Doctor Who: The Giggle Review - 8 Ups And 4 Downs

Unfortunately, due to its breakneck pace, this episode contained more than one scene that required more than a little suspension of disbelief, so we’ve rolled them into one ‘down’ for this list.

Firstly, we found the ‘every screen, ever’ explanation a little flimsy, even from a villain who can bend reality, and there was a severe lack of attention given to the actual effects of the giggle beyond that chaotic opening scene on the streets of London and Kate’s outburst. We never see the full consequences of this, nor do we see the return to status quo at the end of the episode. Russell is normally really good at showing the impact that various invasions have on the general public so this felt like a weird omission.

Next, we’re afraid we really don’t buy the whole ‘salt’ argument. There’s something interesting about evoking superstition at a place where the boundaries of reality are weak, and this having consequences, but the execution feels just a bit too lazy, with a single line last week saying ‘that may have been bad’ and another this week saying ‘oh, it was bad’. This might have made a little more sense if The Doctor had changed things at the start of reality, whilst it was still forming, rather than just the edge of physical space. It feels like RTD wanted to add to The Doctor’s trauma buffet by making The Toymaker’s appearance his fault, but without the legwork.

Lastly, the biggest crock of nonsense this episode was the duplication of the TARDIS via Fifteen whacking it with a Harley Quinn mallet. Still part of the game or not, this excuse felt like it didn’t hold much ‘salt’ either, for such a major change. We much would have preferred to continue on with the same TARDIS, rather than a duplicate, especially given that, in theory, Fourteen has no use for his, but that’s a problem we’ll tackle further shortly.