This new format was fun and BEST FINALE EVER.

The Doctor and Sophie sharing a brofist while Craig looks on baffled was beyond adorable. Actually this whole episode was beyond adorable.

I don't even care, Eleven would be the best roommate ever.

Yeah, I didn't really like the chat format (sorry). It's fun seeing immediate responses in a chat log, definitely, but it's kind of taken out if you aren't watching at the same time along with the person, so you really are seeing keyboard mashes. I kind of prefer the more collected thoughts reviews unless it's a liveblog or whatever, but that's me. I did try to read most of the log though.

I absolutely LOVE this episode. I'm not terrible fond of the monster, just because I really don't believe you NEED a monster every episode, and this one would have been fine without it. I seriously thought they'd do something like throw paint on it so everyone could see it's shape (I KNOW, THAT"S A SILLY IDEA) so I was kind of "what" at how it got killed. I loved that you had to see it in a mirror and I wouldn't have minded the monster switched to another episode, I just think the placement was weird. Vincent as as subject can easily hold up on his own.

This episode, though, is how you do a historical episode, especially compared to the Shakespeare one.

The scene where Vincent seems to understand the true wonder of the universe is particularly fun, even if the transition to it is a bit jarring (maybe that was on purpose, considering the subject and Vincent) . I love that he gets so passionate about the subject that he's practically frothing and wild with it when he gets right into Eleven's face, the Doctor actually seems a little intimidated by that passion and by Vincent. I thought it a great reversal, and it also happens to tie in well with the Doctor's speech about his inability to See the universe in one of the Bridging episodes (the one between the Angel episode and Vampires in Venice). The Doctor's acts like he's seen everything but he's a lot more blase and cool (a Been There, Done That attitude) about it than Vincent and here he is, he's confronted with someone trying to express that sheer wonder and joy that the universe can inspire. It's interesting that at this point in the episode, the Doctor tries to make a getaway by awkwardly changing the subject.

-I laughed pretty hard at Vincent practically gessoing over an old painting and leaving coffee on another: that disregard for your own work was perfectly captured. The quick "his left..I mean your right, his left!" model mistake was a cute side joke. The Doctor getting absolutely bored and harassing Van Gogh while he was working was amazing. (Anyone else wondering how he was painting in the dark as fine as he was in the day, cause they certainly didn't bring lights with them?) This episode is basically a Vincent love letter and an art love letter and importantly, they did a great job on it.

The starry night and museum scenes are both amazing, but the starry night scene even more: I found this one affected me far more than the museum scene, which don't get me wrong, is a lovely scene too. I just think everything works better in the Starry Night scene: the Starry Night scene benefits by standing on it's own (without the curator narration or loud music, you can see for yourself it's beautiful without being told it). Wonderful use of sound (for the wind through the trees), beautiful use of CG and the acting and music is absolutely gorgeous. "From Vincent, With Love" is a gorgeous track. This scene gets me to tear up every damn time.

Scenes like the Starry Night scene are how you do it and I think it pretty much sets a general example for what to expect from Series 5, compared to RTD's. Not to say every episode has been brilliant (Victory of the Daleks, I'm looking at you).

I found just that scene alone far more emotional and better done, not to mention the episode in general. (especially compared to the Shakespeare episode, which really only had a cardboard Shakespeare basically being a vehicle for producing Shakespeare jokes rather than taking interest in him as a layered person or his works as serious figures/works of interest). I'm not saying NO FUN OR HUMOR ALLOWED, Vincent and the Doctor definitely had it, but the Shakespeare episode just felt a bit hollow in comparison and in general, lacked heart. Not a huge fan of Shakespeare of his works but I thought that episode kind of cheapened it. Not every single old episode was bad, there were some great ones (Utopia, Midnight, the Impossible Planet are some examples of HELL YES), but I do think in terms of atmosphere and handling, the series in general is improved under Moffat. We aren't hammered constantly on the head with everything and we are left breathing room to guess at others and think for ourselves.

You don't need a crap ton of Doctor being a god speeches, you don't always need bombast. Something quieter and subtle will do the trick. Oh Starry Night scene, that ended up being a love speech to you.

This episode and the one prior certainly have their flaws, but in my mind, it's more than made up for in the last 15 minutes. Also known as Where Shit Gets Real And Hold Onto Your Butts. This story is the equivalent of the writers going "LOL!" at the audience.

Ambrose still seriously bothers me. I can understand Ambrose going after Allaya. It's not at all right but it is understandable with what she has at stake. What I don't understand is how she didn't learn from her first screw up and deciding she might as well drill the city, after the realization how she screwed them all and even after Rory and Dad (sort of) called her out on it.. What's worse is that her dad even agrees to do it after she just killed someone. WHAT. Did you not learn not to do stupid crap after the first time?

Guys, I am really really hoping that they see Nasreen again. They left her at a great place to come back to her one day.

I don't have time to write a full comment and you guys probably already covered everything anyway but Eleven's temper tantrum about Leadsworth and then his baby fail scene with Amy will never stop being funny to me. He's both panicked and a bit oblivious in that panic.

"It's okay, we're both doctors!" [he crouches and puts his hands under her] "What do we do?"

(Really Doctor? You're 907 and you were going to CATCH A BABY? Laughing till the end of time.)

I get the feeling this would have worked better as a two parter episode. Moffat had some great ideas but it felt like he had to cram them within one episode, so it feels like there's a bunch of stuff lying around. It's not my favorite episode ever but I like it well enough. It's still fun. I think this episode is particularly good at defining more of Eleven, Amy, and their relationship than the actual plot, and that's fine with me.

-The set is great. You can actually feel like this is a spaceship and that it's a bit bolted on and claustrophobic.

-The look of Series 5 is a vast improvement over the previous series (so is the theme and opening sequence in my opinion. It looks more elegant and professional and frankly, a bit badass. I can't stand the previous title, it looked like something out of the 90s/Power Rangers). The series looks more like a film now, and it seems like shots were more carefully considered in general. It looks refined and feels fresh.

-The TARDIS is a huge improvement. It looks like it could lead off to thousands of different rooms (having stairs and doors helps a lot), the colors are a lot more fun, and so are some of the strange instruments on there (such as having a random typewriter there). It's oddball, slightly cheesy, and playful. I don't have the picture on me but I think someone spotted that Eleven may in fact have a button marked "PANIC!" on his keyboard, which is awesome.

The only TARDIS better than this one is Eight's, but it's a very close match.

- The whale looks slightly goofy to me but that's probably just because of the face.

-The Smilers are creepy fun but I feel they fall into what I just mentioned above. Why even have them around if you allow your citizens to vote or forget? What do they really do? Who are they? Why drop the children into the beast's mouth if you know by now the whale won't eat them? The list of questions can go on. Again, Moffat has some fun ideas but I felt like he didn't have enough time to smoothly implement them in this episode.

-Personally I enjoyed Eleven's freak out at Amy. I can get why he was upset with her even though she didn't remember choosing to forget: it was about responsibility and still making that choice in the first place and Amy deliberately made those choices, even if she had Eleven's interests at heart. She wasn't a victim and she did screw up. This may be some of Ten rubbing off, but Eleven isn't concerned about her intentions at that moment or the details, it's only the consequences of her actions that he cares about just then.

I also feel like this was something of a wake up call to Amy and the audience. Eleven was this wonderful fairytale being in Eleventh Hour, but in Beast Below, you are shown that it's not always sunshine and rainbows with him either. Amy does redeem herself in the end, which I think is important. She's called out on her actions and even if it'd be easier to sit back and let Eleven do his thing and drop her off, she redeems herself anyway. Eleven also is shown here that he definitely needs another point of view, because he would have completely overlooked this.

I could have done without Amy labeling out the comparison three different times, we kind of got it the first time, but the scene with them staring out on the stars and hugging is absolutely gorgeous. So is the talk about running away from something in front of the TARDIS.

Cheesy but bad moment: the DRAMATIC zoom on the crack was a bit unnecessary. That thing is glowing and sticks out like a sore thumb on the hull as it is. The audience saw it already, they didn't need it pointed out that strongly.

Liz 10 is a BAMF. The reveal was a little cheesy but I don't even care. I have a big girl crush on her.

Amy and Eleven talking about what Amy will chose in the beginning is so ridiculously adorable that it makes my teeth hurt.

The Eleventh Hour is almost here. I don't think Mark is prepared.

This is probably a weird thing to think but if the Master became EVERYONE on the planet, he must have "woken" up to some seriously awkward shit all across the globe.

Good points about this episode:
The Master
WILF HOMG
The cafe scene which is TOTALLY GORGEOUS
Timothy Dalton
THE TIME LORDS (i don't even care, this was a HELL YES moment)
Murray Gold's music, which is pretty much a lot of the time, especially with the Time Lord reveal.

Bad things:
The Master's super powers, which I don't buy at all (the explanation "lol YOUR LIFE FORCE!!" doesn't really cut it). It came off as silly looking.
The Nasmiths. Yawn, don't even care about them.
The resurrection scene was stupid. Why would she still have that on her lips after all this time? Why did the ritual feel somehow like power rangers? And did she just throw a Potion of Life at him? What?
The episode itself feels very disjointed. Did anyone else find that random narration in the middle of the episode particularly jarring? It felt like RTD had two stories and wasn't sure how to get them into one, so he haphazardly sewed them together with that narration over the scenes of the players, and went "perfect, job done!"

Personally I like Part 2 of this special better than Part 1, but that is for another day.

Agreed. At least in Part 2, you have a lot of Wilf, more Time Lords plus Time War stuff, Ten's relationship to Time Lords and the Master being further explored, a Star Wars ish flight to the planet, the gorgeous scenes between Ten and Wilf on the ship, and the regeneration scene. There's just more to like in Part II.

Part I feels all over the place, disjointed, and just hammy (not in a good way).

Also the Master's plan is kind of stupid. I would have understood the point of it more if he'd done it in the first place as a way to track the sound to its source in the first place, but he only got that idea after he;d done the conversion.

I like parts of EOT and I think it's one of the better ones of RTD's era, but personally, it's not the best episodes ever. (out of his finales, I tend to like these the best, but yes, there are still cringeworthy part).

You basically just listed everything I loved about EOT. ;p