Doctor Who Season 35 – 06

Doctor Who - 3506 -9 Doctor Who - 3506 -16 Doctor Who - 3506 -21

“The Caretaker”

Brief touch-base on Doctor Who this week, for reasons I’ve already covered.  But the usual disclaimer applies – don’t mistake the length of the post for the fondness towards the episode.  I thought this was rather a good one – probably the second-best of the season after “Listen”, and probably of more historical standing.

I’m still not buying Jenna Coleman – her Clara never delivers a line in a way that sounds and feels like an actual person would deliver it.  But I loved the way her character was used this week to reveal an essential and difficult side of the Doctor-Companion relationship.  And I love the way Peter Capaldi’s Doctor is finding his true form – an irreverent, brusque and irritating genius who could never be mistaken for a human the way Smith or even Tennant could.

Doctor Who - 3506 -1 Doctor Who - 3506 -2 Doctor Who - 3506 -3

The plot this week – a goofy-looking alien called a “Skovox Blitzer” that looks like a Dalek-Cyberman hybrid hiding out near Coal Hill School that the Doctor decides he needs to deal with by posing as the temporary caretaker– is a thin veneer to facilitate the character dynamics between Capaldi’s Doctor, Clara and Danny.  But that’s fine – it’s those dynamics that give the story its edge, and the meeting between Danny and the Doctor doesn’t disappoint.  Danny irritated the hell out of me, but in a good way – this was every bit the tense and dangerous meeting of two guys who seriously dislike each other that it needed to be.

True, the Doctor’s disdain for soldiers is being played up in way that suggests Moffat is wilfully ignoring series canon (Brigadier on line two…), but it does provide for a fascinating conflict.  Capaldi is revealing a real prejudicial nature here, constantly demeaning Danny as “PE” and refusing to believe Clara could see anything in an ex-soldier (he convinces himself that Edward Harrison’s Adrian – whose resemblance to Matt Smith is unmistakable – is the boyfriend).  But Danny is every bit as bigoted when it comes to authority figures (presumably like the Doctor he has good reasons for his biases).  And for the record Clara officially uses the “L” word about him here.

Doctor Who - 3506 -4 Doctor Who - 3506 -5 Doctor Who - 3506 -6

I’m not that crazy about Moffat’s conceit of having the companions lead double-lives – I like the notion of a full-time commitment.  But he is using it here in an interesting way, and really playing up the conflict with Clara – she’s desperate to have each of the men she loves approve of the other.  I don’t think this can work long-term, and I think Moffat feels the same way – but we’ll see.

Finally, Missy does make an appearance here, albeit a silent one – so don’t think for a moment Moffat has forgotten that MacGuffin.  Not that anyone who knows his work could think so.

Doctor Who - 3506 -7 Doctor Who - 3506 -8 Doctor Who - 3506 -10
Doctor Who - 3506 -11 Doctor Who - 3506 -12 Doctor Who - 3506 -13
Doctor Who - 3506 -14 Doctor Who - 3506 -15 Doctor Who - 3506 -17
Doctor Who - 3506 -18 Doctor Who - 3506 -19 Doctor Who - 3506 -20
Doctor Who - 3506 -22 Doctor Who - 3506 -23 Doctor Who - 3506 -24
Doctor Who - 3506 -25 Doctor Who - 3506 -26 Doctor Who - 3506 -27
Doctor Who - 3506 -28 Doctor Who - 3506 -29 Doctor Who - 3506 -30
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

3 comments

  1. G

    They are moving too fast with Mickey #2… I mean Danny Pink. She just started dating him and already he knows about the Doctor?

  2. s

    Mr.Capaldi's doctor is looking pretty damn good as the doctor (I already thought capaldi's performance was good already) now that his character is being given room to grow and i cant wait to see what he will deliver in an exceptional ep; all the doc who eps so far have just been good to really good in my opinion, well, except for the robin hood ep; that was okay. I still think Jenna Coleman gives a wonderful performance as Clara and for the most part her delivery of lines feel pretty natural to me. I know what you're trying to get at with your comment about her delivery but i really dont see it at all (and ive seen a lot of disney channel sitcom crap :D). Perhaps it's that sort of snooty personality that Clara has that makes her lines come off that way; i mean that does fall in line with the way some of the characters in the show point out some of her more…off-putting characteristics for jokes (deep breath is a good example with that alien butler)

  3. M

    Loving Capaldi as the new doctor, but once again, it's questionable ideas from Moffat that has me sighing with slight disappointment. Every week, there's another thing to be saved, and the severity lessens each time.

    Personally, I enjoyed the bank heist the most, but even that was soured by having the Doctor say that last line that made him look like he trying to one-up Clara's date… Every episode's been just kind of… surreal.

Leave a Comment