'Journey to the Center of the TARDIS' -- DW 7x10

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm starting to get the feeling that cuz of the 50th anniversary stuff that is coming up, that the writers really haven't given as much attention to whatever else is going on in the season that is leading up to it. It would be fantastic if it felt like there was some thought put into what was going on, instead of feeling like they were just needing to fill up some space between what they were doing in series six and what will be happening with the anniversary.

I have absolutely no sympathy for either of the brothers who made the third think that he was an android. What they did was completely shitty and motivated out of a desire to get even with him out of resentments that they had (about him being the "favored son"). Just did it for a laugh ... whatever. And even if the truth was kind of copped to by the end of everything, I still don't have any sympathy for anything bad that happened with either of them.

I still twitch slightly whenever there is a "crossing of timelines" when it comes to the doctor or any of the companions. I guess that it really got drilled into my head that what should be happening (back with 9) was that they should never do that, cuz of all of the horrible things that could happen when they try to "fix" their own timelines (yes, I learned my lesson from "Father's Day"). I was kind of willing to let it go with "The Big Bang," since the universe had become so small, and they needed to do a bit of cross pollination to make sure that the universe was able to reboot itself ... even though I was still not entirely happy with what I felt like was a retcon of canon. But 11 throwing the grenade through the tear did not make me at all happy on the inside. It felt too much like the writers were being a bit lazy ... like they were borrowing old tropes from the show (having 11 deal with stuff like "The Big Bang," and having there be a rip in time like all through series five ... sure, that sort of thing could happen again, but using a rip in time again (which looks so much like the one that they used in series five, only standing vertically), and have it be so close to the rip that showed up through an entire series ... too soon).

The one thing that I can say that I liked about this episode was the fact that 11 finally came clean with Clara about what has been bothering him about her all this time. I didn't like the fact that he wasn't being honest with her about what was bothering him, especially since it's coloring at least some of his attitude of her (yeah, still very much bothered by the fact that he asked the empath in last week's episode what she was, instead of who she was ... like she might have been something less than person, but that may not have been the intent). Maybe they can finally start dealing with shit, instead of him trying to keep what he's actually doing from her while he's simultaneously trying to show her around and try to figure out what the hell is going on with her.