Are you ready to go down the rabbit hole? The All Things Alice podcast will explore the cultural phenomena of Alice in Wonderland. Frank Bedor, the author of the Looking Glass Wars trilogy, is your host through a wonder-verse of interviews from all types of creators as they chronicle the dark yet empowering reality of Lewis Carroll's fantasies and answer the question, "What is it about Alice that captivates us still today?" The All Things Alice podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. From the team that brought you the award-winning show Retro Replay, and the Emmy-nominated comedy series Con Man, comes a new idea just crazy enough to be good. Introducing Couch Soup! I know, I know, you're probably wondering, "What is Couch Soup?" Well, Couch Soup is content for your hungry nerd soul. Daily articles from fans, not pundits. Weekly podcasts that contain a multiverse of opinions on All Things pop culture, exclusive videos and weekly live streams where we laugh, scream, and sometimes have technical difficulties, all created by folks like you, the gamers, the film nerds, the TV, bingers, comic book lovers, bookworms, and pop culture enthusiasts all in one giant bowl of beautiful disgusting soupy goodness at couchsoup.com. Welcome back to the Doctor Who, watching our podcast from Couch Soup. Doctor and Ruby Sunday are back for the third episode of the season, called Boom, Pow, the Blam. That's a more contained episode, with definitely a more serious tone, which is a lot different to what we've had in the last two episodes. Before we get into all of that, let me introduce your panel for today, boom, Ben. Hey, I'm just glad I'm not a couple of them, because that was a completely different episode. The Pow, Charlotte. I have nothing witty to say. I'm a boring old person, sorry. Doombusting Drew. I am your AI medic here to revive you. And me, Ian. Ian recently got turned into a tube. Yeah, it's always a little bit of a disappointment with me. So without further ado, let's go into our non-spoilery overviews of the third episode, boom. So this third episode was called Boom. Basically, there's a holy war going on, and the doctor steps on a landmine, and then he stays there for the whole episode. But that's more interesting than you were led to believe. Ruby Sunday and a whole bunch of other people need to try and get him off without causing the destruction of the planet slash universe. Charlotte. I liked it. It felt a lot like some of the older episodes we had with some of the previous doctors where we had AI just kind of run amok. It kind of speaks to where things could go if AI runs amok now. So I like it. It was really kind of cool. I really liked this one. I think it was some of the best writing that has been there for a while. I think I'm kind of really got a chance to shine in this one. And it just reminds me that Moffett did in fact make good stories. And I can't just figure out about that. I'm a little disappointed. I was expecting a listen. The tension is there. I felt it. I don't know. The resolution was a little weak for me. Like I kind of wanted something more. And I wasn't. I don't know really what. But I felt like the first half of the first half of the episode was pretty strong. Where the second half kind of just felt a little like, Oh my God, we're upping the stakes for no reason. And then the overall like it just felt like there were no consequences. I don't know. But but I'm so I'm a little salty on this. We're back, baby. We're back. Oh my God. Thank the Lord. We're back. We're back in no ridiculousness. Little bit of ridiculousness, but serious ridiculousness. Yeah. I'm so happy. I'm so very happy that this episode has come along. Don't get me wrong. There's still net picks here and there. But it just feels good, guys. It just feels good to be back. What did you say? You have a lot of thoughts and prayers. This episode was the result of those thoughts and prayers. I think you were praying and you were thinking and it happened. And obviously I'm I'm really hyper about this episode. So I may take a back seat until I'm needed to hype everybody up again. So what we'll do is we'll we'll get into the nitty-gritty. We'll go into the recap of the episode. Let's go. We're on a battlefield and there's two random Marines with with vicar colors. So they're probably priest-like people, but also Marines. There's no one else on this battlefield apart from these two people. One has got bandaged eyes and he seems to be pretty worried about his bandaged eyes. I'm first shambling across the the the minefield and they call to one of their daughters and it's a kid. Ben, it's a kid. You hate kids, don't you? No, no, no, no, no, dude. That's race Skywalker. That's race Skywalker. We finally found a parent. There's a flash of a picture of the kid right now. Even if it was race Skywalker, we already know who race Skywalker is. So shut up and back it out. The dad is calling the kid. He's worried about himself. But he's keeping a very brave tone of voice. I mean, it's kind of a normal kind of a reaction for a parent. I think no matter what kind of situation you're in, you want to make sure that your kid is safe first. It's like no parent actually listens to that airline attendant that's like, you know, make sure you put your mask on first before helping your kid. No, this is not going to happen. Honestly, I want one of those phones. I lay mine down and walk off and lose it more often than I care to think. I want one of those thermal phones. That's crazy. It was like, you know, all up in here. It was really cool. Sorry, Amy, let's just go and buy. Oh, no, no, no, no. Are you healthy? No, really not. The one thing that I think Dr. Who always does really well is parental relationships. You see a lot of different kinds, but they always get that feeling really close to the mark. Yeah, it's kind of a gut punch. I'm seeing this guy walking through what I know is mine feels because I saw the preview. And in a blindfold, he's having to trust this person and then having to trust somebody else with this kid. So he's got to be a mess just going through that. So I can't imagine being asked to, you know, record words with all that in your head. It was really well written. Really well done. Back at that camp where little splices, which we find out splices, their name at this point, we see two other Marines in the camp. And what? Who's one of them? One of them is Verado Setu, right? Well, that's the one we saw in the preview of when we did the last watch in now as being the next companion Monday. Is it? Yeah. You're throwing a curveball at me. I didn't know this. What? What? We're breaking down here. There's Kanto and Mundi at the Bishops camp and Mundi, the lady, is Verado Setu. She was the one in Andor. She was confirmed earlier on this summer that she's the next companion. Was that confirmed? Was that confirmed? Was that like a? Yeah, I think so. I think it was. But when we broke it in the last episode that we did. Yes. Monday Flynn, who joined Dr. Who is new companion. Excuse me. You're right. Boom. I did. Man. Way over my. Wow. Nice catch, man. I'm in a time vortex. I have no idea what was going on. This is even more important, guys, than you even thought. Is it the same? Is it the same character? Is it going to go back? It's gotta be, right? Why are you asking me? Probably, right? Sunday, Monday, is there a Tuesday next? Probably, you know, Wednesday, the next one after that. No, we can't, the kind of Wednesday and Netflix have it. Oh, yeah. I will bring her and crossover. Let's do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So Verado Setu, she's going to be the next companion in season two according to a port. And since the first time we see her, what's your first initial thoughts of Monday Flynn? I just thought it was a chance for them to make a pun like Sunday and Monday. I thought that she was just going to be one of those like characters who shows up in one episode to introduce some emotional sticks that people that doctors actually trying to protect. But at this point, like, that's the way the story goes. It's like, now we know that she might be the future companion. So is this to introduce her, like, in advance? I don't know now. You've just thrown a massive wrench in the works. I thought she was just going to be gone. I thought it was going to be like Monday's over. Bye. Yeah. Yeah. Same. Like, that's so great. Like, because now, and here's the, here's the crazy thing. The fact that they, I don't know if that news leaked and then they went forward with it or not. But that would have been more interesting if we didn't know, like Ian, you telling us kind of blows my mind. And now anybody who listened to this podcast who didn't catch that, they're probably thinking like that puts a whole new context A on this episode and B kind of like, like the future, right? Like, we already know they're going to, like, yeah, that's kind of, it's all tripping me up really right now, really, like, like, I have to reframe this episode in the context of that character and how that character may come back and be applied to as a companion in future seasons. And the fact that she's called Monday, right? Like, is even now, are we going to get a season every season, we're going to get a new companion with a new day? There's no A, there's no A in a name according to IMDB. It's just Monday. Yeah, it's Monday. But still, yeah, it makes sense. I kind of want to go back and rewatch the episode now because I was just mostly annoyed at her because she's kind of hot headed and blindly follows whatever she has been told before. I don't know. I kind of want to go rewatch it. But it is also who we don't know that she's going to come back as the same character because Peter Capaldi was also in a previous episode before he became the doctor. Could be a Clara situation. I don't want to be a Clara situation. Oh, God, no, no, no, leave Clara. I just want to, like, we frame it as well. Monday is unequivocally a soldier. And we know the doctor hates soldiers. Yeah, he hates them. Like he can't bear any of them when Clara had that boyfriend who I've forgotten the name of. Like he was... Danny Pink. Danny Pink. Yeah, the guy became a sheriff. Yeah, he could pull. But like, he couldn't stand him. Like, and it was because he was a soldier, boy. Now, Monday is a soldier at this point in time. So how the hell does she get onto companion ship? Maybe she quits. I mean, yeah, loses her faith as it were later in the episode. But I feel like the doctor's gone a bit soft on that in the sense that the at least since this new iteration where they've been using she's been using unit a lot more and like almost protecting soldiers, you know, you know, I'm saying like sad when they're killed in the by the toy maker, you know, like it felt a bit more like bad soldiers guns know more like, Oh, no, like, yeah, this might be a necessary thing. I don't know. Especially when a rocket launcher shoots out of a wheelchair and he's like, OK, with that. Yeah, I don't know. But, you know, who am I to? The doctor's always at a soft spot for unit because he worked for them. And also, he really had respect for the Brigadier. So yeah, I think that really just trickles down in his estimations. I'm going to move on. Quickly going to shout out can tell can tell is actually named Canterbury, which I think is ridiculous that they named a Bishop Canterbury. It's the Bishop Archbishop of Canterbury. And also, I don't know if they did this, but you had Star Trek last week. True. But as a foreshadowing, Kanto bite was the place where the proliferating the war effort in Star Wars. And his name is Panto. And it could be a bit of a foreshadowing of that. I think this is fan fiction. I'm telling you. Moffat's fan Star Wars fan fiction right here. Oh, great. You want to talk about fan fiction? Well, right now we've got a situation where the ambulance is played by somebody called Susan Twist, who has appeared in every episode so far and is scheduled to appear for every episode. The name Susan Twist came up in the last episode, too. Oh, his granddaughter. And I don't think that's the actor's real name. No, it is. It is the real name. Shenanigans going on all over the place this season, everywhere. So we'll get to the ambulance now because I want to take a time on that character as well. One in Kansa Bant, the two soldiers, one of them is called Jon Veta. One of them is called No Name Marine, who's going to die in two seconds. I think it's named Carson, but still no name Marine. He's a red shirt. Let's face it. They're shambling across and Carson falls into a pit and then steps on a mine and boom goes to dynamite. Blinder goes going no chance. And the explosion from Carson taking the trip up to space heaven draws the ambulances that they were so scared of earlier in the episode. Well, one of them anyway. And the ambulance comes and tries to see whether Mr Veta is fit enough to continue the war effort. And as Ben said before, the actress who plays the ambulance has been in every episode of Ruby Sunday, Doctor Who so far. In the church on Ruby Road, she was a patron in Ruby's concert. In Space Baby, she was one of the weasily space station people who abandoned ship. And in the last episode, she was a tea lady. I even wrote something down in my notes on the day, which could she made a distinct effort of telling us her name and that one. And I was like, what does that even mean? And it was Margaret Lockwood, the tea lady. And I thought, oh, that might be famous, but it's not. So I don't know. And then in this one, she's the ambulance. She's in everything. And she is also in the trailer for the next episode. The break is this lady. You know, maybe maybe it's, you know, like the nanny of Davies. And he's just like, Hey, you need extra work. I got this voice acting and maybe a couple cameos. Oh, yeah, no, come on in, you know, you're watching my kids. And you know, no, no one. No, no, no, no, come on. Well, I mean, she's looking at her IMDB. She's not new. I mean, she's been she's been acting since 1980. She's been on Coronation Street. I'm just I'm trying to pick out things that people here know. Why did they hire the actor called Susan Twist when there's always a twist and the mentioned Susan in the episode where there's always a twist and there's a Susan twist and there's still the old lady from the Christmas episode. We don't know. Our minds are blown, introducing the new companion and the doctor's gonna explode. What is happening? Who could she be? Could she be the one who waits? Who's not worried? Let's go ahead and say that's probably yes. You always wait for tea. Always wait for the ambulance. You're always waiting for the music to start. All right. All right. I like it. I like that. You're always waiting for Christmas. I mean, do we want a preview of next week? Because she has a name. Well, a name not a her character has a call to hiker. Yeah, I don't know. Could she have a name on that? She's an angel. She was called Margaret Lockwood in the previous episode. She was called, I think, Palsy. It comes off as a Palsy in the previous one to that. And I think she's credited as Mrs. Mary Weather in the church on Ruby Road. Woman at concert, uncredited. I think the question we should be asking is, is this something we like obviously we're only in three episodes out of what eight? I don't know if there's there's probably just not enough information for us to really even make a theory out here. And I wonder if that's purposeful. My concern is if since we're figuring it out, something like this out this early. Yeah. Is this a good thing for this show? Because my worry is that like we're all the fan theories are going to be way cooler than probably what's actually the year what's actually happening. I don't know. When this kind of thing starts to seem wrong, they kind of inject this thing. I almost wish the pull rug was later in the series rather than now we're kind of seeing this like, I almost wish she was uncredited. That way we wouldn't be knowing like the name that you see in the IMDB. Like all that shit should have been hitting if it was truly something that we aren't supposed to be theorizing about. So it's a little frustrating. I'll be honest because now my mind's racing and I have a feeling whatever the answer, whatever truly is the reason is not going to live up to my expectations. It could be nothing. She appears to be a character actor and she may have just signed a contract with them for this season to do different characters. It could be as simple as that. Maybe he's got some dirt on Davies. He's like, maybe I released the photos or you put me in every episode of Doctor Who. He's such a troll. He's been trolling this entire season. I don't trust him no more. Unreliable narrator check. My nitpick about this though is that we've noticed it or some of us have noticed it. The doctor is the smartest person in that room always and he hasn't noticed that he's seeing the same face over and over again. Well, to be fair, the ambulance doesn't have a face. Maybe they'll put a pin on it next week. If she hasn't made your role, then he'll probably put it all together. The ambulance takes note of his injuries. Dad Vader. Dad Vader. He might actually be race guy walker. Dad Vader realizes that eyes will take four weeks to heal. That's unacceptable for the war effort. Bye bye ghost ad beta and gets turned into a shooting tube for democracy hell divers spread managed democracy throughout the galaxy. Yeah, it's like a it's like a scroll tube. I expected to like the pop open in like a letter to come out like it's such a like an interesting looking to or it's or it's like also out of something out of evil dead because it looks like the texture of skin and there's like a little eyeball poking out on it like I was like, Oh, that's pretty morbid. Like doesn't fuck the shit. Not the first thing that came to my mind. Yeah. What came into your mind, Charlotte? Yeah, I know. Yeah, it looks like a very adult product. Oh, no, we're Charlotte's mind is in the gutter. Vader's dead. And then we get the credits. Well, it's a long long time since this episode starts and we get the credits and we cut to the doctor who hears the scream of dad Vader can't stop laughing at dad Vader. Thought some press. Thought some press. Thought some press. So dr goes of running to try and find what's happened to the screen and he falls into a pit. We know that pit, don't we? Uh, red shirt fell into that one earlier on. Hey, it's it's time for a musical again, guys. No, don't, don't, don't, don't musical time with Dr who singing a song. You singing a song is more of a sad song. It's not like a jazz hand dance number. It's the, the song is daughter be sweet child of mine. They couldn't afford the rights. So it's instead a, what is it? I forget actually the Sky song. It's about Bonnie Prince Charlie's escape to the Isle of Sky. It's the lament inside of the musical that is the doctor who season that we're in. Um, obviously Ruby is, is pretty like, what the hell's that song? You know, um, she hears lots of songs in the time of the doctor so far. What the hell's that one? So she goes a wandering and tries to find out what was going on. And finds a doctor doing yoga. Oh, no, store clothes, Daniel's son from the from the crack kid. Yeah. Okay. Uh, yeah. No, he's on a mind and it's gonna blow. It hasn't blown yet, which is interesting. I thought, um, yeah, the mind has to work out if you're worth blowing up. And even if you're not, it'll blow up anyway. Yeah. It's the world's worst rumba. Totally. Yeah. Aren't you supposed to be cleaning? No, blowing up. Got it. Got it. It's great. Make a bigger mess. Okay. The idea behind what he's doing, the doctor at the moment is he's keeping himself Zen so that the mind doesn't realize that he's alive and worth blowing up. Is that is that kind of what what the deal is? I don't know. I got this since more. It was like, it was about weight distribution. Like if I don't know, like his blood pressure would go up and then the mind would start to tick up. And so it was like, if he was calm, it would stay at three, three bars till or whatever. Um, yeah, the logic there, I couldn't really follow other than like he has to stay still and he has to stay calm. So got it, you know, from a narrative standpoint. I'm, I imagine if it's reading his blood pressure that he wants to stay calm so it doesn't pick up on two, the 12th doctor and Billy go to the planet that's just AI little robots. They serve him two meals because they see two hearts. So they think it's two people. Oh, that's worth more blowing up. The mind must be like multi-kill. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah. I don't know why it wasn't where we know it. I think being healthy would be make it so you're more worth blowing up. Yeah. Well, cause it blew up that other guy. He was fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, it's a bit of like a pressure situation where, or like it's definitely reading him and it's sort of saying like, uh, like you didn't freak out. So I'm not going to blow up yet, but you will soon. And then I'm going to blow up, right? Or you're going to lose your balance. And then I'll blow up like it's waiting for him to make a mistake. Yeah. So I don't, yeah, I get in the logic. There's a little, little, little, little wonky on you. Something about the mine in particular was made by the Bellingard Corporation, which was mentioned in the ninth doctor period. He turned their factory into a banana grove in the empty child episode. We said which one's the ninth doctor? Chris, Chris, Christopher Eccleston. Okay. It was the first season of the 2005 series. It was the one with the gas marks where they're all going, are you my mummy? Also back to nine. I like it. I am a cyberman. I do like maths, but I also don't remember the numbers of which one is which. So I'm sorry, Christopher Eccleston, Bellingard Corporation. Was it episode 10? I don't know. It was the empty child. We've got Indiana Jones situation. We need to do some weight distribution matching. Doctor tells me we could go and find a big rock. And she doesn't come back with a rock. She comes back with the casket. Let's call it the casket because that's what they called it, not the adult toy Charlotte. Uh huh. Sure. It's even worse that we're calling it Daddy Vader now. Daddy. No, I didn't call it. That is something you can buy. I got the extra large daddy Vader. Oh my. It vibrates. My swatch is bigger than yours. Yeah. What are we talking about right now? I don't know. I think we all went in temporary and sin temporarily. So they get Daddy Vader. Nice, nice segue. And they do karaoke time with Doctor and Ruby again. And they pass the bat on to Doctor on the beat. Can we talk about how Ruby was possessed by the spirit of Clara and was like, I'm doing my own thing. I'm not doing it like you're doing it. And just walks right up to him and it's like, I'm going to throw this in your hand. And if you blow up, it's your own fault. Yeah. And I'll die too. Yeah. I, you know, I like this scene. I thought this was really nice. I'd like the time. I hate when they're like, okay, I'm three years three or at three. And like, that's always like bold for a joke. But I thought they made this like more serious and like, no, listen, we got to do this right or we're toast. And so, and I thought, I don't mind that she has a bit of bravado in this scene where she's sort of like, listen, I can help. Let me do it. You know, like, instead of you throwing it and catching it, which I agree sounds like a terrible fucking idea. So, and I thought that in the doctor was very, very sincere here too, which I really thought was well acted. And I don't know, this moment to me was probably one of the best moments in the episode. What I didn't sort of get was that maybe knows from last episode, you think she's been filled in on the Toymaker and stuff. Now, she doesn't trust doctoring the game of catch. It was so weird. It's like, I honestly thought that that Moffat may have made this episode for the 11th doctor and Clara, because Ruby was starting to act a lot like Clara in that moment. I'm pretty sure. And I was thinking, well, he mentions fish fingers and custard later. There's an 11. There's another 11 doctor reference. I can't remember. There's about three of them in this episode. So I think that originally Moffat might have made this episode for the 11th doctor and just never actually put it out there. And maybe now he's adapted it for a Gatwise doctor, which is fine. But I felt like maybe some essence of the original script might have gotten in there with Ruby, because I don't think it's something she would have done necessarily. I'm standing on a mine and you're asking, you're going to have someone throw something? I don't disagree that he's going to catch it. But to shift your weight in like that moment of like catching it, there's no way to like, it's almost near impossible. Like where is like a quick hand? And you know, I don't know, like, I actually was sort of like logically, that made sense to me like the handoff versus the throw, right? There's just so many things that could go wrong with a throw. Logically, I saw the reasoning, but I agree with when you say it like that, Ben, that this might have been written in that era, and then you bring up all those references, it does make a lot more sense. They hand it off and the vacuum drones come and vacuum all the dust in the planet, I guess. Yeah, the smoke. Yeah, which makes it look really pretty, the landscape. The doctor says, oh, this is your first time on a different planet. She's true, but she did just go outside of a different planet on the space station. So again, it chronologically, some of the dialogue may not make sense a lot, but still pretty, pretty planet. Yeah, that moment kind of struck me as weird, like, the doctor's like, what are you doing? Why are you staring? Like, I'm in trouble over here. And she's like, oh, and you kind of like, oh, you never, but it also took a weird like the tension away from the moment where I felt like, okay, you're standing on a mind, you're about to die, and you're, and you're going to have this sincere moment, like, oh, yeah, sit there and enjoy it. Like, take your time. Like, it was really weird. Like, I'd be like, hell no, like, like, focus on the problem, you know, like, you stop daydreaming about the planet. When I'm alive again, or when I'm off this mind, we can have that, we can have a moment again. Like, like, again, this was another one of those moments where I was like, oh, really good moment. And then I felt like a moment where I was like, shaking my head a little bit. So the handoffs happened, and Daddy Vader AI comes up and starts talking to Shootie and Ruby. And just as that happens, wouldn't you know it? Splice turns up on the crest of the, the big hole, somehow navigating the full mind field from her side to, to come and see AI Daddy Vader. Ooh, holograms and a star, a suspiciously star was looking person. Ooh, fan fiction, daughter splice is running. Where's Daddy? Where's my daddy? And like, she was awful annoying. Like, can't you see the situation, kid? Yeah. Like, read the room. I don't know. See someone's on mine. You can see that your dad's non-corporeal. Yeah. Yeah. And then, um, kind of fight with Ruby Sunday, which Ruby Sunday wins just about, just about. He'd had a light saber. It would have been a different story. You're throwing out an office game. Yeah. You know, there's so many Star Wars references in this. I know, I know we're going to relabel this. This should be not be called boom, a Star Wars story. Yeah. The AI turns up again for Danny Vader and it says kiss kiss, because that's what he says to his daughter. It's not a Hollywood reference. Somebody will get it. Yeah. Mundy turns up and starts making things worse. She very smartly holds a gun to the guy on a landline. And it's like, put down the dead guy. That's not your dead guy. It's our dead guy. Put it down. Even though it's in your life. I need to go back and rewatch this. Maybe with a view of, I'm going to see her again. Maybe I can read something else into her behavior. But right now, I just kind of want to hit check her down. There's spiral stairs in the TARDIS. Although she does, she does make a lot of like, she does end up making a lot of right choices. It takes her a while to get there. Yeah. At this point, though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, the character goes through quite a big arc in this episode of everybody hating it and everything going wrong for us. Yeah. You can't help but feel sorry for the end of the episode. Yeah. Yeah. And some of that's not even in her control. Like, in, I mean, you're about to get there, but there's a moment where like she's trying to do the right thing with Ruby. And then it ends up back crying because of another idiot that comes into play. But yeah. Like it felt like there was it. She sort of started to pick it up, figure it all out. They then talk about who the guys are actually fighting on this planet and they got the custodians. And no one's ever seen any of them because they're in the fog or in the mud or just nowhere. Doctor figures it out in 10 seconds that they're actually nowhere. It's the the Villengar Corporation that is making up these combatants so that they can keep selling their shit over and over again to all the bishops. So after a couple of shots to the arm that that Mundi gives the doctor the ambulances turn up because they hear someone fighting and it's like, hey, up more money to be made by getting rid of some more combatants. Do you think they have a quarter? Like if the ambulances take out so many people, they get paid. Yeah. 100%. They take out a number of people with all their weapon equipment because they just get fried incinerated everything with them goes so they can sell more shit to the new combatants that they would be recruiting. So Mundi in all her wisdom tells Ruby, let's distract the ambulances that you shoot me and I'll be the one that takes the flak from the ambulances. Yeah. It's a great idea in theory. Well, she says that she puts her gun down the lowest setting so the ambulance won't kill her and will just heal her. Which is a great plan until another idiot shows up. Can't tell. Can't tell turns up. Soldier. Yeah. But you know, he loved her. So we see someone at gunpoint that you love. You know, protect him, right? Yeah, from his POV he was doing probably doing the right thing for sure. Yeah, but he just felt it just felt sort of like, ah, now you got it. Like, you know, that moment where you're like, everything has to like the domino stuff, you know, like if this moment, like because if you didn't show up four seconds later or four seconds earlier, it just wouldn't have been a problem, you know, like this moment. But see, he doesn't all direct a phrase as it's clearly a civilian. He opens fire on what I can assume is probably full blast. And yeah, Ruby gets frickin' shot. Like, shot to hell. Yeah. Several times. Five shots in her or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Substantial. Doesn't look good for Ruby. No. No. The doctor is like, just still on us. Yeah, crying again. Yeah. At least he can't run away today. So Ruby is well and truly hurt. The ambulances come, assesses her thoughts and prayers, guys. Thoughts and prayers because Ruby is not going to survive this. Of course my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. Of course. Yeah. Thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers. Tragedy like this really puts things in perspective. And it starts snowing again. Oh, so the third time in a row, it's snowing. What's going on here? Have we had any further thoughts about what's going on? Not really. Oh, the doctor said it was like it was a memory. Like the memory of the day that she was left at the church. And I don't, I can't think of any of the previous creatures that we had seen that can do that except for like the snowmen, but she's not a snowman. So. I have a theory. Oh, Ben. What you got, Ben? You know how we're on Disney+. I don't know. Yeah. Do you think she's else? She's else. Wow. Disney. I mean, Disney owns Star Wars. I know. It works. It's over over the century. Oh, no, it's, it's absolutely fine, Ben. Like, we've had Mickey Mouse theories. We've had Elsa theories. Next week, it's going to be Moana. I don't know. The Ring Whales. So I don't know. Is there a Welsh Disney character? I don't, I don't think so. There's a Scottish one though, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I think Merida's the closest you're going to get. Well, I've picked a Capaldi dressed up as Merida. The ambulance says, no, no, you're not having any treatment. You're almost dead. It's not worth my time. Um, so at this point, we get into the bargaining section of grief, which the doctor tries to bargain with the AI of the ambulance and then daddy Veta to try and help out with Ruby Sunday. And he sort of convinces daddy Veta and a Monday that, you know, faith is convenient in times of good, good health. Well, he's saying that faith is helpful in your daily life to help you get through life's struggles, but not for major situations like conflict, I think. I think that he's saying that faith isn't a really good thing to, um, like put all of your chips in when it comes to something so serious as warfare. At the same time, we're, we're getting the countdown because the, the mind is on a timer. Um, so the doctor's effect, Ruby's effect, daddy Veta is gone missing whilst the ambulance AI is going, is doing the snarling villain type mocking situation. And all the timers run out at the same time. The mind says kiss kiss. The AI says kiss kiss like it's daddy Veta. I think I kind of want to rewind just a little bit. And I think we left out a really important thing. Okay. Is the fact that the doctor tells everyone it's like, scan me. I'm not just like, I'm not like, cause the, what's his face shows up? He's going to die. He's dead anyway. Like it doesn't matter. Like, you know, whatever. And he's like, no, like that. I'm not just anybody. Scan me if I go, I'll take half this planet with me. Um, and which is like, actually, like from a plot device, like pretty cool. Like, this is a moment where I'm like, okay, this is, this is clever. This is good writing. Like, there's a lot of time and energy. And I'm not just what I appear to be, um, which obviously is a metaphor, but obviously really true. Um, in the moment, and it puts the stakes at a higher level. So now they're not just saving the doctor. They have their, whatever they do here, saving everybody that they know on this, on this planet, basically. So, um, I thought that was really fascinating. And, and he's doing, he's being clever by like, appealing to an AI, which I, I wish they did a better job of showing that this AI could learn. In the sense that it was more like more, less of a message AI, like they could just replicate voice and like an LLM, you know, like more like what we know of is like, I can like replicate and answer like some similar questions, but that I could actually like feel and learn. Um, because I didn't quite get that. And when he starts to plead to daddy Vader, uh, to like, you know, save, you know, save his daughter in order to, in order to, you know, he has to save his daughter. I kind of didn't buy that. That was a moment here. We're in the part. This is the part in the episode where I'm kind of like, I'm not sure that this would, I'm not sure that this technology is can be appealed to, right? Does that make sense? It's not like a real person. So like, I was, I don't know. I was kind of like, uh, this part flew, uh, it didn't, it didn't drive. Yeah, I kind of agree with Drew on that. Uh, if it had been the kind of AI that we had, um, at the Christmas episode, uh, where we had the twelfth and first doctor together, if we had had that kind of AI interaction with this, I think it would have worked better because that AI was definitely more intelligent. It learned, it reacted, it acted like a person. Um, so it was a little. Yeah. It just needed like a, a couple lines of dialogue where the why they're trying to save the vessel or, or, or the casket, I guess, here is like, hey, that's, that's not just, you know, what's left the remains and it has like this cool video message. But like, that's how we remember like, we can interact with this person. They learn and they grow, they grow with it. My dad can see me grow. Like, I don't think they did a good enough job explaining the importance of it. And that the AI inside of it is intelligent enough to be part of the feeling that quite wasn't, it didn't hit. So therefore, when the doctor was sort of using it to infiltrate, uh, robot, like, I was kind of like, what, what's happening here? Like, how is this possible? Like, I didn't, I was having a hard time following it. It may come through on a, on a, on another watch. I've only watched it once. Um, but for a bottle episode or what is mostly a bottle episode, there is a whole lot going on. I don't know how much they could pack in there. There was a lot. Yeah. You know what? There was loads. I, I'm made like three pages of notes in this one. Yeah, just quickly, I'd like to see if anyone has the idea as well, what, when the ambulance has Ruby's medical records from 3000 years ago, and it just loops on next of kin. The year, I think, because they would have been in the future and on another planet. So that, that part made sense. But yeah, but to me, right? The next of kin should have come up with our adopted mother unless there's just nobody left who would be considered next of kin. Because it's like 3000 years. Yeah, yeah, I wasn't sure what they were trying to apply there. Like that she doesn't survive to have an ex of kin. Does that make sense? Like, like, yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like this, her story ends and therefore there's no one, like it kept searching searching, like it's searching like on a loop, you know, and never found anything. Daddy Vayter comes back, saves the day, gets doctor off the landmine, gets Ruby, revived, with vivication, with vivication. Hooray. Everyone's alive apart from Kanto who died like two seconds ago, but it didn't really matter because he was a dick anyway. He got wasted by an ambulance. Yeah, he did. And did anything even happen to him? Like, the ambulance just rolled up to him and went hard scratch. Uh oh, this guy has a broken heart, better kill him. Yeah, broken heart. I love it. Yeah, you know, this, that was a nice moment between the, the tweet, like, here's, here's the moment, right, where Monday, Monday, thank you, is sort of like finding her, her humanity through her, like via not faith, but through personal relationships, which is cool. I like this moment where she's like, they're confessing love, right? Like, and he's sort of like, would you have loved me? And, and before she could even answer, you know what I'm saying, that she knows the answer. And I think he kind of is about to know the answer too. And I thought this again, like it was like, I felt like this episode was just like ups and downs, like really, really cool personal moments, but then like some logical sort of like moments of like, why is this happening here? And like, what's going on? And that doesn't make sense. Like, so it was like, it was like almost like the actors knew what the job was, but the, the writer Moffat didn't quite nail the like narrative logic. But I really liked that moment between these two characters. And it was, I thought it was shocking that he died. Like, I was shocked. I was like, Oh, shit. And then Izzy, I just comes and says, I have a message for you. And this he says, I loved you, but I know you don't love me. And then it just ends. And she's just so they're like, Oh, yeah, she's just wrecked. Yeah. Like, like it's a stop stop. She's already dead. All right. So we're getting towards the end. And now, Dr. does a drum dance, because why not he loves dancing? He loves singing. And then they just look like a drum dance. Why did why did most they do dancing and singing all the time? Because it's high school musical. Yeah. No. Yeah. It's like this doctor who was a theater major, you know, like he's just so like, yeah, he's very much like an actor's actor, you know. Yeah. Well, I'm a bother that. I love it. Yeah, he's great. Yeah, it's growing on me. The doctor and Ruby go and go back in the TARDIS Monday and splice who survived, go back to the the Bishop's camp. And that's it. And then we'll go over. Yeah. The surrender. They haven't surrendered. She had us have the authority to surrender. And surrender. Yeah, I surrender for them. I think that he just gave him a stay of execution. That's, that's all. That's why I might take anyway. Oh, really? I got the sense like PAI is like gone now, like none of the shit work. Like the robots, the hospitals aren't going to kill anybody. Like, and they're going to go back to camp and say there's hey, there's no whatever, Villa Guard. And therefore, like, we're all good. We're all good. Let's go home. That's some, that's some pie. And then we're left with a picture of a snowflake. And that's the image that we're left with. It's very interesting to see where that's going. But if that, if this just happens every week, like the, there's just going to be that woman, snow, crying, running, dance, then it's, it's, it's almost the same episode every week. That's the next manly problem with it. Well, hopefully it doesn't happen near the Susan Twist character next week, because then she'll be like, oh no, I've got hypothermia. All right. And that's the end of the episode then. So let's go on to our overall ratings. I'm back on like more towards space babies. I'm in like 7.5 range on this one. I, again, I thought the, there's like moments where the writing is just like really, really strong. Character on character dialogue is really, really good here. And the tension in the beginning with the, with the mind and like, it's just really palpable. I thought like they did a really good job. But then the pacing starts to get wacky with like a lot of like things happening that feel like they didn't need to happen to keep the tension. Like it should have been even more self-contained. They kept introducing new characters. And I felt like, no, like let's solve this with like two or three people. That's it. And there was a lot of variables, but it started to get very murky. On top of like a couple allegories here, whether it was war or faith, war and faith or love, like being thrown in there too. And then the Ruby Sunday kind of like what's going on there. Like there's just a lot of themes floating around for me as well. So I don't know, it's a mixed bag. I thought there was a lot of good, but also kind of a lot of like meh. So I given it at 7.5, but what got was doctors just, he's still awesome. I'm really like, I like Ruby the more and more. I see her. I think they're starting to have chemistry together. So I'm really liking that as well. And my mind is blown now that Mundi is within the show. And she's going to be like that actor is going to be. And whether or not it's the same character. I don't know. Now I have to go back and rewatch the episode. So maybe next week I'll have a better, a more favorable rating. But I definitely need to go back and rewatch it. Like Charlotte was saying. Well, I really do just want to give this a 10 out of 10. But I'm kind of pulled back to putting it as 9.5. I don't know why, but I feel like there still could be better. But this was like a really solid episode for me. Like it was proper sci-fi. It was a good episode with proper structure and some really good callbacks and references. There are now three characters in this show who have been introduced to we have no answers for. That's the Mrs. Flood character. There's now this Susan Twist recurring character. And there's Ruby herself. So we've got like the one in the front, which is Ruby, he's meant to distract us from the other one. And the one that happened ages ago, which still hasn't been explained. So right now there's like three different mysteries all on the back burner. And I hope there's some sort of big like event which brings all of these together. Maybe they're all the same person. I don't know. But we can only we can only really speculate at the moment. I don't think they'd be the same person. The different people, but like doctors done weird things before. But yeah, I'll give this a 9.5 out of 10. I'll hold off on 10 out of 10 just in case there's like a really, really good episode later on. I think I get this one in eight out of 10. I don't didn't mind the music. And this one love the Sky song. It's gorgeous. I love the chemistry that we're getting between Shootie and Millie. I really do need to go back and rewatch this because I need to pay a little bit more attention to that Mundy character and maybe get a better read on her because it'll be interesting if she's going to be a campaign. Maybe show girl on me more. Yeah. That was a pretty solid episode. We're back, baby. I brought that back. I'm also a 9 though. I'm not like a 10 out of 10 for this episode. I'm not going to lie. You guys have pulled me, rained me a little bit in. I was so happy after Space Babies and a little bit of the devil's chord that I was willing to gloss over the problems of this episode until you pointed them back out to me. You have like, you've starved of something for a while. And it's not been that long since it's since we've had a good Doctor Who episode. But like, even Star Wars, you starved of something for a while. And then you're willing to forgive all of the shit that comes with Star Wars because it's better than it was last week. That's where I think I was at. But it's still a really good episode. It introduces the new companion. It still has those mysteries. It still has, you know, Chutee and Millie Gibson pre-nailing what they're doing at the moment. And it had a more serious tone. So I give it a nine. I'll give it a nine. So then we have it then. That's the third episode done. The next episode is called 73 yards and we'll be back next week with all of the fallout from that and probably some more Susan twists to go along with it. We're going to get fallout references next week. Yeah. That's the next crossover we could put together. Last week it was Star Trek this week at Star Wars next week. Follow Babylon 5 in Wales. Battlestar Galactica maybe. Yeah. Some Star Games up in here. Star Games, you know. Star Games as sure as you want to be well for up for. If you like what we do at CouchTube, please like and subscribe and keep watching all of them YouTube's in support, independent creators like us by becoming a member of CouchTube if you possibly can afford it and keep tuned for new watching now podcasts in the future. Like decoding dragons is bad guys. Decoding dragons. The house of the dragon watching now series. That will be back very, very soon. We've got all the things on the pipeline as well because literally every TV show in the history of man is coming out in June. So we'll have loads of stuff. So true. But for right now, we will see you all next week. Thank you very much for watching. Bye. Bye. Thanks for having me. [Music] 3-2-1. Welcome back to the watching now podcast on CouchTube. The doctor who watching now podcast from CouchTube. I always forget something. There we go. Yes. I'll do it again. I'll do it again. Do it again. Welcome back to the watching now podcast from CouchTube. I've done it again. It's the same goddamn thing. This is the outtake. You're on a land mine and if you don't do it properly, it's going to blow up. This is the outtake. This is the outtake.
Join the Watching Now Doctor Who Podcast as we break down the latest episode of the series, Boom. When the Doctor finds himself in a dangerous situation, it’s down to Ruby Sunday and new friends Splice and Mundy Flynn to save him and the whole planet! Join Couch Soup contributors Iain McParland, Ben Hazell, Charlotte Merritt, and Drew Lewis for Watching Now, discussing the episodes’ ups and downs. We discuss Varada Sethu’s first appearance in the show before officially joining the cast as a companion in Season 2, Moffat’s Star Wars fan fiction, and how there’s always got to be a Twist at the end.
