That's also notable for Noel Fielding making an entire studio audience corpse with nothing but a moderately blank look.

Ah, Harmon, ya eejit.

Next week is the IT Crowd's finest half-hour, and a decent argument for the funniest half hour of British comedy in the 21st Century.

I'm presuming that they're going to have Jamie in a useless funk until Joffrey dies, whereupon he takes up with the Kingsguard again.

Wait a minute. The Elders of the Internet?

The Purple Wedding should be S04 E01. Smack viewers around the face right from the beginning. Introduce the Red Viper at the beginning of the episode, Arriane in tow, and get moving from there.
I agree with the general sentiment that AFFC/ADWD stuff is going to be seeded into series 4. Some characters are really,…

I never interpreted the Silence as trying to blow up the universe there. I always assumed that they were simply trying to kill the Doctor by blowing up the TARDIS while it was in flight, and simply didn't understand the implications of what they were doing or that it might be River piloting the TARDIS rather than the…

Well, see above, although the Doctor referring to the Hurt incarnation as his greatest secret may also tie in to things.
Until the anniversary special proves me otherwise, I'm going to go with the Silence stopping his burial and "open wound" at Trenzalore.

@avclub-ea93d61158b479315c8e0d4cd003ec35:disqus He's xenophobic and warlike to a fault. Yes, he's friends with Jenny and Vastra, but his primary response is always to kill and maim. Yeah, it's a funny gag, but he's hardly this idealised figure.

The key thing to think is that the Doctor must not reach Trenzalore doesn't necessarily refer to the events of this episode. No, the Doctor must not reach Trenzalore to die there, and have a tomb with his timeline running through it there, an "open wound" ready for alteration by whatever force is willing to unstitch…

He was a past Doctor, who Eleven refused to even recognise due to actions unknown. It's a reasonable bet that this is something to do with the Time War; it's always assumed that the McGann Doctor participated before regenerating into the Eccleston Doctor, but the Hurt Doctor slots neatly in the middle.

Clara didn't. They disintegrated when the Great Intelligence stepped into the time rip and disintegrated. What with the whole possessing Whispermen and imprinting REG's face onto them, I think we were meant to understand them as extensions of the Great Intelligence's will, and they lost form as soon as he did.
I'd…

Unflawed characters? Strax is so very, very far from unflawed.

Are we really, seriously saying that this is the worst episode of Doctor Who that the AV Club has ever reviewed? I call bullshit up and down on that one.

I thought it was kinda elegantly tied up. The Doctor dying was an acceptable solution, and having that happen in Utah with the evidence being destroyed was what the Silence wanted.
The Doctor having this bloody great tomb on Trenzalore, with his timeline running through it ready and waiting to be exploited and all his…

I thought this did as elegant a job of tying up the various arc elements as it could possibly have done. It was known that the Doctor's grave was going to be a massive weak point, and possibly even that the Great Intelligence was going to make a play for it. To stop the Doctor reaching Trenzalore, you kill him…

Just seems like ambition is being punished here, frankly. I'd take a series full of this over a series of A-ranking Cold Wars any day of the week.
Quibbling over the exact nature of the enemy (make it arrogant alien leader #124674345, it doesn't really matter to the overall sweep of things), and not appreciating…

Come on, that's easy. He couldn't speak falsely, because then the doors wouldn't open. He couldn't fail to answer, because then the Whispermen would have killed Clara, Vastra, Strax and Jenny,
The introduction of River changes things; the prophecy is that no living creature could speak falsely or fail to answer, but…

Holy crap, this is literally the opposite of my opinion. A largely humdrum and standard set of episodes utterly and thoroughly redeemed by a triumph of atmosphere, place-setting for future events, acting (holy crap was Matt Smith ever amazing in this), character and everything. The pure imagery of Trenzalore! The…

Once again, Roger provides the engine to the entire plot.