Holistic Review: It suffers a bit from "too many eggs in the pudding" syndrome, and there are some irksome sticking points especially in the characterization, but its entertaining monster, some excellent dialogue, and a great rapport between our new TARDIS team makes it probably the strongest post-regeneration story of the revival thus far.
The Christmas Invasion? The Doctor out cold for most of the story, while Rose stands around blubbing rather than doing anything useful.
The Eleventh Hour? A knock out of the park for Matt Smith, but an underwhelming throwaway plotline and an irritatingly enigmatic new companion.
Deep Breath? Well, the Doctor barely takes a catnap (and that, under duress). His relationship with Clara becomes leaps and bounds better, and benefits her character as a result. And the unexpected return of a very enjoyable new-series monster is quite a lot more entertaining than Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi. So, yeah... I think I liked it!
Goodness knows I've adored both of our two recent "spring chicken" Doctors, even despite the fact that their youthful appearance led their own companions to start pondering hanky-panky in the TARDIS. Yet I can barely put into words how excited I was by Peter Capaldi's casting. A more mature Doctor promises a very different approach to the role, and with Capaldi just barely snatching the title of the oldest lead actor in the history of the series, change seemed assured... and to my delight, that's exactly what we got.
The twelfth Doctor is irascible and unpredictable. Even though I wouldn't be terribly likely to pal around with someone like that in real life, I find it almost unequivocally a good thing for the Doctor. Mainly that's because our last two Doctors have been so lovely and friendly and sweet and cuddly, and what we really need at this point is a contrast. So I'm really happy to see that the twelfth Doctor, while not at all unlikeable, is firmly in the mould of Hartnell and Colin Baker, and I think it's going to make for a fascinating change in the storytelling. I'm also very grateful for the legacy of Hartnell and Baker, because if it weren't for scenes like the Doctor sabotaging the TARDIS mercury links in order to explore, or strangling Peri in a post-regenerative fit of confusion, I'd find it very very difficult to accept scenes like the Doctor practically stealing a homeless tramp's only coat ("I'm cold! There's no point in us both being cold. Gimme your coat!"), and abandoning Clara to her fate at the hands of the droids ("There's no point in them catching us both", he says, yet again). I respect this bold move of returning to a Twin Dilemma style regeneration; by doing so, Moffat practically thumbs his nose at all the fans who claimed they were alienated by JNT's same tactic back in 1984. If Deep Breath succeeds despite the twelfth Doctor's shockingly selfish moments, it proves that the Doctor's characterization in The Twin Dilemma wasn't an intrinsically bad idea. Even still, I'm relying on these being one-off examples of mental scrambling, and assuming that such extreme behavior will not recur. Even knowing that the Doctor does come back to save Clara, the latter scene is very hard to take... what if she'd been killed in the meantime? But it's a powerful plot twist, as it demonstrates in a few short seconds just how very different this new Doctor is. If I were Clara, having seen (and borne the brunt of) some of the Doctor's worryingly erratic behavior, I'm not sure I'd want to continue travelling with him either.
The twelfth Doctor has outright stated his sworn intent not to flirt with his companions. To this, all I can say is: glory, hallelujah! It's been a long time coming, and if any of you want to get off the ride now because you can't handle the Doctor and his companion not making moon eyes full of repressed longing at one another, then be my guest, because I won't be sorry to see that element of fandom toned down. I'm so so so happy to hear the Doctor flat-out tell Clara "I'm not your boyfriend", and now — in one of the most massive changes we've seen in the Doctor — we learn that the twelfth Doctor "[doesn't] think that I'm a hugging person now." Even the fifth Doctor, forever barred from touching his female companions lest people get the wrong idea, worked in a few now and again. (Hugs, that is! Hugs.) I loved Vastra's perspective on the issue: "He has walked this universe for centuries untold. He has seen stars fall to dust. You might as well flirt with a mountain range." YES. Thank you. (Although I think Vastra is confusing 'wandered the universe for around 2000 years' with 'living on the same planet for 10 billion years'. Unless she just means "he's witnessed a supernova" and there's nothing too special about that.) It's an absolute breath of fresh air, and bodes well for a return to the Doctor's traditional avuncular relationship with his companions.
The twelfth Doctor, perhaps contrary to expectations, is an adrenaline junkie. I thought this was going to be the defining feature of the eleventh Doctor, what with his "Geronimo!" catchphrase. (Bet Moffat's sorry now that he used that one up early, eh? It would fit so much better with Capaldi!) Instead, that honor — jumping out of windows, jumping off bridges, somersaulting onto horses, dangling from the bottoms of couch-lifts, etc, etc — goes to the 55-year-old actor rather than the 26-year-old one. Which is utterly brilliant. I love that Capaldi's Doctor, like Pertwee, is getting these great moments of physicality. Way to prove to all the nay-sayers that an actor Hartnell's age isn't restricted to the "doddering grandfather" character archetype.
The twelfth Doctor seems to be less manic than his immediate predecessors, although that may remain to be seen. He certainly displays some manic tendencies in Deep Breath, but these can probably all be chalked up to specifically post-regenerative mania, which is understandable. (And, I must say, I'm delighted to see the post-regeneration mental shake-up is back in full force for really the first time since the start of the revival. It is funny how each Doctor responds to regeneration so differently!) I hope that Capaldi's Doctor will be a bit more grounded and less prone to babbling, which is exactly the direction he seems to be headed. Mind you, his babbling does lead to some very funny lines, like "The green one... and the not-green one." and his hilarious description of Clara: "Oh, you remember, er... Thingy." What he does seem to have already is a particularly fierce intelligence. I appreciate that glimpses of the Doctor's brilliance burst through his post-regeneration fog, like his recommendation to turn down the sonic lanterns. The "No, that is not the question" scene illustrates really well that the twelfth Doctor thinks several steps beyond everyone else, or at least laterally, in a way that perhaps the tenth and eleventh Doctors didn't.
What worries me, more than the fans who might leave because the Doctor is no longer such a lustful-seeming fellow, are the fans who proclaimed their intention to switch off in disgust because the Doctor is no longer such a young-seeming fellow, not realizing or caring that a youthful Doctor was very much the exception to the norm. I'm frankly appalled that anyone who calls themself a fan of the show would threaten to quit watching because Moffat has dared to cast an actor over 40 in the lead role. Seriously, people? Are we that shallow? Have we learned nothing from stories like Galaxy Four? (Well, I suppose it would help if we had more than one episode in the archives. Assuming these particular new-series fans would even bother watching anything so ancient and creaky! Ouch, I'm apparently in a catty mood tonight.) Even more than the romance, I have very strong feelings that if someone wants to stop watching because they don't think Capaldi is cute, well, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Doctor Who doesn't need a fandom like that, and thank goodness, these days it's not in need of the extra bodies in front of the TV to ensure its continued survival. We've reached a point where it's not so critical if a handful of people decide to give the show up, so in that respect I must admit that Moffat was really shrewd to continue in the same vein of Doctors — especially since we now know that the BBC considered axing the series again when David Tennant left, assuming that nobody could match his popularity — and then try out a more drastic change once the series was comfortably secure.
I'm curious to see how Capaldi's performance develops once we're past the regeneration story. I suspect that much of the Doctor's behavior in this story is atypical, at least up to the restaurant scene with Clara, which is good because there were a couple of moments during the first half of the episode that felt a bit overacted or oddly-delivered (like the Doctor's lines "Planet of the Pudding Brains..." and "Question two: if all the pudding brains are gawking, then what is he?"). Once the post-regeneration instability has passed, the new Doctor's personality seems to be rather low-key. Perhaps the downside of having a less manic Doctor is that there aren't as many opportunities for the actor to really show off, but as I said, this decreased excitability makes for a very pleasant change. And, oh, I'm so excited to have Capaldi in the lead. Even without so many moments to shine, Capaldi cements his status as a very well-cast Doctor. The role fits him like a glove. I appreciate that Deep Breath shows us the twelfth Doctor's funny side, his fierce side and his melancholy side, and Capaldi brings a promising edginess to the part. I loved Capaldi's delivery of "You've all developed a fault!", "Brace yourself. Piano.", "Oooh." with Clara in the restaurant, the way he motions with his eyes at their fellow diners, "Er... no sausages... j-...and there's no picture either. Do you have a children's menu?", "Oh, look!", the little wave he gives Clara as he clings onto the bottom of the couch-lift, and "Nope. Not getting it." And I appreciate that his lovely Scottish accent means that he pronounces "Clara" like we do in the US! (Well... more or less, he's only one vowel position away.) Now I won't feel quite so self-conscious when I talk about her and pronounce her name all funny.
Perhaps reflecting the twelfth Doctor's personality, his costume is also somewhat reserved and serious. I wouldn't say it's a terribly exciting costume, but it's certainly flattering. There are two details that I really love: the stylish but sturdy Loake boots, which — again reflecting his personality — provide an unexpected edgy contrast with the formality of his suit, and the pop of color from his coat's red lining. I definitely get more than a whiff of Jon Pertwee about it, even though the style isn't as flashy or idiosyncratic (by which I mean, his shirt lacks ruffles and the red lining isn't part of a cape).
One of the other really interesting aspects of regeneration is witnessing how the incumbent companion handles the situation, and although it seems hard to believe, this is only the second such opportunity we've had since 2005. In The Time of the Doctor, I found it puzzling that Clara was so unprepared for her Doctor to regenerate (especially when the alternative was certain death), but I hoped that it was just a bizarre temporary reaction, and Clara would have regained her composure by this story. Unfortunately, she did not. I really, really don't understand why Clara is finding it so difficult to grasp the idea of regeneration. Girl, you've seen every regeneration he has, which is more than probably anyone else in the universe can say! If anyone should be au fait with the idea of regeneration, it should be Clara, whether she fancies him or not! So I still have a really hard time buying that Clara, in particular, would resent the Doctor for regenerating, but the upside is that this conflict makes for some great scenes between the two of them.
But then it also hit me, after my second viewing, that even though this inconsistency annoyed me on a character level, I must admit that it was another really shrewd decision on Moffat's part to sneakily use Clara as an audience surrogate. I mean, companions are generally always the audience surrogate, but here in particular, Clara is voicing a lot of opinions that are shared by that "he's too old" segment of fandom I was referencing earlier. ("Where did he get that face? Why has it got lines on it?" mopes Clara. "It's brand new. How can his hair be all grey? He only just got it." — and, later, her distress on "You said 'renewed'. He doesn't... he doesn't look renewed, he looks older.") So when Madame Vastra (and others) confronts Clara about her opinions (or, dare we say, prejudices?), she's actually indirectly lecturing the audience, and reproving them in a way that the production team can't. A lot of lines in this episode are direct digs at the eye-candy fans, but delivered in a softened manner, as if to help guide them toward realizing the error of their ways. (My friend Nancy had an interesting perspective on this: that countries like the UK and Japan primarily cast talented actors, and a distinctive look is a plus; whereas in other countries like the US and Korea, a premium is placed on actors being young and classically good-looking, so you don't get quite as much diversity on television. Perhaps that's a factor here?) The eleventh Doctor's appeal to Clara really softens her up (along with the audience), as he pleads for her to stay because his future self needs her... and, finally, our new Doctor's appeal is the crowning touch. I'm not sure regeneration has ever been explained with such emotion from the Doctor's perspective as when he says, "You can't see me, can you? You, you look at me and you, you can't see me. Have you any idea what that's like? I'm not on the phone, I'm right here. Standing in front of you. Please, just... just see me." After that, I'm so glad that Clara gives him a hug. And I hope the eye-candy fans realize that what they love most about the Doctor isn't how sexy he is, but what a wonderful force for good he is in so many ways. And I hope they remember that diversity in the leading roles has turned out to be the lifeblood of Doctor Who, keeping the program going far beyond its natural life expectancy. So instead of insulting the lead actor and depriving yourself of what you love about the series, just because the Doctor no longer resembles your fantasy ideal man... why not be respectful, and open to change, and championing the positive, and celebrating someone different? That's one of the main tenets of the series, and it's part of the essence of being a Doctor Who fan.
I've always had trouble picking out a distinctive voice for Clara. Knowing how she would respond to a particular situation, for example, or the kind of dialogue she's liable to say, beyond what's typical for any generic companion. Deep Breath, however, is finally beginning to rectify that, and the scene in question that really helped is that fantastic restaurant scene. It turns out that while Clara is typically bright and cheery, she can also get huffy and irritated when she feels she's losing control of a situation. (Or, at least, so the dialogue tells us; I suppose "my wannabe-boyfriend just turned into an entirely different person" counts as "loss of control", although you would think there would be other, more pressing, concerns involved!) Yet even when she's angry, her warm personality is clearly just beneath the surface, ready to forgive and forget, and that's a big part of what makes Clara more likeable than certain other characters. Clara was first described as a "bossy control freak" in the last story, and I'm pleased to see that Moffat is grabbing that last-minute character description and running with it, because it really is helping to deepen her personality. Also helping, I suspect, is the fact that we're now seeing Clara opposite Capaldi rather than Smith. With the eleventh Doctor, Clara had a breezy insouciant sort of relationship. The two of them bounced along through the universe, chattering away and flirting a bit and having a grand old time, but perhaps not really engaging on a deeper level. With Capaldi, she's having to rein in her irritation with him, so he's keeping her on her toes in a way that even Matt Smith didn't. Clara finds herself uncertain how to handle him, which results in her challenging him more and asserting herself more, which fits in perfectly with that "bossy control freak" characterization. Their arguments remind me so much of a squabbling brother and sister, who really love each other but can't help bickering. (If Capaldi is the new Colin Baker, does that make Clara the new Peri?) But as great of a story as it is for Clara in some ways, I would be hard-pressed to say that she really contributes to the storyline. The only action she takes that really moves the plot forward is figuring out where she's going to meet the Doctor for lunch. Aside from that, she's just a solid but standard companion: friendly, outspoken and backtalky.
Which is why, when news broke (or is it just an unfounded rumor?) on August 16 that Jenna Coleman was planning to depart the show this Christmas, I wasn't terribly upset. As I commented to an online acquaintance recently, I feel like there are two, and only two, reasons why I like Clara. A: She has a pleasant personality. B: She's not Amy. It's just, there are only so many spins you can put on "feisty young modern-day white English person", if she has no other defining characteristics, and still have the character feel fresh and interesting. So far it's only really worked with Rose (because she was the first, of the new batch at least) and Donna. And Sally, actually, which is probably entirely due to Carey Mulligan's performance. As much as I like Clara, I still don't really get her, except when she talks about her mother. It's starting to improve, I think, now that "control freak" is becoming part of her character shorthand. But I'm mostly excited to see who replaces her, and hopeful that we get a Leela or a Nyssa or a Zoe rather than yet another "I argue with the Doctor but secretly I quite fancy him and who really needs a skillset anyway" companion. (I begin to understand, finally, why so many fans are critical of Dodo, coming as she does on the heels of the very similar Susan and Vicki.) For Clara's replacement, couldn't we have someone who has an unusual skill that allows them to contribute to the plot in useful ways, like Ace or Benny or even Christina? Or, at the very least, a more interesting perspective on the world, like Leela or Victoria? (Having said that, it's also important that the scriptwriters remember to incorporate these details... poor Martha had both medical training and was a woman of color, yet neither had a dramatic impact on how her character was written.) The revival production teams' insistence on sticking to the same companion mould reminds me very strongly of RTD's anti-Planet Zog spiels, as he worried that the audience wouldn't engage with a story that didn't somehow involve the Earth. Not to mention all that guff about "an older actor wouldn't be able to keep up with the pressures of today's shooting schedule" to justify why we had three under-45 Doctors in a row. Guess we're backtracking on that now, eh? Personally, I'm totally fine with Peter Capaldi, Leela and Zoe having adventures on the Planet Zog, as long as it's a good story.
Although I'm not overly attached to Clara, I really enjoy Jenna Coleman's performance. She's so good at making Clara's annoyance with the Doctor obvious but not overdone, and she gives a really impressive, totally believable performance in the scene of Clara facing off against the Half-Face Man. Love her delivery of "Me?", her pained cough as the stinky Doctor sits down, her frustrated "Okay." as the Doctor complains about the terrible smell, "Oh, go on, do, say!", "You just said to look!", the way she wordlessly suggests to the Doctor that they look for an exit, "I am not a control freak!", and probably my favorite: "You're looking at my eye." I continue to be pleased with the way the stylists are having fun with Clara's look. Her curly hairstyle is delicate and flattering, and I really love Clara's green Victorian dress!
I continue to remain delighted by the return of the Paternoster Gang. Two of them do quite well out of this episode; the third, not so much. For Madame Vastra, and especially Neve McIntosh, it's a total win. She continues to be one of the most astute characters on the show, not only in how quickly she can assess a situation but also how well she responds. Her solution to get the Doctor to sleep by 'asking for his help' is brilliant. She and the new Doctor have a great rapport straight off, with the Doctor appreciating her Silurian-Scots accent ("Finally. Someone who can talk properly!") and Vastra defending him to the hilt when Clara expresses dissatisfaction with his new persona. The story includes some nice continuity moments for Vastra, too. To my delight, her habit of dining upon unrepentant criminals is again brought up. (I wonder if she took Mrs Gillyflower home for supper?) I was interested to note that if Vastra's line "Here we go again" is any indication, it would appear that she's met more than just the eleventh Doctor (but Jenny hasn't). McIntosh gives so many wonderful line readings: "Not since I was a little girl.", "I was there!", "They will emit a signal that will incline it to remain within their circumference.", "I love monkeys, they're so funny." (although I think, as a man, I should be offended by this line), the way she playfully hisses at Jenny, "Art?", amd her body language on "Concealment, perhaps." Although, note to self: I was discussing with my friend Renee the other day my worry that Moffat only seems to like to write one type of woman, i.e., fiesty, flirty, dangerous and mysterious — think River, Amy, Tasha — and it occurs to me now that Madame Vastra is fitting quite well into that mould too.
His occasional tendency to script soundbites rather than meaningful dialogue also impacts how the audience regards Vastra, mainly with regard to her peculiar veil test, which makes no sense at all. I don't understand the point of it. Why does Vastra react so harshly to Clara's desire to change the Doctor back? Wouldn't a little compassion be more effective? She must realize that Clara is grieving the loss of 'her' Doctor. Remember stage 1? Denial??? Then, how does Vastra get rid of her veil between scenes without Clara noticing? I refuse to believe the veil really was all in Clara's mind. That would be exceedingly stupid. Part of the problem is that Vastra's veil metaphor is terribly confusing. Is she suggesting it's something that disguises one's true self? ("The Doctor regenerated in your presence. The young man disappeared, the veil lifted.") An indication that she disapproves of one's closed-mindedness? ("I do not wear it as a courtesy to such people, but as a judgment on the quality of their hearts.") A representation of Clara's prejudice or refusal to accept the truth? ("When did you stop wearing your veil?" "When you stopped seeing it.") Who knows! So it's difficult to determine what the scene is trying to say.
But at other times, I have Vastra's back. I think she's absolutely right to confront Clara over her apparently ageist resentment about the Doctor's regeneration. I appreciate that Moffat wants Clara to stand up to Vastra, but from her reaction to Vastra's accusation, I'm reading more "offense that Vastra hit the nail on the head" rather than "offense that Vastra misunderstood her", which makes lines like "I have never had the slightest interest in pretty young men" sound self-delusional rather than applause-worthy. I could perhaps be convinced that Clara's irritability isn't primarily a result of the Doctor's increased apparent age — after all, her feelings toward the eleventh Doctor didn't seem to change in his twilight years — but how can Clara possibly insist that she was never interested in the Doctor romantically when, mere minutes before, she was asking Jenny what she would do "if... if Vastra changed, if, if she was different, if she wasn't the person that y- ...you liked..." Then Clara crosses the line by snapping at Vastra, "Just because my pretty face has turned your head, do not assume that I am so easily distracted." Wow, narcissistic much? What makes her think Vastra is attracted to her?! (As it turns out, she's right, but we've never seen evidence of this before.) Surely this kind of deflection, attempting to turn the tables on your accuser, is classically symptomatic of someone who's been caught in the act? Honestly, I was so gobsmacked by Clara's denial and subsequent verbal attack on Vastra that I didn't even realize I was supposed to be cheering Clara on, until so much airtime was devoted to Jenny whooping with glee at her self-righteous response.
Nevertheless, Jenny's best moments in the story mostly occur during her interactions with Clara. Where Vastra and Strax can be brusque, Jenny is really good at being friendly, warm and comforting, and she's the only one who even tries to soothe Clara's emotional distress. Of the three, Jenny is definitely the one I would pal around with. Her tech-glove has the potential to integrate her into the plot in interesting ways, although I'd like to know how it works and what it does (and how she reads it!). I like Jenny's TARDIS-blue vest, and I must also say that Catrin Stewart looks absolutely gorgeous with her hair down, in that lovely art-model dress. And on her line "Good.", as she departs Clara after their heart-to-heart, she looks astonishingly like Alyson Hannigan.
Unfortunately, poor Strax (Dan Starkey) is too often getting stuck in the role of "un-funny punchline". It seems that the writers only know how to have him do two things: be inappropriately eager about violence, and act all confused about human physiognomy and customs; or, both simultaneously, in his position as valet. When done right, this can be absolutely hilarious, but "right" does not include picking one joke and hammering it into the ground. (More on that shortly.) Worse yet, Deep Breath goes to great lengths to make Strax stupid for the sake of many of these jokes. Are we really meant to believe that Strax — whose first appearance was as a nurse — is so incompetent that he can't tell a human eye from a human mouth? "Easy mistake," indeed! Distinguishing the sexes without the aid of medical instruments, fine. He's from a clone culture, and it's a funny joke, so that's forgiveable. But this? Please. Almost as difficult to accept is Strax's tendency to get so excited about violence that he forgets who he's dishing it out to. It's bad enough when Strax suggests absurdly violent solutions to perfectly ordinary problems, but what makes him think that it's okay to "melt [the Doctor] with acid"? He knows that the Doctor is on their team, and it's not like Strax actually gets crazed with bloodlust in the heat of battle and starts firing on anything that moves, like Mr Sin. If that ever really did happen, he would immediately be branded an untrustworthy ally and probably banished from Vastra's sight (assuming he hadn't already slaughtered her), so why joke about it as if it's a possibility?
As always, it's nice to see Jenny and Vastra's relationship develop and deepen onscreen. I appreciated Jenny's gentle correction of Clara, even though this is exactly the word that Clara was clearly deliberately attempting to avoid: "I don't like her, ma'am. I love her." Howwwwwwever... Honestly, I'm a little offended that after two years of us being informed that Vastra and Jenny are married lovers, Moffat can't just script them a normal kiss. No, it has to be a titillating "ooh look, two women are being forced to kiss" lesbian-objectification moment, brought about when Vastra wordlessly offers to share her oxygen with Jenny. That's the kind of excuse you use with two straight (or bi-curious) characters when you want to give the audience a thrill, not the way you portray a long-established committed gay relationship in which the couple's love life has heretofore only been implied. (Can you imagine if Lucy and Ricky Ricardo were never shown kissing until an episode in which Ricky had to give Lucy CPR? Ridiculous!) And it's not even like the more prurient viewers responded with "oh, it's fine, they weren't really kissing." No, they still got outraged over the inclusion of a lesbian 'kiss' on a family-friendly TV show. So if you're going to offend people no matter what, why not present a kiss as a perfectly natural expression of affection between two people who are very much in love, rather than dodging the implications of a lesbian kiss by giving us a fake lip-lock for implausible "plot reasons". (Has Moffat never watched "The Body" from Buffy??? That's how you do it.)
After The Time of the Doctor, I must admit that my hopes for Deep Breath were lowered. I spent the first half of the story mentally picking apart the plotline: what did the dinosaur have to do with anything? why did so much of the plot feel recycled? when was the story going to start moving forward? Some of these criticisms turned out to be valid — the dinosaur is, indeed, completely shoehorned in — but the Doctor's line "Droids harvesting spare parts... that rings a bell..." made me feel better about the apparently-derivative story elements. By the end, I found I was appreciating the plot a lot more. It really helped that "androids killing people for their organs" wasn't a barely-disguised rehash of The Girl in the Fireplace (with a dash of The Doctor's Wife) but rather a sequel of sorts! The clockwork androids were such a memorable monster that I'm actually really pleased to see them (or, to be more precise, their equally-dangerous cousins) make a return appearance. I love the idea that these droids have been managing to survive for millions of years by constantly repairing themselves with whatever (or whomever) was at hand. One wonders what they did before humans came along! And, for that matter, how they made their own spare parts before the rise of tool-wielding human civilizations — did they mine and smelt their own metals? They must all be a patchwork of clockwork from different eras, which is a neat idea that helps explain why these droids look a bit different from their Madame de Pompadour cousins, and gives each droid some individuality — there's a very nice mention that some of the droids still retain some Roman metalwork, and what a clever idea that some of them run on gas lamps! (But surely that ought to burn right through the skin and hair? The lamp chamber must be well insulated.) They're well realized, too, by the actors. The restaurant waiter (Graham Duff) is super creepy. I love the way he talks like old-style Cybermen! (especially "Eyezzz!") My other favorite creepy androids were the older lady in the restaurant and the young woman with red clothes and curly hair underground.
Peter Ferdinando is excellent as the creepy Half-Face Man. I love his ever so slightly halting method of speaking, and the mechanical way that he moves his entire body. (I've been watching through Angel for the third time — Nancy and her husband enjoyed our Buffy marathon so much that it seemed the next logical choice — and as we're just nearing the end of season five, I found that Ferdinando's robotic movements reminded me a bit of Illyria's effective bird-like body language.) The effect used to realize a clockwork brain inside an actor's head is nothing short of spectacular, so all credit to the effects team. It looks perfectly realistic, which is amazing considering that the clockwork effect needs to be aligned precisely with every minute movement of Ferdinando's head. The welding-torch attachment hidden under his right hand is also a fantastic concept well realized... practical and terrifying!
I mentioned that I felt the creepy "corner of your eye" gimmick was rather wasted in The Eleventh Hour, so I'm really happy to say that Steven Moffat's new gimmick — monsters that can find you if you breathe — is used to great effect here. It's an appropriate method of hunting for androids who want to harvest your organs, which incidentally is a horrible horrible fate should they succeed in catching you. The scene of Clara attempting to hold her breath for 1 minute and 41 seconds is powerfully tense, and each time I watched it, I had to resist the urge to see if I could hold my breath equally long. (I feel quite sure that some of you actually tried it! How'd you do?) (...Okay, I tried it on my fourth viewing. Couldn't make it past when Clara's vision starts to blur!) The moment when Clara thinks she's reached safety, only to find an entire hallway of droids stretching away in front of her, is enough to make your heart sink. (Although, if I were her, I think I'd have run back to the doorway and tried to grab a breath in a relatively safe place before barging down that hallway... but it's clear from Clara's eventual reaction that one single breath might not have been enough.) This trick is used again to good effect in the battle scene, although I've already made my reservations clear about the way that particular scene was resolved! (Good thing the robots can't also detect body heat.)
I did, however, find the plot to be predictable at times, which makes me think that a few moments were scripted without a great deal of subtlety. I called, immediately in almost all cases, the dinosaur coughing up the TARDIS (and wow, does it have a great sense of timing... it doesn't appear to be choking at all until Vastra theorizes that it ate something that made it travel through time), the Doctor referring to the cab driver rather than the horse as "your pet" (did anybody not see that one coming?), Strax hurling the Times at Clara, Strax responding to Clara's request for water by handing her the dirty mop bucket, and the meaning of "Lunch on the Other Side". I don't think I've ever been so many steps ahead of the characters so often as I was in this story!
I've called Doctor Who out on this before — the example that comes immediately to mind is The Daleks Take Manhattan — but here again, we have a character whose response to being threatened with death is to say "Go on, do it." I've never understood why someone would want to be that insanely defiant, egging on a murderous enemy who might very well call your bluff and immediately carry out that threat. The amazing thing is that Clara actually almost manages to make it work here, by breaking down for the droids (and the audience) exactly why threatening to kill someone is a poor strategic move. It's still risky, but if anything is a good defense against androids, it's appealing to their logic circuits, and the logic of Clara's argument is actually quite good (especially the line "I'm already bloody terrified of dying, and I'll endure a lot of pain for a very long time before I give up the information that's keeping me alive. How long have you got?"). It's helped by her assumption, which seems to be correct, that the droids want to keep the restaurant a secret. (Their luck in this regard, by the way, is astounding. How has this restaurant been operating for millions of years without anybody in the area noticing how often people were spontaneously combusting in Londinium? Surely that's way more attention-grabbing than if people simply disappeared. Not to mention that the Half-Face Man collects Alfie's eyes right in the middle of a busy street!) So, bravo, Moffat! I'm quite impressed. The downside is that the flashback introducing the relevant backstory feels extremely contrived. How lucky that this particular memory would flit through Clara's brain just before she needed it. I hasten to add that I can't think of a better way to incorporate it into the story, but there surely needed to be one. It's a shame, too, because I do appreciate the way it inspires Clara to handle the situation. And I like the idea that this is such a potent memory for Clara, because for an inexperienced teacher, it certainly would be a standout moment.
As long as we're talking about pet peeves, I really hoped we'd seen the last of this with the end of the Matt Smith era, but apparently it's a dialogue shortcut habit that Steven Moffat just can't kick.
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Pet Peeve #3: Moffat's continuing insistence on scripting jokes that mock a person's appearance. "You look better now you're up," Strax tells Clara, only to follow this up with "Oh. Sorry, trick of the light. You still look terrible." Kids, why don't you try out that line on Mum or Dad and see how they react? Strax then goes on to insult Clara's appearance further, and comment on her future struggles with fluid retention, in a scene that otherwise has practically zero relevance to the story. Combine this with all of Clara's grousing about how old the Doctor looks, and it starts to feel downright nasty.
Pet Peeve #4: That thing I was saying about hammering a joke into the ground? If you mix together Strax's confusion about human customs, Moffat's desire to titillate the audience, and his apparently-new fascination (as of The Time of the Doctor) with seeing Clara naked, we get a string of jokes about people trying innocently (and sometimes not-so-innocently) to ogle the Doctor's companion. (She really is Peri.)
Exhibit B. Starting to get old.
Strax: "Well, put your clothes back on."
Clara: "They are on."
Exhibit C. Again???
Vastra: "Clara! Excellent. Pop your clothes on that chair there."
But enough of my grumbling! Let's go back to the good parts, and golly gee whiz, hands up who saw that cameo by Matt Smith coming? Mine stays firmly lowered. I was not expecting that. I didn't even twig that it was Matt Smith's voice on the phone until the word "Clara". Then I thought, they're dubbing on old dialogue... and then there he was. I was so curious to find out how they pulled it off... was it an insert that they filmed during The Time of the Doctor, or did they actually get Matt Smith to come back to film an extra scene? (Turns out it was filmed on the last day of shooting for Matt's swansong... clever, clever Steven Moffat. That must've been tough to keep under wraps all this time!) I betcha anything that this scene was also included to ease those grousing eye-candy fans into the Capaldi era.
Inspector Gregson (Paul Hickey) is hilariously dense and out of his depth in Vastra's world. Even though she clearly has specialized knowledge, he seems not to pay very much attention to the details of what Vastra says. For example, when she informs us that the dinosaur is a woman, his response is: "What's this dinosaur fellow doing in the Thames?" He gives a great reaction shot to Vastra's clearly ludicrous mention of time travel — taken aback, then smiling at her patronizingly — and he provides such excellent comic relief in such a short period of time that I'd very much enjoy seeing him return for their future adventures. Clueless Strax is not my favorite, but clueless police can be very funny when our heroes are on the case.
Alf (Tony Way) and Elsie (Maggie Service) are both entertaining in their single scene. The first time through, I thought Alf's exchange with the Half-Face Man was quite well-written and shocking, although on subsequent viewings the dialogue felt a bit stilted and forced, so I think I'll settle somewhere in the middle. I thought Service was thoroughly delightful, though, and a great actress. I'd enjoy seeing her back someday in a larger role.
I hadn't even realized that Barney, the tramp, is played by Brian Miller, Elisabeth Sladen's husband. How lovely to have him in Doctor Who again as a little reminder of dear Lis. Miller is a great actor, and gives an entirely convincing performance as the somewhat fragile homeless man. It's a little unsettling the way the script and direction make us feel scared for him in the Doctor's presence! He seems so sweet and you feel oddly as if he's wandered into the lion's den. I loved his delivery of "No." and "Yes.", and his reaction shots while the Doctor is speaking are fantastic. When you're commenting on the brilliant way an actor delivers a single word, you know you're watching someone special. I'm delighted to discover that my sentimental feelings toward the tramp are quite matched by my sentimental feelings toward Miller himself. I hope he's doing well in Lis' absence.
At the story's end, we're teased with a glimpse of Missy, aka the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere, who appears to be our new story-arc villain. I find I'm seriously liking her already, in large part because she reminds me a lot of the hilarious Becki Newton. Michelle Gomez' delivery is so entertaining, especially on the lines "He can be very mean sometimes! Except to me, of course, because he loves me so much." and "Where do you think you are?" I'm verrrry intrigued that she thinks of the Doctor as her boyfriend... it's a great way to instantly let us know that she's a bit off her rocker. (Presumably.) Does she think she's River Song or is she an intergalactic stalker? And is she the one who gave Clara the number for the TARDIS? It seems unlikely that she would want to pair anyone else up with the Doctor! Most pressing of all: will Missy turn out to be a fiesty, flirty, dangerous and mysterious woman? (Based on the evidence so far, I think she will!!!) I can tell she's going to be a fascinating character to watch.
I actually really like Murray Gold's score this week. Overall it's pleasant, with a few nicely standout moments, like the music as the Doctor first emerges from the TARDIS, as the Doctor goes sniffing for chalk, as Clara studies the newspaper, and as they drive back to Vastra's home. It's also nice to hear a brief reappearance by the cloister bell, when the Doctor collapses on the Thames shoreline. But I must take issue with the sound effects people for their use of a cartoon "whacked on the head with a mallet" noise when the Doctor abruptly falls asleep. Seriously? Did we learn nothing from fandom's underwhelming response to the 'shhh-doink' knife-throw in The Robots of Death?!
As for effects, that dinosaur looks flawless, with its wrinkled mottled skin and spittle-drooling jaws. (I'm amused that Alfie thinks it "just don't look realistic" though!) I love the way the seam in the waiter droid's face becomes apparent just as the Doctor starts to tug on it, and however they achieved the effect of the Doctor pulling off a similar full-head mask, it looks fantastic. The roof of the restaurant folding back is a subtle effect but done very well. The only iffy effect, which is still actually quite good, is the shot of the Doctor somersaulting onto the horse's back. My compliments to the makeup team on Vastra's reptilian mask. It's painted beautifully and it even looks convincing in extreme close-up.
There's a slightly redesigned TARDIS, too, and I'm pleased that they didn't change it too drastically. I really like the current console room and I'm not in any hurry to see it radically reconfigured. I'm not totally sure about the orange lighting in the console — I had more than enough of orange-lit TARDIS scenes in the RTD era — but I love the bookshelves. And I totally agree with the Doctor's comment, which thrilled me deeply, that "I think there should be more round things on the walls. I used to have a lot of round things. I wonder where I put them." Yes, do let's bring the round things back eventually!
I would be (and will be) very happy to see Ben Wheatley direct another episode of Doctor Who. The story looks absolutely gorgeous, and indeed very cinematic. One really clever touch is the creative use of red and yellow flashes to indicate Clara's vision starting to cloud as a result of oxygen deprivation. I love the shot of Clara stepping into frame with Strax ("He's not Clara! I'm Clara."), the great camerawork (first handheld, then with an increased frame rate) as the Doctor backs away from his friends and then faints, the lovely shot of the Doctor standing on the bridge silhouetted against the fire (a great way to illustrate his thrill-seeking nature), the Doctor jumping off the bridge in the background of the shot, Vastra and Jenny unravelling from the ceiling before standing with weapons drawn, the lovely pan up the Palace of Westminster clock tower to the impaled android, and the lovely shot of the Half-Face Man putting on his hat over his windswept hair. There's also a nice shot of the Half-Face Man and the Doctor looking at their reflections in the mirrored serving platter ("you probably can't even remember where you got that face from!") which I'm sure is extremely symbolic, although I'm really not at all sure what it's meant to signify.
Oh! Those new title credits! I saw Billy Hanshaw's original YouTube video several months ago, and I remember being so impressed, and wishing that Doctor Who had title credits even approaching that level of cool. Not that I've disliked the new-series title sequences at all, but they're very traditional, whereas Hanshaw's felt like proper credits for a modern time-travel television show. We still have the TARDIS hurtling down a tunnel, but what an interesting tunnel it is! So when the BBC announced that they were using a modified version of Hanshaw's credits on the actual show, I was floored — who would have thought the BBC would be willing to use designs that they hadn't created in-house? — and absolutely delighted, for the show as well as for Hanshaw. On actually seeing the title sequence for Deep Breath, my first reaction was that I liked the original demo better, because it had more going on. But upon reviewing it, I found that the bits the BBC took out were the only bits I didn't really love, so on reflection I think the new credits are great. I especially love the neon-lit cogs, the planetary orbit graphic, and the coruscating waves of light. The Capaldi sequence is certainly in competition for the very best title credits we've ever had. The only downside is the new theme tune (one area in which I do overall prefer the demo reel)... it's a bit unassertive, and it ends one "ooh-wee-ooh" too soon, so the episode title doesn't stay onscreen quite long enough.
After watching the episode on the Saturday it aired, my second viewing was — finally! — at the Quality 16 cinema near my friend Nancy's house the following Monday night. I'm so pleased they decided to show this in cinemas (although I wish it had been simulcast!), especially since I missed out on seeing the 50th anniversary special in the theatre. It was really fun to have the opportunity to see Doctor Who on the big screen — as a child, I certainly never imagined the show would reach this level of popularity in the USA — even though the bottom edge of the picture was definitely cropped off (as I realized when Vastra handed the inspector a sonic lantern, and the bottom of it was out of frame). Nancy and I have been powering through the last couple seasons of Doctor Who during our Friday TV nights, endeavouring to get her all caught up in time for Capaldi's début, and we finally got through The Time of the Doctor a month or so ago. (Her feelings on the episode were almost identical to mine, I'll have you know.) So she was, it turned out, really excited for Deep Breath and a brand-new Doctor, and she decided to come along with me to the movies (leaving her kids in the care of her husband, so she may have had additional motivations for joining me!) and we wound up enjoying the story with a giant tub of popcorn. How often do you get to do that? When we discussed it afterward, I learned that Nancy had some of the same reservations I did, but she also really liked Capaldi, although unfortunately she'd completely forgotten about The Girl in the Fireplace (understandable, since it's probably been several years since we watched it) and thus was a little confused by the "returning monster" element. Her only exposure to a classic-series post-regeneration story is Spearhead from Space, which doesn't involve any noticeable post-regenerative confusion on the Doctor's part, so she was a bit thrown by the Doctor's unpredictable behavior at first. I have a feeling we'll probably end up watching each new episode together during our Friday TV nights, so it'll be fun to compare her reactions to mine as we progress through series eight. (Eight, incidentally, is my favorite number... so I have high hopes!)
Minor points:
Inspector: "It's just laid an egg!"
Vastra: "It dropped a blue box marked 'POLICE' out of its mouth. Your grasp of biology troubles me."
Doctor: "I'm not flirting, by the way!"
Well, about time! I did get a little bit worried, though, that after this declaration — and Capaldi's awesome hurried delivery of "My lady friend! Just an expression, don't get any ideas." — he then, for a while, continues behaving very much as though he is still in a flirty mood. Lines like "Oi! Big sexy woman!" and "I brought you along by accident! That's mostly how I meet girls, but don't worry!" (which is admittedly hilarious) already feel completely out of character, so I hope that we've seen the last of them now that his character is settling in. (or, shall we say, settling down?)
Doctor: "Don't look in that mirror! It's absolutely furious!"
Doctor: "I never bother with sleeping, I just do standing-up catnaps."
Vastra: "Oh, really! How interesting! And, and when do you do those?"
Doctor: "Well, generally whenever anyone else starts talking. I like to skip ahead to my bits, it saves time."
Doctor: "Door. Boring. Not me." (He opens the window instead.) "Me!"
Doctor: "I need clothes, that's what I need. And a big long scarf... no. I've moved on from that. It looked stupid."
Barney: "I don't like it!"
Doctor: "What?"
Barney: "Your face!"
Doctor: "Well, I don't like it either! It's all right, up until the eyebrows, then it just goes haywire! Look at the eyebrows! These are attack eyebrows! You could take bottletops off with these!"
Barney: "They are mighty eyebrows indeed, sir."
Doctor: "They are cross! They're crosser than the rest of my face. They're independently cross."
Barney: "What devilry is this, sir?"
Doctor: "I don't know. But I probably blame the English."
Doctor: "I bought it."
Clara: "From where?"
Doctor: "Er... a shop."
Clara: "No."
Clara: "Hang on. Egomaniac needy game-player?! That was me?!"
Clara: "And that isn't the only grey one, if you are, erm, having a cull."
Doctor: "What, do you have a problem with the grey ones?"
Clara: "Ooh, if I got new hair and it was grey, I would have a problem."
Clara: "...Ow!"
Doctor: "Sorry, it was the only one out of place. I was sure that you would want it killed."
Clara: "You should make that thing voice-activated! ...Oh, for God's sake, it is, isn't it."
Doctor: "Dormant."
Clara: "How do you know?"
Doctor: "I don't, I'm just hoping."
Doctor: "I can use it to blow this whole room if I see one thing that I don't like, and that includes karaoke and mime, so take no chances."
Doctor: "Oh. I hate being wrong in public. Everybody forget that happened."
Doctor: "What do you think of the view?"
Half-Face Man: "I do not think of it."
Doctor: "I don't think of it, I don't. Droids and apostrophes, I could write a book."
Half-Face Man: "It is beautiful."
Doctor: "No it isn't, it's just far away, everything looks too small."
"It isn't pretty, it's just far away"?! How does distance have anything to do with whether or not something is beautiful? I thought maybe the Doctor would follow up with some explanatory comment like "ah-hah, so you do have some human aesthetic appreciation" or "no, it only looks beautiful because you're so far away, but when you get down there it's actually very ugly and horrible"... but instead he just rambles on about how "every detail, every moment, every life" is so important... huh?
Half-Face Man: "How could you kill me?"
Doctor: "For the same reason that you're asking me that question, because you don't really want to carry on."
Nooo, I think "how could you kill me?" means "how could you, as a good person, murder anyone?" It has nothing to do with the control node wanting to die!
Doctor: "Answer: no, of course it isn't, but you can still sweep the floor, which is not strictly relevant, skip that last part."
Doctor: "Clara, I'm not your boyfriend."
Clara: "I never thought you were." (liar)
Doctor: "I never said it was your mistake."
There's certainly room for improvement, but Deep Breath is an encouraging start to the Capaldi era. I'm excited by Mark Gatiss' report that Deep Breath is to the rest of series 8 as Robot was to the Hinchcliffe era... a holdover from the previous style, to ease the audience in before things turn dark. And there's certainly no better comparison he could have invoked than the golden Hinchcliffe years, so I'm actually really excited to see what comes next. If all goes well, we may finally have the show that I thought we were getting when Steven Moffat took over the reins...