Doctor Who: Cold Blood

"Cold Blood" is the second episode of this season’s two-part Silurians story, scripted by Chris Chibnall, who wrote for "Torchwood" and "Life on Mars" and season three’s "42." This episode however is bad. Not bad quality-wise, but bad for the characters. Be prepared for spoilers.

Regarding the monsters, I am still struck the new visualization of the Sirulians, with their previous more fearsome visages being written off as masks. The 'masks' are much more frightening than their 'real' faces. I would have much rather had the stiff scary masks over the make-up with more human expressionistic faces.

Amy is a lot more active and a participatory companion here. She’s independent as opposed to being attached to the Doctor at the hip. And for that matter, Rory is as well. It remains one of the reasons I like him so much. The crew here – Amy, Rory and Nasreen to an extent remind me of the early Peter Davison days when the TARDIS actually did have a crew.

Most of the episode is about negotiation. The Doctor is excited about the dream of a better world and has brought both the humans and the Silurians to the bargaining table to make a new peace of co-existence. We know of course that some people –no matter the species- will always screw it up. Now normally I don’t mind a bit of a morality lesson with my "Doctor Who," but this one was a bit heavy-handed. Oh yeah, there’s a shedload of preachiness in this one.

Now the bad news. There are more clues in this episode about the overarcing story this season – the crack in time and space. Yeah, the crack actually takes Rory, and erases him from time. When "Cold Blood" ends, Amy has no memory of Rory, although the Doctor does, and there is of course the engagement ring still in the TARDIS. This is just another example of the Doctor making promises that he can’t deliver on. I have to wonder if he will tell Amy what happened.

Rory will be missed, especially by me. I liked the character and Arthur Darvill, the actor who played him. I hope he’s not really gone. His return would certainly shatter the relationship between Amy and the Doctor. Time will tell, pun unintended.

So until next time... "Be extraordinary."