Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden

The Eighth of March #3.2

Released:

Listened: 5/11/23

This story is kind of an odd one, as it features Missy encountering…Amy Pond. Does that mean Karen Gillen participated? Alas, no. It’s Caitlin Blackwood, who played young Amelia in several episodes, and who is now a young adult herself, portraying the teenaged Amelia. How does that work, temporally? Missy has found herself in Leadworth circa 2005, without a TARDIS. Using Missy logic, she figures if she poses a threat to Amy, the Doctor will turn up early and he’ll help her leave. Amy’s still having trouble in school, and acting out as a teenager would. She’s over her “Raggedy Man” obsession, but the rest of the town isn’t willing to let her forget it, so Missy is able to replace Amy’s therapist and get to her that way. Oh, and there’s some “fairies” involved; aliens who came through the crack in Amy’s wall, because of course there are. The main goal here is to put Missy and Amy in the same room and let them bounce off each other, but it doesn’t quite work. Missy isn’t quite as manic here as she is in her own stories, although she gets some fun one-liners. Caitlin Blackwood, sadly, isn’t terribly convincing as Amy. The anger and frustration is there, but not the inventiveness. As a result, Amy sounds angry much of the time, and bored the rest. They’ve decided to go with the running gag that Amy’s guardian, Aunt Sharon, was never seen in “The Eleventh Hour,” so she doesn’t appear here, having her previously unseen boyfriend Conor fill in for her as Amy’s foster parent. Of course, Sharon appears in “The Big Bang,” but that’s not the worst offense. There’s no mention of Rory or Mels at all. Several of Amy’s friends are specifically mentioned, but given the way Rory has apparently been inseparable from her his whole life, you’d think there’d be some mention. I’m as eager for Eleventh Doctor-era stories as everybody else, but this really doesn’t make it.