The Curse of the Black Spot

"Any mirror, any reflection, and the Siren will attack."

Writer: Steve Thompson

Format: TV

Broadcast: 7 May 2013

Series: 6.03

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

The Doctor, Amy and Rory stumble aboard a 16th century pirate ship. But there's a mystery occurring as the enigmatic Siren hunts the wounded and diseased, the crew are getting smaller and it's not long before the Doctor has to walk the plank.

Verdict

The Curse of the Black Spot was a decent episode to continue my way through the modern era rewatch and now into the thick of things with Series 6. This definitely an episode I would describe as filler as it doesn't do much for the overall arc of the series and sadly is somewhat forgettable, but what we do have for forty-minutes is just a lot of fun! The idea of Doctor Who doing pirates is great and this works fine here. The setting of the pirate ship is really good although I do think the set and directing could have been improved slightly. Unfortunately it didn't really look like they were actually at sea which is a shame. Perhaps that's just a consequence of watching again eleven years after broadcast and special effects have moved on? I'm not entirely sure. The introduction of the Doctor, Amy and Rory to Captain Avery and his band of merry men was amusing and the Eleventh Doctor is certainly the perfect incarnation for this type of story. He revels in where the TARDIS has brought him and his companions have brought him, although I do think his reaction to Rory getting marked by the black spot was a little strange. Surely he should have been at least a little worried? Amy getting all dressed up in her pirate gear and wielding a sword was marvellous and it's no wonder that her husband said she should dress up like that more often. He was a lucky guy, so him calling the Siren the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen was a stellar moment. Amy was seeing the funny side and knew he was under the Siren's control, but would still make him jokingly feel a little bit bad about it. The threat of a simple cut meaning death was very good and really evened the playing field when it came to Amy taking on the pirates. The emergence of the Siren was good and the aura around her was impressive. I particularly liked the shift from green to red light when she didn't get her way or was challenged. That injected a good sense of evil into someone we thought was the villain. Of course, she turned out to be nothing of the sort and was actually a medical doctor existing in a different plain of existence. Any kind of cut or even the Doctor sneezing and she was concerned on how she could aid them. She wasn't killing the victims she marked, she was actually aiding them. That was a good twist but it wasn't all that exciting. The confusion coming from two different ships occupying the same space but in different plains was good and the imagery once we crossed over to the Siren's medical base was really strong. I liked seeing the pirate ship essentially out of a window and being there but not quite reachable. The threat of Rory drowning and being helped was excellent and the shining moment of the episode is undoubtedly Amy resuscitating her husband on the TARDIS floor. He had every trust in her to save him once he was disconnected and he wanted her and not the Doctor to do it because he knew she wouldn't give up. That was a powerful moment and just cemented how strong of a couple they are. It's lovely to see. I thought Avery was a good character and the reaction of his son stowing away was amusing, and that was a big contrast to his son finding out that his dad was a pirate under the flag of the Jolly Roger. It was nice that Avery stuck behind with him and captained a different kind of ship with his crew. A ship was a ship after all! Overall, a more than decent episode! 

Rating: 7/10