Wikipedia quotes two reviews wishing "Time Heist", to-day's new Doctor Who episode, were longer--I couldn't agree more. It's filled with some really nice concepts, this episode reminding me more of classic Who than the series has in a while--the elaborate bank heist with a twist I saw coming from the beginning but I enjoyed anyway--though I think the Doctor ought to have had as least as much foresight as me.
I liked the characters, the cyborg guy who erased the memories of everyone he ever cared about, though I think his big speech would have been better if it'd come after we'd spent more time with him; the woman who takes the form of anyone who touches, though divulging her feelings the way she did probably ought to have come after she'd gotten to know the Doctor a bit better.
It was nice seeing Clara with Psi, a guy she actually had chemistry with, after all the awkward, dead energy between her and Danny and between her and Robin Hood. If we absolutely must have Clara paired off with someone, why not someone from another time and/or planet?
The episode goes back to self-examination and feelings of guilt--in this case we have a Minotaur who senses and eats guilty brains chasing the characters through a labyrinth, making, I think, this the fourth reference to the Greek mythological Minotaur after The Mind Robber, The Horns of Nimon, and "The God Complex".
The shapeshifter woman has a nice line about how, in her experience, people can't face themselves. The Doctor had some more displays of ruthlessness--though it was kind of toothless ruthlessness.
This ought to have been a two part episode. Gods, they really need to go back to serial format. You might say, but then we wouldn't have space for all the other writers and their episodes. Yes, maybe we wouldn't have had "Robot of Sherwood". What a shame. "Into the Dalek" wasn't bad but just imagine a two part "Deep Breath" where we got to spend more time with Vastra and Jenny. This show needs to take off its damned one hour corset and breathe.
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