Well, that was a decent end to a blah beginning. I like it that this episode was mostly visual: all action and framing and memorable scenes, in place of the lamentable dialog and plotting of last week. Everything seems to play to the strengths of the writer and director at hand. It could almost be a silent movie — which is appropriate, I figure, to a Cyberman episode.

By a similar stretch: I just realized why Tennant reminds me so of Troughton in this episode. Well, the writing and performance do a lot of it. Just a important, though, is the outfit: black suit, light shirt, bow tie. Versus Cybermen, of all things. So again, yeah — appropriate. Troughton performance. Almost a silent horror movie. Some imagery to rival Tomb. This half of the story is one of the few effective Cyberman appearances in the history of the series. Too bad the build-up was so boring.

Still not as captivating as the best of the new series. It’s solid, though. Classic, in mostly a good way — whereas last week was classic in mostly a bad one.