Time Heist

Season 8 thus far has been remarkably good. I was worried it wasn't going to work, but there seems to have been stories already written and put aside for a different Doctor than Matt Smith. I can understand why, these sorts of episodes wouldn't work for Matt Smith's Doctor and on the opposite not work great with Peter Capaldi's.

Very like Ocean's Eleven, even the filming and music! But a nice episode though.

I feel like i'm watching a lower budget version of the film 'Now you see me,' it aimed really high, and for the best part it delivers, a few little flaws, the biggest one being the under use of Keeley Hawes. They did the same with the amazing Helen McCrory back in Vampires of Venice, for someone of Hawes talent I felt the character of Ms Delphox didn't hit the mark.

More positively Jonathan Bailey is awesome as Psi, please producers bring the guy back!! Also, Pippa Bennett-Warner is excellent as Saibra, I'd be interested to learn more of her story too. I liked the pace of the story too, it moves along very quickly.

It's different in some ways, and in others it feels a little repetitive, use of Androids, the Monster at the end (more then a little reminiscent of the end of Hide,) but all in all for me the pros outweigh the cons more so it gets a 7/10.

Finally an episode which creates some interesting characters and where all the praise does not go to Capaldi's performance (which was also excellent, isn't he good!).

Time Heist has the feel of an episode of the classic era, i.e confusion about time and more running about similar looking corridors, which is excellent. The characters of Saibra and Psi were brilliantly written and preformed, I really did start to feel a connection to those two and it would be great if they were to appear again at some point. What the resent series have been lacking is the creation of interesting characters that connect with the audience instead of just focusing on the Doctor, Clara or any other recurring characters. The plot had a confusing edge which kept me concentrated at all times. The Teller was a very interesting new monster which was a nice to see and Keeley Hawes perfectly suited the role of a scary business woman and she had an Umbridge-like feel to the character.

Overall not the best episode ever, but certainly one that can be remembered as a benchmark for more futuristic, weird time episodes which D.Who should be aiming for. Could this be the second step towards a return to form.

"The Doctor robs a bank". The idea sells itself, really. But Time Heist was never going to be that straight forward. The result is an episode that remains action packed and fun throughout, but all feels a bit too familiar. Doctor Who is infamous for its use of running, especially down corridors; Time Heist is essentially a corridor running montage for its entire middle act. But the idea keeps it interesting. The episode is also boosted by, yet again, great performances from Capaldi and Coleman. Here, we were also taken away from all the story arcs and serious questions posed so far; a necessary break, which allowed the episode some breathing room. Without this, Time Heist could have been the biggest misfire of the series. But, thankfully, we were left with an episode that, whilst overstuffed and repetitive, was consistently fun and engaging enough to act as a solid piece of TV drama.

The 45 minute time restraint is sometimes Doctor Who's biggest burden, but never more so than here. Time Heist has so many ideas and so much to tell, it struggles to fit everything in, which results in the first half of the episode feeling cluttered and choppily edited. It wouldn't surprise me if the rough draft of this episode was well into an hour long. I actually think Time Heist would have worked as a two-parter. This first half could have acted as a set up (which is, inevitably, needed; they are robbing a bank, after all) and only just delved into the action towards the end, with the resolving part acting as an extended version of the episode's final half. By the time the episode ends, and with so much thrown at you in the final ten minutes, the previous 35 all felt so rushed that it doesn't really make sense. This might improve upon repeated viewings, but even then, the ending felt a bit familiar. Did the whole Alien Love Story thing remind anyone else of last year's Hide?

But, Time Heist probably winds up as the series' most overall enjoyable episode thus far. This was a perfect example of how to have fun without resorting to silliness, which is where Robot of Sherwood faulted. It was also nice to have some side characters that were a bit more fleshed out. Both Psi and Saibra were well developed and welcome additions to the cast; I only feel they could have been even stronger has this story been split over two episodes. This also applies to the episode's antagonist; Ms Delphox, played brilliantly by Keeley Hawes. Whilst she was certainly a creepy villain, she wound up too formulaic in the Female Villain role, and her motives weren't explored enough. Whilst there does seem to be a lot of criticism here, I still really enjoyed Time Heist. It was no match for last week's masterpiece, but it wasn't the show's weakest episode this series, either. Its ideas were too big for its runtime, and there were minor character issues, but it was entertaining, funny and action packed enough to remain interesting throughout. It just won't top any fan favourite lists.