Doctor Who - The Curse of the Black Spot

My first reaction to this episode is one of welcome bliss.  After two hours of frantic running around and gimmick heavy plot, we finally have the season’s first simple and yet interesting story.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory make their usual goofy appearance on a stranded pirate ship.  It would appear that a siren is picking off pirates one at a time and only injured people at that.  Too bad Rory got a cut because now they are in trouble.  With a fairly claustrophobic at times hard to buy setting of the pirate ship we have some pretty good acting as the Doctor tries to figure this one out.  The ante is upped when Rory falls overboard and the captain’s son is taken by the siren.

In the end we discover good intentions with a fairly goofy ending that sort of deadens the story a bit.  I am reminded of “The Doctor Dances” and “A Christmas Carol” as we see alien technology once again trying to help but making things worse.  The Doctor appears to be helpless when saving anyone with medical conditions like diseases and not breathing. 

Apart from the obvious retelling of that 2005 story, the episode is pretty good and a good contrast to what we have seen in earlier in the season.

KP

Thanks to http://doctorwho.sonicbiro.co.uk/ for the screencaps