I won’t give away any details about this week’s episode of Doctor Who, The Beast Below since it has not aired yet on BBC America, but those who don’t want any information on upcoming stories might turn around (as The Doctor suggested while undressing last week). It is a solid episode, but felt more like a Davies episode with some Moffat touches as opposed to any of the greater Moffat scripts of the past. The relationship between The Doctor and companion Amy Pond (played by Karen Gillan) is far more important than any specifics of the plot. The Doctor began the episode trying to teach Amy but, perhaps because The Doctor is still not fully himself after the regeneration, it is Amy who wound up noticing something which was missed by The Doctor. We are also given hints that we will be seeing more related to Amy’s back story.
Next week The Doctor helps Winston Churchill in a World War II England which is packed with Daleks, who appear to be on the Allied side. Here is another trailer released by the BBC which is different from the one which aired at the end of last night’s episode:
I’ll also note that search engine hits for old posts on Karen Gillan remain at record levels, especially those in which she is either scantily clad or in a bikini. The majority of hits are coming from the U.K. but there is also growing interest in her in the United States. It will be interesting to see if this increases dramatically after the BBC America premiere on April 17.For now I am forced to host the pictures of Karen Gillan on another site and increase caching, which often leads to funny things with the blog.
The Desmond episodes of Lost seem to be essential to follow the mythology of the series. Hot Flashes had Desmond moving between the two realities as opposed to through time as in previous Desmond episodes. This episode confirmed what I had wondered since the first episode of the season when Juliet told Sawyer that “it worked.” Near death experiences do allow characters to see the other universe.
Increasingly we are seeing that the characters in the alternative universe are lacking some of their problems, but a key difference is often that they are also lacking the person they love. (One case where the situation is different is with Sun and Jin,who are having an affair but are not married). Perhaps Lost is as much about love as it is about destiny and good versus evil.
Desmond is without Penny in the alternative universe, which seems to be totally wrong. He seeks out Penny after having flashes of his other life in both a near-death experience and when having an MRI. It has been clear that Eloise knows far more about the island than most of the other characters. This is true of the Eloise of the alternative universe who warns Desmond to “stop looking for it” when she sees that he is looking for Penny and other aspects of his other life.
The episode ends with a curious sequence. First Desmond expressed his willingness to help Charles Widmore back on the island, after experiencing life in the other universe. However this might be due to a change in Desmond as opposed to a meaningful decision based upon what he has learned. After he winds up with Sayid, Desmond is also willing to follow Sayid instead. Meanwhile in the alternative universe the big question is what Desmond wants to show the other passengers on Oceanic 815. Will they all learn that this is not the universe that they were meant to be in, and how will they respond to this information?
Sheldon Cooper gets a rematch with the Evil Wil Wheaton on The Big Bang Theory. The good Wil Wheaton has provided this link to a preview of the episode via Twitter. Jim Parsons has also discussed the episode, The Wheaton Recurrence, which will air Monday night:
So how does Sheldon feel about that? “He’s very unhappy,” Jim Parsons said during a recent conversation on the set of the hit CBS comedy. On the other hand, Parson added, “I was happy to see Wil Wheaton because he’s very nice, and easy to work with. It’s funny, there’s absolutely no love lost between the two of them, at least on Sheldon’s end, and it’s really interesting to treat such a nice person that way – take after take of disdain or just staring. It’s one of those things where, a lot of the time you get here, maybe you don’t see each other [before filming], and we would go hours where that was the only communication we would have. I would leave the set that day and realize that I’d literally not said a nice word to him because I hadn’t seen him outside of the scene. So that was weird.”
Parsons was quite complimentary about Wheaton’s presence on the show (which this time occurs at a bowling alley), saying, “He’s such a wonderful foil. It was just perfect, because of course one of the main enemies in Sheldon Cooper’s life is such a nice person – with all the real evil in the world, he’s gone after Wil Wheaton. I think the other people on the list were largely make-believe if I remember correctly, like Darth Vader. The things Sheldon will concern himself with and then not concern himself with amaze me. Love isn’t worth the time of day, but a 20-year-old hate grudge against Wil Wheaton is worth exploring in a couple of different episodes.”
I discussed Wil Wheaton’s first appearance on The Big Bang Theory here, when the evil Wil Wheaton pulled a Johnny Fairplay move, and previously reported on the upcoming rematch here.
