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Oh my Gosh...

That goes down as one of my favorite episodes of anything ever.

And with all the fandoms I keep track of, my list is actually quite short.

Oh my GOSH! My mouth was literally hanging agape, LITERALLY, when the Face Of Boe said it. I KNEW IT! Heck, we all KNEW IT! But it was so worth it!!! YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

I'm really starting to like Martha more and more and more.

And the whole plot... and the way the cultures and people were SO diverse as he jumped from car to car... and the cat nun... and and and!!!

It was awesome. Everything about it was awesome. I loved it all SO much. Seriously... just... just... wow. WOW.

Favourite episode so far this series! Yey for talking kittens! And Macra! And face of Boe! etc!

I liked it muchly 3nodding

Shite, I'm afraid. A big heaping helping of the dire stuff. It's bad enough they still haven't come up with a truly original planet to call their own in the series but we're finally served up an episode in which Nothing. Happens. At all. Why, Mr T.Davies, I do believe you're spoiling us with your treasure chest of wonders again stare

Moronic earthlings have screwed themselves over (again!) and are at the mercy of ravenous space nasties (again!) who clearly have no right to exist as they're just crabs and don't give birth to kittens (quite how a HUMAN mother managed this really isn't worth thinking about.) The motorway's shot to buggery because everyone's trying to get somewhere vitally important in their life yet the minute the roof's opened they all forget about that and fly wherever the hell they want to. Everyone sort of knows the authorities aren't there but they couldn't possibly allow that to interfere with proceedings because it would spoil another brilliantly thought out script from the RTD factory of nonsensationalism. Surely these people need food and water to live for 23 years in a traffic jam? Don't worry, just look over here at this CAT NUN WITH A GUN! And while you're about it ignore the fact that the motorway is laughably easy to get off by simply opening a door in the wall because we've got the FACE OF CHUFFIN' BOE spouting more cryptic gibberish. For the font of all worldy knowledge he did a conspicuously poor job of stopping the entire senate from DYING IN THEIR SEATS to make DRAMATIC SKELETONS so that there's a moment of relief for the interest-starved viewer.

As for the ending, well judging from the general consensus here on the board and the fact it clearly made Martha sad (despite the fact she saw the Face as a freakish abhorration of nature) I'll have to assume it was quite the tear-jerker. Pity we didn't get to hear the doctor scream out BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mind. I'd have thought someone would have at least picked up on that in post-production.

Thank the sweet and merciful lord above then that Ardal O'Hanlon turned up to provide a few precious instances of genuine amusement, then. Sadly, all the chubby-faced Irish comedians in the world couldn't convince me this was worth missing Have I Got News For You for.

Originally I wasn't going to bother wasting this much wordage on the episode but, well, I'm sick and irritable this evening and my spleen demands venting evil

It's good to know other people had problems with this episode, I mean I liked -some- parts, but you've just put a good finger on all the things that made me cringe.

AND WHY DO THEY START SINGING????????????? scream

Haha, I've found myself quite enjoying, and on most occasions, agreeing with Jettick and his rants.

This line made me laugh the most:


xD

rofl Random burst of choral recital...still gasping with laughter here. rofl

While on the whole, I did enjoy the episode, I think that's mainly because I'm still tickled that Doctor Who is back. rolleyes Oh...and Father Dougal in a cat suit. xd
I really don't understand why after 24 years going round in a circle, some of those people didn't just hop off at the next lay-by and WALK! I mean, seriously! Shouldn't there be cars stalled here and there with corpses in them? I mean, 24 years, someone is going to have a heart attack, choke on a recycled poo cracker or maybe throw themselves to the Macra in despair.

Yay! I got pirate DVDs in the mail yesterday--episodes 2 & 3!
I love Gridlock! xd And there is something definately behind this story--kind of an allegory, I guess. This Blog I found does a great job of summing it all up, including the "how can a human woman have kittens" complaint. Although I have an answer for one of their objections--I don't think ANYONE survives from the day the gridlock started 24 years ago. If they couldn't work their way off & return to the slums, they starved to death, their cars went to the bottom, & were crushed under giant crab feet. The ones we know of being there longest said 23 years. So anybody stubborn enough to join that gridlock desperately trying to get out of that slum will be fully prepared, & those who join more recently will understand they likely must live in those cars for years. From what we see of the slums, they may think living in those boxes among a close-knit society of fellow dreamers & devout is better than staying down there. The only ones really in trouble all that time are those who try to take short cuts (the Fast Lane) to attain their goals.

And that's the old gospel hymn "The Old Rugged Cross" they are singing. I easily recognise it; my grandparents were Baptists & lived in the Appalachians in a cabin Grandpa built long ago. Grandma sang hymns as she worked, including that one. It's very gentle, highly spiritual-sounding, & sings of faith in reaching Heaven. Lyrics
Fits in well with the idea of the Motorway as Purgatory, as the Blogger suggests.