Episode 11 - Utopia (The Jones Review)

Just when you think that Family of Blood could not be topped, along comes Utopia. It's so good, so brilliant and affecting (goosebumps and giggles) that I'm not even sure where to start. EXCEPT: Do Not Read This Until You Have Seen The Epiosde.

Seriously.

Gary, Mike & Craig this means you!

Where to begin. I was ready to dump on this with low, low expectations from the first few minutes because of the naff opening I had already seen on You Tube. I skipped it at first, then thought better of it and went back and watched it as a whole. I'm glad I did, it seemed silly, but less naff as soon as The Doctor and Jack began the banter. Martha, bitches about Rose and her line about Blondes made me laugh out loud. The episode soon becomes frantic, Mad Max-ian villians abound and the pace continues. Then it stops and the exposition and explanations start and for once I was glad of it. The tension breaks, the answers come but even more is waiting around the corner.

The casting of Derek Jacobi was great, the perfect professor and even better when it dawns who he really is. He channels the great Delgado when his mania shines through. The voices dropping in I'm sure are audio from the original Masters. The facial expressions as his character wheels on it's axis to come back from the watch is stunning. This must have been similar for the Doctor in Family of Blood, but the deliberate misdirection meant we never saw. The regeneration into Simm was handled just like Parting of the Ways, which adds some nice parallels. John Simm, only a couple of minutes in play but like the few seconds of Tennant from Season One, this only whets the appetite for more.

Martha, Jack and the Doctor work well as a threesome, and the return of companion groups is a nice balance with the thrust and parry of great dialogue. Graeme Harper directs well, the ratchetted tension and violence serve the story and the pacing and now I am fully willing to forgive the abysmnal Cyber-Duo from last season. 42, now this is just amazing, well done and Kudos, I'm sure one of the readers of this at least will have wet himself in Harper's favour.

But all of this pales in comparison to the last 10 minutes of the episode. I knew what was coming, not just from the spoilers but from the clues and the buildup and damn if they did not deliver in spades. I was literally on the edge of my seat and I could not sit still. This was how TV felt when you were a kid, this is how it feels to get your hands on the next Harry Potter novel. This is brilliant TV. All is forgiven, the start of season 3 may as well have been a year ago. I don't care what was in Manhatten, Utopia is the place to be.

I want to see next weeks now.

Now.

Now!