Rate And Discuss 3.3: Gridlock

[Dirk Gently]

...that it can toss off a great potential monster like the Macra...

Si.

I didn't see any of that last night!

[Stephen Morgan]

I've given this one 10/10 simply because I loved it and thought it was the best so far, and I've loved and enjoyed every minute of the new series so far.
The only gripe I have about the story is that The Doctor seemed to do nothing about the Macra, are we to assume that by opening the motorway and letting all the cars fly freely that the fumes the Macra lived on (obviously) were dispersed into the atmosphere?
A good story, and a less manic Doctor this week, none of the gurning and OTT performance of previous episodes. Tennant is certainly honing his performance, and cementing his popularity. No wonder the series is getting such good ratings.

[Dave Tudor]

It's funny how this episode has split people into those who thought it was the weakest of the series so far, and those who thought it was the best - I don't think any one episode has divided opinion in this way before. I fall into the latter category, as I thought 'Gridlock' was, to quote Thomas Kincade Brannigan, a bit magnificent.

Visually, it was as epic as 'Doctor Who' has ever been, despite the fact that much of the action took place in the confined spaces of the air cars (a brave move which worked well), with director Richard Clark, another impressive newcomer to the series, and the many design geniuses producing a stylish vision of the far future. Clark also balanced the changes in pace perfectly - while many may have found the opening a bit slow, I was gripped from beginning to end.

Right across the board, the acting was excellent, with David Tennant in particular giving one of his best performances to date, the scenes bookending the episode in which he describes Gallifrey being incredibly poignant and moving. The wonderful Freema Agyeman is even more assured with each episode, and, as Martha, has forged a spiky but lively relationship with Tennant's Doctor. This episode saw a turning point in that relationship, with that great moment in which Martha refuses to move until The Doctor opens up, and the Time Lord realising how unfairly he has treated her.

Elsewhere, Ardal O'Hanlon almost stole the show as the charismatic Brannigan (even if he was a little underused), while it was good to see the return of the excellent Anna Hope as Novice Hame (incidentally, the bit where The Doctor hugs hers, and then says "Oh hang on, get off!!" was one of the episode's funniest moments). Jennifer Hennessy, Travis Oliver and Leonora Crichlow were also very good as the human travellers, as were Bridget Turner and Georgine Anderson as the two old ladies. At times, the plight of this rag-tag mixture of humans, cat people and other assorted oddities packed a big emotional punch, and for me, the sequence where they sing 'The Old Rugged Cross' together was one of the most moving of the entire series.

As for the return of a certain, obscure crab-like creature from the 60s... well, that was a genuine surprise for me, a real "OH-MY-GOD!" moment, as I had absolutely no idea that the Macra would be making an appearance. Si Hunt hinted to me a few weeks ago that an unusal old monster would be returning this series (I presume this is what you meant, Si? ), but what with the story being set in the far, distant future, years after the destruction of the earth, my money was on the Monoids making a cameo! Although they were now little more than a mindless creature, who didn't really add a great deal to the plot overall, it was a nice treat for the fans on the part of Mr Davies, and I'm sure a welcome touch of menace for the kids, who will all probably be a bit more weary when they go the seaside this summer!

I'm astounded as to just how good series three has been so far, and I think 'Gridlock' just ever so slightly raised the bar even further. I had little idea what to expect from this story, but it really was a surprise package in every sense of the word - Russell T Davies has turned in another gobsmackingly brilliant, thought-provoking script, which truly whets one's appetite for the rest of the series. I was tempted to give it another eight, as the quality has been so consistent, and I may even change my opinion a little after viewing it a second time, but I think this time I'll be generous and give 'Gridlock' my first nine of the series.

[Stuart Wallis]

Fun but flawed, as the poll says. The episode was good, but I'll get the main gripe out of the way; great surprise moment as it turns out that the monsters are the Macra, but then it could have been any largely mindless monster.

Which is a shame because there were a fair few good things about the episode. The Doctor's closing speech was incredibly well delivered; it looked as though DT was going to burst into tears at any moment. Ardal O'Hanlon was also very good, and the script was generally well-written. The Doctor and Martha's loss of eachother was performed and handled well. I particularly liked Martha's comment of "Rebound!" when she discovered that Rose had been here as well, and the Doctor's hugging Hame and then saying "Hold on!" It should at least be said of the Macra that the effects were done well, as were the cars; the massive claws hinting at something really monstrous, and at the same time not showing the possible trouble The Mill would have had by showing the design faults of the Mark One Macra.

[Andrew Curnow]

to quote Thomas Kincade Brannigan, a bit magnificent

Yes, that line made us smile here too. Ardal O'H was excellent.

[Stuart Wallis]

Is that right Ted?

Oh, and thanks to Man U for winning so convincingly that we got to see the episode at all!

[Si Hunt]

We hated that line, a real mushy RTD moment. I'm surprised they didn't all hug.

I presume this is what you meant, Si?

I expect so! Nice summing up/review by the way Mr T.

Si.

[Jim]

Mr Tudors review captures the episode perfectly. I watched it for the second time late last night and it improved again. Im a little surprised its not getting better marks in the poll here to be honest, I think its the best episode we have had in a while.

[Dirk Gently]

I'm watching it again with the commentary on featuring David Tennant, Russel T.Davies & Dave Houghton.

[Trudi G]

I've given it a 10/10 - it had everything a good Doctor Who should have - nasty creatures, nice creatures, a little weepy moment, flying cars and Ardal O'Hanlon dressed as a cat, lol! Christian and me are hugely looking forward to next week tho - DALEKS!!!! Hehe

[SiHart]

We thoroughly enjoyed that episode, which we've finally seen now after the repeat on BBC 3 tonight. It was really good fun- going back to New Earth and seeing it runined was a nice twist i thought, and I liked the way they wiped themselves out. It seemed right after we had a glimpse of the rather decadent lifestyles the people led in 'New Earth'.
The motorway was a rather good creation- a road that goes nowhere. I liked that- it's like getting into Brighton this weekend, where it took an hour to do a couple of miles. Seems all too likely to me!

The Macra though! Who'd have thougt it? However, I'm surprised at all the complaints that didn't do much except snap their claws, since that seemed to be all they did in the original story. Nice to see a credit for Ian Stuart Black in the credits too- it's lovely when we see the old names on screen.

DT continues to really impress me this year. He suddenly seems very confident in the role, and the moments where he sails over the top are far more convincing this year.
The bits where he was talking about Gallifrey where wonderful- reminicscent of Pertwee's moments of charm. It was lovely to hear the little continuity touches in the description! I bet David loved that!

So a good 8/10 from me.

Si xx

[Darren]

I absolutely loved it! 8 out of 10.

People have mentioned that it was very slow at first which frankly, was fantastic. There are too many episodes which move at the speed of light. We were able to soak in the visuals and acting a lot more. And they were stuck in a traffic jam- which was a very clever idea. How many times have you been caught on the M25 for what seemed an eternity? And speaking of acting, this episode contained some of the best supporting character's I've seen, performed superbly to make you care about their plight, and cheer at the end.

The story was quite bleak and grim, and slightly surreal, capturing the locals sense of despair well, desaparate to reach their destination, but resigned to the fact they may never reach it.

The segments with The Face of Boe were lovely, and although the Secret was sort of obvious, The Doctor's reaction was pitched perfectly. I really felt sorry for Martha when she realised he hadn't been talking about her.

And the sequence where the Doctor finally explained his recent history to Martha was emotional and touching, and possibly Tennant's best performance to date. His character really seems to have matured and stabilised since Martha arrived.

Gridlock had a nice balance of tears, thrills, and laughs. RTD's best script so far.

[The Secretive Bus]

A very enjoyable story but with some whacking plotholes that could have easily been solved... yet weren't. A lot of reviewers have pointed out the bizarre inanity of all these people driving around in cars for their whole lives and never trying to do anything about it, just accepting it, nobody going mental or whatever. I mean, most people these days can't sit in a car for more than 2 hours without going a bit mad. So how were these people dealing with it? Well, they just were. Um, righto. Which is odd because in the basement you've got the Macra, whose speciality - in their original story at least - is to con communities into complete placidity with music (which we got) messages from some sort of leader (which we got) and hypnosis (which we didn't get). Yet there was absolutely no connection between the Macra and the general situation, when to have forged one would have tightened the whole story. Why does RTD write in little drug patches - which are never referenced again beyond the first 10 minutes - when he's got hypnotising crabs? Then he devolves the crabs and makes them unintelligent monsters instead! Why? The stuff that killed the population of New Earth could have been a side effect of the Macra's gas related antics rather than a throwaway line virus. It's as if RTD had plotted everything around his monster and then severed almost every single link between them. Truly bizarre. If he'd used the Macra to full potential then it'd have been his most taughtly plotted episode.

[Martin Penny]

Why does RTD write in little drug patches - which are never referenced again beyond the first 10 minutes

Well, as Novice Hame explained later on, the 'bliss' patch was the cause of the virus that killed everyone.

[Pip Madeley]

Someone wasn't paying attention.

[Si Hunt]

To be fair though, the drug patches wern't actually used again after the start of the episode, and David makes some excellent other points about the plot that I hadn't thought of.

Si.

[Darren]

he's got hypnotising crabs?

He should get those looked at!

[Kaybee Bailey]

Not going to get too heavy on this one because as I've mentioned before I enjoy Doctor Who much more if I just don't worry about it, but as usual I enjoyed the story immensely. Some real big grin moments (Macra, kittens, Ardal O'Hanlon), couple of sob moments (Boe's death, the description of Gallifrey). I loved the image of the spires at the end too, it was a stunning visual, and although I think I've known where this storyline is headed to since guessing 'you are not alone' two minutes after New Earth was broadcast, I hold faith that even if it's not a surprise is will be done well enough for it not to matter.

OK, so maybe a little deeper... They aren't really concerns, I just want to know what happened! The Face of Boe's message and the reaction to it give us several ways to interpret: was it a warning or a gift etc, just wondered about your gut reactions to that? Tennant's comments on Confidential also fan the flames there a little, but generally I'm happy and I will spend the next week bouncing off walls waiting for Saturday.

[Pip Madeley]

Did anyone notice when the Doctor and Martha leave the TARDIS, the arrow of one of Queen Elizabeth's guards was still stuck in the door? I thought that was a lovely bit of continuity.

Also, I love that on the BBCi commentary whilst talking about the return of the Macra, Tennant says "Next year, the Monoids!" and later, "Next week, the Mandrels" - I adore the fact that our Doctor is a big fan

[The Secretive Bus]

Well, as Novice Hame explained later on, the 'bliss' patch was the cause of the virus that killed everyone.

Fair enough on that point, though I still stand by the assertion that the virus itself wasn't necessary. Why have another plot thread about drugs and viruses when you've got killer crabs who, usually, feed on poisonous gas and enslave colonies of people? Making the Macra responsible for the destruction would have granted the episode some major plot cohesion.

It's like if the Doctor landed on a world where people were enslaved to electronic devices and having their emotions removed, and meets a few Cybermen sitting around somebody's basement... only they're nothing to do with it and it's actually the fault of a bunch of scientists in a lab off-screen.

[WhiteCrow]

Here's something though - at the end of New Earth, he said he'd given birth to a new race who were impervious to illness yada, yada, yada.

So where were these lot? Or did they fall to the new illness cos it wasn't a known illness?

Anyone think the dangers of bliss is a dig at the dangers of ecstacy? Doctor Who doing drugs? I thought that was Torchwood teritory?

I have to say I liked this, but I'm sorry but the kitten children were just so cringeworthy. NO!!! I've known too many wierd single sci-fi chicks with a cat fetish!

[Rob McCow]

I don't know about slow to get going - in the first 20 minutes we meet about 8 characters, Martha is kidnapped, the Face of Boe apparently sends an assassin for the Doctor, we're introduced to the motorway, the Doctor tries to beat the system but finds himself stuck and Martha finds out about the couple who abducted her.

The only slow bits were the scenes with the Cressini girls (who I kept mishearing as Chesene girls )

And of course, I loved this episode.

The bit where we saw the lights of the eyes in the fog, I had a revelation...
Steve: "Macra! Surely it's not Macra?!"
Doctor Who: "Macra!"
Steve: *screams* "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Oh my god!!!"

The best thing is that now, 8 million people know about the Macra! I can't wait for their appearance in the next follow up to Monsters And Villains, with all the Macrafacts.

[Rob McCow]

Fair enough on that point, though I still stand by the assertion that the virus itself wasn't necessary. Why have another plot thread about drugs and viruses when you've got killer crabs who, usually, feed on poisonous gas and enslave colonies of people? Making the Macra responsible for the destruction would have granted the episode some major plot cohesion.

I suppose if humanity is wiped out by drugs, then there is a resonance to something real in every day life, plus it's our own fault. However, if humanity is hypnotised by giant crabs, it's a little less 'real' and has less impact, in my opinion.

[Perry Vale]

7/10 from me (70%). As with a lot of RTD stories, some nice moments, but the plot felt like it was cobbled together by a schoolkid, and visually it borrowed too much from The Phantom Menace. Weakest of the series so far, imo.

[Logo Polish]

I did have a bit of trouble accepting that people could willingly set off on journeys that they already knew would last years or decades. I mean, for instance, what's the point of going somewhere you've heard there are jobs available when it's possible that situation will have changed in six years' time? Did anyone just try walking instead (maybe they did but we didn't hear about them) or were the destinations unreachable by any other means? I appreciate the bit of social comment that was intended there (more and more traffic choking up the roads etc) but the concept felt a bit of a stretch.

I wouldn't have minded a more involved reason for the Macra's presence, as some have suggested, although it was still nice to see them, and really the drugs aspect (if that was intended) was stressed so little it wouldn't have mattered much.

Still, it was an interesting sci-fi take on a concept, and it was rather nice to see Novice Hame again (couldn't have been Jatt IIRC, as she was killed off). Also liked the hymn singing and, as several others have mentioned, the Doctor's wistful references to Gallifrey.