If low expectations are anything to go by I can't wait til 'Love and Monsters' and 'Fear Her', easily two of the worst Doctor Who stories ever (and I'm including the 40+ years before them too!). As it turns out 'The Idiot's Lantern' wasn't as bad this time round. The TV as a villain is still crap and it still reeks of style foremost but I quite enjoyed the story of the Father (Derek Branning from Eastenders, yes I did have to look up his character's name) and Son. A misogynistic Father and is son's coming of age and taking over his Father's mantle is well played out and definitely the highlight of the story.
The resolution was a bit pants, climbing a TV aerial mast and reversing the signal, yawn. What puzzled me about this though was what happened to the Gran? Everyone's faces returned yet the Gran was nowhere to be seen by the end of the episode. Also in Magpie's shop The Wire knocks out The Doctor, Tommy and the Policeman but only the Policeman has been turned into one of the faceless creatures. WTF? Ok I can understand The Doctor not changing, higher intelligence and all that too great for The Wire's control, but Tommy?! Confused.
Like I said this was better on re-watch (though still a little bit crap) and had a few nice little sub-plots most notably the Father and Son struggle for dominance and the speech about how Mr Connelly (The Father) fought in the war against narrow minded facists yet he's becoming one himself.
Another highlight was the coming up next trailer! Lol it wasn't that bad of an episode really. Next time round we're getting Oods! I quite like the upcoming 2 parter but can't understand why it's so revered. Maybe the lesson I took from this story (ie go into it with expectations lowered) may help me to fall in love with it.
Until next time, "Alons-y!"
