Harry -
It’s hard not to begin this discussion without a rousing “Hey Nonny!”, so there we are.
Sarah -
Done.
Harry -
The Doctor promised his new friend Martha one trip — just one trip — and they’ve gone back to the year 1599. After a few moments of shock, Martha takes the Doctor’s advice and together they “walk about like you own the place.”
Sarah -
Martha has been been offered one trip only to thank her for her excellent work in the Judoon incident. After that the Doctor will, presumably, go back to nursing his broken heart over Rose’s departure.
Harry -
Sigh.
Sarah -
In the meantime, Martha continues to be brilliant by asking entirely appropriate questions. She worries about stepping on a butterfly and changing the future of the human race or that she will be carried off as a slave.
After his advice about walking around like you own the place, he assures her that Elizabethan England isn’t so different from her time and counts the many ways, while the camera show us two black women walking down the street. On that topic, I listened to an enlightening interview last year on the History Extra Podcast with the author of Black Tudors: The Untold Story. It’s definitely worth a listen.
To her great delight, the Doctor takes Martha to the Globe Theatre to see Love’s Labour’s Lost, where she seems to start the tradition of shouting “Author! Author!” at the curtain call.
Harry -
I know it was all CGI, but I loved the view outside the Globe. And of course, the Bard is present when they arrive.
Sarah -
The man himself turns up on stage and both the Doctor and Martha are struck by his presence, the Doctor describing him as “The most human human there's ever been.” He eagerly awaits hearing Shakespeare’s “beautiful, brilliant words” and is rewarded with “Ah, shut your big fat mouths!” As Martha suggests, it’s probably best if you don’t meet your heroes.
Harry -
The Doctor should have known better.
Sarah -
Meanwhile, Lilith, the witch we met in the cold open where she devoured a young man with her “mothers,” is in the theater with an effigy of Shakespeare, which she begins using to control his behavior. What was meant to be a quick trip changes to a longer stay when the Doctor realizes something mysterious is going on.
Harry -
It began when Shakespeare announced that his new play -- Love's Labour's Won -- would be performed the very next night. Martha's never heard of that one, and the Doctor confirms that it's a mythical lost play. No one knows for sure if it was real, or what happened to it. So much of Shakespeare and his works is wrapped in myths and legends, it has provided endless material for writers right up to the present day.
The Doctor finds the mystery irresistible, so he and Martha make their way to a nearby pub where Shakespeare has retired for rest and refreshment. As Martha said, it's never a good idea to meet your heroes, and her encounter with Shakespeare gets awkward.
SHAKESPEARE: Sweet lady. Such unusual clothes. So fitted.
MARTHA: Er, verily, forsooth, egads.
DOCTOR: No, no, don't do that. Don't.
Sarah -
That did make me laugh. Also, the Doctor introducing Martha as being from Fredonia, Land of the Brave and Free.
Will is annoyed to have yet another fanboy turn up on his doorstep, but is intrigued by the stunning Ms. Jones. He sees through the psychic paper, to the Doctor’s delight.
Harry -
As the trio get more acquainted, Lynley, the Master of the Revels barges in, and says for the convenience of a modern audience: "As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed." That was a nice bit of exposition.
He demands to see Shakespeare's new script. When Will tells him he'll provide it in the morning, Lynley tells him that with no script available, the performance is cancelled. He storms off and runs into Lilith, who surreptitiously clips a lock of his hair. She dashes back to her mothers with the news. They are intent that Love's Labour's Won be performed the next night, so they commence an incantation. Lynley goes into a coughing fit, spewing out water before he keels over, dead. What a horrific death.
Sarah -
Horrific, but memorable! The Doctor declares that Lynley died of a sudden imbalance of the humors to avoid panic over witchcraft and sets out to solve the mystery, while Will prepares to write Love’s Labour’s Won.
Awkwardness abounds when the Doctor and Martha are shown to their room for the night. He’s oblivious to Martha’s flirting, lost in his own thoughts: “No, there's something I'm missing, Martha. Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it. Rose'd know. A friend of mine, Rose. Right now, she'd say exactly the right thing. Still, can't be helped. You're a novice, never mind. I'll take you back home tomorrow.”
Good Grief! It’s like the damn mob -- just when we think the Rose era is over, RTD pulls us back in!
Harry -
"Great," says Martha, echoing some of us viewers as the Doctor goes off on his Rose reminiscences. These are the least appealing moments of this season.
Sarah -
And there are far too many of them!
Harry -
Meanwhile, Shakespeare is writing up a storm, all under the witches' influence. By morning, he's got Love's Labour's Won drafted and ready for the stage.
It seemed to take a while for the Doctor to put all the pieces together in this story. Without a proper confrontation with the witches early on, he was left to figure it out on his own. I didn't mind the way this played out, it harkened back to the Doctor's younger days when he didn't flaunt knowing everything in the universe. Finally, he hits on it and declares "I name you Carrionite!"
The Carrionites use words as power. Ancient creatures, they seek a new empire, powered from the Earth in their specially-designed engine which happens to the the specially-shaped Globe Theatre. They had been preparing this for a while before the Doctor and Martha showed up. Shakespeare is dispatched to the Globe to stop the play while our heroes set out to stop the Carrionites in their lair.
Sarah -
I like the concept of the Carrionites and I don’t mind the camp.
Harry -
Using familiar witchy powers, the Carrionites put Martha to sleep and torture the Doctor with a voodoo doll. Thinking they've stopped his heart, they fly to the Globe. For the second time in as many episodes, we are made aware that the Doctor has two hearts, which in this case saved him from certain death.
Sarah -
Once again that second heart comes in handy! “Only one heart working. How do you people cope?”
Harry -
Everyone converges on the Globe. The words of Love's Labour's Won are already having an effect, as a storm whipped up by Shakespeare's dialogue forms over the theatre. The Doctor and Martha arrive in time to convince him to reshape the play -- to use his words to opposite effect. Script writer Gareth Roberts must have loved putting dialogue into Shakespeare's mouth. A few crisp lines to "close up this din of hateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches' plot," and the Carrionites are routed. They are sucked into a tornado and then imprisoned in a crystal ball. Done and done.
Sarah -
Who wouldn’t want to write for Shakespeare?
Harry -
As they say their goodbyes, Shakespeare reveals that he knows the Doctor and Martha are from the future. The Doctor is gobsmacked one more time. As Martha and Will say goodbye, one last character appears -- the Queen herself, Elizabeth the First.
Spotting the Doctor, she immediately calls for his head. Our friends beat a hasty retreat to the TARDIS. Martha asks what he's done to earn the ire of the monarch. Since they haven't met yet, the Doctor hasn't a clue but he can't wait to find out.
Sarah -
Leaving a perfect thread for Steven Moffat to pick up a few years hence.
Harry -
It took us a while to get through this, but I enjoyed it. The Carrionites were not the most memorable of villains -- a little too generic and panto -- but they carried out their roles with zest. I don't think there's a definitive "Shakespeare" portrayal out there, but this one served the story well.
Sarah -
It’s a solid story with many memorable moments. Also, Martha continues to be awesome.
Harry -
And now the play is over, let us depart the stage and head straight into Gridlock.
Best Line - "Fifty-seven academics just punched the air," is too obvious. I liked an earlier exchange between Martha and the Doctor:
MARTHA: And those are men dressed as women, yeah?
DOCTOR: London never changes.
Favourite Moment - Queen Elizabeth's uproarious arrival.
Lasting Image - the Globe Theatre.
8/10
Sarah -
Best Line -
SHAKESPEARE: And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?
DOCTOR: I do a lot of reading.
Favorite Moment: The Doctor using Back to the Future to explain what’s going on.
Lasting Image: Definitely the Globe.
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #181: Gridlock...
