SPOLERS beyond this point…you have been warned!
Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Ashley Way
“Oh look, a big mining thing. Oh, I love a big mining thing…”
What we have here is a Jon Pertwee era mega-mix, eminently worthy of the 3rd Doctor’s time. We have a “big mining thing” (Inferno), we have a crumbling church, with a graveyard and a crypt, surrounded by a barrier (The Daemons), we have Silurians of various castes, including a young upstart, a wise old leader, and a dithering scientist (Doctor Who and the Silurians), and we have a Doctor making impassioned pleas for peace (Matt Smith channelling his best Jon Pertwee, especially in his haranguing of Nia Roberts’ Ambrose, for being less than humanity’s best).
All that said…I’m also not quite convinced it works. Much of it seems very by the numbers, very functional, and very on-the-nose. There is a lack of subtlety at work here, as character motivations appear to be extremely basic, and used simply to deliver the plot from A to B. Much of this is simply down to the actors — Meera Syal and Samuel Davies are particularly good at this in episode one…
…and then it all goes into the closet for episode two, as the interesting characterizations are shoved aside for the plot to continue to drive forward on fifth gear. It’s certainly not a bad plot…but it was used much better in its 1970s counter-parts, and only Matt Smith (once again) manages to be a solid, consistently well-serviced actor throughout both episodes. The Silurians themselves never get beyond their character bullet points: the solider snarls, the leader ponders, and the scientists buzzes around, excited by his youthful sample. Why sacrifice the potential for fascinating character conflict simply to ensure the story comes off as required? Where is the confidence of the writer, director, and producers?
The biggest crime here is the conclusion…which comes right out of the blue, and not in an amazing “ooh…look at that” way. The cosmic crack re-appears, but not in the (ironically) seamless way is arrives in Flesh and Stone. Rory’s death and erasure from history are curiously muted…and certainly not a patch on Rory’s previous “death” in Amy’s Choice, nor writer Chris Chibnall’s previous assassinations of all sorts of characters in various episodes of Torchwood. It’s such a mechanical, orchestrated event…I can see all the levers and gears being used get to this point, and only the small bit of exploded TARDIS the Doctor pulls out of the crack is any indication of fascinating intrigue yet to come.
So…The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood…what are we to make of this two-parter? Grandiose in ambition, sumptuous in design, but curiously devoid of the emotional impact it SHOULD have packed. In terms of scope and scale, it easily surpasses Victory of the Daleks, and it gets far more value for money out of its returning classic monster…but it feels far less than what it could have been. It’s not embarassing in any way, but it falls short of the ambitions of Silurian creator Malcome Hulke’s original conception of the society of Homo Reptilia. File this under “curious“…and add a bit of geeky sulking on my part, for not getting a new or updated version of the Silurian “third” eye!
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