the most hate filled review of flesh and stone-bybret_owen99

ok, so i didn't hate the first part of this two-parter, the time of angels. but this episode from the first scene just took a downward spiral. i'm sorry, but so far, the only episode i really liked this series was not written by steven moffatt, and that's a bad sign for me of the direction of the series.

first we get a lame gravity jump(i'm sorry, that was just lame). then the army of angels actually start looking like angels(should have done that by the end of the first episode). then we get lots of gunfire(i know that produces light, but i don't think it would have been enough to keep the angels at bay, just mho).

i think my least favorite moff moment was the "oxygen factory". i know moff has a tendency to put things we don't expect in doctor who, but a forest on a space ship? i'm not impressed. oh, wait, it's a borg forest. how clever!(you will be green, resistence is futile).

this is about the point of the show where those who didn't enjoy the rest stopped paying attention. why? because the focus of the whole show shifted from the angels to the crack in time. this is why i liked rtd's thread's. they were little clues, untill we got the big reveal at the end. i don't think moff can wait that long. he wants to beat us over the head with his grand scheme of things.

this crack is so bad that the angels are afraid of it. the doctor is afraid of it. but stupid soldiers just walk into it and disapear(thanks for stereotyping soldiers moff). then there's amy. i really am starting to hate amy. first it's "i'm so good", then it's "i can't do it". i would rather watch all the adric episodes combined(that's a jab at moff, since he didn't like adric at all) then watch this annoying girl be the companion of the doctor(this isn't a jab at karen, it's not her fault they can't write a decent character for her).

you know, i was terrified in blink. i was even a little scared in the time of angels. but this episode should have been called "yawn". the angels talk(didn't like all the walkie-talkie dialogue). then they laugh(that was just wrong). then we actually see them move(something that makes them less scary). moffat is really losing his ability to create good unique stories.

did i forget to mention how much i hate the river song revelation? moff's practically beating the clues over our heads(like with his crack). river killed a really good man. doctor, don't trust her. jeez, i wonder where moff's going with this. it's about as mysterious as harry potter. i could never guess the ending(i'm being sarcastic, seeing as how i'm older than 5, i can usually figure things out without being told the clues over and over again).

so let's recap this episode. the crack in time is no longer a mystery(it's amy, who would have guessed, oh wait, anyone over 5 who watched the 11th hour). time can be rewritten(you are so clever moff, seeing as how EVERY doctor has done that, you're not the first writer to think of that). river song is no longer a mystery(i really hope moff get's replaced as head of the show before we have to sit through her killing the "good man", ruined the only way moffat can ruin everything). the angels can talk, laugh, and sing(ok, i made that part up, but it might have actually made me enjoy the show more. we could call it "angel idol"). Amy WANTS the doctor, badly(haha, to all you rose haters out there, here is what moff's idea of "better companion" is. personally, i hope she only lasts till the end of this series, my same wish for moffat).

steven moffatt is proving episode after episode to me that he just can't do a whole series. he's a one hit wonder. it would be like hiring vanilla ice to be in charge of a record label. just wouldn't work out.

i could be wrong here but i thought that the crack in time is unwritting history/time not rewritting time. everything is being erased, even time itself. nothing is being rewritten/replaced. well if you count nothing then time is being replaced with nothing kinda like the neverending story.
besides that i agree with most of your points. the last 10-15 mintues saved the episode for me. yeah and it's kinda obvious that song kills the doctor at some point in the futue, or least she thinks she kills him.
i have feeling the doctor gonna try and play matchmaker next episode by bringing amy's bf along to help rekindle there romance so she'll no longer desire him and help mend the timeline in the process. which may make for a bad episode.

Oh, Bret, you lovable curmudgeon, you.

Ah man, I'm not even gonna read it

I found the episode to be a letdown, but not really for the reasons that you mentioned! It seems like many your reasons more/less amount to "I DON'T LIKE STEVEN MOFFAT." I still find it exceedingly difficult to believe that you loved that horrid Dalek episode -- and I wonder how you'd have felt if Moffat had penned it!

You also often refer to RTD as if he did things better -- something I vehemently disagree with. In fact I've hated the crack stuff thus far (prior to this episode, with the crack just appearing at the end) precisely because it reminded me of how RTD did things... and that in general that method of "hinting" sucks. RTD didn't furnish "clues," because clues are things such that, once you begin amassing them, you can begin to formulate credible ideas as to the outcome of a mystery. Legitimate clues actually tell you something. Repeated instances of "bad wolf" and mentions of Torchwood don't tell you jack, and neither do recurring visions of cracks in walls. So I'm actually glad that Moffat is giving us more information about it sooner rather than later, as opposed to stringing us along with non-information until the very end.

And I'm not so sure that River kills the Doctor. Is it a possibility? Certainly. Is it what Moffat wants you to think? Probably. But I don't think it's that obvious, and I'd be careful about riding the assumption so hard and criticizing Moffat for something that hasn't conclusively been revealed to be the case yet.

Anyway, yeah, not a great episode.

@mysterlad. if it makes you feel any better, i went to go see a nightmare on EMO street today. hated that. hated all the whiny stupid little punk emo kids in it. wished they all would have gotten killed. yes, i am an official crudmudgeon.

normally i would agree with you, but i don't find moffat's writing to be very subtle so i'm thinking it's so obvious that it can't be that obvious.... so it really is that obvious that she kills the doctor.

bret_owen99 wrote:

@mysterlad. if it makes you feel any better, i went to go see a nightmare on EMO street today. hated that. hated all the whiny stupid little punk emo kids in it. wished they all would have gotten killed. yes, i am an official crudmudgeon.

i heard the twist at the end was terrible. how was jackie earle haley as freddy?

jackie earl haley was the best thing about the film. the writing was bad. the directing was bad. the musical score was horrible. most of all, the punk emo kids who can't act, were bad. wasn't as bad as the texas chainsaw remake, but not as good as rob zombie's halloween. somewhere in the middle.

I really enjoy the fact that Moffat is bringing the big arc together earlier in the series. Leaving everything to the last two episodes every single series just seems boring and formulaic to me. I really don't get your hatred for the Moff, but to each their own. You'll probably like the next guy and I'll be making posts like this - the beauty of Doctor Who. :-)