As is pretty obvious by now, I’m a bit of an Oblivion addict.

One of the great things of the game, is its ability to be epic in scope.  As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m currently replaying the game, and the other day, I took time away from the main quest to replay the Knights of the Nine expansion.   In truth when I first played the game, I made a point of getting through the main quest as quickly as possible, as the Oblivion gates were annoying the heck out of me.   This time I’m trying to resist the urge, as I later read about how useful the higher level Sigil Stones could be.

Playing through the Knights of the Nine quests at a much earlier point in the game I’m really appreciating how good the Divine Crusader armour is.   I was only level 7 or 8 when playing it this time, whereas first time it was after I’d completed the rest of the game, and so was pretty well kitted out with powerful magical equipment and armour.  I’m actually trying to resist using it too often, only grabbing it from the Priory for tough missions, where I want the edge of the better equipment, not to mention one of my fellow Knights for some backup.

However, the point of this post, is the end fight in the Knights of the Nine questline.   It finds you finally face to face with Umaril the Ayleid sorceror.  The plot of the quest has it that the Divine Crusader defeated him during the first age, however now that he has returned, you must find the weapons and armour of the Divine Crusader, and defeat Umaril fully.  This time, you must use the blessing of Talos to follow him in to the spirit world, when you do battle in the skies above the Imperial City.

Its a great plotline, dealing with the original fate of the Knights of the Nine, as you rebuild the order while finding the Crusader’s armour and weapons.  The end fight in the skies above the Imperial City is brilliantly epic, so I thought I’d capture it to a video for you to see.  Enjoy.

Another good episode this week.  They’re really going to have to fall spectacularly in the second half of the season to prevent this being the strongest yet.

I was surprised by how quickly Jenny’s origin was handled.  After spending all week pondering it (and being more-or-less right by thinking she was going to be some kind of clone), I was amazed that it was taken care of within a couple of minutes.

David Tennant was on fine form in this episode.   He was given a great amount to do, with his initial rejection of Jenny, then slowly warming to her, and accepting her as his daughter, before finally losing her.  He really shines with this kind of thing, and the scenes towards the end when he was talking to the dying Jenny were real “something in my eye” moments.   When he picked up the gun and pointed it at Cobb, there was a great split-second where you thought the Doctor really could kill him.   A great moment in the mythos.

Georgia Moffet was brilliant as Jenny.   It must’ve been a nightmare part to cast but she got it just right, believably starting as a battle-ready troop, before being swayed by the Doctor and realising she had a choice.   And like the Doctor, you saw her accepting him as her father and their growing relationship as the story went on.

And then they brought her back.   I was really glad they did (I spent much the last five minutes waiting for her eyes to open, and her to regenerate - which sort of happened).  Apparently in the original drafts she just died, before Stephen Moffat talked RTD round and she lived.   It was nice to see, as we’d already had something similar when the Doctor lost the Master at the end of last year.  That was similarly played as him losing family, and once again becoming the last of the Time Lords.    Having her live was great, and they’ve just got to bring her back.

Of course, its sparked controversy online (what doesn’t?).   Did she sort-of regenerate, did she heal due to being so young (similar to the Doctor re-growing his hand), was it the terraforming?  I took it as the terraforming, but that’s not to say she can’t regenerate as Martha (hardly an expert) implied.  Possibly the terraforming gas interfered with the process before healing her itself.