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73 Yards
The world seems to be divided into those who loved 73 yards, including its refusal to explain itself and those who were very annoyed by its refusal to explain itself. I fall into the latter camp.
By this point I have listened to and read a lot of commentary on 73 yards. I appreciate that it is very well put together and succeeds in doing precisely what it set out to do. I understand that any attempt at an explanation would almost inevitably have been disappointing. I even like the fact that it's generated a lot of discussion of its themes and metaphors: the way the words of the mysterious woman at 73 yards can be seen as an allegory for some people's experience of coming out; how the whole episode can be viewed as an exploration of Ruby's abandonment issues.
I find it interesting that most people in the "I am cross about the mystery" camp seem to be hung up on the question of what exactly does the woman say? and, honestly, she clearly magically 'fluences people. I'm fine with that, it works within the rules of the Doctor Who universe as it currently stands. No, what I don't understand is the time loop at the end. We know from about 15 minutes in that there is going to be a reset because otherwise there won't be four more episodes of Doctor Who this season but the logic of the time loop feels very strongly to be "we need to reset therefore TIME LOOP!". Imagine the story as some kind of standalone and it works just as well without the reset. For me it was the lack of any kind of story logic for the loop, how or why it occurred, or why it occurred when it occurred, that bounced me strongly out of the episode and left me sat on the sofa at the end with my arms crossed and an angry frown on my face.
Anyway, amazing episode in lots of ways. Lots to chew over. I'm just irrationally annoyed by it.
By this point I have listened to and read a lot of commentary on 73 yards. I appreciate that it is very well put together and succeeds in doing precisely what it set out to do. I understand that any attempt at an explanation would almost inevitably have been disappointing. I even like the fact that it's generated a lot of discussion of its themes and metaphors: the way the words of the mysterious woman at 73 yards can be seen as an allegory for some people's experience of coming out; how the whole episode can be viewed as an exploration of Ruby's abandonment issues.
I find it interesting that most people in the "I am cross about the mystery" camp seem to be hung up on the question of what exactly does the woman say? and, honestly, she clearly magically 'fluences people. I'm fine with that, it works within the rules of the Doctor Who universe as it currently stands. No, what I don't understand is the time loop at the end. We know from about 15 minutes in that there is going to be a reset because otherwise there won't be four more episodes of Doctor Who this season but the logic of the time loop feels very strongly to be "we need to reset therefore TIME LOOP!". Imagine the story as some kind of standalone and it works just as well without the reset. For me it was the lack of any kind of story logic for the loop, how or why it occurred, or why it occurred when it occurred, that bounced me strongly out of the episode and left me sat on the sofa at the end with my arms crossed and an angry frown on my face.
Anyway, amazing episode in lots of ways. Lots to chew over. I'm just irrationally annoyed by it.