I like my angst subtextual . . .

[promethia_tenk]

So, I've long maintained that "The Beast Below" is a far, far better episode than most people give it credit for.  Then yesterday I was batting around some things with elisi , whose thoughts on such matters I can't really separate from my own anymore, and the following came to me:

Ok, so, "The Beast Below:"

Eleven is going to kill the starwhale. Or, more specifically, he's going to make it a vegetable so that it can still fly around but it "won't feel it."

Eleven is the starwhale.

And then he'll have to find a new name because he won't be the Doctor anymore.



So . . . what do you do around here to stave off the, you know . . . self harm?



(Aside: has anyone else ever tried to make this point before?  I swear I would have remembered it if I'd read it somewhere else, but maybe I missed something?)

Comments

[owlboy]

Oooh. that's interesting...can't say I've seen someone point it out before.

Yeah, the angst isn't gone, just hidden. [which makes it a billion times more compelling to me]
When Kazran was ranting about dying alone in ACC, I got the strong feeling he was airing the Doctor's own fears out loud.

edit// oh yeah, and I'm of two minds about The Beast Below. It has a ton of great ideas, but it doesn't quite mesh into a coherent story for me. Reading about all the cut dialogue/scenes tho, it's not the fault of Moffat's writing.

[promethia_tenk]

Thank you!

Yeah, the angst isn't gone, just hidden. [which makes it a billion times more compelling to me]
I think I gained more compassion for the Doctor over the course of "Amy's Choice" than I did from the entirety of Ten's angsting. And, honestly, I do find late-stage Ten pretty affecting, especially in WoM and EoT--this is not just me complaining about Ten's emo.

When Kazran was ranting about dying alone in ACC, I got the strong feeling he was airing the Doctor's own fears out loud.
Yes! Rather like Amy's "what is the point of you?" in AC--you just know those aren't entirely her words.

edit// oh yeah, and I'm of two minds about The Beast Below. It has a ton of great ideas, but it doesn't quite mesh into a coherent story for me. Reading about all the cut dialogue/scenes tho, it's not the fault of Moffat's writing.
I can't even quite bring myself to talk about "plot holes" when it comes to that episode--the whole thing is so obviously meant to not really be taken literally that I can't see the point in even trying to. If you let it be what it wants to be--all emotions and atmospherics and allegory--I think it's an utter gem of an episode. YMMV, of course. I've never seen anything about the cut material from that ep--anything noteworthy?

[owlboy]

Mm- I think that episode has some of the best metaphors/allegories of the series- especially the visual ones, dear god. All that RED.

Don't know of any big ones for TBB- but episodes like VOTD imo were torn apart by bad editing. A lot of things people complain about are explained in edits, makes me sad

[promethia_tenk]

Mm- I think that episode has some of the best metaphors/allegories of the series- especially the visual ones, dear god. All that RED.
Explain! Explain!

Don't know of any big ones for TBB- but episodes like VOTD imo were torn apart by bad editing. A lot of things people complain about are explained in edits, makes me sad
Bugger. They probably do try to pack just a bit too much into those episodes. But I think on the whole I prefer things too full and a little disjointed to something spread too thin.

[owlboy]

>>Explain! Explain!

Yes Dalek Tenk (salute)

It's quite gruesome. IMO all the red is a visual metaphor for the violence/opression that the city is built on- it's built on the blood of the Starwhale and the people sacrificed to it to hide the truth.
The violence is so pervasive in this culture that people don't even /notice/ it anymore. They wear it- they're drenched in it- and they don't know. Liz 10's epic red dress- I saw it was water at first, but it's blood- all of this flows out of her own actions that she has made herself ignorant of.

Eleven twigs to the situation almost immediately [and the way this is explained - it's a police state because no one cares about the children - i ADORE] but he doesn't get how horrific it really is. That he's wading into metaphorical blood with no idea. Which is why I find this little icon incredibly affecting.

[promethia_tenk]

O_O Interesting.

I'd just read it as part of the British theme and the red/blue colors of the whole season, but I see what you're saying. I'll have to keep it in mind the next time I'm watching that ep.

[owlboy]

Could be. That scene with Liz 10 tho, with the dress, and the masks- I feel like they went to a lot of effort to pack metaphors in it. [I love that little scene a ridic amount]

[promethia_tenk]

=D Yeah, I remember when the episode came out everybody was like "that shot was really pretty but so weird--why was it even in there?" . . . gripe, gripe, gripe. I loved your stuff with the mirrors, etc.

I think my resolution for the next season is to pay more attention to the complainers (!)--usually a sign there's something deeper going on that we're all missing. Like the starwhale metaphor was waaaaay to heavy-handed *nods*

[owlboy]

>>I think my resolution for the next season is to pay more attention to the complainers (!)--usually a sign there's something deeper going on that we're all missing.

Absolutely! Some of them don't even realise how insightful they are. I twigged onto the bajillion eyes thing when someone said something like 'Moffat sure likes eyes, doesn't he?' [same dude went on to tell me I was reading too much into it...]

[promethia_tenk]

Some of them don't even realise how insightful they are.
Beautifully ironic, that.

[same dude went on to tell me I was reading too much into it...]
And that =D My favorite was still the guy on GB who posted a picture of a fistful of drinking straws and the caption 'drop em.' It was like, wow, that would be so much more clever if you weren't massively wrong . . .

[bendingwind.livejournal.com]

If you let it be what it wants to be--all emotions and atmospherics and allegory--I think it's an utter gem of an episode.

I am not the only one who loved this episode for that reason~! I felt so alone XD

[promethia_tenk]

The complainers are just so vocal. I think it's utterly gorgeous and luminous. I've run into a few other people who feel similarly.