One of the weaker episodes of this season, but is still pretty alright

The Doctor and Rose investigate why people's faces are vanishing. The Wire is pretty creepy as a villain and the missing faces is also pretty scary

I do like the Connolly family drama, it's cathartic to see the abusive husband/father put in his place by his wife. Though I understand why some people might not like the ending where Rose tells the boy to try and reconcile with him, I also understand why Rose in particular, who never had a chance to grow up with her father, would encourage this (and also I think it's a good thing for families to stay together, though not if he continues his abuse)

2025 REWATCH

• It's a light, easy watch, a  period piece with a very memorable visual gimmick that most casual fans always remember, too
• Stylistically, the way this story is filmed and put together makes it fresh and adds some flavour to it
• I think in this story, David put a bit too much enthusiasm into the role. He was shouting and pronouncing every line, like gees calm down
• The Wire itself is a great concept and eerie in design, and the way the faceless victims are left is nasty to look at, so hats off to everyone in their creation
• It's just the Connolly family that I think needs more time. Quick-fire some smaller scenes to add details. Plus, in that ending scene, Rose gets Tommy to try and forgive his Dad, but you know, give it a day or so, right?

Oh, boi this one…

Series 2 is probably one of the biggest hit-and-miss Season for me, when it works, it really works, when it doesn’t. OH, BOI.
And this one is a frustrating one. I do love the Idea behind our Monster here and there are some solid Moments with it (the faceless Humans still hold up quite well), but it kinda gets wasted, really.
I don’t think our Leads or the Side Casts give a particular strong performance here. And yes, as many pointed out, the Ending with Rose telling that Kid to keep in touch with his abusive Father is definitely a big point to be critical about.
Despite the poor handling of a heavy subject and the wasted Potential, this one just leaves me mainly bored. Dare I say it’s easily one of the worst Who Episodes for me. Certainly the worst of this Series for sure.

I really, really enjoyed this. A lot of people describe this as the epitome of a ‘mid’ episode but for me it was always one I fondly remembered and, after this rewatch, it’s definitely increased its standing in my mind.

The 1950s period detail and atmosphere is excellent. The living room of the Connellys, the street party, Magpie’s shop, the transmitter station, the cage where the faceless people are watched. It all feels so atmospheric. The dutch angles are maybe an odd choice but I really feel like they work in this story.

Another highlight is the opening scene with the Doctor and Rose. I know the smugness grates across this season for many – myself included – but when an episode is watched in isolation it actually isn’t too bad and this first scene with the Doctor emerging from the TARDIS on a moped and Rose in period costume is great fun. Not sure why it takes the Doctor so long to realise he’s not in New York but it’s still quite a fun gag.

The Wire is such a fun villain and impeccably played by Maureen Lipman who, bearing in mind she never goes beyond a head and shoulders on a screen, embues the character with proper menace. Yes, ‘Hungry!!’ doesn’t always work, especially as it continues but it works well enough at the start and the visual of people’s faces being sucked into the TV is pretty scary. As an example of Doctor Who making the ordinary scary it’s a good one and using an object that children would literally be watching the adventure on is a stroke of genius.

The visual of the faceless people is properly unsettling and the hand-clasping a simple yet scary image. I don't think the faces on the TV screens work quite as well and, if anything, I don't actually think it's needed; the faceless people are more than enough iconography.

Ron Cook is great as Magpie too. A man trapped by his own inadequacies and desperate for a way out. His disheveled appearance and performance are excellent. His character is mirrored, somewhat, in Eddie Connolly – another man who, despite looking more composed on the service than Magpie, is trapped by his inadequacies and therefore traps those around him to hide it. His betrayal of the families in the street, and then his own mother-in-law is his way of protecting his tiny kingdom. He is a man with no sense of self, only defined by his role as the head of the family.

And that final scene which upsets so many. I think it is played right. Eddie is a monster but he is weak. You can see how easily he is shouted down by the Doctor, how easily he kowtows to Rose’s authority about the flag. Even Rita is able to stand up to him. I know people read him as an abusive father and that is definitely there, especially in how Tommy reacts to him, but both are able to stand up to him, even before the end of the story comes round. I think it is more written as a dominant father who wields his power through a lot of shouting and aggressiveness. He isn’t presented as irredeemable though. He is presented as someone who can, pretty easily, be shouted down and be told to sod off. Tommy going after him just adds to the fact that he can be given a second chance and that, after those events, he may be able to see the error of his ways and get a second chance. In a show where the Doctor even tries to give Davros and the Master, second chances, why would he not wish for a fallible human to be given a second chance. The power has shifted to Tommy – he now has the ability to choose how their family functions and relates. I think that’s actually a pretty important message.

Historically, we are finally emerging from the shadow of World War 2. We are seeing technology entering homes and a nation coming together for the shared experience of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. This is still a society that dresses up for a special occasion, even if that special occasion is on a tiny, black and white screen in the corner of their living room. There is a joy permeating under the fear and tension of the faceless people which is released as soon as the Wire is defeated. This is also seen in Tommy and Rita’s sense of power and accomplishment when they break free of Eddie’s grip. They are indicative of a nation emerging finally from a period of fear into one of joy and looking forward.

This is a story which, to my mind, deserves an element of reappraisal.

📝5/10 = MIXED!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: the dangers of television! 

The Idiot’s Lantern transports us back to the early 50s, sometime before the coronation of Queen Elisabeth, in the infancy of commercial television sets. It’s the story of the Connolly family, led by the abusive Eddie Connolly, and an alien trying to invade Earth by possessing people through television.

The depiction of 50s family values and abusive fathers feels a bit heavy-handed. That being said, it does recieve a good payoff when Rita decides to essentially throw Eddie out and send Tommy away with the Doctor—well, until the very end, that is, where Rose persuades Tommy not to give up on his prick of a father.

The latter half of the episode is more focused on the alien invasion part, which isn’t anything too special but cleverly mixed with the breakthrough of television as an entire nation watches the Coronation. The climax at the TV tower, with the Doctor climbing to save the day, is a pretty exciting sequence.

I have to admit that seeing the Doctor and Rose in period-accurate get-ups and driving around on a Vespa is pretty cool. The return of the smugness between them is less so. I love how Ten puts Eddie in place by reacting to his bullying (a moment partly ruined by the fact that Rose tries to do the same). What annoys me is how leisurely the Doctor begins investigating before Rose loses her face, after which he goes on a furious rampage to save the day.

The supporting cast is one of the more unlikeable in New Who: I don’t sympathise with the Connolly family at all, even if the father is a major prick and one of the most unlikeable characters in Doctor Who history. Tommy is an annoying kid, but at least he makes for a good ally in the climax as Rose is incarcerated. The only supporting character I like is Mr. Magpie, as played by Ron Cook.

The Wire is a creepy villain. The nice lady speaking with her victims through the TV set is an effective idea, and Maureen Lipman’s performance perfects it. However, the “hungry!” catchphrase feels like too much of an attempt to make the wire stand out more and makes her less nuanced later on. The faceless people created by the Wire also make for quite creepy zombies.

Euros Lyn is a great director, so I don’t know why exactly he wanted to use so many Dutch angles in this episode. They are in every other shot, it feels like. Also, the simple suburban setting doesn’t really make this period piece justice.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• Is Gatiss trying to remake his VNA novel Nightshade with this one? Both stories feature TV programs and big research/TV stations as major plot elements.
• The Wire has a similar function and design as both the Library Robot in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and the Ambulance in Boom.