18th May, 2024: an announcement.
It’s officially official.
It’s Saturday: and I’ve had lunch.
A bacon sandwich, if you must know.
And a banana.
I wanted to at least make a nod at having five portions of fruit and vegetables!
We’re supposed to eat healthily: except I never manage to.
Unless you count the occasional kebab as a melon.
At ANY rate?
It’s Saturday afternoon.
And?
I’m going to be catching the third episode of Doctor Who’s new series, today.
And will be posting my review of it, by tomorrow, at the latest.
I’ll see you then!
Pt 1: the Summary.
Episode 3 — “Boom” — opens with a shot of two soldiers: making their way slowly across the battle field of Kastarion 3.
One — a blinded soldier call John Vater (Joe Anderson) — is being guided back to base by Carson (Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy), only for the pair to find themselves lost in a mine field.
It’s only then, that Vater gets a call from his daughter: the fact Splice (Caoilinn Springall) has forgotten to clean her teeth has given Vater some joy in the midst of a dark day.
It gets worse, after Vater tells Splice to get to bed, and finishes the call: as, when he and Carson are separated, Carson falls down a small ravine: and ends up killed by a landmine.
Unknown to Vater?
It’s exactly at this point the Doctor and Ruby (Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson) arrive: only for the Doctor to rush out, without Ruby.
He’s just heard screaming.
Screaming that he soon learns to ignore, as more important things are grabbing his attention.
The simple fact is … that the Doctor’s just put his right foot on a landmine.
And?
He can’t put his other foot down without setting it off: unless Ruby hands him that urn …
~≈👨🏿⚕️≈~
Pt 2: Thoughts.
Now … what on Earth did I make of this episode?
Of “Boom”?
I’ve actually posted my basic thoughts about the episode, on Twitter/X and Mastodon, a little while ago: words to the effect of “I don’t know what Steven Moffat’s done, but ‘Boom’ is a stroke of genius!”
Even if I couldn’t necessary tell you why I think it’s a work of genius!
I do know this.
Every single line of dialogue, from start to finish, is an absolute gem: from the pathos of the opening phone call between father and daughter, to the discussions between the Doctor and Ruby, to the menacing robotic text of the Ambulance (Susan Twist).
Hell, even the Doctor’s throw-away line about losing a bet at a lesbian gymkhana is one heck of a line.
What is a lesbian gymkhana?
No, forget I asked: I don’t think a blog post — or video — is the place to speculate.
At any rate?
We know a good chunk of a given TV episode is the acting, is the design, is the direction: and — from the little I know? — all of these serve to make “Boom” watchable.
Ncuti puts in some seriously heavy lifting, just as an example: for someone who seems very energetic, standing still for the mount of time he must have spent filming this, is mind-boggling.
But?
At the heart of “Boom” lies an edge-of-the-seat script that makes the two earlier episodes pale in comparison.
~≈👨🏿⚕️≈~
Pt 3: More thoughts.
What can else can I tell you … ?
There’s possibly a lot.
One thing that surprised me?
Was finding Verada Sethu in this episode: as a character called Mundy Flynn.
Beyond seeing her in Andor, beyond knowing she’s due to join up as a companion in Ncuti’s second series?
I know little about her.
So?
Seeing her in this episode was pleasantly surprising, and reassuring.
She knows her stuff: and capable of showing it to us.
There’s other things, here: things that are minor by comparison, but that caught my attention.
Moffat reintroduces us to the Anglican Marines that we last saw in “A Good Man Goes to War”.
That’s something I welcome: that throwaway idea of Church of England* soldier priests was one that always caught my fancy.
The mine, itself … ?
Actually reminded me of one seen in “Genesis of the Daleks”, way back in the day.
I don’t know if the one was based on the other: or if both were based on real landmines … but my first thought was of the one in “Genesis of the Daleks”, the one the Fourth Doctor steps on.
And the Ambulance? The one — ones — voiced by Susan Twist?
Had me thinking of the War Machines, in the William Hartnell story of the same name.
What can I tell you, beyond that … ?
Apart from the fact that ‘vater’ is the German word for ‘Father’?
Nothing: except that this is a very good episode!
~≈👨🏿⚕️≈~
Pt 4: Last words.
With all that said?
What can I tell you about “Boom”?
I can only reiterate what I’ve already said.
“Boom” is a stroke of genius, one I feel has bettered “Blink”: the Moffat penned episode that’s generally agreed to be the rebooted show’s best episode.
That?
Is one hell of a feat, and one that makes me want to come back next week: for the next episode, “73 Yards”.
I want to see how it compares†.
I’ll be watching “73 Yards” on Saturday, 25th May: and posting my written and video reviews of it, by Sunday, 26th May.
Between now and then, I’ll be watching “LaGrange Point” — episode nine of Star Trek Discovery’s last series — on Thursday, 23rd May: and posting my written and video reviews of it on Friday, 24th May
I’ll see you then.
“Boom”★★★★⁺
* The Roman Catholic Church had fighting orders: not least, the Templars or the Hospitallers. I still don’t know if there were a Church of England equivalent.
† 25/5/2024: very well!
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