Was last night's episode "Family of Blood?" I'm not watching the Sci-Fi Channel run as I've already seen Series 3 thanks to the internet. If so, the end, the Doctor's punishments of the family, while fantastical, I think fell in line with the dark side of the 7th Doctor in the final season of the classic series (setting up traps to destroy the Daleks and Cybermen, etc.).

Next week's, Blink, is the "Doctor lite" episode of the season, and it is a corker! Not one to watch with the lights out.
"The important question is not, are there aliens on other worlds? No. The important question is, do they have ray guns?"