After fears that Doctor Who was in danger of if not quite jumping the shark then certainly skipping daintily over the halibut, tonight's episode was a breath of fresh air. The story was solid, it had bags of atmosphere, and most importantly: Thirteen felt like the Doctor. It's amazing what can be achieved by ripping the pen from Chibnall's ruinous hand. No co-credit this week, no heavy-handed political rhetoric, just a good old fashioned 'ghost story' and some tasty season-arc morsels to nibble on.
Whilst watching tonight's episode I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It wasn't until we got to the Doctor's end speech that I realised what it was: the characters were actually engaging. The companions acted in ways which revealed something about themselves, the Doctor had both personality and gravitas, the guest cast were entertaining, and the story didn't struggle under the burden of being a public service announcement light on subtlety and frequently devoid of understanding. In short: this is what Doctor Who should've been like from the start of Chibnall's tenure.
That's not to say it'll go down as an all-time classic, but it was a fine example of what the current show is capable of. It's as though Maxine Alderton thought to herself: 'Flat team structure? Fuck that, she's the Doctor, for Christ's sake... she's gonna get shit done!' Seeing the Doctor acknowledge her authority, ponder its weight, and then act in accordance with it was such a cool moment, it's ridiculous we've had to wait this long. After over a season and a half of the Doctor being an extra in her own show, her admittance to being top dog felt like a forward step in addressing the show's most obvious weakness. Let's hope it wasn't just some single-episode aberration that's immediately forgotten.
It's probably true that Doctor Who the show wouldn't even exist without Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, so to write a story in which Frankenstein wouldn't exist without Doctor Who felt like a deliciously cheeky angle to pursue. I'm not entirely sure I bought Lord Byron's obsession and subsequent immortalisation of the Doctor in poetry. Thirteen feels like the most asexual Doctor we've had in a while, and at the point where Byron started showing interest in her she hadn't done anything deserving of adulation. They tried to sell it at the end with that shot of the Doctor's knowing half-smile, but Jodie's acting choices are so inscrutable these days that she may well have been reminiscing over a delicious sandwich she once ate.
Speaking of unrequited love, I wonder who Yaz's enigmatic hero is. Clearly not the cardboard cutout that is Ryan, which leaves who... the Doctor? I hope that's not where they're going with this. There's been zilch in terms of sexual chemistry between any of the main cast members, so pulling this one out of the bag so late in the day would be disastrous. It'd be like Olicity all over again, but much worse. I'm cool with people shipping Thasmin, I just don't want to see it unless it's believable. I suppose it's possible that Yaz was just empathising from past experience and that there's no immediate danger of them mashing together two random cast members, but it definitely felt high enough up in the mix to be significant.
The Cyberman stuff worked well. I've never been much of a fan of the modern cyber look, mainly because it looks so cheap, but breaking off some face-plate to reveal the occupant beneath played nicely into the body horror aspect of the Cybermen. I was also impressed that they had Ashad quoting Shelley, before forcing said poet into witnessing his own death as part of the solution. That was disturbing. Kudos too for acknowledging the existence of the Capaldi era, with the Doctor's oblique reference to Bill. It's just odd that Chibnall didn't get a writing credit for a story relatively heavy on setup for the final two-parter. Did he just throw Alderton the bare bones of what was required and allow her to run with it? Whatever the case, Alderton is the only current Who writer I'd be happy to see return.
Other Thoughts:
—So do ghosts exist or not? No, and then yes apparently.
—Is it just me, or did the editing feel a bit harsh at times?
—The chance of smashing your hand through a window and then getting instantly struck by lightning must be infinitesimally small.
Quotes:
Doctor: 'You ever considered breath mints?'
Doctor: 'Sometimes this team structure isn't flat, it's mountainous... with me at the summit, in the stratosphere, alone, left to choose.'
Doctor: 'Save the poet, save the universe.'
Save the cheerleader, save the world.
12 comments:
I know Villa Diodata is an actual place, but they really need to work on making their episode titles more memorable. "The Haunting of Villa Diodatya," "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos", "The Tsuranga Connundrum"....Jesus!
It still feels like they're saying what they should be showing. The Doctor's end speech was very much in the mould of Doctors of old, but the carefree way she goes about her daily business makes you think that she doesn't have a care in the world. I did think the story felt reminiscent of Ghost Light tho, which is no bad thing.
The only episode I've really liked of the past two seasons but still not up to the standard of previous Doctors. If there's anything to be learned it's that message-lite episodes are better, using the cast is better, serialised storytelling is better, and re-Moffatizing the show is better.
Yaz unrequited love comment essentially came to nothing then?
@RoyZ Yup!
Shame that. For such a progressive show, although it pays lip service to the LGBT community, it doesn't do a great job of showing it.
Ivan - That's pretty much true of virtually every topic though isn't it? Ryan's dyspraxia, for example. Graham's grief. The Doctor's social awkwardness. All topics begging to be mined, but seldom given more than a superficial examination.
Yeah everything's treated superficially for sure.
Yes but is Doctor Who really the show for a detailed treatment of such issues? I suspect that if it devoted even more time to pushing awareness of miscellaneous social issues people would complain even more.
You either do the subject justice or don't bother at all. I think the main mistake they've made is trying to address a different social issue in virtually every episode. Dedicate 2-3 episodes a season to addressing important subjects, and just have the rest of the season being fun.
I didn't think this was that great. It's better than most modern episodes, but it's still pretty weak in my book.
I'm sorry, I just can't stomach this era of Doctor Who. The characters are utterly devoid of character, the story has little story, and the social and political messages are so basically done, it feel like someone wrote the ideas down an the back of a ciggy packet, and then transferred them word for word into the script.
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