Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E07 The Unicorn and the Wasp: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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The Doctor has brought Donna to [[Genteel Interbellum Setting|the twenties]] for a nice garden party. Meanwhile, [[Clue|a Professor Peach is murdered, in the library, with the lead pipe.]]
The Doctor has brought Donna to [[Genteel Interbellum Setting|the twenties]] for a nice garden party. Meanwhile, [[Clue|a Professor Peach is murdered, in the library, with the lead pipe.]]


Also at the party is [[Agatha Christie]] herself. Pity she won't remember it: the date is 8 December 1926, and Agatha will mysteriously vanish and turn up ten days later, confused and with no memory of where she'd been. <ref>This really did happen, though possibly not the memory loss. She turned up on 18 December 1926 in a hotel not far away, where she'd checked in under a pseudonym, and never gave an account of her missing days. It's thought she might have suffered a fugue state.</ref> Which means that whatever freaked out (not-yet-Dame) Agatha is about to happen. But right now, there's a murder to be solved!
Also at the party is [[Agatha Christie]] herself. Pity she won't remember it: the date is 8 December 1926, and Agatha will mysteriously vanish and turn up ten days later, confused and with no memory of where she'd been.<ref>This really did happen, though possibly not the memory loss. She turned up on 18 December 1926 in a hotel not far away, where she'd checked in under a pseudonym, and never gave an account of her missing days. It's thought she might have suffered a fugue state.</ref> Which means that whatever freaked out (not-yet-Dame) Agatha is about to happen. But right now, there's a murder to be solved!


{{quote|'''Agatha:''' Someone should call the police.
{{quote|'''Agatha:''' Someone should call the police.
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* [[Classy Cat Burglar]]: The Unicorn, although she gets a lot less classy when she's exposed.
* [[Classy Cat Burglar]]: The Unicorn, although she gets a lot less classy when she's exposed.
* [[Continuity Nod]]: See [[Lampshade Hanging]].
* [[Continuity Nod]]: See [[Lampshade Hanging]].
** Donna attempts at affecting a High English accent when meeting Lady Eddison... only to be told by the Doctor [[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S2/E02 Tooth and Claw|not to do that]].
** Donna attempts at affecting a High English accent when meeting Lady Eddison... only to be told by the Doctor [[Doctor Who/Recap/S28/E02 Tooth and Claw|not to do that]].
** We find out where The Doctor [[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S3/E02 The Shakespeare Code|put the Carrionites]]: In a chest for all things that start with the letter C, which also included a Cyberman logo.
** We find out where The Doctor [[Doctor Who/Recap/S29/E02 The Shakespeare Code|put the Carrionites]]: In a chest for all things that start with the letter C, which also included a Cyberman logo.
* [[Enemy Within]]
* [[Enemy Within]]
* [[Elephant in the Living Room]]: Agatha's just learned of her husband's affair, but doesn't want to admit to it(see [[Stiff Upper Lip]]).
* [[Elephant in the Living Room]]: Agatha's just learned of her husband's affair, but doesn't want to admit to it(see [[Stiff Upper Lip]]).
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* [[Genteel Interbellum Setting]]
* [[Genteel Interbellum Setting]]
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: The 1920s porn. That got more questions from the kids than the gay relationship.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: The 1920s porn. That got more questions from the kids than the gay relationship.
** The Doctor asks the (closeted gay) butler for ginger beer -- cockney rhyming slang for "queer".
** The Doctor asks the (closeted gay) butler for ginger beer—cockney rhyming slang for "queer".
{{quote|'''Butler:''' I beg your pardon?!?}}
{{quote|'''Butler:''' I beg your pardon?!?}}
* [[Giant Flyer]]
* [[Giant Flyer]]
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* [[Involuntary Shapeshifting]]
* [[Involuntary Shapeshifting]]
* [[I Want Grandkids]]: The Colonel comments that he and his wife are unlikely to have grandchildren, implying that he knows about [[Invisible to Gaydar|Roger]]'s sexual orientation.
* [[I Want Grandkids]]: The Colonel comments that he and his wife are unlikely to have grandchildren, implying that he knows about [[Invisible to Gaydar|Roger]]'s sexual orientation.
* [[Lampshade Hanging]] via a [[Continuity Nod]]: Donna finds the idea of Agatha Christie being involved in a real murder mystery as ridiculous as the idea of finding [[A Christmas Carol|Dickens surrounded by ghosts at Christmas]]. The Doctor looks embarrassed, probably recalling the events of "[[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S1/E03 The Unquiet Dead|The Unquiet Dead]]".
* [[Lampshade Hanging]] via a [[Continuity Nod]]: Donna finds the idea of Agatha Christie being involved in a real murder mystery as ridiculous as the idea of finding [[A Christmas Carol|Dickens surrounded by ghosts at Christmas]]. The Doctor looks embarrassed, probably recalling the events of "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E03 The Unquiet Dead|The Unquiet Dead]]".
* [[Magic Pants]]: Apparently Vespiforms can transform their clothes too when they take on human form.
* [[Magic Pants]]: Apparently Vespiforms can transform their clothes too when they take on human form.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Professor Peach, and possibly Miss Redmond, are ''Cluedo'' (''Clue'' for our American readers) references. In fact the Cluedo-ness of the situation is lampshaded by Donna.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Professor Peach, and possibly Miss Redmond, are ''Cluedo'' (''Clue'' for our American readers) references. In fact the Cluedo-ness of the situation is lampshaded by Donna.
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* [[Pass the Popcorn]]: Donna seems to be doing this during the drawing-room reveal, though we can't see what it is she's eating. Some glances show that it may be green grapes.
* [[Pass the Popcorn]]: Donna seems to be doing this during the drawing-room reveal, though we can't see what it is she's eating. Some glances show that it may be green grapes.
* [[Green Rocks|Purple Rocks]]: The alien jewelery.
* [[Green Rocks|Purple Rocks]]: The alien jewelery.
* [[Rummage Fail]]: At the very end, the Doctor digs through some of his junk in the TARDIS (of the starts-with-a-C variety); before he finds his copy of ''Death in the Clouds'', he pulls out the C logo off a Cyberman's chestplate, the head of a statue, [[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S3/E02 The Shakespeare Code|a crystal ball full of Carrionites]] ([[And I Must Scream|still screaming]]) and a big jumble of cables.
* [[Rummage Fail]]: At the very end, the Doctor digs through some of his junk in the TARDIS (of the starts-with-a-C variety); before he finds his copy of ''Death in the Clouds'', he pulls out the C logo off a Cyberman's chestplate, the head of a statue, [[Doctor Who/Recap/S29/E02 The Shakespeare Code|a crystal ball full of Carrionites]] ([[And I Must Scream|still screaming]]) and a big jumble of cables.
* [[Running Gag]]: The one about the Doctor and Donna not being married and the one where the companion attempts an accent, and the Doctor tells her not to.
* [[Running Gag]]: The one about the Doctor and Donna not being married and the one where the companion attempts an accent, and the Doctor tells her not to.
** Hilariously enough, the [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|protestations]] turn out to be unnecessary; Christie noticed Donna didn't have a wedding ring.
** Hilariously enough, the [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|protestations]] turn out to be unnecessary; Christie noticed Donna didn't have a wedding ring.

Latest revision as of 07:09, 29 June 2016

Agatha: Agatha Christie.
Donna: What about her?
Agatha:...That's me.
Donna: No.

The Doctor has brought Donna to the twenties for a nice garden party. Meanwhile, a Professor Peach is murdered, in the library, with the lead pipe.

Also at the party is Agatha Christie herself. Pity she won't remember it: the date is 8 December 1926, and Agatha will mysteriously vanish and turn up ten days later, confused and with no memory of where she'd been.[1] Which means that whatever freaked out (not-yet-Dame) Agatha is about to happen. But right now, there's a murder to be solved!

Agatha: Someone should call the police.
The Doctor: We don't have to! Chief Inspector Smith from Scotland Yard. Known as "The Doctor". Miss Noble is the plucky young girl that helps me out.

But who murdered Professor Peach? Was it The Flapper? The Vicar? The Colonel? The mother? The two secretly gay men? The Doctor and Donna are both delighted to be solving a murder mystery together with Agatha, but Agatha reminds them that (a) she only writes books and she knows nothing about actual crime solving, and (b) murder is not funny and could they please stop squeeing.

Over the course of an afternoon of wacky hijinks that cleverly recall the titles of many of Christie's works (seriously, try it as a drinking game!), the Doctor, Donna and Mrs. Christie all piece together a story of forbidden love, murder, secret identities, abandoned babies and alien bling. In the end, it turns out that the killer (a giant alien wasp) was telepathically linked with someone reading a Christie book, which explains why the world suddenly started behaving like a Christie book.

Also, Donna snogs the Doctor, but it makes sense in context and he tasted like anchovy.

Tropes

Professor Peach: I say... what are you doing with that lead piping?

Butler: I beg your pardon?!?

Donna: I mean... Professor Peach, in the library, with the lead piping?

  • Mistaken Confession: As Christie and the Doctor expose the house's secrets, the Colonel cracks and admits he doesn't need his wheelchair... much to their surprise.

Agatha: Actually, I was going to say you're completely innocent. Sorry.

Ever so nice to meet you, I don't fink.

Agatha Christie: The Unicorn. He’s here!
The Doctor: The Unicorn and the Wasp...

  • Troperrific: And the Doctor clearly knows, and is loving every moment of it.
  • Unreliable Narrator: About half of the "Where were you at a quarter past four?" flashbacks don't really match what the character says they were doing. Usually hilariously.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Murder at the vicar's rage (*ahem*) when the boys are stealing things from the church.
  • Vertigo Effect: On Lady Edison when she realizes that the reverend is the child she gave up forty years ago.
  • The Vicar: Subverted; he starts out looking like the embodiment of the trope, but then...
  • Wazzzzptalk: "Put thozzzzzze thingzzzzz back where you found themzzzzzzzzzZZZZZ!"
  • What the Hell, Hero?

The Doctor: Donna, that thing couldn't help itself.

  1. ↑ This really did happen, though possibly not the memory loss. She turned up on 18 December 1926 in a hotel not far away, where she'd checked in under a pseudonym, and never gave an account of her missing days. It's thought she might have suffered a fugue state.
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