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| Elton (Marc Warren) discovers the Doctor's TARDIS. |
THE PLOT
Elton Pope (Marc Warren) barely escaped the Auton attack from Rose, then witnessed the spaceship that crashed into Big Ben, and finally weathered The Christmas Invasion. In short, he has become all too aware of aliens on Earth. When he sees a picture of the Doctor on the Internet, he is shocked to realize that he saw the exact same man as a child... a man apparently in his thirties, who hasn't aged a day in the intervening decades!
Elton's search for more information brings him into contact with Ursula Blake (Shirley Henderson), who eventually brings Elton to meet some friends: A group of people who have all become aware of this mysterious "Doctor" who seems so connected to alien incidents. The group eventually names itself the London Investigation 'N' Detective Agency (LINDA)... though they quickly become more of a social club, meeting as much to connect with each other as to discuss the Doctor.
Everything changes when the wealthy Victor Kennedy (Peter Kay) joins the group, offering his considerable resources to help them track down the Doctor. What had been an entertaining social activity turns into a twisted obsession - One that takes a dark turn when the members of LINDA begin disappearing, one by one...
CHARACTERS
The Doctor/Rose: Are barely in this episode... Which is the good news, because when they finally properly appear, they are at their punchably smuggest. They arrive at the end to find Elton fleeing for his life from a monster that has killed his friends in a truly horrible fashion. So what is the very first thing our heroes do? Yell at him for upsetting Rose's mother. The Doctor does get around to resolving the situation, but he is so clearly unbothered that he comes across almost as unlikable as Rose does. Neither David Tennant nor Billie Piper are doing more than phoning it in, so there's nothing under the surface of their performances to compensate for their overall callousness.
Jackie Tyler: Thankfully, Camille Coduri does give a fully committed performance, making the most of some character scenes we would never get to see from the Doctor or Rose's perspective. Victor sends Elton to spy on Jackie, in hopes that she will lead them to the Doctor. He is told to "find some subtle way to integrate yourself into the target's household." He doesn't have to work hard, since Jackie starts flirting the instant she sees him. When he gets back to her place, we see just how horribly lonely she is. She's really more in search of someone to listen to her than anything else. When she discovers that Elton is actually trying to get to her daughter, she is bitterly hurt and kicks him out on the spot.
Elton: Marc Warren, whose star would rise with Hustle the following year, is easily up to the task of carrying Love and Monsters. The episode has its problems, but none of them can be blamed on him. Though Elton is only thinly-sketched as a character, basically drawn as a sort of nerdy Everyman to make it easy for the audience to empathize with him, Warren keeps him human and likable. He and Shirley Henderson, as Elton's friend/prospective love interest Ursula, make for an engaging pair, and the two of them do much to keep this episode watchable even when it begins to go off the rails.
THOUGHTS
Love and Monsters is a story that divides fans. About half of fandom seems to absolutely love it, while the other half is equally strong in its hatred. As can probably already be seen, I'm a lot closer to the latter camp than the former. There is a good idea here, and there are good elements. But in my opinion, it just doesn't come together as a good story.
The early part is enjoyable enough on its own merits. It's clear that LINDA is a stand-in for Doctor Who fandom, but it's a study of fandom (indeed, of any interest group) that feels entirely positive. We see how these people enrich each other through their interaction, to the point that the reason they meet ceases to be the Doctor and instead becomes the friendship they have formed. It becomes less enjoyable with the introduction of Victor Kennedy, a villain portrayed as the kind of Superfan who bullies others with the mindset that there is only one proper way to discuss the Doctor. But even this might have been salvaged, had his characterization been confined to a simple human bully, a minor and very real villain who ruins what others enjoy without even realizing that he's doing it.
But instead, we get the monster...
The very last part of the episode reveals that Victor is a monster known as an Abzorbaloff, which absorbs its prey into its own massive body. This is played almost entirely for laughs, right down to the sight of Victor the Abzorbaloff chasing Elton down the street in broad daylight wearing nothing but a loincloth. The monster looks tackier and sillier than anything in the old series this side of Erato. Peter Kay's performance loses what little subtlety it had, as he goes ridiculously over the top with every line delivery and facial expression. The only thing that works is Marc Warren's performance, as he avoids sinking to his co-star's comedy level and plays Elton's horror completely straight.
So with Marc Warren and Elton keeping the scene clinging to a fragile thread of dignity, it is left to the Doctor and Rose to snap that thread. They barge into the scene with all the grace of an elephant in dancing shoes, the smugness of the characters combining with a quick fix by the Doctor that completely drains the scene of anything resembling tension.
I'll largely avoid mention of the ill-judged epilogue, except to say that any serious thought about Ursula's remaining life leads to the conclusion that she'd have probably been better off if the Doctor hadn't "saved" her. It's a terrible way to end an episode that begins with more promise than its worst detractors allow... but which lets all that promise gradually seep away, much like dirty water down a half-clogged drain.
Overall Rating: 3/10.
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