“The Long Game” was a bit of an odd episode – there was some sort of “big idea” concerning media manipulation as a tool to control a population, and there was a also some wonderful character interaction, but was there actually much of a story?
One thing that stood out in this episode, and which is strongly present in the series as a whole, is that the Doctor doesn’t always beat the villain himself, rather he inspires the people he meets to rise above themselves. He opens their eyes and helps them to see that no only is there something wrong, but that they can do something about it. That’s the sort of hero the Doctor is, the sort of hero we all need.
But despite this something was lacking from this episode. A decent explanation of what was happening? (Why did the alien need to be on the station? Why did the banks bankroll the alien rather than just run the plot themselves?) And we’ve had one CGI blob that doesn’t speak English already, do we need another?
7/10