Lucozer Does Manhattan!

Hmm, not quite sure what to say, my reviews usually start with a confident flurry. I should say our reviews are always written immediately after viewing the episode to give them a feverish freshness & to capture the 'bubble & squeak' of the moment. A moment that has usually been aided by quite a few potent beverages. I'm stalling. Well, to start with the easy things...Tennant was once again very solid & has been far superior this season compared to last. Freema struggled valiantly & put in a good showing despite the continuing trend of worryingly wobbly characterisation for Martha. We should have a better sense of her by the end of episode 4. All the attraction to the Doctor talk comes across as stilted & a little tired. We've (over)done frustrated sexual tension with Rose; just f*%k or shut up about it! Let's get on with marvellous monsters & fabulous shocks!

It all looked grand & polished, but there was just something lacking. That 'lack' was ably aided by the woeful performance of the vapid blonde playing Tallulah W&%khead. She 'performs' a truly atrocious wafer-thin stereotype. I hope she gets bumped off quick smart. The Daleks 'reveal' was completely lacking in tension & suspense, but I guess the director thought 'why bother' when the bloody thing was lumbered with a subtle & mysterious title like 'Daleks In Manhattan'! They should have taken a leaf out of the 'Earthshock' book of "whooaa, f%@k!!". Perhaps the internet has neutered the possibility of such a peerless shock ever happening again. Very sad. The Dalek dialouge, although never grimace inducing, had the uneasy & somewhat forced quality that seems unavoidable when the writer has been given the troublesome mandate of shoehorning the plot around a 'glitzy' set peice; in this case Dalek Sec's 'shocking' 'Extreme Makeover' 'reveal'. Half Dalek, half human! Joe Public will lap it up! ...screamed the production team memo no doubt. Well I didn't lap it up folks, but I liked it enough to watch next week with hope for improvement. Maybe I'd give this the edge over 'Shakespeare Code', but only just & it's a lagging third for the season.

Cheers, a disconcerted Lucozer.