This episode really has only two other characters (excluding the ghost), Alec and Emma. They are played by two great actors, Dougray Scott (the prince in Ever After), and Jessica Raine (currently in Call the Midwife, but she was also in another ghost story, The Woman in Black). I loved that the story focused on these four characters.
Observations:
Leave it to the Doctor to arrive at a moment of great suspense, and then insert a bit of humor.
I love it when the Doctor gives air kisses to Emma. Matt Smith just has great quirky mannerisms that make me smile.
It's a great move when Clara turns toward the Doctor with the candelabra, and the Doctor ducks so she doesn't hit him with it. Especially since Clara doesn't remark about it, or even seem to notice.
Clara says that whiskey is "the 11th most disgusting thing ever invented." In The Bells of Saint John she tells Artie that chapter 11 of the book he's reading, Summer Falls, is the best and tells him, "you'll cry your eyes out." Is it significant that she keeps bringing up the number 11? Matt Smith is the 11th Doctor. Hmm.
Alec tells the Doctor that he sent many men and women to their deaths during World War II. When he says it, he looks down at the photo he's developing, and it's a picture of the Doctor. The Doctor has also seen a lot of death, and perhaps been the cause of more than one.
Why doesn't the Tardis like Clara? I'm sure it has to do with the "mystery" of her, but what is the mystery? I'm not one to speculate or try too hard to figure it out. We'll get the answer eventually, right? It just better make sense, Stephen Moffat.
When did the Tardis have an umbrella holder? Was it in an older version of the Tardis since the revamp, or was it in a version of the Tardis of the classic Doctor Who?
Okay, spooky! When Alec and Emma are looking out of the window to see if they can see where the Doctor and Clara went in the storm, and the lighting flashes... ooooh, spooky! It reminds me of a scene I saw from The Women in Black trailer (I didn't see the movie, even though I saw the play three times, because I knew it would freak me out).
I love the conversation Clara has with the Doctor about "time." She says that to him she hasn't been born yet, and to him she's been dead "a hundred billion years." She says that to him she's a ghost. That everyone is a ghost and they're "nothing" to him. And he says, "No. No, you're not that." She asks him what "we" are to him. And he answers, "You are the only mystery worth solving." Does the Doctor mean that Clara is the only mystery worth solving, or does he mean that all human kind is the only mystery worth solving? Hmm. Whichever he means, I really like the scene.
I love that they call the ghost the "gast" of Caliburn House. It's an old Middle English word for "ghost."
So, the Doctor just happens to have a couple of balloons in his pocket? That's convenient when you need them to teach a difficult-to-understand concept. *wink*
The Tardis talks to Clara. That's new.
The Doctor wants to solve the mystery of Clara, and he thinks he'll get an answer. And for a moment there, we think he might get the answer too. But...
Quotes:
Emma: She's so...
Alec: So what?
Emma: dead.
Doctor: Hello, I'm looking for a ghost.
Alec: And you are?
Clara: Ghostbusters.
Doctor: I'm the Doctor.
Alec: Doctor what?
Doctor: If you like.
Doctor: You're Emma Grayling. The professor's companion.
Emma: Assistant.
Doctor: It's 1974. You're the assistant, and "nonobjective equipment," meaning "psychic."
Doctor: I do love a toggle switch. Actually, I like the word "toggle." Nice noun. Excellent verb.
Doctor: So, where's the ghost? Show me the ghost. [thunder claps] It's ghost time.
Doctor: Are you coming?
Clara: Where?
Doctor: To find the ghost.
Clara: Why would I want to do that?
Doctor: Because you want to. Come on.
Clara: Well, I dispute that assertion.
Clara: Dare me.
Doctor: I dare you. No takesy-backsies.
Doctor: Ignorance is... um... what's the opposite of bliss?
Clara: Carlisle.
Doctor: Yes! Yes, Carlisle. Ignorance is Carlisle.
[I know this must be a joke, but I don't get it. Does anyone get the joke?]
Emma: Is he really from the Ministry [Military Intelligence]?
Alec: I don't know. He certainly has the right demeanor for it. Capricious, brilliant.
Emma: Deceitful.
Alec: Yes. He's a liar. But you know, that's often the way that it is when someone's seen a thing or two. Experience makes liars of us all.
Doctor: Do you feel anything?
Clara: No.
Doctor: Your pants are so on fire.
Clara: Do you feel like you're being watched?
Doctor: What does being watched feel like? Is it that funny tickly feeling on the back of your neck?
Clara: That's the chap.
Doctor: Then, yes. A bit. Well, quite a big bit.
Clara: I think she's here.
Clara: Doctor!
Doctor: What?
Clara: I'm not happy.
Clara: Doctor.
Doctor: Yes.
Clara: I may be a teeny tiny bit terrified...
Doctor: Yes.
Clara: But I'm still a grownup.
Doctor: Ha. Mainly, yes. And?
Clara: There's no need to actually hold my hand.
Doctor: Clara.
Clara: Yea.
Doctor: I'm not holding your hand.
Doctor: I do love a carrier pigeon.
Alec: I've sent young men and women to their deaths. But here I am, still alive. And, well, it does tend to haunt you... living after so much of... the other thing.
Emma: People like me, sometimes we get our signals mixed up. We think people are feeling the way we want them to feel. You know, when they're special to us. When, really there's nothing there.
Alec: Who do you think she is?
Doctor: Not what I thought she'd be.
Alec: What did you think she's be?
Doctor: Fun.
Emma: What about you and the Doctor?
Clara: Oh, I don't think so.
Emma: Good.
Clara: Sorry?
Emma: Don't trust him. There's a sliver of ice in his heart.
Clara: I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me. It doesn't like me.
Doctor: The Tardis is like a cat... A bit slow to trust, but you'll get there in the end.
Clara: So, where are we going?
Doctor: Not where. We're staying right here. Right here on this exact spot, if I can work out how to do it.
Clara: So, when are we going?
Doctor: That is good. That is top-notch.
Clara: And the answer is?
Doctor: We're going always.
Clara: "We're going always."
Doctor: Totally.
Clara: That's not actually a sentence.
Doctor: Well, it's got a verb in it.
Clara: When are we?
Doctor: About 6 billion years ago. It's a Tuesday, I think.
Doctor: Back in a mo.
Doctor (to Clara who is crying): What's wrong? Did the Tardis say something to you? [to the Tardis] Are you being mean?
Clara: I'm a ghost. To you, I'm a ghost.
Doctor (to Alec and Emma): What if someone has a magic box? A blue box, probably.
Alec: Time travel's not possible, the paradoxes --
Doctor: Resolve themselves by and large.
Doctor (to Emma): You are Emma Grayling. You are the lantern. The rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid.
Doctor: We need a sturdy rope and a blue crystal from Metebelis Three. Plus, some Kendal mint cake.
Emma: What does it do?
Doctor: It amplifies your natural abilities. Like a microphone or a pooper scooper.
Doctor: Listen, all I need to do is [explains a lot that I won't mention here because it would be *spoilers*], and Bob's your uncle.
Doctor: You see! The witch of the well!
Doctor (cricks his neck): Geromino.
Doctor You know that exit I mentioned? I seemed to have misplaced it.
Doctor: Oh, that's what that noise was. Lovely.
Clara: You're talking, but all I can hear is, "meh, meh, meh, meh, meh." Come on, let's go!
Doctor: You want me to be afraid? Then well done. I am the Doctor, and I am afraid.
Emma: You wanted a word?
Doctor: Well, if that's --
Emma: That's fine.
Alec: The paradoxes --
Doctor: Resolve themselves by and large.
Alec: What do we do now?
Doctor: Hold hands. That's what you're meant to do. Keep doing that, and don't let go. That's the secret.
Doctor: Oh! I'm so slow. I am slow. I'm notorious for it. That's always been my problem. But... But, I get there in the end. Oh, yes.
Doctor: Excuse me. Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt the rest of your life.
Doctor: Hello again, you old Romeo, you.
Doctor: Get read to jump.
Next Time: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
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