I didn't really like this episode myself. Pretty much the same reason as for not liking the last episode much- the Cybermen were a bland foe, not at all the Cybermen of old. These were just mindless automatons- in fact, if you'd used the Autons or the clockwork robots from "The Girl in the Fireplace," it probably wouldn't have been a terribly noticeable difference. I did like the bit with the Cyberman whose emotion chip was broken- that was kind of a cool bit, as was the Doctor's dilemma about wiping out the controls of the emotion chips. Otherwise, Lumic was still over the top, and little more than a poor man's Davros.
My favorite parts of the whole episode- Mickey. He finally got some good moments, and I think they were well in keeping with the character development he's gone through both on and off-screen (on the
Who is Doctor Who? website). His leaving was pretty much telegraphed, even if you hadn't read the reports of him leaving, but I found myself hoping they were wrong, and that he'd stick around a bit longer. Even if he weren't to become a companion, I wouldn't mind seeing him pop up again from time to time... now all we have to look forward to on return trips is Rose's mom. Ugh. Jackie Tyler really bugs me for some reason.
There were also some really silly parts in this episode- one, anyway. How the heck does a Cyberman sneak up on you? Every time we see those things, they're clanking away. Apparently they do that deliberately, for intimidation effect. I also didn't like the way they were all moving in exaggerated synch with one another- I had flashbacks to "the Robot" dance from the 80s.
I understand the Cybermen are supposed to turn up again by season's end- I'm hoping we get "real" Cybermen this time around, and not these wind-up versions.
So aside from Mickey, what else did I think worked? I actually liked Rose and Mickey's goodbye at the end. I wish they hadn't started this episode with Rose and the Doctor best chums again, and instead had played off of "TGitF"- I think that after Rose had to face a permanent separation from someone she cared deeply about, that would have really played along well with the themes of abandonment and solitude that have been kind of running in at least a couple of episodes so far this season (TGitF and School Reunion), and would have served as a good bridge for reconciliation between Rose and the Doctor as she begins to understand how he must feel at always going on and having to leave others behind.
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