Dr. Who Recap - Ep. 5.08 "The Hungry Earth"

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This week's episode of Doctor Who was a bit like a horror movie with a grave yard, an old church and a familiar foe of the Doctor's, along with very little of Amy Pond in what is the first of two parts in The Hungry Earth.

As we start off, we find out the Doctor was shooting for Reno, but as The Doctor, Amy and Rory step out of the TARDIS, they discover they are far from Reno. In fact, they are in the year 2020, in a quiet British town that is drilling deep into the planet. At this point, the hardcore Who fans may have already figured out the foe for the Doctor, but the rest of us are left wondering what is going on as one of the workers is sucked through the ground. As the Doctor and Amy investigate, it isn't long before the Doctor sees Amy slip through his fingers and into the Earth. At the same time, Rory finds out that dead bodies are disappearing from the town cemetery from a young boy who is a big Shirlock Holmes fan.





As the Doctor prepares for an attack from underneath, he is quick to stop one of the townspeople from using a weapon of any kind. Finally, the monster shuts the small town off from the rest of the world, causing a black out, as they tease you with quick glimpses before their attack. Finally, after the Doctor captures one of the creatures, we see him remove the mask to show a Silurian, as the Doctor very politely interrogates the creature, only to find out the Silurians were awakened by the drilling, and intend to wipe out the human race.





As the Doctor prepares to go down to the Silurian home world, he tells the remaining villagers to not resort to violence and be the best humans they can be. Once underground, he discovers that there is an entire civilization underground, and stopping the impending attack could be much more difficult than he thought.





This episode started off extremely horror movie esque, and was a really good setup. So far, we haven't seen the kind of political undertones the last appearance of the Silurians had, but we do have the Doctor making it very clear he is not the violent type and is going out of his way to be the mediator between the two clashing cultures. We saw very little of Amy Pond in this episode, as she was captured, and the Silurians look like they intend to cut her up, adding to the suspense.





Overall, it started off spooky, and ended with a good setup to what could be a great second episode. Last time the Doctor met the Silurians, it didn't turn out so well, so, it should be interesting to see if there is a compromise, or if the humans will continue to be shown as savage, horrible creatures, despite the Doctors best efforts.