Doctor Who "Nightmare in Silver"

This seventh (or 33rd) season of Who has been disappointing for people who believe we are essentially the sum of our actions. The Eleventh Doctor as portrayed by Matt Smith is one of the most entertaining personalities of the eleven, but his adventures this season, and especially this second half of the season have been very disappointing. Moffat has created some of the most interesting situations and monsters the series has ever presented in the past, but this year has lacked a lot. And Neil Gaiman’s first story effort for Who was one of the best stories. This one proved quite blasé.

It could be chalked up to the antagonist. The Cybermen have always been a bit disappointing. This episode promised to make them scary again, but when have they ever really been scary? It is hard enough to create true tension for a character like the Doctor, since we know he must win in the end, but this current run has been so heavy on the convenient solutions one fails to find anything truly scary.

That being said, there was an interesting twist this time around. When your hero challenges the enemy to a contest (such as chess) to determine the fate of the universe, you just know that the bad guy is going to cheat. It was nice to instead see the good guy truly grasp the nature of the game and do what was needed to save the day.

Next week is the episode that will presumably save the season. I am sad to say that I am not holding my breath.