Review: The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood

Things went downhill from the moment I realised Chris Chibnall had written these episodes.  He's written some good stuff for Torchwood, "Adrift" being the standout to my mind, but usually everything he does seems contrived and unoriginal.  He completely lost me by bringing a god-awful long lost brother story to Torchwood, and then further alienated me with his dreadful episodes for Doctor Who, including this two-parter which is just utter rubbish.





It just angered me.  Uninteresting supporting characters, Goosebumps-esque "cliffhangers" and things that made absolutely no sense.  How the hell could the Doctor put his hand into the crack and not be affected?!  That's just plain stupid.  Yet Rory barely gets touched by the light and suddenly he has to be left behind.  Grr.  And the Silurian doctor going from dissecting villain to a good friend of the Doctor?  I'm sorry but it's as though no thought was put into these episodes at all.  I couldn't even bring myself to rewatch them to write this review.  All of a sudden I've completely lost interest in this series, it's nowhere near as good as it should be and it's getting harder and harder to care about the characters.

On the plus side the acting was good and it was nice to see Neve MacIntosh in something, I haven't seen her in anything since Gormenghast.

Plus Rory's death was quite well done, but it felt tacked on at the end.  Despite that it genuinely moved me, I really liked his character.