The Name of the Doctor was the "finale" for this season of Doctor Who. It featured what was a very clever plot that explained things both in this season and also going all the way back to Classic Who. And in the process we the fans got a HUGE reveal that both was totally unexpected and beautifully set the stage for the November Doctor Who 50th anniversary special.
Character wise, both Matt Smith and Jenna Louise Coleman hit all the right notes. Smith in particular was on top of his game, and his ability to portray deep emotion without being maudlin was perfect for this episode (this incidentally was David Tennant's one weak area - he consistently would get maudlin if the scene called for deep emotion). Alex Kingston was (as always) delightful as River Song (or should I say the ghost of River Song in this case).
The story was pretty intelligent, and did a great job of weaving Classic and Nu Who together and presenting them as a single unified panorama. The explanation given for Clara was both completely logical and fit perfectly in the story arc - nothing felt forced into place and no Deus Ex Machina issues.
This brings us to the big reveal, which also coincided with the introduction of John Hurt AS THE DOCTOR.
It turns out that this was the big secret the Doctor had not even wanted to visit, that was blocked from his conscious mind and so on. Our numbering of Doctors is apparently off - Smith is doctor number 12 not 11. And this Doctor that Hurt plays did something apparently that caused him to become gapped out of all the memories of the Doctor's timeline and that the Doctor once he remembered was quite upset about.
This was very well written, the little hints were there in past episodes and even better it was well played by Smith and Hurt.
On to things I didn't like too much about the episode - basically three. They are Madame Vastra, Jenny and Straax. Really I am tired of the 1800's crime fighting trio of a human, Sontaran and Silurian - it got old after the second time they appeared. It was cute as a one off but as semi-regulars I'm not on board with them. However, this is really a quibble as the episode is great.
Character wise, both Matt Smith and Jenna Louise Coleman hit all the right notes. Smith in particular was on top of his game, and his ability to portray deep emotion without being maudlin was perfect for this episode (this incidentally was David Tennant's one weak area - he consistently would get maudlin if the scene called for deep emotion). Alex Kingston was (as always) delightful as River Song (or should I say the ghost of River Song in this case).
The story was pretty intelligent, and did a great job of weaving Classic and Nu Who together and presenting them as a single unified panorama. The explanation given for Clara was both completely logical and fit perfectly in the story arc - nothing felt forced into place and no Deus Ex Machina issues.
This brings us to the big reveal, which also coincided with the introduction of John Hurt AS THE DOCTOR.
It turns out that this was the big secret the Doctor had not even wanted to visit, that was blocked from his conscious mind and so on. Our numbering of Doctors is apparently off - Smith is doctor number 12 not 11. And this Doctor that Hurt plays did something apparently that caused him to become gapped out of all the memories of the Doctor's timeline and that the Doctor once he remembered was quite upset about.
This was very well written, the little hints were there in past episodes and even better it was well played by Smith and Hurt.
On to things I didn't like too much about the episode - basically three. They are Madame Vastra, Jenny and Straax. Really I am tired of the 1800's crime fighting trio of a human, Sontaran and Silurian - it got old after the second time they appeared. It was cute as a one off but as semi-regulars I'm not on board with them. However, this is really a quibble as the episode is great.
