Closing Time
Story 223, Episode 782, Series 6 Episode 12
Doctor: The Eleventh Doctor
Companions: River Song
In his last outing before his death, the Doctor decides to visit Craig for a surprisingly uplifting episode.
The Review
Maybe it was my dull mood, but The Lodger did not strike my fancy nearly as much as when I had first watched it. Then surprisingly, I found myself really enjoying Closing Time. I think this is because it’s strongest parts aren’t comedy, though the Doctor being able to ‘shush’ any human is quite funny and the repeated assumptions he and Craig are a couple thankfully come off as sweet and not homophobic. The Doctor’s melancholy, his worry that he is putting his friends in situations that will get them killed, it’s all here. Matt Smith plays just straight weird-o excellently, but I like him even better when he’s sadly monologuing about how long he’s lived, how many people he’s lost. In many ways, it’s a sad episode, the Doctor is going to die soon, and he’s chosen Craig as his last visit.
James Corden is once again excellent as Craig, in the Up All Night prequel we see him and baby Alfie as Sophie prepares to leave for the weekend. He’s really uncertain about being able to cope as a father, and if he can prove himself to Alfie. Yes, it’s pretty cheesy that Craig defeats the Cybermen who have been abducting and converting people because he hears his baby crying and goes into dad-mode, but hey, it’s a light-hearted episode. This is the least consequential the Cybermen have ever been, and the fact that it feels fine is an indictment of their slipping New Who status until Dark Water. The episode ends with River getting set-up to kill the Doctor on Lake Silencio, but the majority of the episode is silly fun with a right bit of melancholy.
No one ever really talks about Closing Time, but I think it is secretly one of the most digestible Doctor Who stories ever. Let’s just ignore the weird snarl with seeing Amy and Rory apparently before The Impossible Astronaut.
9/10 The Doctor in a Stetson randomly telling kids they are welcome for saving the world somehow works.
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 