philosoraptor42

Hmmm... I'm not really liking this.

In fact, to be frank I felt like "Time of the Doctor" was very nearly as bad as Russell T. Davies' "End of Time" travesty. So even before starting the first episode of Series Eight of NuWho I already felt like Doctor Who was somewhat in the doghouse. (Which is a pity, because I really really enjoyed the 50th Anniversary Special.)

So a few things everybody else has probably noted already:
- Capaldi doesn't need a load of lines going on about how he's Scottish now. We get it. You're Scottish. When Eccleston was Northern he just said "lots of planets have a north" and that was the end of it. It's a waste of time.
- Why is so much of this episode wasted on pointless speeches? When we finally got 'the restaurant' it was great! Both Clara and the Doctor accuse each other of the same character flaw at the same time - which was more like the sort of fun bickering we expect between them. Nobody in the restaurant is actually eating - ZOMG! Why couldn't we get to this twenty minutes earlier? Creepy robots looking for spare parts. Now this is more like it.
- Did the Doctor kill the villain or did he persuade the villain to commit suicide? - Seriously, does that matter? Either way, the Doctor saved his friends, just like he always does.
- Do we really need a phone call from Matt Smith? Isn't Clara supposed to have seen every single Doctor already? Why would she be particularly freaked out by Capaldi? How is Matt Smith's Doctor even supposed to know he has another regeneration still coming when he makes that call?

But the weirdest bit for me was this: What was Jenny clapping about???

Clara essentially seems to be saying to Vastra "oh you totally fancy me" and then Jenny starts clapping. It makes no sense to me.

The best explanation I can come up with right now is that Jenny was finding the whole argument as tiresome and awkward as I was and was just desperate to get to a point where it was over and done with.

Can anyone else help me out with this? Why was Jenny clapping?

Other LJ friends have had the following to say about the new Doctor Who episode (and please let me know if I missed you out or if you'd like your link removed from here):
Sabotabby - Liked it
Shadowkat67 - Liked it
Xerinmichellex - Didn't like it

UPDATE:
Oh my goodness, suddenly it all makes sense. Ben frikkin' Wheatley was directing!
Doctor Who generally thrives on its comedy, so who could possibly worse for the job of directing the episode than a guy who made a whole comedy movie which wasn't funny?