The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood review [Chris Chibnall]

It's Doctor Who and the Silurians with better costumes.

When and Where: The (fictional) Cwmtaff, Wales in 2020.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "No, you're really not, because I'm the last of my species and I know how it sits on my heart so don't insult me."
• The new Silurian design is beautiful. It's a big change from the classic series, of course, and almost unrecognisable as the same species, but the new look allows for more emotion and subtlety than a hulking rubber suit. Alaya's silhouette in the graveyard hunting a little boy is a very scary moment, as is her sneak attack on Ambrose.
• Given that Doctor Who has been filmed in Wales since Rose, it's a surprise that we haven't had a Welshy story since Blon tried to destroy the world from Cardiff Bay in Boom Town. This story begins with some lovely views of the Welsh countryside and the even lovelier sound of a Welsh accent on the BBC. The lush setting has to be praised. 
• Amy's being lovey-dovey with Rory and even wearing her engagement ring. She risks her life to save Tony. Amy's Choice did some good for her, it would appear, although she's still not perfect.
• It's important to keep giving the lead actor new facets of the Doctor to show, and Matt Smith perfectly plays the Doctor's sinking feeling when he realises he let Elliot go out into possible danger. His excitement and positivity about the potential alliance of humans and Silurians is nice to see and gets us really behind the idea of the two races sharing the Earth. Unfortunately, we're only in 2020 so we know it's not going to happen.
• Alaya's claim that either Rory, Tony or Ambrose will kill her and that she knows which it is builds some tension, although we know it'll be Ambrose. She had those weapons in the van, after all.
• The Silurian city looks pretty decent up close in Cold Blood. A lot better than the CGI we see at the end of The Hungry Earth.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Oi, don't diss the sonic!"
• "Did you just shush me? Did you just shush me!?"
• "Yeah. And stay out."
• "You never picked a lizard man's pocket?"
• "You're so clingy."
• "We're in the centre of the Earth and there are lizard men."
• Something about the dialogue or the acting has Matt Smith playing the Tenth Doctor rather than the Eleventh in some scenes, especially during his explanation of bio-programming.
• Whilst the Silurians are an interesting creation, there isn't really that much that can be done with them. Modern human technology awakens them and then the Silurians attack - it's difficult not to simply redo the unfortunately-titled Doctor Who and the Silurians short of a political, sensitively-handled, bold story about re-homing them on the surface. All we get with regards to this is the Doctor saying that owning Earth once doesn't give them automatic rights to it now. The story that the Silurians deserve went to the Zygons.
• Child actor Samuel Davies does a decent job as Elliot, but none of the guest characters are particularly engaging or interesting and the relationship between Tony and Nasreen fails to resonate.
• Amy acts as though she didn't just suffer a traumatic experience as Malohkeh prepared to perform a vivisection on her, becoming instantly cocky and carefree. So much for a renaissance for the character after Amy's Choice.
• "She's part of your gene chain," is the excuse given why Neve McIntosh plays both Restac and Alaya. Unfortunately, when you have one actress playing every female Silurian (don't forget Vastra still to come) it makes the Silurian race feel rather small and lacking in variety.
• The Fifth Doctor wore celery because of his allergy to certain gases in the praxis range and it would turn purple if exposed to any. The Doctor asking for celery here doesn't make much sense.
• The Doctor tells Restac that the humans attacked the Silurians in Doctor Who and the Silurians. That's a massive oversimplification that would only further increase and support Restac's hatred of humans.
• Rory dies again, with any shock there might have been lost given that he died only in the last story. Amy's reaction, whilst dramatic and well-acted, doesn't feel earnt given her lack of connection with him during this story.

The Master Plan: There's another crack of time in the Silurian city below Cwmtaff, from which the Doctor pull some "shrapnel" - a smouldering piece of the TARDIS.

This Reminds Me...:

• Everything reminds me of Doctor Who and the Silurians.
• Why does Amy forget about Rory? She remembered the clerics in Flesh and Stone but because Rory is part of her own history she won't remember him? What sense does that make?

The Inquisitor's Verdict: Series 5 has had a pretty good run since The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, but here is where it ends. There's not very much to be said about this story, except that the Silurians look pretty good and it's not one I'm likely to watch again. The pacing was very slow, the characters uninteresting and it's mostly stuff we've seen before. This poor two-parter might have made an adequate single episode with a few changes. All in all it fails to really explore the subject matter that it deals with and the resolution isn't satisfying. Amy's back to her smugness and now Rory, who brings out the best in her, is gone. The Silurians' mighty return has proven mightily disappointing. This story is very bad, and that earns it an E.

Doctor Who (Series 5)

Amy's Choice  |  The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood  |  Vincent and the Doctor