Doctor Who: Cold Blood

I once read that writing the first episode of a Doctor Who story was easy - it was rounding off the whole story effectively that created problems. Basically, the first installment is about creating mystery and fear, while the follow-up(s) have to credibly resolve all the strands and plot points created by the first episode. Anyone who's seen the Doctor Who story The Space Museum knows just how badly this can go, and how a great first episode can be destroyed by the episodes that follow.

My big fear for Cold Blood was that it would struggle to positively enhance The Hungry Earth. Because, with the benefit of hindsight, The Hungry Earth was a very slight episode - big on atmosphere but lacking in plot and effective use of the Silurians in their long-awaited return. Which leaves a lot for Cold Blood to achieve. Wrapping up the story, tying up the plot strands from the first episode, making the whole adventure stand out from the crowd, and realising the potential that the Siluarians have shown since 1970. That's a tall order even for the best of writers...

And, let's be honest, Chibnall did OK. His resolution of what he'd set up was alright. It was visually very strong, with a couple of interesting ideas. But it was also incredibly bland. I mean, the whole thing didn't so much feel like a cop-out as a perfunctory run-through of science fiction cliches. You had the evil alien general, the nice alien old scientist, and the wise old leader. And the way it was all resolved was pretty uninspiring. The nice old leader decides to put his people back into hibernation. Sure, it is a way of avoiding the slaughter than has ended previous Silurian (or should we be saying Homo Reptilia now?) stories. But I couldn't help but feel how lucky the Doctor and the humans were. They got a Gandhi-esque figure as leader, rather than the Silurian equivalent of George W Bush. Which is just as well, really, or things could have turned out much worse for the Doctor's posse.

But the whole thing a little like it was going through the motions in places. It wasn't a bad resolution to the story, but it certainly wasn't the epic, intelligent adventure that the Silurians deserved.

Then... then we had the ending. Oh, and - spoilers ahead.

It's a shame that Rory's fate couldn't have been woven in to the story a little more effectively - like Adric's death at the end of Earthshock. But once Rory had been shot, the episode was completely transformed. Mainly because not only did Rory die, but Amy was forced to forget about him by the energy emerging from the crack in the universe. Heartbreaking scenes of a desolated Amy gave way to a poignant scene where she was waving at herself now alone on the hillside. The Doctor is left carrying another secret - that Amy was once in love, and waiting to get married. It is a bold and brilliant moment: much better than simply dropping Rory off as Amy and the Doctor go off for a little bit more pre-Wedding adventuring.

And then... to up the ante even more, we saw what the Doctor pulled from the crack in the universe. An audacious escalation of the story arc.

Tim, a character in Spaced, used to occasionally say "skip to the end" when he was bored of a story. And looking back on it, I reckon that's how I feel about Cold Blood. An OK episode that will probably be most remembered for its great ending.