Willow ,'Conversations with Dead People'
A topic for the discussion of Doctor Who, Arrow, and The Flash. Beware possible invasions of iZombie, Sleepy Hollow, or pretty much any other "genre" (read: sci fi, superhero, or fantasy) show that captures our fancy. Expect adult content and discussion of the Big Gay Sex.
Marvel superheroes are discussed over at the MCU thread.
Whitefont all unaired in the U.S. ep discussion, identifying it as such, and including the show and ep title in blackfont.
Blackfont is allowed after the show has aired on the east coast.
This is NOT a general TV discussion thread.
Nobody wants to talk about Doctor Who?
DH asked me what happened and I started to tell him and realized that this episode's plot was incredibly complicated. It wasn't hard to follow while it was happening, but answering the question "Oh, how did Clara die?" took at least ten minutes.
DH asked me what happened and I started to tell him and realized that this episode's plot was incredibly complicated.
It really was, not that I'm complaining. As you say, it all made sense at the time. Interesting too that two weeks after the Zygon Inv(a/er)sion ran a terrorism plot, we get an episode set in a refugee camp.
Re: the other thing, it wasn't exactly a surprise, given the season's had a running thread of Clara's increasing recklessness and more than a few death motifs. And of course that this was Jenna Coleman's last season. I wasn't in any explicit sense spoiled for it, but it still felt like that. I didn't quite connect with the emotion of the moment.
That left me focusing more on how they went about it. Some stray observations: I like that her death was the result of her own, reckless and very Doctorish decision. Clara expicitly had a death wish in Last Christmas - my favourite Christmas special yet - and I tend to feel she never actually lost that. I noted that they couldn't really have the audio of her screaming, not for a show with a large kiddie audience, but it didn't stop them actually showing it four times. Clara died doing what she loved - ordering the Doctor around.
Less stray: Clara is the first companion since Adric to be killed. (Before him, you have to go back to Sara Kingdom; I'm just noticing that all three died as a result of their own choice, and said choice proved to be unnecessary.) It's not a complete shock in Nu Who. All the companions appear to leave in some sort of trauma. Most of them are forced out and unable to return. For season-long companions, the only exception's Martha, and that departure had its own issues. I get it; the show's premise promises adventures in all of time and space. Why would anyone give that up unless they had to (and stay true to the show's own outlook)?
Nonetheless, after ten years of traumatic departures, I would really really like a companion to leave the way Clara left in Last Christmas - to go find the adventure in an ordinary life.
I suppose Sarah Jane did that in "School Reunion," though of course with her own spinoff series her life turned out to be anything but ordinary.
Sleepy Hollow note: for once the bad guy has an ideology. Humans are a cancer on the planet and need to exterminated. So basically Derrick Jensen with a skin condition.
Here's some unexpected trivia: the writer of Face the Raven, Sarah Dollard, is an Australian writer who used to be a script editor on Neighbours.
I didn't know that Jenna Coleman was leaving the show. All I thought was, how is the Doctor going to bring her back? What's the twist?
Still, a pretty creepy episode. I kept expecting the raven to caw out a "nevermore" a time or two. I might have been slightly disappointed that didn't happen.
So, Sleepy Hollow just went full-on Gift.
I found it very annoying because it felt more like outright stealing than a homage. The protagonist goes against a God and sacrifices herself to save her sister, and it the same episode where we find out that there are Witnesses in every generation.
Mostly I found that singularly devoid of dramatic tension. The new villain is boring (I have enjoyed Pandora for her campiness at least but I'm all ~whatever~ about this dude) and there is zero chance Abbie is dead. I mean, they could have milked it more, tugged at the heartstrings, etc., even if her recovery is inevitable. But for what was supposed to be a dramatic mid season finale, I was left with, "eh, I guess that happened."
OUAT has the most magical thing ever! A jukebox that plays Yaz! Please tell me Henry is about to get his new wave look on! Can't you just imagine him with a 1984 Howard Jones look?
OK, and I just actually got to that. I'm guessing if that actually happened someone would have mentioned...but the magical jukebox is pretty magical.