Now I can't be sure, but I believe this is the first episode of Doctor Who to contain a joke about fellatio. I'm pretty sure it's the first...More on this later.
Now that I have your attention (or not, who knows), lets turn our attention to the rest of the episode before I delve into the blow job gag. Interesting to note there that by iPad was unsure whether to hyphenate blow job and now I'm not to sure either.
In order to fit the required number of episodes into the production schedule it was necessary to double bank meaning that this episode was actually filmed at the same time as The Impossible Planet. This meant that there could be very little of the Doctor and Rose in it as they were busy being chased and tormented by the red eyed, possessed Ood. It does sort of make for an interesting story.
I went through a phase of hating this one but its not all that bad. Might as well get the negatives out of the way first.
Peter Kay appears as the villain of the story, Victor Kennedy aka the Abzorbaloff. Now I'm a fan of Peter's comedy for the most part but it really feels like stunt casting here. He's a fantastic comedian but there are many actors who could have played the part better I'm afraid.
The Abzorbaloff as a creature is pretty rubbish too. Basically a fat green alien (with a mohawk!) who absorbs people into himself and the feeds on them. It was actually designed by a Blue Peter competition winner. Now as a child's creation it's fantastic and really imaginative, it's just let down in the realisation. I think the kid himself imagined the monster as as giant as a double decker bus and they just completely ignore that fact. That would have been much cooler.
So to some of the good stuff. The plot centres on a man called Elton whose life has been touched by the Doctor and now he is trying to find out as much as he can about this mysterious stranger. Through his searches he ends up teaming with a group of people who are also on the hunt for the Doctor and LINDA is born (the London Investigation 'N' Detective Agency...yeah I hate that too). They are a fun little group until Victor Kennedy joins and takes over, making the search for the Doctor much more of a serious affair than it had been before.
Elton tracks down Jackie Tyler and infiltrates her life, hoping to find information. Soon they become good friends but things turn sour when Jackie discovers the real reason he spoke to her in the first place. This is where the story shows some of its true strengths. It's a proper examination of what happens to all those people who are left behind. Poor Jackie is always wondering where Rose is and what she is up to, whether she is safe.
Deciding to confront Victor about the terrible way he has made the group treat Jackie, Elton is terrified to discover him in his true form, the Abzorbaloff! Elton escapes but not before the love of his life, Ursula, is absorbed into the creature.
To cut a long story short, the Doctor arrives to safe the day and the creature melts away into the concrete. As Ursula was the last victim, the Doctor manages to bring her back (kind of). It's revealed at the end of the episode that Ursula is now living happily with Elton, as a face sticking out of a paving stone! Who the hell would want to live like that??? She doesn't appear to have any ears but can still hear somehow. And Elton cheekily explains that they still have a bit of a love life! Not only is that very very rude (shaking my head in disgust) but what an horrific thought, having sex with a face sticking out of a slab of concrete. And they say love is dead!
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