Review - The Long Game

There's nothing much wrong with The Long Game, apart from having to follow the perfection that was Dalek.

Season 1, Episode 7 - The Long Game

Off we jaunt to the far future of Earth with young Adam Mitchell trailing behind. Its interesting to see this new dynamic develop with a second companion. With The Doctor and Rose decidedly not interested in each other, The Doctor seems to become more paternal with Rose, even  sort of helping her impress Adam.

The concept of Platform 5 and its floor-based hierarchy was an interesting one. The environments were well realised, with that oh so slightly Blade Runner-esque used future feel to them. It had a realness that many other Sci-Fi shows (even other episodes of Doctor who) often fail to achieve.

Simon Pegg was, naturally, brilliant as The Editor. He gave the perfect balance of over-confident Machiavellian genius and simpering lackey, depending on who he was talking to. Very well played.

Always a winner.

The idea of the media controlling humanity is an interesting and frankly terrifying one, but I feel this story may have had more impact in the 80s or 90s, before the Internet and social media began pushing back against (and even feeding) traditional media sources. Still scary though because we can see attempts at it now.

The Jagrafess was a bit of a disappointment. The design was okay, but It looked plastic. I think the glossy sheen all over it was supposed to be moisture, but it didn't really work. I get the feeling they could have achieved a better result with a puppet. Even the explosion (another one?) was a bit poor and could have benefited from some practical effects.

And how is it attached to the ceiling?

Overall, it was a solid episode with little to complain about from my usual list. I was a bit sad they dumped Adam so quickly. There was potential there for a good group dynamic. of course, with The Empty Child coming up, that will be remedied soon enough.

8/10

Can we fix it?

As I said up front, there's not a lot wrong with this episode. If I were to tweak something it would be the mystery around the Big Boss. There are a bunch of questions raised that should have at least been addressed. How was The Jagrafess able to appear and mess up the progression of human history? This should have been the first question The Doctor asked it. Maybe then we could have had some nice foreshadowing of the season arc, which of course relies on The Doctor failing to follow any of this up. As it is, it seems a bit odd to me that The Doctor would happily let things will get back to normal without at least exploring the origins.

Not a big deal, but it just seems a bit wrong.