Review of A Good Man Goes to War by 15thDoctor
24 April 2024
This review contains spoilers
It’s a grab bag full of elements, back references and treats. We’re half way through the season, do we really need Danny Boy and Captain Avery to pull in a favour? A bizarre choice. This is somewhat softened by Vastra, Jenny, Strax, the brilliant blue guy, the headless monks. But note that the best bits are the new bits, not the call backs. It feels like they had enough ingredients in the pot to flesh out without stuffing in a bunch more ingredients.
The incessant cringey flirting has also reached fever pitch and I could do without the poem. I also don’t like the Doctor being made into being perceived as a “mighty warrior” without having bedded in the idea ahead of this episode. I’d have rather they spent more time on this concept than the eye patch lady who needed less foreshadowing.
It feels churlish to complain when they got so much right. The idea of conceiving a baby in the presence of time travel, changing its DNA, is a very clever sci-fi concept. The Doctor taking down an army by calling in some favours is very effective, as is the death of the goo baby and the heroic death of Strax. The Lorna Bucket scene is also exceptional.
But you get what I’m saying right? There’s just so much going on! Following a two parter which should have been a single part episode, we have a single part episode with more than enough elements to justify two episodes.
The bit that will stay with people is the reveal of River as Amy and Rory’s daughter. Very smartly done. I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea of a mid-series finale but they couldn’t have left things hanging on a stronger note.