{"id":240,"date":"2011-03-28T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=240"},"modified":"2011-03-28T10:21:47","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T17:21:47","slug":"mark-watches-doctor-who-s05e08-the-hungry-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/03\/mark-watches-doctor-who-s05e08-the-hungry-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S05E08 – The Hungry Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who<\/em>, a trip to Rio for our three time travelers quickly becomes a nightmare when mysterious creatures living far below the earth’s surface are triggered into returning to Earth due to our drilling efforts. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I have a feeling that the second half of this story might not be as good as the first. The last few series have had some of the best two-parters of the show’s run, but I think the execution of what this episode sets up might be overshadowed by the creepy, mysterious atmosphere of “The Hungry Earth.” This episode also allows Rory to step up as the main companion for the Doctor as well, since Amy is taken pretty early on in the story.<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. The cold open of “The Hungry Earth” is almost distractedly whimsical in hindsight, a cartoonish view of what appears to be a rural, maybe even working class, family. I actually laughed when I watched it a second time because of the contrast with the otherwise bleak story that follows it.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, it’s a disarming intro to the story, and one that helps introduce us to the main ensemble cast here. The general idea behind this episode deals with drilling of the earth’s surface by humankind in 2020. When the Doctor and his two companions arrive in this small Welsh village, Doctor Nasreen Chaudry and company have already set a world record for drilling deep into the earth. However, as we saw in the cold open, those actions have caused pockets in the ground to open up, so that something below can pull people under the earth.\u00c2\u00a0 (I gotta say: that image of Mo reaching through the dirt and discovering a space on the other side is WAY TOO CREEPY FOR ME TO EVEN THINK ABOUT. Good god.) Bodies are disappearing from underneath their graves and there’s a strange feeling to the earth. Though….only the Doctor can sense that. Like always. Does he have some sort of extra-sensory perception? Also, why did Amy and Rory appear to themselves early on in this episode? CREEPY.<\/p>\n

I was surprised how quickly SHIT GOT REAL in “The Hungry Earth,” because Chris Chibnall wastes no time putting the Doctor and Amy in a super fucked up situation. I sort of suspected something strange would happen once Rory and Amy got separated in the first ten minutes of the episode. But I never would have guessed that Amy would get pulled under so early on. Again, because I feel justified in being a broken record about this, Karen Gillan and Matt Smith demonstrate their undeniable talent during this scene. From the spit that frightfully flies from the Doctor’s mouth to the look of sad acceptance from Amy, who asks the Doctor to give her love to Rory, it’s seriously a raw and touching scene for the two actors.<\/p>\n

The thing is…I’m not sure that the episode that follows after this moment is quite as urgent or fascinating. That’s not to say it’s bad or uninteresting, because I do enjoy this episode, but the moment is so genuine and disturbing and the tone shifts so quickly to something else that I’m left feeling a tad underwhelmed. But this review will largely be positive than negative, as there are a lot of things “The Hungry Earth” does right. I really love Doctor Nasreen Chaudhry, both because it was great to see a strong woman of color on this show as the main side character, and because Chibnall teases a whole lot of character development for her that could have otherwise been ignored. Again, broken record, but Doctor Who<\/em> is pretty great about giving us supporting characters who become so much more than mere pawns in the pursuit of the plot.<\/p>\n

On that same note, Chibnall does a great job with Elliot, by having him seem like such a unique character and by not making his dyslexia a joke or a silly plot point that would belittle those who do have dyslexia. The way that the Doctor interacts with Elliot is never condescending and is filled with realistic, genuine hope. Given that Doctor Who<\/em> has in the past done an episode that basically made light of child abuse (“FEAR HER” I WILL FOREVER HATE YOU WITH THE FIERY FLAME OF A THOUSAND BURNING SUNS), I was pleasantly surprised with the way this was handled.<\/p>\n

I think the suspense was appropriately freaky, especially as those on the surface realized that there were creatures traveling UP to the earth, via a complex system of burrowed tunnels. (The tunnels are what caused Amy and Mo to fall\/be pulled into the earth.) I did feel, however, that we’ve seen this structure before. It was reminiscent of “42” or “The Impossible Planet,” in the sense that we were dealing with humans coming to terms with the frightening reality of an alien entity (or this case, a race) while they are trapped. The show routinely does this quite well, as is the case here, but I wish they’d pull out some other tropes or techniques. “The Hungry Earth” did feel a tad repetitive here in the fifth series, simply because we’d seen so many stories just like this by this point in the show’s run of the revival series.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier, by sticking Amy below ground, this episode gives Rory a chance to step into the role of companion in a much more substantive way, despite that his own grief and terror is easily distracting him. I loved the joy on his face while he helped the Doctor capture one of the creatures from below the earth. Where Chibnall also succeeds in this is setting the stage for the second part in two very intriguing ways.<\/p>\n

First, Alaya, the Silurian creature captured by Rory and the Doctor, presents a very complicated moral quandary. Alaya is absolutely right (and I’m happy the Doctor agrees with her) that her race was actually there on earth first. It’s not a justification for their actions, certainly, but it was an acknowledgement I was quite satisfied to see vocalized on the screen. It seems at this point that Tony, suffering from the effects of a Silurian sting, will be the one to fulfill Alaya’s prediction she makes at the episode’s end. I’m not sure if she is merely bluffing or if she truly believes that one of the three remaining people above ground will kill her, but it’s kind of a neat twist on the idea of a stand-off. Is it still a stand-off if no one has any weapons and if no one is actually fighting?<\/p>\n

Underground, we’d been given glimpses of Amy strapped to some sort of chair, the point-of-view camera suggesting she was being watched. But when she awakes next to Mo, who tells her that she shouldn’t fight what is about to come, I was kind of confused. And then he said that he was just vivisected–WHILE HE WAS AWAKE. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I’M PRETTY SURE THAT IS A TOTALLY VALID THING TO WANT TO FIGHT, DUDE. Which makes me wonder: why experiment on them at all? Or are they just trying to learn about humans more? It could be a reference to Tony’s comment about dissecting Alaya to learn her weakness. Perhaps the Silurians are already doing that to the humans.<\/p>\n

As a testament to the power of not being spoiled, I’d accepted the Doctor’s theories about the Silurians, that there were most likely only a few of them remaining below the earth, especially since we only saw three of them on that radar machine come to the surface. I was ecstatic that Dr. Chaudhry became a temporary companion, though i worry if she’ll last beyond the next episode because of this. Still, the scene where her and the Doctor stare in shock at the Silurian civilization miles below the earth is pretty goddamn awesome.<\/p>\n

I’d say I’m fairly excited for the next part, if only because the questions Chibnall proposes are what lift this otherwise run-of-the-mill script above the mediocre. I think it’s an interesting concept and I can only hope that the second part will rise above what we’ve been given here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"