Ah, Twelve. While I’ve more than expressed some of my frustrations with the writing during his era of the show (series 8 was the first time I did week-to-week episode reviews for the show, and my feelings are well-known,) that doesn’t ultimately have much of an effect on my feelings for the Twelfth Doctor himself, who I basically adore. Very different than some of his more recent predecessors, Twelve has a reputation for being a “darker,” “crankier” Doctor (especially in his first season,) but I just love him.
As far as regenerations go, Eleven-into-Twelve doesn’t feature as much physical/mental discombobulation as some Doctors experience, although it does take the new Doctor a bit of time to remember anyone’s name. However, it’s still a hard regeneration in that, on a surface level, the changes from Eleven to Twelve are pretty drastic, and that puts some strain on the Doctor’s relationship with Clara. His appearance becomes much older, and where personality is concerned, Twelve is immediately much sharper and pricklier than the quirky, puppy-ish Eleven. There’s a bit of sleight-of-hand going on here, because, yes, Twelve can be pretty rude and completely tone-deaf, but so could Eleven – those statements just read very differently when paired with the more open/closed demeanors of the two different Doctors. While Clara would probably be more likely to laugh or roll her eyes at one of Eleven’s more tactless comments, she’s more inclined to grumble at or slap Twelve for doing the same.
There’s a similar disconnect with the “darker” aspects of this Doctor. Again, his physical actions aren’t all that different from many of his predecessors (as much as they take stances against guns/killing, regardless of which Doctor it is, the bad guys more often than not end up dead,) but Twelve’s less warm-and-fuzzy manner can make it seem like he goes further than those who came before him. But I think, more than anything, what’s really going on is that Twelve doesn’t generally try to hide or soften the harder things he does. He doesn’t wring his hands over it, and he doesn’t usually mourn those he failed to save when he’s in the thick of an adventure, because he knows there isn’t time. But that doesn’t make him cold. Deaths still affect him, whether it’s someone he has to stop or someone he couldn’t save, and he still has the guilt and the anguish. He just doesn’t display it as much as he used to.
As time goes by, the show readjusts the levels and puts Twelve a little more in line with what we think of as more typically Doctor-ish. He hugs more, he’s more demonstrative with his feelings, and he’s not quite as cagey. I don’t think they would’ve needed to do this - I love Twelve any way you give him to me, and having him be a little thornier in series 8 didn’t make him any less the Doctor. But I suppose you could see it as Twelve settling into his regeneration more and being able to relax. He can still be grumpy and brusque, but it’s just a little softer around the edges. Really, it shows how aspects like joy, caring, and excitement were always still there, they were just hiding a little.
One amusing little quirk that Twelve has, highlighting just how alien he is, is his complete inability to tell how old anyone is. Every time I hear him say, re: Clara, “How can I be her dad when we look exactly the the age?”, it makes me laugh (probably the single best part of “The Caretaker.”) Reading people in that way is totally off his radar on, and it’s a fun trait for the show to mess around with.
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