Doctor Who Review: Insert Corny Pirate Joke Here
May 9, 2011 by Stephanie Jaar
Filed under Feature, feature overlay, Television
After seeing River Song kick some major butt in last week’s episode, and then being left on the edge of my seat by a regenerating little girl, I was more than excited for this weekend’s episode.
But then we ended up on a pirate ship.
I love a good pirate story, don’t get me wrong, but I’m saving my swash-buckling excitement for [Captain] Jack Sparrow in a few short weeks.
Anyway, this is Doctor Who we’re talking about and the Doctor always knows how to have some fun, which is why I’m guessing he decided to take Amy and Rory to a pirate ship. He chose a bit poorly however as the pirate ship and its crew are “cursed.” Whenever one of them gets so much as gets a paper cut, a black spot appears on their hand and a demon Siren hypnotizes the injured with her beautiful singing voice and they – POOF! Vanish.
Supermodel Lily Cole plays the Siren and while I would normally roll my eyes at models-turned-actresses, this role was very appropriate for her. All she had to do was stand there and look pretty; no speaking required. The perfect Siren.
The Siren, it turns out, is not a crazy demon monster. She’s some sort of virtual nurse who just wants to study the humans and care for them. Sick TARDISes are also included in that mix. It’s a nice change from the constant blood-thirsty aliens every week, and definitely not what I expected.
I guess after two weekends of thrilling, keep-you-guessing episodes of Doctor Who, I was a bit underwhelmed with the “Curse of the Black Spot.” It almost felt like a filler episode. That’s not to say there weren’t some good things about it, including some lovely character moments. For example we see the ship’s Captain Avery struggle with being a father to his young son Toby and then Rory and Amy continuing to save each other’s life. Plus a little sword fighting can always keep audiences entertained. You know Karen Gillan had a blast putting on the pirate gear and wielding that sword.
The Doctor, on the other hand, seemed more scatterbrained than usual. His theories about the Siren were continuously wrong, which he made a point to mention, and he even lost control of the TARDIS completely. Something felt off about the whole thing. Is it because he found out about his death somehow? Or is Amy’s possible pregnancy distracting him? Will we ever see the results from that full body scan they keep teasing us with?!
Whatever the answers to all these questions may be, at least we end this episode on a happy note for the pirates who decide to stay with the Siren and fly off into outer space. Epic.
What did you think of “Curse of the Black Spot?” Were you pleased to have a break from the suspense and just enjoy a good pirate adventure?
Season 6, Episode 3: “Curse of the Black Spot” (aired May 7, 2011).
Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 9/8c on BBC America.
Images courtesy of BBC America.
gotta say i’ve just gotten into doctor who (on netflix..love it!) and im going to watch them all. haven’t seen this one yet that you speak of..but looks fun! love prison break too fyi.
I found a lot with that ep that just did not jive.
For example: Rory was saved by the Siren from drowning…yet if they took him off of her life support system, he would be drowning again? WTF? Why? I mean, you drown, you get resuscitated. That’s how it works.
And what about the rest of the crew…why did they only unhook the ones we’d already met instead of the whole crew?
And I do not like the new credits with the “when I was a little girl….”