I can see how Capaldi's Doctor can be seen as an attempt to do Colin Baker's 'unlikeable' Doctor right. However, this episode he seemed to be channeling the earlier Baker. Not just the jelly babies in the cigarette case (!!!) his line reading of "A mummy that only the victim can see" sounded like he was consciously…

I had that suspicion until he turned down the Doctor's offer. Would've been interesting if the whole plot had just been a gambit to get aboard the TARDIS…

My thoughts exactly, to the word

UNGH!

I think it's possible that my dislike of this episode also had to do with not being as surprised by any of what the reviewer experienced as "Shocking plot twists!"

"The whole episode felt overwrought and absurd. I'm not sure my eyes
could roll any harder. Stopped by here to see what terrible grade it
got, and honestly I'm pretty shocked at the A."

It was bad enough when she yelled "it's eggshell!" like a petulant child thinking that metaphor makes something true… but then when the story showed that she was correct in her completely absurd assertion? Complete fucking mawp.

Right. The entire point of the episode seemed to be the Doctor leaving and Clara getting pissed off at him for that. That seems to be what people like about it. I can't even get to that, because I'm too distracted by the utter stupid nonsense surrounding it.

That's my whole problem, though, is that it wasn't an honest story. It was contrivance piled on top of contrivance, setting up an impossible decision where either choice would be unthinkably terrible, except pulling the rug out and saying "WHEE! You made the right choice! And NO CONSEQUENCES! Because… umm… because WE…

I'm a lit nerd. I've read Ulysses and War & Peace and Gravity's Rainbow. I have a BA in English and I thought it was utter shit.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. They must have filmed a first draft of the script, watched it, said "This is a mess, it makes no fucking sense," revised it completely and filmed it again, and the second version is what everybody else saw and is praising to the heavens while I somehow got to watch the original.…

It kept me thinking of (local Chicago band) Fake Limbs' song "Kill the Mouth." I had it running through my head for most the ep…

He was supposed to stay there and take his lumps. He was his father's preferred target, his favorite punching bag. And in believing that he believes that he was special— his father beating him and not Francis has been his proof that his father loved him and not Francis.

Also a callback to "The Fight" (as was the title) and his explaining to Gini how the boxer was showing disrespect to his opponent by lowering his defense. There was guilt AND contempt in that gesture.

"imagine that their genders were reversed"

There was that terrible episode of "Angel" where he plays a new-agey spa owner, and I distinctly remember the moment when I realized "That's Kirk from Gilmore Girls! It looks just like him, but he's completely different!" as the moment when I realized what a great character actor he is.

And as soon as he got a new manual, he promptly lost it again. It was very Gilligan's Island that way…

I have my issues with Sonia's reviewing style (though the last two weeks have been much better). However, the crazy "you're racist against white people!" ish had me tearing my hair out. And downvoting like a… like something that downvotes a whole lot.

Your sarcasm meter is broken, though around these parts I imagine it needs regular recalibrations. I actually agree 100%

Yes! This is exactly why I read reviews of TV episodes— more insightful analysis, less critique! The number of times I smacked my own forehead and said "Why didn't I notice that!?" Especially the mother-daughter relationships of most of the GR characters. Well played Sonia!