We were supposed to get a new roof today. It didn't happen, the crew got hung up on their previous job. So theoretically we are getting a new roof tomorrow. Also tomorrow, I have photo shoot for acting headshots. So I gotta get to bed.

So let's talk quickly about this trifling episode of Doctor Who.

The Unicorn and the Wasp

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Lord knows this show has done Agatha Christie pastiches in the past, most notably The Robots of Death back in the Fourth Doctor era. This story marks the first time that Agatha Christie herself appears as a character in the show, caught up in a murder mystery that mirrors her own writing. The story also seeks to explain the real reason behind her strange ten-day disappearance. Mostly, though, the story is a parade of thinly-veiled references to the game Cluedo (or Clue, as it is known here in the U.S.) along with a long list of references to Agatha Christie novels.

The plot, such as it is, features a string of murders by what turns out to be a human/alien hybrid who became imprinted with the logic of Christie murder mysteries and this is acting them out. The alien frequently turns into the giant titular Wasp, while there is also a red herring plot line about a jewel thief known as the titular Unicorn. In the end the alien is drowned, and the Doctor and Donna carry on to the next story.

It's a perfectly serviceable episode, although I don't think it is nearly as clever as it pretends to be. Or perhaps I am not a big enough Agatha Christie fan to appreciate just how clever it really is. In any case, that gets me past the mid-season hump. From here on out it is all a sprint to the season finale and then the four specials happened in 2009 instead of a regular season. I am now ten days away from the end of the Tenth Doctor.

Well, more likely eleven days. I strongly suspect I will be missing tomorrow.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Tenth
Companion(s): Donna Noble
Episode(s): The Unicorn and the Wasp
Steps Walked: 7,507 today, 2,906,219 total
Distance Walked: 4.00 miles today, 1,516.22 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 2,714 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 929 total
Is the Doctor So, So Sorry?: Not even
Weight: 252.00 lbs (five day moving average), net change -55.30 lbs