(765) Cold Blood

The second part of this Silurian two parter is very much the one where the momentum starts to slow down and the story becomes one of morality and the things that people will do. The episode starts off with the Doctor and Nasreen walking around the Silurian City. The visual effects are rather good because there is a nice mixture of CGI and sets. There are a few occasions where the visual effects don’t quite work but they are few and far between.

There is a nice link to the 1970 Silurians story when the Doctor tells Restac (also played by Neve McIntosh) that the humans killed the Silurians. This puts Restac’s narky mood firmly into p****d off mode. Rory, Ambrose and Tony have to try and hide the fact that Alaya is dead from Restac. Neve McIntosh does a good job of making the two Silurians seem different. Alaya tries to goad Ambrose into killing her and she is angered into doing this. There is a sad inevitability about this happening and the fallout from it is what occupies the rest of the episode. I think that this is a slightly wasted opportunity because there is more about the Silurians that could have been done yet the story seems stuck of the potential war between the Silurians and the humans.

One of the few things that work in this episode is the conflict between the Silurians about what to do to the humans. Malohkeh and Eldane don’t want the warfare yet are somewhat overruled by Restac. Both Malohkeh and Eldane are likeable characters and it would have been nice if they had featured more in the story.

The only thing that this episode is memorable for is the death of Rory. He sacrifices himself to stop Restac from killing the Doctor. It’s quite a sad moment because Rory has just settled into the TARDIS and I was getting use to the line-up as it was. It just works and a strong line up. To make his death worse he is consumed by the light from the crack and so Amy forgets him. It’s a slow process of Amy forgetting him and the scene with the Doctor trying to get Amy to remember is quite a good dramatic moment. This moment is then followed by the dig blowing up and it’s like the death never happened.

The crack makes an appearance and the Doctor grabs something from inside it and it isn’t until the very end that we learn it’s a corner of the Police Notice sign. As we are three quarters of the way through the series, it’s time for things to start building up to something and this is a great part of the story arc. As a two parter, I found this to be a rather disappointing two-parter. I think that there was potential that was never explored very much. Sadly this is the last time that Silurians are used in a half decent way.