Doctor Who: Series 8, Episode 1 – “Deep Breath” (2014)

 

And so ends our eight months of waiting.  New season, new mystery, and most of all, new Doctor!  I’ll avoid spoilers for the various important goings-on, but more spoiler-phobic Whovians may still want to avert their eyes.

 

Plot first:  we’re back in Victorian London, which, these days, means another appearance by the Paternoster gang Vastra, Jenny, and Strax.  Though I still enjoy them, I feel like there are diminishing returns on this crew, especially Strax.  I thought he was just about perfect as the Sontaran nurse in “A Good Man Goes to War,” but he’s just been a violent buffoon since then.  It’s cheaper, less creative, and not as funny.  Anyway, the TARDIS finds its way to old London town with a bang (and a roar.)  There’s a dinosaur, a spate of mysterious “spontaneous combustions,” and a man with half a face.  For the most part, it holds together as a sci-fi romp, with a few thrills and some good action.

 

In terms of the alien plot, this might be one of my favorite Clara outings.  She’s able to be clever and brave, and she makes contributions to the story, although it seems like her most significant actions may continue to be making stirring speeches.  Is it too much to ask to see the woman do something?  The jury’s still out on whether or not we’ll get anything like concrete personality traits from her, but now that the whole Impossible Girl thing has been dealt with, I’m hopeful that she’ll be allowed to be a person instead of a mystery.  Seriously – free Clara!

 

The writing, courtesy of Moffat, is (unfortunately typically) rather heavy-handed.  I get that the new Doctor looks old, and that’s an adjustment, but the way the dialogue harps on it makes it seem like Peter Capaldi has a foot in the grave.  There’s way too much pointed speechifying about how he’s the same man and why anyone who loves him less due to his age is a horrible, shallow person.  It also repeatedly accuses Clara of being upset about “her boyfriend” (ugh) turning into some old guy and very insistently wants you to know that the new Doctor is done with flirting.  (Why it has to tell us over and over instead of just, you know, not flirting, is beyond me.)  It makes the episode feel defensive and self-conscious instead of owning itself.

 

If the above is a mixed bag, the important part – the new Doctor part – is almost uniformly wonderful.  It’s hard to be too definitive at this point, since there’s some major regeneration wonkiness going (the Doctor initially has trouble telling Clara and Strax apart,) but so far, I’m digging Twelve.  He’s weird and alien, an odd mix of cold and compassionate, with “independently angry” eyebrows and a mind that threatens to leave him two or three stops behind.  He seems to be a bit more serious than his recent predecessors, but he still makes amusingly-ADD non-sequiturs and has the old Doctor twinkle in his eye – I love the moment where he climbs out the window instead of using the door because it’s “more him.” 

 

PC is every bit as extraordinary as I figured he’d be.  Simultaneously energetic and thoughtful, funny, heartfelt, intense, and very, very Scottish.  He carries off the regeneration crisis well, and the episode’s best moments come from his exploration of his new self and his almost-shy attempts to convince Clara he’s still the Doctor without trying to give away how much it matters to him.  If the writing doesn’t let him down, he’ll be an absolutely superb Doctor; I can’t wait to see more.