I didn't say he *sounded* Australian — the accent is obviously right, given it's Darby. Just that his vocabulary read as more Australian than New Zealander to me. But I'm happy to admit my instinct could be incorrect there.

Right, the accent is obviously right (I assumed it was one of the Conchords guys, but didn't catch it in the end credits), but I could also imagine they played fast and loose with the particulars of New Zealander vocabulary to make the gag work. I guess they didn't! No biggie.

That… that was sharper than I expected.

I was actually referring to Oliver torturing Kovar's henchman for information. Given the horrific situation Oliver put the guy in, he surely would have said anything to avoid being skinned alive. If I'm being generous, I guess I can understand that logically isn't a lesson Oliver should learn until later, but it still…

I hate that this episode implicitly endorsed the efficacy of torture, *especially* since present-day Oliver correctly told John it doesn't work a few episodes prior.

I hear ya, though Doctor Who has pretty much always been more self-contained — even when the new series does serialization, there's a sense of reset with each episode as the setting and scenario changes. That's extra true with the specials — "End of Time" *probably* should have done a better job following up on "The…

I'm going to steal and paraphrase a line the top pro wrestling reporter says about people's reactions to his star ratings for matches: If you think this is an A episode, then it's an A episode. My grades are just an arbitrary starting point.

I mean, you're always free to complain about the grades if you want, but there's just legit no point to it. It's something I put about 15 seconds of thought into.

Well, neither did we, to be fair.

The key for the Mondas Cybermen isn't the look, it's that singsong voice. If they stick with that, I think the Cybermen can be terrifically, legitimately creepy.

I agree with you — I was really hoping Capaldi would stick around for series 11 to bridge the transition to Chibnall — though I'm bored and feeling like a pedantic Who fan, so I'll say this wasn't *quite* as common in the classic series as one might think. John Nathan-Turner fully encompassed the eras of Doctors 5 to…

Beyond the exhaustion factor (which by all accounts is very real), it's worth keeping in mind British actors don't generally see TV as the kind of potentially decade-plus commitment that American actors do. Three or four years is a pretty reasonable length of time to put in for a British series under a lot of…

Pertwee also stayed on for five, and I think he, like Baker, sort of threatened to quit every season and was a bit surprised when it was accepted for his fifth season. (Or maybe that was just Baker.) Either way, Pertwee wasn't as beholden to the precedent as the others were, and Colin Baker also has said he wanted to…

It's also why a surprisingly large percentage of episodes feature the Doctors or one of the companions absent so that the actor could go on a quick vacation.

Like Will Smith, I am legend.

It's a real shame we never learned the identity of Alexa Bliss's chosen Mania challenger. A real shame.

As someone who had one of the least low-key "final WOT"s in history — I don't think anyone is ever topping Todd, but I gave it a go, and even had two parts — I can assure you that this is very, very, very classy.

What's frustating is there's a really, *really* simple way for WWE to have resolved this: Have Steph strip Bayley of the title and giving it back to Charlotte, setting up a Steph-Bayley feud for down the line. Hell, go nuts and run a version of D-Bry's Mania 30 story, with Bayley having to beat Steph to get into a…

I really like the increasingly face Sheamus and kind of just want him and Cesaro to be a couple of blokey blokes going around being blokes and beating people up the way blokes do, but yeah… I can see the logic to pairing Cesaro with someone who is more charismatic and a little more straightforwardly the underdog.

I'm the official backup reviewer! Hold on, I've got a card and everything.