc, and we were like "oh no, he's going to set up an interesting premise, then the characters aren't going to be developed, and then he's going to botch Act 3." But so far, 4 episodes in, it's been... not bad? Like, sure, the whole Time is fighting Space thing is kinda bollocks, and the Ravagers look really dumb and don't really have any motivation or characterization besides "evil", and the Division is the most boring Top Secret Agency ever, but! Vinder and Bel have a character arc! The episodes are tense and generally cohesive! The Weeping Angels episode didn't seem to come out of nowhere, and, excepting the last 30 seconds or so, made a lot of plot sense. Sure, Dan is pretty boring, but Yas seems to be getting some character development! Peggy and the Professor were pretty decently fleshed out! I'd been wondering how people gets absorbed into Passenger, and they showed us! There are a lot of balls in the air, but it feels resolvable in the next 2 episodes.
Of course, Chibnall might drop said balls in the third act, but for once, I'm actually holding out hope!
Anyway, we didn't go into Chibnall's last season with high hopes -- it's a 6 episode story arc, and we were like "oh no, he's going to set up an interesting premise, then the characters aren't going to be developed, and then he's going to botch Act 3." But so far, 4 episodes in, it's been... not bad? Like, sure, the whole Time is fighting Space thing is kinda bollocks, and the Ravagers look really dumb and don't really have any motivation or characterization besides "evil", and the Division is the most boring Top Secret Agency ever, but! Vinder and Bel have a character arc! The episodes are tense and generally cohesive! The Weeping Angels episode didn't seem to come out of nowhere, and, excepting the last 30 seconds or so, made a lot of plot sense. Sure, Dan is pretty boring, but Yas seems to be getting some character development! Peggy and the Professor were pretty decently fleshed out! I'd been wondering how people gets absorbed into Passenger, and they showed us! There are a lot of balls in the air, but it feels resolvable in the next 2 episodes.
Of course, Chibnall might drop said balls in the third act, but for once, I'm actually holding out hope!
