The Girl Who Died

The Girl Who Died was the sort of Doctor Who story I like. We were presented with a series of scenes in which the Doctor and Clara were introduced to a world and got some amusing lines to deliver, things got fleshed out, and there was a closing sequence that made sense both on the episode's own terms and in terms of the mechanics of the show at large. When done right that's always a great approach for Doctor Who (though obviously it can work with any companion and not Clara specifically).

It was the series of twists towards the start that really stood out to me. The Doctor pretended to be Odin. A nice little thing in itself because it's the sort of thing many other incarnations of the character may have tried. Then a giant faced appeared in the clouds and claimed to be the real Odin. An amusing, well-placed conceit within the episode which instantly raised questions for the audience. From there the fittest, strongest people in the village (including Clara and Ashildr, played by biggest name guest actor Maisie Williams, because of course) were beamed onto a space ship by some giant alien robots and slaughtered for boring-but-sensible-within-the-confines-of-the-show reasons. Clara and Ashildr escaped because they were always going to and then the second phase of the episode began: the Doctor helping the remaining villagers to prepare for a battle Clara had stupidly (but handily for a TV show that has to feature #conflict) provoked the alien into a battle.

After that it settled down into a well written episode . We got some scenes that were determined to make us care about the guest cast and for the most part they did. Far more impressive was the material given to Capaldi. He got to play everything from courage to angst and was given excellent dialogue to do so, a refreshing change from the by-the-numbers material he's mostly gotten in the part (I think I remember this being a strength in last year's Flatline, also by Jamie Mathieson). Clara being split off for the brief sojourn to the ship made sense too, and gave her something to do after weeks of her being sidelined.

It was also nice to see the design work back on track after a severe wobble with the Fisher King in Before the Flood. Fake Odin was pretty much written and performed as a generic baddie but he was made to look enough like a futuristic Viking that it didn't matter. He looked like what he was meant to be, an alien (or possibly an alien AI, I didn't follow that bit closely enough) trying to pass themselves (or itself) off as a god using a basic understanding of human mythology. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that someone took inspiration from Lost Vikings 2 for that (and I'd be more surprised still if more than one person reading this understood that reference without the assistance of Google). The robot henchmen were better still. They were big and bulky and intimidating with rivets and bolts that you don't see in Doctor Who designs often. They looked convincingly alien and warrant a return. I could have done without the removal of their headpieces to reveal squealing flesh heads though. They were more appealing when they appeared to be some sort of enchanted clay-metal robot warriors.

In fact the episode's only weakness was something that was likely intended to be one of its highlights. The topic of where the Doctor's face came from was tackled more substantially than it has been since Capaldi's debut episode Deep Breath. This is something aimed at people like me, people who know and rewatch and study the show. But I didn't care. I didn't care because it's been handled poorly within the show. I could have been convinced that it mattered pretty easily. It is, after all, famously a theory that Russell T Davies cooked up as his own private fan theory then passed on to Moffat, who decided it was so good he'd include it in the show. That's my kind of thing! But it was so bland, not to mention wholly unnecessary, that I couldn't bring myself care. The Doctor chose the face of Caecilius, the man he saved from a burning Pompeii, to remind himself that he saves people. So what?

It raises more questions than it answers. How did he do this when he's seemingly had no control over his appearance before? How does John Frobisher, also played by Capaldi, factor into this? Why didn't the Doctor do it when he changed from the Tenth Doctor, who saved Caecilius, into the Eleventh? If the Eleventh chose the face to remind himself that he's a good man who saves people because he'd just run into the War Doctor and been reminded of some apparently horrible things he did and was having a crisis of confidence or something  then why didn't he make a more recent or relevant selection? Does Moffat really expect anyone who's not invested in this show more than the average viewer to understand the sudden appearance of David Tennant and Catherine Tate in scenes from an episode that first aired seven years ago? Maybe there's more to come on this. If so, good. Right now it looks like another example of Moffat building something up in interviews that turns out to be wholly underwhelming once it appears in the show.

After the predictable struggle against the bad guy worked out in favour of the overmatched villagers (funny that) we got the episode's final twist, the Doctor saving Ashildr with technomagic and making her immortal. This was a nice final flourish and kept the revelation of how two episodes (this and next week's The Woman Who Lived) written by two different people and not appearing to be a two part tale fit together.

This was easily the best episode since The Magician's Apprentice and possibly the best of the series so far (I'd need rewatches to decide for sure). It featured enough surprises, dealt out its revelations well, and contained enough strong design work that it was a joy to watch. If this was the average level of quality I think the show would be all the better for it.

Deep Breath

I think it was generally accepted before Deep Breath aired that Peter Capaldi was a good casting choice for the Twelfth Doctor. So it shouldn’t really be a surprise that he was the best thing about his debut episode. In an hour and fifteen minutes Capaldi gave a varied performance that was evocative of the character’s history without being entirely beholden to it. There was nothing that sounded like a catchphrase, nothing that looked like a stab at vaudevillian physical comedy. In other words, exactly the sort of performance Matt Smith failed to deliver during his entire tenure.

Perhaps the most pleasing thing about Capaldi was that it was clear how differently he was playing the part to Smith. Having watched Smith’s Eleventh Doctor for the last four years it was all too easy to imagine moments which would have featured an arm flail or a spin or a gurning face. It was intentionally, according to writer Steven Moffat, written as a Matt Smith script for the most part, the Twelfth Doctor apparently still believing himself to be the Eleventh. A move presumably designed to allow the differences between the two actors to be clearly highlighted. Pleasingly Capaldi swallowed the silliness in his lines and instead allowed humour to come from understatement.

But in fairness to Moffat he took some chances with the script. The Doctor was written to do things the Smith incarnation wouldn’t have done, most obviously deserting Clara for a while in the underground lair. It was not the pivotal, shocking moment Moff probably thinks it was, but it did do a nice job of showing that the new Doctor is to be written differently to the last two. That’s a welcome change after eight years.

It’s still too early to judge whether Capaldi’s Doctor will be a success. One episode’s been shown in which, at points, he was written like his predecessor. Nowhere near enough to look at the strengths and weaknesses of Capaldi’s take on the role. Still, he was, as already said, the best thing about the episode.

Not that he had much competition, mind you. The most enjoyable performances after Capaldi came from Dan Starkey’s comedy figure Strax and Michelle Gomez’s Missy. Neither was a large role, with Gomez only appearing in a cameo at the very end of the episode. Nobody else stood out. Jenna Coleman did nothing special, and she was given as much of an opportunity to as she’s ever likely to get, dealing as she was with the loss of what was apparently a great love and having to cope with and rely upon an abrasive stranger. Despite her lines there was never a sense that Clara felt she’d lost a friend. There was never any doubt she’d be fine with this new Doctor at the end of the episode, and not just because we know Clara’s confirmed for the rest of the series.

While Coleman wasn’t especially interesting or good at least she wasn’t actively bad. The same can’t be said for Neve McIntosh’s Madam Vastra. Since she first appeared in 2011’s A Good Man Goes to War Vastra’s speech patterns have gradually become overtly Victorian. “He seems remarkably unmoved by the available spectacle,” for example. This wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that none of the other Victorian characters, most notably Jenny, speak that way. It’s jarring enough to draw my attention whenever she appears. It was particularly bad in this episode because Vastra played a larger role than usual, functioning as the lead character for around the first twenty-five minutes of the episode.

As a season opener Deep Breath just needed to be fun and easy to follow, which it was. As Capaldi’s debut episode it needed to allow him to make a good enough impression to show people he’ll be good in the role, which it did. The plot and the enemies were a recycling of The Girl in the Fireplace, not a problem as that episode first aired eight years ago. That said I did find it peculiar that the lead droid was the only one missing half a face. Why, if his subordinates all got complete faces and bodies, did the lead droid not?

It was a decent offering, although one I doubt people will look back on as a classic. My biggest regret is that the dinosaur didn’t get to become a companion. It displayed a far greater range than Jenna Coleman. If that’s the worst that can be said for it something’s probably gone right.

Take a Deep Breath

“Clara be my pal and tell me, am I a good man?”

“I don’t think I know who the Doctor is anymore.”

That exchange and the publicity shot above them are things the BBC thinks we should be getting excited over. To be honest the teaser trailer featuring the two lines of dialogue did nothing for me. The silhouette of Capaldi looked like it was done through CGI and for some reason that really irritates me. Probably because I’d rather have a shot of Capaldi that’s definitely live action.

Still, the teaser does at least support Moff’s natter about the Doctor being more irascible that he’s been since Eccleston though. Which is a good thing. Or at least it is in theory. How good it is in practice is reliant on Moffat being capable of writing a “snarling beast” leading man with empathy. Going on his career history that’s not something we can rely on.

The picture’s more interesting. Because it shows a new TARDIS set. The purple and gold colouring’s pretty nice. It puts me in mind of the secondary console room, even though it really shouldn’t. Perhaps it’s because the walls look like they’re wooden. Perhaps it actually will prove to be based on the secondary console room when we get to see more of it. It already looks nicer than the last console room. The cold, clinical steel look never did anything for me.

Also pretty old school is the control console being white. Because, y’know, until 2005 we’d only ever had white controls in the TARDIS.

All told it looks like a nice new set. But should that really be the thing that I’m most looking forward to seeing when there’s a new Doctor debuting? The answer, of course, is no.

Oh, and the Twelfth Doctor’s debut episode being called Deep Breath? That’s a bit disappointing, isn’t it?