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I have so many feelings, I mean thoughts, about "Lucky Day"!
If UNIT were all frauds used to control people, how could Conrad fake them out? They'd have known the Shreek call was a false alarm and wouldn't have come. He could claim they are bad at their jobs, but the whole scenario shows that UNIT believes there is a real threat, and also that they were capable of recognizing that this was not that real threat in the nick of time. Frankly, I don't trust any military organization on earth to do what UNIT did there.
But that's part of the point. The demonstration that UNIT was fake failed to demonstrate anything of the kind, but that's the story of at least the US nowadays, and the episode seems to demonstrate that it feels the same in the UK.
I am still seething at and about Conrad half an hour after finishing the episode because it hit home too much. It's terribly heavy-handed, but so is what I see happening around me.
Conrad really did reject reality. He believed in the moments he needed help, and as soon as he felt safe, he was laughing about special effects again. He didn't even believe he was in the TARDIS. I have spent the last ten years trying to decide whether people are deluded or lying, especially those in power. I am repeatedly confounded because can be both/and instead of either/or. This episode felt so on the nose that I am horrified and think it shouldn't work, and yet it worked a bit too well for me (see "seething").
I felt bad for eight-year-old Conrad. I thought Jonah Hauer-King did excellent work, convincing both as a sweet, awkward guy and an entitled influencer with no compunction about shooting someone who's helping him. When he admitted not taking the antidote but told Ruby that he wanted to be brave, and replace the Doctor, I said to Brilliant Husband, "Oh, too bad: he's not really boyfriend material after all." I was right, but for the wrong reasons! (Also, I admit with some embarrassment that I have seen all 13 episodes of World on Fire and spent the whole episode going, "He looks familiar, but maybe he just looks like someone. He's the star of World on Fire!
I love Kate. Ibrahim is right: she went too far. But stepping in front of Ruby and shouting, "Don’t you dare point a gun at her!" felt so right. She's flawed, and she was wrong, and I love her anyway. I'm glad she has Shirley and Ibrahim around her, and I hope she listens to them more.
And I love Ruby, who can't come off high alert. I love all her mums (counting her grandmother, crowing over the shirtless pic!). It's both great to have such support—but also a bit scary! I hope we'll keep checking in with Ruby.
Also, the Vlinx evacuating gave a nice comedic short break to the tension!
Conrad asks the Doctor if he has met Belinda Chandra again, and the Doctor appears not to have met her yet! Is this how he starts looking into her, which brings us into the first episode of the season? I like it!
I do not like Mrs Flood letting Conrad out.
If UNIT were all frauds used to control people, how could Conrad fake them out? They'd have known the Shreek call was a false alarm and wouldn't have come. He could claim they are bad at their jobs, but the whole scenario shows that UNIT believes there is a real threat, and also that they were capable of recognizing that this was not that real threat in the nick of time. Frankly, I don't trust any military organization on earth to do what UNIT did there.
But that's part of the point. The demonstration that UNIT was fake failed to demonstrate anything of the kind, but that's the story of at least the US nowadays, and the episode seems to demonstrate that it feels the same in the UK.
I am still seething at and about Conrad half an hour after finishing the episode because it hit home too much. It's terribly heavy-handed, but so is what I see happening around me.
Conrad really did reject reality. He believed in the moments he needed help, and as soon as he felt safe, he was laughing about special effects again. He didn't even believe he was in the TARDIS. I have spent the last ten years trying to decide whether people are deluded or lying, especially those in power. I am repeatedly confounded because can be both/and instead of either/or. This episode felt so on the nose that I am horrified and think it shouldn't work, and yet it worked a bit too well for me (see "seething").
I felt bad for eight-year-old Conrad. I thought Jonah Hauer-King did excellent work, convincing both as a sweet, awkward guy and an entitled influencer with no compunction about shooting someone who's helping him. When he admitted not taking the antidote but told Ruby that he wanted to be brave, and replace the Doctor, I said to Brilliant Husband, "Oh, too bad: he's not really boyfriend material after all." I was right, but for the wrong reasons! (Also, I admit with some embarrassment that I have seen all 13 episodes of World on Fire and spent the whole episode going, "He looks familiar, but maybe he just looks like someone. He's the star of World on Fire!
I love Kate. Ibrahim is right: she went too far. But stepping in front of Ruby and shouting, "Don’t you dare point a gun at her!" felt so right. She's flawed, and she was wrong, and I love her anyway. I'm glad she has Shirley and Ibrahim around her, and I hope she listens to them more.
And I love Ruby, who can't come off high alert. I love all her mums (counting her grandmother, crowing over the shirtless pic!). It's both great to have such support—but also a bit scary! I hope we'll keep checking in with Ruby.
Also, the Vlinx evacuating gave a nice comedic short break to the tension!
Conrad asks the Doctor if he has met Belinda Chandra again, and the Doctor appears not to have met her yet! Is this how he starts looking into her, which brings us into the first episode of the season? I like it!
I do not like Mrs Flood letting Conrad out.