Foggy on Doctor Who - Let's Kill Hitler

Following off from my cover of the series so far, Series 6 comes back in full swing with Let's Kill Hitler.

Warning as the following will have spoilers, and no, that isn't a pun!

Let's Kill Hitler is a great episode the kick the series back up again, it ties up a lot of loose ends left over from A Good Man Goes To War and doesn't leave much open except some overarching mysterious of the whole series. It's very funny and very emotional in equal measures, acting is superb all around and the script is equally as sharp and entertaining, as it was getting through the mandatory stuff.

Let's Kill Hitler starts off with Rory and Amy driving around a crop field following directions which leads them to The Doctor, we learn that The Doctor has been searching for her stolen baby Melody Pond although out the summer (and it is made clear that between the airing of series part time finale and return, that's all The Doctor has been doing). However, before he can have the time explaining how he has failed to find her, we are introduced to Mel (Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink) who is Amy and Rory's troublesome friend, who knows all about The Doctor, and has the police quickly chasing after her. Armed with a gun and a time lord she always dreamed of meeting, she decides to hold him to gun point and make him take her back in time to, you guessed it, kill Hitler.

The strange thing about this episode, is that it all works really well as a whole, but it has a few little nitpicks here and there, while A Good Man Goes To War is full of great moments, but the episode as a whole feels very loosely tied together.

The first main problem that I encountered with the episode was the set up of the character of Mel, other than the fact that she came off rather annoying in her few moments on screen, she was set up very briefly for a huge twist where it is revealed that she is Melody Pond (which didn't take very long to be revealed). It's just hard to be surprised where your character is quickly introduced, especially when this is the very first time you hear from her. But as it was quickly revealed, it's hard to really get caught up on the idea, if it was dragged out until the end of the episode, it would of felt slightly lazy and contrived.

The other problems I have are more nitpicks than complaints, like for the titular character of the episode, Hitler is quickly dismissed off, it seemed more like he had more of a cameo of himself than an actual point, more a ploy to get an attention catching episode name than an actual plot device. It's also strange that Doctor Who is stealing ideas from lame Eddie Murphy films, it pulls it off better alas, but still, Eddie Murphy. More strange is seeing Karen Gillian and Arthur Duvall act and dress as teenagers.

And that's really it for problems with the episode, the episode is very well written, bar the problems I had above. It really complicates matters for most the characters, and really pushes the bar for fucked up nuclear families on TV. It's never overly complex within it's own storyline and definitely doesn't bite off more than it can chew like that other episode I keep seeming to refer back too. It's just a simple stuff to cover list, gets it done and adds a lot of charm to keep the episode running.

The episode, as I said before, is really funny, and so far, the only one that hasn't tried to squeeze horror into it. An earlier scene involving guns and a banana is certainly the comedic highlight of the episode, along with nice scene involving The Doctor asking the Tardis to show a hologram of someone who he hasn't screwed up the life off, showing all the previous assistance he's had over the last few years, which ends with a really heartwarming ending.

Add humour bonus for the evil killer robots which ask you to "Keep calm while we terminate your life"

Let's Kill Hitler will probably go down as a Red Herring, a well written Red Herring, but, ultimately, seeming to cross off people on a list of whodunits (again, not a pun). But it continues the themes of the series so far, and adds general emotion as well as laughs to a good, almost old fashioned Doctor Who adventure.

9/10