The Crimson Horror Review

Overall, I absolutely loved this episode. I really like how they're doing more back-in-time stuff this season, which is more realistic for a time travel show than spending all their time in present-day London. Bringing back Vastra, Jenny, and Strax was really an excellent idea, though I was hoping for more of a reaction out of them when they saw Clara.

The only thing I didn't like was the bit at the end where Artie and Angie confronted Clara. No one's ever discovered a time traveler that easily before, especially not one who's traveled as little as Clara. The only time traveler who's ever been discovered through historical methods is the Doctor, and that's only after he had been time traveling for several centuries. I'm going to go ahead and assume Moffat knows what he's doing and that there's a reason for making those kids aware of Clara's time traveling. They're probably going to play some important role in the next two episodes, possibly facilitating Clara's discovery of the mystery surrounding her.

For once, the plot line didn't involve any sort of aliens, which I believe is a first for the new series, other than the Cybus Cybermen. It was just some leech from the Jurassic era, though I would like to know where Mrs. Gillyflower got rocket technology. Some leech is not going to be intelligent enough to teach her how to build a rocket, which points to some sort of alien involvement (possibly the Great Intelligence). I wish there were more episodes like this, where the bad guys are just people, not any sort of aliens, just ordinary humans with bad intentions.

One thing I never did quite figure out is why Mrs. Gillyflower installed stations to cure people of the venom. It seems that since she wants everyone to get poisoned by the venom, there's no reason to cure people of it. If those stations weren't actually intended as cure booths, then that raises the question of how the Doctor knew that those places would work as such.

Another thing I noticed is that the Doctor was originally intending to take Clara to Victorian London, but then changed his mind. I think he was originally intending to show her to Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax to see if they had any ideas about her. Seeing as they obviously knew nothing, I guess he decided to take her home. He probably went right back to the Paternoster gang so that he could talk to them about her without having her around to eavesdrop.