Looking
at the Doctor’s story today. As with
last week, we’re talking full spoilage on “World Enough and Time” and “The
Doctor Falls.”
First
off, I know the Doctor and the Master have had their weird love/hate thing
going on for centuries, but dude. He is way
too trusting of Missy here, and I was legit mad at him for entrusting Bill and
Nardole’s safety to her. Even if he’s
right inside the TARDIS and can pop out at the first sign of trouble, that’s
putting way too big a gamble on his friends’ lives. Bad Doctor!
That’s my
chief complaint. Mostly, though, the
Doctor is quite good here, especially in “The Doctor Falls.” As I’ve said before, I love that he’s
prepared to make his last stand for the sake of a few dozen people, and his
speech about doing what he does, purely because it’s kind, is absolutely
gorgeous. Peter Capaldi has
unfortunately been given a lot of rocky writing during his time on the show,
but when they give him these moments where he can really shine, he knocks it
out of the park every time. That speech
is the Doctor all over, and I love it.
I’m
interested in the whole regeneration situation (and not just because I’m
excited about what’s to come.) It seems
like his injuries at the start of “The Doctor Falls” are what’s really
triggering the regeneration, more so than anything that comes afterwards, and
I’m intrigued by how he’s been able to stave off the regeneration so far. I suppose that makes sense, though – there
are plenty of fatal injuries that don’t kill a person right away, and it
follows that he could keep the regeneration energy down to just occasional
wisps until his condition gets too critical to keep ignoring. And even as you want to scream, “Talk to your
friend, Doctor!”, it’s admittedly in character for him to brush it off and not
tell Bill about it. Waiting to tell his
companion until the very last second is kind of the Doctor’s go-to move, save
the odd random reference that does nothing but confuse them. And with Bill in particular, saying that
she’s going through some stuff right now is putting it mildly. I can totally understand the Doctor wanting
to divide his attention completely between stopping the Cybermen and supporting
Bill through this horrific trauma in whatever small way he can, pushing his own
stuff down.
The last
stand itself is beautiful – “I hoped there’d be stars,” is a beautiful line,
and again, so Doctor. But it’s not
actually the end, of course. Heather ex
machina gets him back to the TARDIS and for whatever reason, he still hasn’t
regenerated by the time he comes to and thus is able to hold it back again,
just barely. And this is where it starts
to bug me again. Don’t get me wrong –
I’m glad we’ll have one more episode with Twelve, and I’m thrilled about One being in the Christmas special. But 1) I’m not a fan of dragged-out regenerations
– and I thought Ten’s passing was interminable.
We’re not gonna having an entire Christmas special of Twelve trying not
to regenerate, are we? Hopefully,
something will happen at the start to at least put it off for a while, so he’s
not struggling against it the whole time.
And 2) I don’t like to watch the Doctor railing against
regeneration. For better or worse, this
is how life works for a Time Lord – regeneration happens (and when you think
about how flippant the Doctor was about the General in “Hellbent” last season,
he really has no right to agonize
over this!) I get that regeneration,
like death, is scary, and it’s understandable that a particular regeneration of
the Doctor can feel like he’s not ready to go yet. But I don’t like watching it. I greatly prefer it when the Doctor goes to
his regeneration with grace. Eleven’s
regeneration was lovely, and Nine’s is still my favorite ever. See, with Nine, I was bawling my head off,
whereas with Ten, I was kinda like, “Just go
already!” I don’t want to feel that
about Twelve.
Is there
anything to read into the fact that both new Who showrunners so far have had two Doctors, and it looks like in
both cases, their first Doctor accepts it (when he’s regenerating into another
Doctor written by the same showrunner, but their second Doctor fights it (when
he’s regenerating into a Doctor written by the new showrunner?) I wouldn’t
say it’s actively trying to poison the well, but it does feel a bit like, the
first time around, it’s all, “Look, I know I’ve changed, but I’m still me!
The same old Doctor, kids – it’s all right!” But when the showrunner’s on the way out,
it’s, “Okay, kids – this new Doctor, whoever they are, isn’t me at all, and in fact, when you think about it, it’s kind of
like they’re killing me so they can
live, so whatever you do, don’t love them!” I kid, I kid.
Still, it’s a weird trait.
Hopefully,
I’m wrong. Since it looks like Twelve is
in for the longest regeneration ever, he’s still got some time to come to terms
with it before the end.
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