Five spoilery thoughts about Dark Water make a post

[pedanther]

1. I don't have an opinion about Missy's identity yet; I'll wait and see how that shakes out next week. I do have an opinion about Moffat making it the big mystery of the season when this episode makes it obvious he knew how easy it was to guess. Seriously, past a certain point in the episode Missy can barely open her mouth without expressing disbelief that the Doctor hasn't immediately figured it out. How did Moffat write that and still think it was a mystery that would occupy the minds of the audience for ten weeks? Does the man not listen to himself?


2. When Missy described herself as the Time Lady the Doctor left to die, I thought for a moment she was going to turn out to be the Woman in White from "The End of Time". It would have required some fast talking to explain her change of attitude, but it could have been interesting.


3. There may be more to Missy's plan than just "robot zombie apocalypse". She kicked it into action the moment the Doctor arrived, and it's been heavily hinted that she's been manipulating Clara, perhaps to get her and the Doctor here at the right moment. So it would seem the Doctor's presence is required... but is it just for the gloating opportunities, or is there more to it than that?


4. Clara met Missy face to face and showed no sign of recognising her. Does that mean Missy wasn't the woman in the shop who gave Clara the Doctor's phone number, after all?


5. If a homicidal maniac told me she wasn't going to kill me if I didn't say something nice first, I like to think I'd have the presence of mind to see what happened if I deliberately refrained from saying anything nice.

Comments

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about why the Doctor is now willing to play Psychopomp, to try and rescue someone from the Land of the Dead,* when he wasn't before:

First, he's encountered two new adversaries who seem obsessed with "The Promised Land" (The half-faced man in Deep Breath, and the Robots of Sherwood), and that's piqued his curiosity -- it's something he doesn't understand, and he hates that. And second (And more important), I think he knows (or can sense) just how much Clara's timeline is entangled with Danny's, and his own. Going back and rewriting time will create a paradox loop, but severing an entangled timeline prematurely may create an even bigger paradox.

And on another note -- I read a sign of recognition in Clara's reaction to Missy (I thought I saw a brief intake of breath, and a double take), but also doubt -- as if she didn't trust her memory.
*I hope this story has a happier ending than a gender-bent Orpheus and Eurydice myth....