This is what happens I suppose when you put someone who believes the NHS is a cult in charge of healthcare.
In my free time I've been playing a bit of Project Zomboid recently and stumbling 'round the McMansions of KY's various towns has made me think about how inherently hostile suburban infrastructure is.
Like, until you can get a car in working order, travel out of and through the suburbs is slow and tiring. Prepare to take days out of your travel time as you run down empty roads, hop fences, and do all sorts of other things I hear gets you shot in the US. As the power goes off and perishables begin rapidly decomposing, you are trapped in a maze-like prison of mankind's making (its occupants only marginally less hostile than a real-life suburb). Seeds are scarce and the only greenery is the copy-paste lawns surrounding you in every direction. If you've thought ahead you've stockpiled your tinned goods, otherwise prepare for a long hike through a world not built for man but instead the machines that they convinced themselves would make their lives easier.
weekly Dr Who rant, spoilers within
"Those were some nice special effects." Immediately gets pounced by a monster.
Sometimes Dr Who has episodes where the Doctor'll appear in like two scenes total, such as Love And Monsters and Blink. This is another one of them.
Ruby Sunday finally has someone to talk to about her adventures and he's a (may Allah forgive me for uttering this word) podcaster. He ropes Ruby in with the story of being in contact with something called a Screech which appears to be some sorta poundshop Hound of Tindaros. And tricks her into thinking that they're hunting him in some shit hole English village. UNIT rushes to the rescue and this somehow reflects badly on them as an agency. Cue an extended sequence of how the BBC broadcasts and amplifies right wing propaganda in what is no doubt a metaphor for COVID/vaccine misinformation, but it feels extra topical with all the shit they've been flinging about transpeople recently. Will the brigadier be able to stick to her morals, or is Joe Rogan about to get murdered on a live stream?
What I liked:
a podcaster gets his arm bitten off beneath the elbow.
the montage of the BBC promoting said podcaster on all their shows to spout off misinfo was one of the rare times modern Dr Who has managed to make a political point simply and effectively.
the climactic fight scene. Just some right wing shit head quickly realising he's gone from fucking 'round to finding out as some cosmic horror hunts him through UNIT's ops room.
Dr Who seems to've regained trust in the audience a little and didn't feel the need to constantly re-explain the mechanics around how the Screech hunts you and the fact that podcast dickhead didn't take the medicine to protect him. Faint praise, I know, but this show does have a tendency to treat the viewer like goldfish.
this is one of them rare Dr Who episodes where the use of callbacks to previous episodes actually improved it. Also the idea of a Sycorax invasion denialist just amuses me immensely for some reason.
What I didn't like:
the monster designs. Hard to put into words, I just thought they looked a bit crap.
Dr Who trying to paint UNIT as smol bean little fellas who need protection. These are a shadowy government organisation who in a prior series disappeared a whole warehouse fulla human trafficked slave labour. I feel it kinda harms the metaphor of the episode when the organisation being attacked by the right wing media apparatus are a paramilitary organisation with at least one giant space laser.
Overall:
Huge improvement over last week imho. Next week's episode's got a giant spider, I am tentatively excited.