World of Who: Sleep No More and Face the Raven

So to make up for not having last weeks episode out and reviewed before the new one, I decided to do both episodes here. 

Sleep No More

This episode is possibly my least favorite if for no other reason then that it bored me. Taking place at an abandoned space station in the 30th century, Clara and the Doctor join forces with a team to uncover what happened to the crew and mystery of the Sandmen, monsters created from . . . . . eye crust.

The writer of this episode is Mark Gatiss, one of the two writers for the series Sherlock and also plays Mycroft Holmes in the same series. Gatiss is a decent writer, Victory of the Daleks and Robot of Sherwood are both decent episodes but they tend to feel lacking, like they could or should be two part episodes. Like Under the Lake and Before the Flood, it's a Base Under Seige story but unlike those two, it just seems a bit overwhelming. It kind of feels like it's supposed to be a jump scare story and to be fair it is handled rather well from a technical standpoint. The idea of monsters being created from people getting months worth of sleep in one go though the Morpheus Machine is also interesting, especially when the Doctor says "Congratulations professor, you've conquered nature, you've also created an abomination." It is in it's own way a sort of cautionary tale about how far one wants to go with technology, like how the Cybermen were created to reflect people's fears in the 60's.

The problem is that past all the jumps and camera techniques there isn't much to the story. The ending is interesting but it felt more like an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? over Doctor Who. Outside of a couple fun lines we never get anything interesting about sleep and why we need it. This should have been more like Amy's Choice or Last Christmas, sleep playing a big role in the story itself and the Sandmen growing stronger from people falling asleep. The fact that noting really interesting in this episode furthers the story from a seasonal standpoint really makes this seem like the adventures we only hear about. If you are looking for an episode to skip this season I'd say you can skip this and never feel like you've missed anything, or if you want an episode where you can do other things then I'd give this one a watch.

Face the Raven

It's interesting how this show gives me an episode that bore me and follows it up with an episode that has some of the same problems but still entertains me. Face the Raven features the return of Ashildur (still calling herself Me) and Flatline  character Rigsy as they journey into an alien refugee camp called Trap Street to figure out who put a countdown tattoo on Rigsy's neck. What ensues is a rather interesting though flawed story. Actually "flawed" is an unfair word for it, it's just this episode has an idea that is never really treated well enough for me or the story.

Trap Street is interesting in itself and reminds me of the Troll Market in Hellboy II: the Golden Army or Diagon Alley in Harry Potter, just underused. It never feels unique or out there. The only good/interesting part about it is when one of the aliens says that Rigsy has to be the murderer because if it isn't then it's one of them and then finger pointing starts which will lead to a break of  unity. Trap Street isn't so much a safe haven as it is a powder keg waiting to go off. This is interesting, especially since there are Cybermen, Ood, and other alien species there. I really would have thought it could have been better if there were more murders going on and Rigsy was believed to be behind them all and with his memory of that night it would be up to the Doctor and Clara to prove him innocent. Rigsy himself doesn't bring anything to the episode other than we find out he has a wife and daughter. This could have used anyone else who knew the Doctor or Clara, it could have been the English teacher from Caretaker.

Clara is the character of interest here and I do like how she kind of has this sort of disregard for her own safety. This season she just sort of seems to be less careful and kind of thinks that she is just as capable and invincible as the Doctor seems to her. It's hard to tell exactly when it happened, maybe it was when Danny died back in season 8 or possibly this season. A companion dying because of a mistake they themselves did is interesting and doesn't happen often. It was a death in a plan that was supposed to have no death. I do want to give Jenna Coleman for how she handled the scene and as much as I enjoyed her for her mystery in season 7 and was irked by her in season 8, season 9 showed me a better Clara that I will miss.

Mayor Me was rather underused this episode, like it seems the only reason she was used was because they still had Masie Williams on. Not to say she wasn't awesome in her character as she tries to maintain order in Trap Street. Whoever "They" were who made the deal with her about the Quantum Shade and tricking the Doctor must be powerful enough to make her want to betray the Doctor like that, especially when she is aware of who he is. It's hard to tell if we will ever see Me again but she doesn't strike me as someone who will let what she did to the Doctor stand.

Peter Cpaldi was Peter Capaldi in this episode. I love his coat and I had been waiting for it all season. I would have like to have seen him interact with other aliens similar to the 11th Doctor in Rings of Akhetan. His threat to Ashildure/Me reminded me of the Doctor in Family of Blood and A Good Man Goes to War. He brought out his A game for not only that but Clara's death and it honestly has me interested in what will happen next week. 

So the episode was good to great though I kind of wonder if it could/should have been a two parter. I thought it was going to be continued in next weeks episode but that will apparently b next week.

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