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Context Recap / DoctorWhoS31E9ColdBlood

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1[[WMG:[[center:[-''[[Series/DoctorWho Doctor Who]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWho recap index]]\
2'''Eleventh Doctor Era'''\
3'''Series 5:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour 1]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow 2]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks 3]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels 4]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone 5]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice 6]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice 7]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth 8]] | '''9''' | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E10VincentAndTheDoctor 10]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger 11]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens 12]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang 13]] | [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol CS]]\
4'''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E14TheNextDoctor <<< 2009 Specials]]''' | '''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut Series 6 >>>]]''']]-]]]
5!Cold Blood
6[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cold_Blood_8441.jpg]]
7[[caption-width-right:350:Unintentional foreshadowing, this picture is.[[note]]Note Rory's absence...[[/note]]]]
8->Written by Creator/ChrisChibnall\
9Directed by Ashley Way\
10'''Production code:''' 1.9\
11'''Air date:''' 29 May 2010\
12'''Part 2 of 2'''
13
14->''"Okay. Bringing things to order. The first meeting of representatives of the human race and homo reptilia is now in session. ''Ha!'' Never said that before, that's fab. Carry on."''
15-->-- '''The Doctor'''
16
17JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Ro...]] [[RetGone wait, who are we talking about again??]]
18
19The second part of a two-parter, following on from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth The Hungry Earth]]".
20----
21
22It is the most important day in the history of Earth: the dawn of a new age of harmony or the start of its final war. For the Doctor, it's a battle in which he cannot take sides and a day when nobody must die...
23
24The Doctor and Nasreen try to sneak into the apparently empty Silurian city, but are captured and taken to be examined by the Silurian head scientist, Malohkeh. The Doctor is close to once again fall victim to yet another bit of medical malpractice, but this time he manages to explain to the practitioner that he isn't human, so he survives. However, this knowledge doesn't do too much to placate the leader of the Silurian warrior caste, Restac, an outspoken advocate for the "kill all the primate vermin" policy, who then insists both the Doctor and Nasreen be executed and has them escorted them to a Silurian court. Malohkeh, quite the gentle scholar (once one gets past that whole "vivisecting people to poke a bit at their insides" business), objects to this, preferring to find a peaceful solution, but unfortunately, he has no authority.
25
26Amy and Mo, meanwhile, manage to escape. They find Elliot inside a pod, and many, ''many'' sleeping Silurian warriors. They sneak a couple of weapons from them and set out to rescue the Doctor.
27
28They get captured as well, and are about to be executed — unless the humans give them back their hostage. Problem is, Alaya really wanted her war, so she did her darnedest to get a human to kill her — and succeeded. Ambrose electrocuted her after one taunt too many about how her father is going to die and Alaya would be happy to watch.
29
30The humans can't very well ''tell'' the Silurians this, so Restac orders the execution of Amy — to be stopped by Eldane, the gentle Silurian leader, who was woken by Malohkeh to stop Restac.
31
32The Doctor brokers discussions between Eldane, and Amy and Nasreen. Humanity is on the brink of a new era of peace and love and justice. Things go relatively well, the Doctor rescues Elliot, and there seems to be a peace offer in the works between the two species. But Malohkeh discovers some suspicious activity around the hibernation champers and decides to investigate. To his horror, he discovers that Restac is awaking a large platoon of warriors to stage a coup against Eldane, and has already made plans to move on the surface despite the outcome of the negotiations, before she kills him, as she can see no use for a good scientist in a war. And it all happens just in time for the "hostage exchange".
33
34Then it's revealed to everybody that Ambrose killed her Silurian captive, and that she's set the drill to destroy the colony if she doesn't get her family back. Restac does not react as Ambrose expected, first demanding Ambrose be executed, then all the humans and anyone standing near them.
35
36The Doctor leads the others back to the laboratory, where he and Eldane devise a plan to destroy the drill and force the warriors back into their hibernation units, to wake in a thousand years when humanity might be ready. Eldane initiates a "toxic fumigation" of the city, causing the warriors to stand down and return to hibernation. Tony stays behind because he needs the Silurians to cure his poisoning, and Nasreen stays behind to be with Tony. The Doctor leads all the other humans into the TARDIS.
37
38So. All is well, right? Of course, it's all oka– [[OhCrap oh no]]. The crack in the universe is here. And it's big enough for the Doctor to stick his hand in. He grabs something using a handkerchief, giving Restac just enough time to reach them and shoot at the Doctor before she dies from the exposure to the toxic gas.
39
40Rory [[HeroicSacrifice jumps in front of the Doctor]]. [[DiedInYourArmsTonight He dies in Amy's arms.]] And then, just to Woobie up the Doctor some more, the crack in the universe erases him from existence. Despite the Doctor's best efforts, Amy forgets him.
41
42The TARDIS crew run back to the surface, say their goodbyes and encourage Elliott's parents to make him the best human being to live, and to prepare future generations for the Silurians with myths, stories, religion, anything. Amy spots Future Amy across a field alone, and the Doctor rushes her into the TARDIS.
43
44Hey, now's a pretty good time to look at the thing from the crack... [[OhCrap it appears to be a burned shard of a police box sign]]. The worried Doctor compares it to the TARDIS' own sign, and aside from the damage, they appear to be identical.
45
46----
47!!Tropes:
48
49* AllForNothing: Ambrose's decision to murder Alaya did nothing to help her father or her son. Tony must remain with the Silurians if he's to cure his poisoning, while her son is disappointed with her and notably doesn't even look at her at the end. To top it off, she ruined a chance at peace between two races. The Doctor doesn't hide it how she failed to be the best of humanity when it was needed most.
50* ArcSymbol: The cracks in the wall make another appearance.
51* ArtisticLicenceBiology: The Silurian doctor Malohkeh refers to the procedure (completed on Mo, interrupted for Amy) as "dissection". Dissection is when you open up and explore a dead creature; for living creatures it's vivisection. It could be forgiven in the previous episode with Mo, but Malohkeh should know better. However, the audience probably wouldn't.
52** Also, with The Doctor calling them "Homo reptilia", which would classify the Silurians as the same genus, different species as humans, ie the difference between lions and tigers. A better classification might be for example "Reptilia sapiens" (meaning 'Wise Reptiles').
53* BigBad: Commander Restac.
54* BizarreAlienBiology: While Malohkeh is decontaminating the Doctor, claiming it's only to remove bacteria, the Doctor begs him not to. What are considered common germs to humans are apparently a vital part of a Gallifreyan's microbiome.
55-->'''The Doctor:''' I'm not an ape. Look at the scans. Two hearts. Totally different. Totally not ape! Remove all human germs, you remove half the things keeping me alive.
56* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: The Doctor effectively does this to the mooks' weapons using the sonic screwdriver. It makes more sense than most applications of this trope, as the device in question is using focused sonic waves to damage the internal workings of the weapons directly, rather than shooting a projectile at them and hoping it hits.
57* CharacterDevelopment: Malohkeh vivisects Mo without anaesthetic, and is ready and willing to do the same thing to Amy at the beginning of this episode. By the end of the story, however (or rather ''his'' end, which comes a lot sooner), he's gushing about how wonderful humans are.
58* ChekhovsGun:
59** One from the beginning of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth The Hungry Earth]]" goes off, with Amy seeing only Future!Amy and nobody else on the hill at the end.
60** You can clearly see the taser with which Ambrose kills Alaya among the pile of weapons she puts in her van in the first episode.
61* ColdBloodedTorture: Ambrose tasers Alaya to death for information on a cure for her dad.
62** Also part of the DoubleMeaningTitle, as reptiles have cold blood.
63* ContinuityNod:
64** The Doctor offhandedly mentions how [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani some celery would be really helpful right now]].
65** It's not the first time [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks somebody's sacrificed their life]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks to save the Doctor's]].
66** The Doctor talks of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians having met a tribe of Silurians under similar circumstances before]]. This time, he hopes that he can create a different outcome.
67* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "You've been down here, working by yourself, all alone."
68* DiabolusExMachina: Everyone's going into the TARDIS, the Silurians are going back to sleep and then, suddenly, ''time crack''!
69* DistressedDude:
70** The Doctor [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable clamped into the scanner/decontamination booth table... thing]].
71** Later, the Doctor and others are handcuffed to a pillar. This happens a lot in this episode.
72* DownerEnding: The Doctor makes a big point on how no one can die this time in order for things to work out. The alliance falls apart, several people die, and a possible glorious future for both the humans and the Silurians together is (at best) put on hold. Admittedly, the narration implies that humanity and the Silurians may be able to make peace a thousand years after the events of the episode, which might raise the ending to {{Bittersweet|Ending}}.
73* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Restac is obsessed with "protecting" the Silurians from the humans even if it means exterminating everyone on the Earth's surface... but when she sees Alaya's corpse, her grief is very real.
74* EverybodyLives: The Doctor attempts to do this, but it doesn't work.
75* EvilGloating: Alaya goads Ambrose into acting by talking about the gruesome things planned for her son.
76* FacelessGoons: The army that Restac wakes up consists solely of these. They even have masks.
77* FantasticRacism: It's heated up from the previous. Ambrose tortures and kills Alaya and thinks little of it, while Restac is planning genocide.
78* FateWorseThanDeath: Rory dying and being pulled into the crack in time — rather than being "remembered and celebrated", he is simply erased. The Doctor remembers, however, so he feels doubly responsible for his death and the utter obliteration of a large part of Amy's life. Yet despite there allegedly being nothing to remember, the [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness engagement ring survives]] inside the TARDIS...
79* {{Foreshadowing}}: Despite having forgotten Rory because he's part of her personal history, Amy makes a comment about "You ''boys''", in plural, as she gets inside the TARDIS at the end.
80* GeneralRipper: Restac's mind is overrun by thoughts of violence and hatred. She nearly starts a coup on her government, and ''murders'' one of her people in order to supposedly protect her people.
81* HeroicSacrifice: Rory TakingTheBullet for the Doctor.
82* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Played with; considering how previous interactions between humans and Silurians have gone, the humans — with one notable exception — come off quite well, all things considering. The Doctor still gives Ambrose an earful for being a monster in this scenario.
83* IdiotBall:
84** Yes, Ambrose, do use a taser on your only hostage. No way that can backfire.
85** The Doctor grabs hold of it when he tells Malohkeh and Restac that humans attacked other groups of Silurians. He could've said that the Silurians aren't around any more, or even that the Silurians attacked first and the humans were forced to kill them in self-defence, but his statement that the humans attacked them just makes the situation worse.
86* IChooseToStay: Nasreen chooses to go into hibernation with Tony (whom she had fallen in love with) for 1000 years; at which point the Silurians will re-awaken and Tony would be decontaminated, and both of them plan to serve as the Silurians' ambassadors to Humanity in peaceful coexistence on Earth. [[ItHasBeenAnHonor The Doctor is proud of her dedication towards this goal.]]
87-->'''Nasreen:''' "I've got what I was digging for, I can't leave when I've only just found it."
88* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: How many shots are fired by the mooks here and how many people die? The answers are inversely proportional.
89* InSpiteOfANail: The Doctor makes a point to explain that their meeting with the Silurians is ''[[AvertedTrope not]]'' a Fixed Point, and is quite happy with the idea of seeing what the effects of it will be.
90* IntriguedByHumanity: Malohkeh, the chief scientist of the Silurians who has spent his time studying Humanity and how they managed to evolve over millions of years, developing a fascination with them that [[BigDamnHeroes he was willing to awaken Eldane from hibernation]] in order to prevent Restac from starting a war with the surface.
91-->'''Restac:''' "What is it about Apes you love so much?"
92-->'''Malohkeh:''' "While you slept, ''they've'' evolved. I've seen it for myself."
93* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Ambrose threatens Alaya at taser-point to get information on how to cure her father. It [[GoneHorriblyWrong doesn't work]].
94* KarmaHoudini: It's a downplayed trope. Ambrose isn't punished for torturing and killing Alaya, but the Doctor suggests that ThePunishmentIsTheCrime. However, given that the Doctor is positively affable towards her in her last scene and somehow trusts her to make Elliot "the best of humanity", she comes across as EasilyForgiven.
95* LastBreathBullet: Restac, dying of poison, shoots at the Doctor.
96* MadScientist: Subverted. The Silurian scientist that we first see PlayingWithSyringes was actually (supposedly) quite a NiceGuy, and reasonably sympathetic to the humans.
97* MamaBear: Ambrose is willing to go to extreme lengths to protect her family.
98* MirrorCharacter: Restac and Ambrose are both doing what they think is best for their families, even if it means war between the two species.
99* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Alaya goads Ambrose into killing her in an attempt to provoke a war between their species.
100* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Ambrose killing Alaya gives Restac just the excuse she needed to declare war on humanity.
101-->'''The Doctor:''' "[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech We had a chance here. In future when you talk about this, you tell them that there was a chance: but you were so. Much. Less. Than the best of Humanity.]]"
102* OhCrap: The Doctor's facial expression when he discovers that the "shrapnel" he pulled out of the crack is a piece of the TARDIS speaks volumes.
103* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: The Doctor suggests that this is the case for Ambrose. She has to live with the fact that she tortured and killed someone for nothing and put the whole human race at risk because of her hatred. There's also the guilt of genocide; just ask the Doctor how that feels. Finally, there's the fact that her son, whom she did all this for, is disgusted by how low she sunk. That's a life sentence right there. However, given that Tony's last words to Elliot are to not blame her because she only did what she thought was right, it's hard not to suspect she will be EasilyForgiven by him.
104* PuttingOnTheReich: Restac's epaulettes are red, white, and black like the old German flags, and she has a scar down one side of her face like Nazi commando leader Otto Skorzeny. Plus, FantasticRacism and {{Mad Scientist}}s.
105* ReallyDeadMontage: Rory gets one when Amy flashbacks to their time together. This is actually her memories erasing themselves one by one.
106* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Eldane is some sort of authority figure among the Silurians, and he is nothing if not accommodating during the negotiations. He acknowledges that his people will put a greater strain on Earth's resources, and to offset this, he offers the abundance of Silurian science and technology.
107* ResetButton: At least the reset button has a "snooze" function, although it is usually ten minutes — not a thousand years, which is when the Silurians will wake up again.
108* RetGone: Rory is devoured by a crack in time and removed from Amy's memories, but their engagement ring is still around.
109* RippleEffectProofMemory: As in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Flesh and Stone]]", being a time traveller allows a person to remember the history that has been swallowed by the cracks. Unless it's too much a part of the time traveller's own personal history. So when Rory is vanished, the Doctor still remembers him, but Amy forgets.
110* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Eldane plans to pump the city full of poison gas, killing anyone not in a hibernation pod. As soon as the announcement of this goes out over the city's PA system, Restac's soldiers [[KnowWhenToFoldEm immediately about-face and march off to their pods]], abandoning her.
111* SealedEvilInACan: Restac's army is woken up for her coup and then re-canned at the end.
112* SealedGoodInACan: The Silurian elder Eldane, woken up to prevent the war, then re-sealed to do the same again in 1000 years' time.
113* ShinyNewAustralia:
114** The Doctor suggests that humanity give Australia to the Silurians as a new homeland.
115** Amy suggests giving them places the humans can't inhabit, like the Australian outback, Sahara Desert and Nevada plains.
116* ShownTheirWork: All of the Silurian warriors are female, with the males being more peaceful and willing to debate options. In many reptile species the females are larger, more aggressive ([[MamaBear although often to protect young]]) and more territorial than the males. The reason would appear to be the same here too, as Alaya taunts Ambrose about being too weak to protect her family. A [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar later episode]] has a Silurian placing emphasis on "a mother's instincts."
117* StaticStunGun: Ambrose hits Alaya with a taser repeatedly, trying to force her to get her son back. Alaya dies from the repeated attacks.
118* StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred: Alaya goads Ambrose into killing her, believing that her death will start the war she wants so badly.
119* SympathyForTheDevil: The Doctor has absolutely no problem with Malohkeh, despite the fact that the guy was prepared to vivisect his companion. In fairness, the Doctor himself doesn't know that.
120* TheyKilledKennyAgain: Death number three for Rory, with a dose of {{Retgone}} thrown in for good measure.
121* VillainBall: Alaya and Restac. They're just aching to exterminate humanity, seeking to gain just cause for a genocidal war. Together with Ambrose, they provide the edge of evilness to start a war despite everyone else's best efforts.
122* WhamEpisode: Rory's death, followed swiftly by being erased from time and then forgotten by Amy, and the Doctor discovers a piece of the TARDIS in the time crack.
123* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Ambrose murders an unarmed Silurian prisoner and attempts genocide by programming the drill to destroy their city. The Doctor protects her from Restac's RoaringRampageOfRevenge, despite it seeming [[VillainHasAPoint quite justified]]. Eldane decides to flood the city with toxic gas. The Doctor makes no objection, even though it could result in the death of several Silurians and does result in the death of Restac (albeit because she chooses RevengeBeforeReason and ignores the warning to return to cryosleep).
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