Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 12 - Closing Time - Review

Starring: Matt Smith, James Corden, Lynda Baron & Daisy Haggard

Written By: Gareth Roberts

Directed By: Steve Hughes

 

Writing for the penultimate episode of Series 6 is Gareth Roberts. I personally tend to enjoy Gareth Roberts' scripts and in the past, he has delivered some understated gems such as The Unicorn & The Wasp, as well as several fantastic episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures. As we should really expect, he has brought the TARDIS back to Earth once more. This time, an encounter with the Cybermen is on the cards.

 

Written as a sequel to last year’s story The Lodger, the Doctor pays a visit to Craig Owens on his farewell tour. Although he initially just plans on saying goodbye, the Doctor can't help but investigate when he notices frequent power outages affecting the local area. Taking an undercover job in a shop, the Doctor stays with Craig while he figures out what is draining the power. However, he soon discovers the culprits to be a group of Cybermen.

 

When I first heard that this episode was to be a follow-on from The Lodger, I was a bit sceptical. While The Lodger wasn't exactly bad, it was probably the most forgettable entry to Series 5, and I wasn't really sure where else they could take Craig's character. Thankfully, my fears were disproved here, as Closing Time was a very witty, funny and entertaining episode. Already I can tell you that the best character here is once again the Doctor. There's a lot of comedy for Matt Smith in this episode, and while not all of it works, such as the line about Craig having redecorated, Matt Smith is superb at delivering it. But when the Doctor isn't being funny, I loved the way he kept referring to a supposed Cybership in Earth’s orbit, only to discover that the Cybermen were operating from below rather than from space. Following Amy and Rory's departure from the TARDIS in last week’s episode, Craig Owens is here to temporarily takeover in the role. I really think James Corden’s a great actor, who doesn't quite get the acting credibility he deserves and he does a good job as Craig. That being said, the character has occasional moments where he comes across as a bit annoying, in particular his reaction to seeing the Cybermat’s teeth. But for the majority of the time, Craig is an enjoyable character in this story and James Corden works really well with Matt Smith.

 

Most of the supporting characters do a good job as well, particularly Lynda Baron, but they’re really just here to move the story along or only exist to be abducted by the Cybermen. However, one particular theme surrounding the Doctor and Craig was a lot of misunderstanding jokes about them being a couple, and while these weren't exactly in the way, they occasionally felt out of place. The Cybermen also make their first reappearance since A Good Man Goes To War though this time they have a somewhat larger role to play. Despite being the central villain, the Cybermen are criminally under-used. This is a shame considering how they could’ve definitely had a bigger role in this episode, and even the Doctor seems to have very little interest in the potential threat that they present.

 

A small compensation for the Cybermen’s absence is the return of the Cybermats. Whilst they technically returned in last year's Doctor Who Adventure Game - Blood Of The Cybermen, this is the first return to the actual TV series since 1975. Since then, they have undergone quite the re-design and I like it. Their effect is simple, not too different from the classic series and their purpose is the same. They may, to an extent, look cute when their teeth aren't revealed, but when their snapping and whizzing about, you feel that the characters are in a genuinely dangerous situation, and the Cybermats can sometimes manage to be more threatening than the Cybermen.

 

Probably the most disappointing part of this episode was the way the Cybermen were defeated. One of the things that has been established about the Cybermen since their very creation is that once you’ve been converted, you cannot change back and because of the removal of emotions, you wouldn’t even want to change back. An entire episode of Torchwood (Cyberwoman) was dedicated to establishing this. Yet somehow, at the end of the episode Craig is somehow able to reverse his incomplete conversion and defeat the Cybermen … because he can here his baby Alfie crying. But that goes against everything established about the Cybermen. Practically everyone in the last moments before conversion would be thinking of their loved ones and could hear them in their head. Were they able to reverse their conversion? No! I honestly felt that it could have been the right time in the episode for Craig to be converted to the Cyber-Leader. The whole episode up to that point has been light-hearted and fun, so why not finish with a darker twist? It would’ve been more effective, and would have given the Doctor another reason to submit to his death - another person he failed to save. The Cybermen end up being defeated ... by love. Now, believe me, I'm someone who's a really cheesy and soppy hopeless romantic, but it just doesn't work here. It make the Cybermen feel weak, not to mention is the exact same way that the conflict was resolved in The Lodger.

 

(Minor Spoiler Warning!) When the Doctor, Craig and Alfie return to the house, another couple of series mysteries get solved. It seems that the Stetson and the TARDIS blue envelopes the Doctor acquired - the ones we saw in The Impossible Astronaut - came from Craig. You could argue that it was an unnecessary detail, but I found it to be quite a nice touch. The final scenes are also some of the best of the episode, as we see River Song being found again by Madam Kovarian and the Silence. I liked the scene as a whole, but the final shot of River in the spacesuit in the lake, was incredibly well-done, not to mention chilling.

 

So to conclude, Closing Time is certainly not the strongest story of the series, but it's far from being the weakest. The return of the Cybermats was a brilliant touch I really appreciated, Matt Smith and James Corden work together wonderfully, the supporting cast were good and the ending is incredibly chilling. However, the Cybermen themselves required a much larger role in this episode, and their ending was incredibly dissatisfying. Overall, a good story that managed to beat its predecessor The Lodger.

 

 

Closing Time



7/10