Okay let's take from the top here, Courtney is a juvenile delinquent, it seems, stealing psychic paper to buy alcohol and such, and Clara wonders why the Doctor doesn't see her as special? He took her traveling because he was bored and she was being annoying, not because he thought she would make a great companion. I would imagine there was a bit of his ego involved also considering he has no one to show to at the moment either. I wish they would write Courtney a bit more like the actress who is playing her. Ellis George seen in the Doctor Who Extras seems to be very likable and a joy to be around, while Courtney is an abrasive, self centered, and rude teen. Her line on the moon was fantastic "one small thing for a thing..one enormous thing for a thingy thing." She echoes Twelves love of using the word thing here. I think perhaps the Doctor doesn't like her because they are similar in many ways. Even her nickname of Destructive Influence can apply to him.
Interesting point the Doctor makes in the first five minutes that he isn't sure how many regenerations he has now. Perhaps another 12 or perhaps infinite. I am hoping they will use this to establish that there is no limit any longer, fingers crossed for the future.
"Second hand space shuttle, third hand astronauts." describes the situation pretty well. The space program appears to be quite dead in the water in 2049.
Tony Osoba previously appeared in the classic serials
Destiny of the Daleks and Dragonfire by the way. Watch the Extra and you can see from back in the day with funky braids. I find it hard to believe they would bring no weapons at all though. If I were being sent somewhere where the astronauts were slaughtered I would bring something to defend my self with, and really who walks down to investigate a noise in a cave with no protection. I loved the way the Doctor jumped in to investigate armed with cleaning spray and I am really loving his theme. It is much more cinematic.
"The moon is an egg." Bit of a stretch, but I like it. The episode turns into an abortion debate for a moment, debating the life of an infant over the possible life of billions. I really dislike Vundlik. Her immediate response of "can we kill it" just made me angry. I suspect that is why the Doctor does leave. I think he predicted how it should play out and that it was a choice humans had to make for themselves. Left alone Vundlik would have set off the nukes killing the creature outright and possibly denying humans a future in space. I was really hoping it was the space whale from previously. it would have tied in so well. The Doctor leaves Clara knowing, trusting that she will make the right choice. He has faith in her. Clara on the other hand seems to have lost all faith and confidence in the Doctor for the first time since his change. Her anger to me is unjustified and petty. I think the rumors of Jenna leaving are true and as of now I would be glad to see her go. No more fence sitting, I think she wants her life and a life of travel in the Tardis and you cannot have both.
Clara gets mad that the Doctor won't tell her what to do. How many times has he done that before and she would just go on and do what she wanted. Yet now she gets mad. Now she is angry and untrusting. I always gave Clara props for arguing her case, but here she just throws up her hands and begs to be told what to do. She then gets angry when the Doctor leaves her to make the choice herself. Whether he already knew the outcome or not, he is trying to teach Clara an important lesson in making her own choices and trusting it is the right choice. Her anger at being forced to choose is petty and juvenile to say the least. The Doctor explains quite clearly that it is her choice to make and really has been made already, Clara just shows an amazing lack of faith here for her friend and his judgement.
More hints are made to Danny's past when he holds Clara and remarks that he got smart because he had a really bad day. I would love to see more of Pink and his past. Five more episodes to go, hopefully one will be on his past and why he left the army like he did. All in all I would say this episode rates about a 8/10 in my book. Hope the series continues along this path and keeps knocking them out of the park.
