Resolution is a great Dalek story in terms of effective Dalek use, but let down a little by stupid stuff in it like microwave oven ovens and a Family Guy-esque cutaway gag. And of course you get Ryan and his dad, which while having one of the best Tosin Cole performances in the show feels weirdly placed tonally in the episode. It’s kinda all over the place in that regard.
Fugitive I like the episode as a whole, but it doesn’t have all that much going for it before the reveal, kinda rehashing stuff done before with the Judoon. The Jack Harkness cameo served little purpose.
I don’t dislike either, but Resolution is easily the better here.
3 Likes
Fugitive of the Judoon I like, my favourite 13th Doctor story I think, mainly just because it’s quite sunny and fast-paced, dramatic at the end. Resolution… that’s the first New Years’ Day special isn’t it? All that lot blur together. It’s all right, at best. Will never shed the disappointment of it not being a Christmas Special. Couldn’t they have just broadcast it then anyway? Put some snow in? Spyfall part 1 very nearly was, that would’ve been an improvement, too.
2 Likes
I fail to see how it being broadcast one week earlier would be an improvement. And I mean, with a title like Resolution, like, New Year’s Resolution, it’s not just put some snow and make it Christmas, it’s clearly for the New Year. Idk, I’ve never understood the obsession some fans have with “Doctor Who has to do something at Christmas”
4 Likes
This one was so tricky, I agree that they’re very evenly matched. Ultimately, Resolution is a more cohesive and satisfying story in itself. But it makes me go ‘huh, cool’ where Fugitive makes me go ‘woah’. So I’ve still gone for the latter.
3 Likes
Fugitive of the Judoon. It’s one of my favorite 13 episodes.
2 Likes
As much as I enjoy Martin as the Doctor her introduction episode is kind of a mess plot wise. Resolution is much more structurally sound and features a more satisfying character arc.
3 Likes
‘Kill the Moon’ has had its shortcomings discussed and eviscerated many times already, and while I’m hardly saying anything new with this, I feel obligated to say that the episode justifies its existence if only for the final scene between the Doctor and Clara. A phenomenal confrontation brilliantly performed by both Capaldi and Coleman, and a scene that marks both a shift in the Doctor’s ongoing character arc and a key point in the development of their relationship.
Even then, it’s going against one of the three best Christmas specials in NuWho, a story which also has so much more in its favour. Greg Davies as Hydroflax and Matt Lucas as Nardole are both hilarious in ways that never feel too distracting or like they’re undermining the episode, and Kingston is probably at her most comedic here as well. Despite spending half the episode unaware of who he is, her chemistry with Capaldi is intense and thoroughly brilliant; watching this episode for the umpteenth time, it only becomes clearer what River meant in the Library when she said that this was ‘the real you, the future you.’ A simply magnificent story from start to finish and one that never fails to pull a tear from my eye when the Doctor tells her how long a night is on Darillium.
My vote goes for ‘The Husbands of River Song’! And they both lived…
5 Likes
It still beats Kill the Moon. But honestly, Husbands has some issues in it for me. The first, and the big one, is that I think it really depicts River as quite dense. There are too many painfully obvious “this is the Doctor” moments, that I just don’t buy she wouldn’t figure out, she’s far too intelligent for that. I know they say that she has the pictures of all of them, and knows the rules of regeneration, and all that, but come on, she honestly is so set in knowing he couldn’t possibly have figured out a way around the rules, especially considering time travel and all the future Doctors would have made their presence known at some point? I don’t believe that. Also, stealing the diamond for what we find out eventually to be the money rather than returning it to its original owners like she’d been saying before doesn’t feel like River Song either. And I don’t know what it is, something just feels a little off to me in Kingston’s performance for most of this episode until about the scene on the ship where Flemming is reading her diary. It’s still good, and Capaldi and Kingston just being excellent as a pair of actors carries it over the issues I have with her character in it. And, unfortunately, no, Nardole doesn’t work for me in Husbands, though he’s much better a single episode later and the season after that. All of that said, it would take a lot to get me to vote Kill the Moon, it’s still an easy pick for its opponent.
5 Likes
Kill the Moon is underrated. And Husbands is even more overrated. Probably the worst Christmas special. It’s Kill the Moon for me.
9 Likes
I’ve made it no secret that I’m a River Song hater and Husbands is her second worst story.
Meanwhile Kill the Moon is no where near as awful as people want to make it out to be.
4 Likes
I can’t get over a creature hatching out of the moon and immediately laying an equal-sized, identical moon and everyone on Earth is fine. Doctor Who gets pretty fantastical but even visually it makes no sense.
2 Likes
I like both episodes but went with Husbands of River Song. I love 12 and River’s dynamic here and the ending is fantastic
1 Like
I just went back to the list in case there was one that I’d forgotten. Sure enough, The Next Doctor had slipped my mind and is probably worse. Voyage of the Damned might be tied with Husbands. All others are leagues ahead of those three.
2 Likes
Evil, evil choice today. Two of my all-time favourite stories here, both would probably make it into my TV top ten. I have to go with Hell Bent though, I love the denouement of the twisty, messy Twelve/Clara relationship and all the deconstruction of the Doctor and companion roles within the show. Plus, Capaldi and Coleman crush it even more than usual, and it’s very exciting to see the depiction of post-Time War Gallifrey. Really though, I think both of these are exceptional.
4 Likes
Yeah, this is one where I will be disappointed to see one of these eliminated this early no matter which way it goes. It’s not a hard choice for me, because Hell Bent is my #3 Doctor Who, but Deep Breath is pretty far up there as well. Capaldi Who is just chef’s kiss.
5 Likes
