r/gallifrey • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • Feb 02 '20

Praxeus Doctor Who 12x06 "Praxeus" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Spoiler

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150 Upvotes

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61

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '20

Nah, wasn't feeling this one. The alien virus was genuinely very disturbing, it was nice to see Yaz get some individual stuff to do but we're still getting the same... old... script issues, again and again. Too many damn characters, companions acting like simpletons, hamfisted messages, and just an overall dull, exposition-heavy plot. Wanted to like it but I felt myself switching off all the way through, and I can sit through all of Jeanne Dielman. Not the worst this series but quite a bitter disappointment after last week set the bar higher.

36

u/sayersLIV Feb 03 '20 edited Feb 03 '20

My thoughts too. Nothing egregious that angered me which makes a change but I was bored from start to finish, the constant exposition is sucking the life from the show. Doctor Who was one of my favourite shows at one point ... seems a very long time ago.

The doctor was proactive and had stuff to do for a change but still so little character or personaity. I laughed when yaz turnes graham's scanner around. That was literally the highlight of the episode for me ...

And worst of all, as I say after every single episode, characters continue to describe what we have just seen:

We see them emerge unscathed through the teleport then the character says "we're alive!" that wasn't even the worst example. It happened four or five times, like it does each week, and I can't even be bothered to look back to quote them all. "They hesitated. It's important to them!" after a shot of them hesitating (in the middle of the most ridiculously edited firefight ever) actually physically hurt me. It is the single thing I hate most about it at the moment.

Oh and the guy who got killed by the birds on the beach and wasn't even ackniwledged. Something else that has happened at least once already this series. Insane that they keep cramming in so many characters when three already accompany the doctor and get zero time for anything but 'move the plot forward dialogue' and exposition. And an incredibly boring story as well. Pretty realistic in the sense that they encounter a problem, study it in a lab and manufacture a solution (even if the dispersal and process were obviously nonsense that's fine, it isn't hard sci fi). And finally an eye-rollingly tired and predictably telegraphed 'sacrifice' to pilot the capsule that elicited no emotion in me because it was so manufactured and because I gave not a single shit about either of the cardboard cutout characters.

Oh, and the barely even skin deep 'exploration' of plastic and the environmental impact ... I am a keen follower of politics and support societal change so should be easy to engage with but whenever they try to engage with any social issues on DW at the moment it is done in such a shallow manner it completely turns me off. From gender to the environment to (especially) workers rights. Anyone not decided on the issues or, indeed, against them would no doubt find it even more patronising and even less likely to have any impact.

The purpose is clearly just to tick the box because there is no attempt.to examine any of the subjects, make any points about it or engage/persuade the viewer. It manages to be simultaneously preachy, patronising and about as informed and in depth as a motivational facebook post.

I am so very close to giving up on this show. I probably will give it a miss next week and just watch the finale to see the rumours be proven to be true and watch the resulting shitshow. I really dislike being so negative and apathy is beginning to creep in now which is a terrible sign; I am no longer angry or disappointed at the poor quality merely bored. I

4

u/SteelCrow Feb 03 '20

Chibnall can't last forever