One of
the better offerings of the season. It
has its share of problems – the resolution is a bit of a narrative cheat, the
show still doesn’t seem to have much interest in showing the Doctor doing
Doctory things, and I’m not sure what to make of where the Doctor-Clara
relationship is going – but it’s an interesting story with an intriguing
dilemma, and the Doctor is in pretty good form.
It’s
2049, and something’s up with the moon.
While on a lunar jaunt, the Doctor, Clara, and a one-shot tagalong (won’t
name names, spoilers and all) notice that the moon’s gravity isn’t what it
ought to be. They run into a team of
astronauts sent to investigate the moon-related source of some serious problems
happening on Earth, and the answer is one that no one expected. There’s an abandoned space base, some scary
critters, and an imaginative alien plot.
The
best plus is the version of the Doctor we get this week. It seems he’s been written all over the place
this season, and his characterization here pretty well lines up with what I
like about him. He’s observant and
intelligent, and he’s both curious and excited about the central mystery. I love that.
Twelve so often seemd like he can’t be bothered with much of anything,
and it’s wonderfully Doctor-ish to see him puzzling over the unexpected and lighting
up when he discovers something new. He has
good bite without taking it too far, and here, we see him actually taking a
step back to let the humans make their own decision about something crucial.
That’s
intriguing to me. It’s unlike the Doctor,
and it may be seen as cruel (it is, by some,) like he’s guided them deep into a
cave and then told them to find the way back themselves. It may be callous, again with that alien
detachment that we’ve seen more of with this regeneration. It may be a bit of a mind game that only gives
people the illusion of agency. On the
other hand, it may be the Doctor recognizing his rather paternalistic
relationship with humanity and realizing he shouldn’t have a right to make decisions
for them. It may be an acknowledgment of
his faith in Clara, knowing that she can make a just call. While it’s very likely that elements of the earlier
possibilities are mixed in with the Doctor’s motives, I think he’s ultimately
coming at it, or at least trying to, from the right place.
I’m of
two minds about Clara’s reaction. I get
that, by episode’s end, she’s been through a lot and has good reason to be
frustrated and/or upset. However, there
seems to be this disconnect between her and the Doctor, and she can’t see where
he’s coming from at all. The
relationship between the Doctor and Clara has always been kind of nebulous, but
it’s really floundering this season. The
show doesn’t spend much time showing us what they think about each other, and
the little it does show often feels inconsistent. Here, I’m brought right back to the end of “Deep
Breath,” with the Doctor urging Clara to see
him, and it seems like she still can’t.
It’s like there hasn’t been any progress since her post-regeneration
doubts and fears, and if so, what’s the point?
What’s the show trying to say?
Can she not get past the fact that he’s changed? Has he changed so much that he can’t be what
she needs anymore? Are they going to get
nudged back on course, have they both drifted too far, or are they going to
continue on in this way: he makes
disparaging remarks about her and yet seems desperate for her companionship,
and she treats him rather like one of her students while somewhat begrudgingly
fitting him into her schedule? If the
story they’re trying to tell is that Clara and the Doctor are no longer a good
fit, I wish they’d tell it a bit more quickly, because that sort of distant
dysfunction isn’t why I watch Who.
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