4. The Beast Below
One that Moffat himself confesses to be the worst he has written for the show, describing it as
a bit of a mess." While Beast Below showed initial promise, it really failed to deliver on the concepts that were presented to us. The overall tone of the episode wanted to convey a mysterious, conspiratorial one, utilising characters such as Liz 10 and also the presence of The Smilers. Liz 10 was an intriguing character, she was passionate and wasn't afraid to pull out some guns when needed, but she possess odd contrasts in her mannerisms, such as wearing a mask but then removing it when bumping into Mandy. While personally I felt The Smilers were criminally under-used, a trait that made them feel innocuous and only there to serve a purpose of conveying tone. Its a shame as in the end they were just there rather than doing anything interesting. I felt the morality issue was a very neat idea that would of served the episode far better had it not been stuffed into the episode in the final 5 minutes. The arguments it could have produced would have seen a fascinating battle of personalities, and while we did see this in the episode, it felt rushed and under-developed. Again, its hard to separate this from other Moffat works and not feel a great sadness. While The Beast Below does provide some intrinsically sound ideas, the concepts never really mould well enough to be as provocative as you imagine Moffat would have hoped. Its especially disappointing considering the brilliance of previous episode, The Eleventh Hour and one hoped the momentum would carry into our real 1st adventure with the Doctor and Amy. Sadly it didn't and we're left with a pretty damp squib.