My
eagerness for a second Jamie Mathieson episode was well-founded. This is another great outing with the same
strengths as “Mummy on the Orient Express” – a fantastically Doctor-ish Doctor,
a nice assortment of distinctive supporting characters, intriguing, creepy
aliens of the week, and better interactions between the Doctor and Clara. At two for two, Jamie Mathieson’s definitely
a keeper!
The
TARDIS lands in Bristol with a major, ridiculous problem: something is leeching its energy, and its
external dimensions are shrinking. The
Doctor’s attempts to solve conundrum lead to his being stuck inside the tiny
TARDIS (it’s as big as ever on the inside, but the outside is so small that he
can barely get his hand through the door.)
So, armed with the sonic screwdriver, the psychic paper, the Doctor’s
voice in an earpiece, and the TARDIS in her purse, it’s up to Clara to
investigate the strange goings-on. In addition
to the shrinking TARDIS trouble, people have been disappearing around the
estate, and there’s a shadowy, deadly presence lurking in the walls.
Even
trapped in the TARDIS, the Doctor is very involved in the episode’s
proceedings. He hijacks Clara’s optic
nerve, cooks up assorted theories, builds a helpful device which he passes
through the miniature doors, and alternately bickers with Clara and gives her
vital help and assurance. (Plus, before
he gets stuck, I love his delight at the mystery of the wee TARDIS. It’s so weird and unexpected, and he’s
absolutely giddy about it.) Clara’s turn
playing “the Doctor” isn’t too shabby, either.
She bravely organizes the civilians who get swept up in the alien
threat, and while the Doctor feeds her a number of insights, she also has some
great ideas on her own. Jenna Coleman’s
performance and Clara’s dialogue here is quite Doctory, especially reminiscent
of Eleven. She captures that mixture of
bossiness, encouragement, and flippancy just right.
I don’t
like it quite as well as “Mummy on the Orient Express” – the way Clara
completely ignores the itty-bitty TARDIS issue at the start of the episode and
just complains about landing in Bristol instead of back home is annoying, and I’m
not a fan of the repeated indications this season that the Doctor isn’t a good
person. It’s been a near-constant theme,
and it’s clear that the Doctor himself still doesn’t think he’s a good
man. I hope they’re going somewhere with
it, but so far, they have done enough with the idea to warrant being drawn out
the whole season; it’s just “there.”
Also, this is at least the third week in a row that Clara has been put
to some extent in the Doctor’s role, and her reaction at the end has been
different every time. In “Kill the Moon,”
she resents being forced to make the impossible decisions, in “Mummy on the
Orient Express,” she needs to promise something she’s not sure she can deliver
and realizes how difficult it is being the Doctor, and here, she has a handful
of strangers’ lives in her hands and, in the end, is rather cavalier about the
whole experience. I don’t know why they
keep repeating this device or why it seems to be skipping around rather than
moving forward.
Still,
there’s a fascinating alien concept, the visuals are terrific (besides the
fun-sized TARDIS, there’s a lot of street art that’s by turns cool, lovely, and
unnerving,) and it all feels like proper Doctor
Who. The Doctor is the Doctor and
gets to be the Big Damn Hero that I love, even when he can’t get out of a
little blue box. More please!
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