Doctor Who: Spyfall (2)

Doctor: 'These are the dark times. But they don't sustain. Darkness never sustains, even though sometimes it feels like it might.'

I expected to lose many things during Chris Chibnall's tenure—plot complexity, writing talent, story continuity, humour, my mind—what I didn't expect was for the show to feel nothing like Doctor Who. Tonight's episode took a tentative step towards at least acknowledging some of the problems. That's not to say it was a great episode—in fact, it was downright awful in places—but it did some things right, and for the first time since Chibnall took over, it felt like Doctor Who again.

Chibnall made many mistakes when he took charge, but for me the most egregious was to distance the Doctor from her past. The intention was obviously to relieve the continuity burden for the millions he hoped would flock to the newly revitalised franchise. Sadly, all it did was alienate a significant chunk of the show's existing fanbase, empty the Doctor of virtually everything that made her interesting, and make it nigh on impossible for her travelling companions to ask the most fundamental question of all: who is the Doctor?

Remember back in 'The End of the World' when Nine bemoaned the impermanence of life, confessed to a troubled past, and was immediately adopted into Rose's surrogate family? Or in 'Gridlock' when Ten opened up to Martha about the fate of Gallifrey, before waxing lyrical about its beauty to the tune of Abide With Me? These weren't just throwaway scenes, they were real bonding moments: frequently moving, always heartfelt, and undeniably necessary. They're also scenes the Chibnall era has stubbornly refused to provide. Until tonight.

Tonight, Graham finally got to ask the big question, and although the Doctor's answer wasn't as lyrical, verbose or emotional as on previous occasions, it felt like a start. Here's hoping that the getting-to-know-you phase has finally begun, and that the Doctor's 'fam' will become family in more than just name alone. Yes, it's probably a season overdue, but I'll take that over it never happening at all, because as things stand I have a stronger relationship with my mum's old heated rollers than these characters have with each other.

Whittaker's performance tonight also felt much improved. When she's given sensible dialogue, a logical path of development, and a situation which doesn't allow for incessant arsing about, she's infinitely more convincing. If Chibnall could just drop what he imagines to be the character-building rambles, cut the question count down to a three-in-a-row minimum, and stop it with the god awful 'I love [insert blandest shit ever here]', then the Doctor would have something resembling a likeable personality. Jodie can act; Chibnall can write good dialogue; is it too much to ask that they both do it in the same show?

Dhawan's Master I like. In fact, the exchanges between Dharwan and Whittaker were my favourite parts of the episode. Finally something for the actors to sink their teeth into, and both rose admirably to the challenge. I'm not altogether sure I like the idea of wrecking Gallifrey again so soon after the 50th anniversary rescued it from extinction, but if it gives the season momentum, and inspires better cast performances, then so be it. One thing I did hate, however, is how the Doctor left an Asian man at the mercy of the Nazis. I'm no expert, but what kind of fucked-up pacifist finds war abhorrent, yet this sort of bullshit acceptable? At worst, the scene felt like a cock up of gargantuan proportions, at best just grossly insensitive.

Both Lenny Henry and the Kasaavin had smaller roles than I anticipated, but I thought the latter showed considerable promise, and are probably the first Chibnall-created monster that I'd be happy to see return. Interesting inclusion of Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan, too, although I'm not sure a Bond spoof was the right place to tell Khan's story. The mindwipe was also sad, particularly in light of Clara Oswald's heartfelt insistence that memories are the rightful property of their owner. And I know it would've been insensitive to change actual history, but when you know a person's fate—Noor's life ended in Dachau—something inside me hoped that the Doctor would save her anyway. But the Doctor rarely intervenes these days. Good performances from both Sylvie Briggs and Aurora Marion though.

The past three episodes have seen a shift in the direction of the show, and it's a change I'm happy to see. There's still a lot of work to be done on a foundational level, but a course correction of sorts does appear to be occurring. Whether Chibnall has the skills to pull it off, or whether this is just an accidental blip in his masterplan to make the show utterly unrecognisable, remains to be seen. But at least the classic monsters/villains are back, the Doctor can once again talk about her past in a meaningful way, a story arc about Gallifrey seems to be in the offing, the Moffatian timey-wimey stuff is back (albeit briefly), and they finally managed to crack a funny gag. As the Doctor says in the opening quote: the dark times don't sustain. Here's hoping there's at least some truth to that.

Other Thoughts:

—The Doctor can sense the Master's presence? Why couldn't she sense him last week?

—No official explanation yet on where this new Master fits in, but hopefully it will be addressed at some point.

—Graham's laser shoes weren't my favourite part of the episode, but they were no worse than Ten attempting to subdue a Pyrovile with a water pistol.

—The Doctor forgetting to save them on the plane, necessitating a trip back through time to implement a plan, was the funniest thing I've seen the show do in a long time. More of this, please.

—The Timeless Child is back. Deeply seeded plotting, or shameless development of what was originally a throwaway line? Discuss!

—Did the plot make any sense at all? Asking for a friend.

—Despite their limited screentime, Ada and Noor felt better drawn than any of the Doctor's current TARDIS-mates. Maybe the Doctor's next companions should be from different historical eras? Even actual people might work.

Quotes:

Doctor: 'Go about your day knowing that you may tell people you were privileged to witness the marvellous  apparating man... lady... apparating lady.'

Master: 'Everything you think you know is a lie.'

Yaz: 'Ryan, don't tell them the plan.'

Doctor: 'I love laminators!'