Holistic Review: A charming, funny character piece, anchored by dialogue that's poignant yet naturalistic.
After weeks of wondering where Clara and Danny's relationship was headed, and how the Doctor was going to react when he learned about Danny and his past, this week we get the answer to both questions, in an episode that's more concerned with developing the regulars than it is with the monster of the week. You know me, I love a good monster of the week, but every now and then it's a real treat to get an episode that's almost solely focused on character development.
The Scovox blitzer is present as the story's catalyst: it provides a reason for the Doctor to intrude into Clara's life, which makes Danny suspicious and leads to him learning the truth; it forces Clara to admit her double life to Danny, and gives her the opportunity to demonstrate how brave, and how loyal to the Doctor, she is; and it lets Danny and the Doctor size one another up, by comparing their methods of dealing with the same threat. The Doctor puts Clara in harm's way but ultimately saves her, not to mention the whole planet, through his scientific knowledge and his cunning. Danny, meanwhile, stays by Clara's side while she's in the line of fire, and literally leaps into action at just the right moment to assist in world saveage. Both brave and clever men, but contrasted in that one has total confidence in Clara to handle matters on her own, and the other loves her too much to let her face the danger alone.
Clara's at the heart of the action this week, as her two worlds collide. In some ways, this is Clara's version of The Power of Three, as she begins to realize that she just can't keep juggling her mundane Earth life and her TARDIS travel life successfully. She's been keeping the Doctor secret from Danny (because you'd have to, wouldn't you?) and she's been keeping Danny secret from the Doctor (because his feelings on the matter of soldiers is all too clear), but now that the Doctor's wormed his way into a job at Coal Hill School, it's almost inevitable that they're going to find out about one another. Still, Clara does her very best to keep them separated. And she would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for that meddling blitzer. Although, really, you have to wonder how long she could've kept up the pace and the lies! Anyway, there's a slight hint (either that or a continuity error, so I'm going with hint) that, perhaps subconsciously, Clara's hoping to force a confrontation. Given how hard Clara tried in Listen to keep the Doctor in the dark, I was a little surprised that she's suddenly encouraging him to notice the similarities between Danny and Orson Pink. It's only because the Doctor was distracted by blitzer-trapping that he didn't immediately start asking questions that she would have found intrusive. Then, halfway through, The Caretaker finally gives us the showdown that we've been waiting for since Into the Dalek, with Danny accusing Clara of lying and keeping secrets, and the Doctor aghast that she could even consider dating a soldier. Caught in between the Doctor and Danny, both feeling angry and betrayed, Clara handles the situation well. I was relieved that she finally admitted the truth to Danny, and though I think she could've been a bit more persuasive, evidently she said enough to convince him that she was lying for the best of reasons. Still, there are a few questions that I wish Clara had answered better:
For all her bickering with the Doctor, Clara clearly craves his approval of Danny. I found her elation, when she thinks the Doctor likes him, very sweet. It makes sense that she'd value his opinion, but I didn't expect her to need his validation quite so badly, and I like it. (Not that I agree she needed it. Clara can date whomever she wants, no matter what the Doctor thinks, although it would behoove her to take his advice if her boyfriend is actually a Zygon or something.) Her relationship with Danny takes even bigger strides forward: I gasped out loud when Clara admitted (forcefully!) that she loves Danny. I think I was more moved by it than Danny was! (But then, perhaps she'd already said it to him when we weren't looking.) Their heart-to-heart at the end, when Danny forces Clara to promise that she'll let him know if the Doctor ever pushes her too far, feels like foreshadowing. Might Clara be heading toward a Teganesque exit? Time will tell.
Jenna Coleman hits it out of the park this week, especially in any scenes requiring Clara to lie. I was urging her to clear up Danny's misconception about her being an alien from space, and couldn't figure out why on earth she was remaining silent, until her mouth finally opened and this came tumbling out: "It's a play! For the summer fête! ... We are rehearsing a play! Shh, shh, shh, shh! A surprise play!" Oh, Jenna Coleman, you make me laugh! Poor Clara, you can just see the relief (and the desperation) in her eyes when the thinks she's hit upon an excuse that just might work! My other favorites included: "At home.", her brilliant "Mhm!" when Danny asks if she wants to go running, her 'I'm keeping my eye on you' mime to the Doctor, her hilariously flustered "No, I think that was just sort of like a general wink, you know, he winked at everybody, it was like a general welcoming wink.", "Oi! Ow! Did you just flick my nose? ...You're invisible! Ha ha! Oh my God, that's incredible!", and I really enjoyed watching Clara give Danny the Doctor Who 101 intro, with some prompting from the Doctor!
Danny is already demonstrating all kinds of companion mettle, even though it's beginning to look like he's not actually headed down that path, as I thought he was. He doesn't show even a smidgen of interest in joining Clara on her travels. Can you imagine? He even asks her "Why do you do it?" as if the answer isn't blindingly obvious. Still, his soldiering background is one that we've never seen before, unless Ben counts, and he's unbelievably athletic; I literally said "whoa!" when he did a jumping somersault over the Scovox blitzer. More importantly, he's really sharp. Shortly after Clara has just called the Doctor out for the exact same thing, Danny notes her evasiveness and comments: "It's like you're trying to be mysterious. I'm not stupid, you know." He not only picks up on the fact that Clara is talking to the caretaker as if they're friends, but also on the atypical content of their conversation: "Why are you using words like chronodyne? Was that thing a space thing?" He may not always leap to the right conclusion, but it's impressive that this time, with such an unlikely conclusion, he does. He also sees right through Clara's "school play" excuse (which was, it must be admitted, super-lame), and he realizes when the Doctor has rumbled his presence on the TARDIS. I love it when characters are able to read between the lines, can put two and two together, and actually hear lines that were spoken far too loudly to qualify as a muttered aside. These are surprisingly rare gifts in the world of television, and they add that extra touch of realism and authenticity to a script that's already doing a whole lot of things right.
The Doctor is about to have his anti-soldier prejudices challenged in a big way. I'm really enjoying that theme of series eight, and this episode demonstrates to us just why the Doctor has this gut reaction in the first place — reinforced here with the Doctor's line "Sooner or later it will creep from its hidey-hole and some military idiot will try to attack it." and Danny's first instinct to call in the army or Whitehall to deal with the alien threat — but also presents us with a good-natured, well-meaning, highly competent (ex-)soldier character. Danny brings up a hard-hitting point when he compares himself to the soldier who saves people from fires, and the Doctor to the officer who lights them. My knee-jerk reaction was to say "that's completely untrue", because the Doctor is always right there on the front lines trying to save people, as indeed he is in this very episode, buuuut... it's also hard to refute the point entirely. The Doctor does come up with grand plans and schemes that often require other people to risk their lives, for example while acting as bait for killer robots. It's difficult to watch the Doctor and Danny antagonizing one another, and the hurt in Clara's eyes is all too evident, but their current uneasy truce certainly gives their relationship room to grow.
The Caretaker is written really well for Capaldi, and I'm feeling encouraged that at this point in the season, the writers are figuring out what dialogue suits the twelfth Doctor best, and what doesn't feel quite as natural. Loved Capaldi's delivery of "I'm a man of mystery.", his flustered reaction when Clara bursts through the TARDIS door again, "It'll be even easier.", his look of glee as Clara walks off with Adrian, and "I've got a lot of work to do, again." He and Coleman have some wonderful moments, like the scene of Clara refusing to leave the TARDIS as they alternately snap-open and snap-shut the doors, his line "I used to have a teacher exactly like you." which puts yet another new perspective on their relationship (usually the teacher/pupil roles in the TARDIS are the other way round!), and his reaction when Clara proclaims bow-tie-wearing Adrian to be "not [her] type". And Capaldi gets to wear his cool shirt from Listen again. Yay! I still can't quite figure out what the light dots are, but I've narrowed down my guesses to either white spots on the shirt, or tiny holes showing through to the white shirt underneath? (At this point, I've ruled out sequins.)
My suspicions about Courtney Woods were indeed well-founded: she gets a lot more screentime in The Caretaker which, as it turns out, was meant to be her début until writers of earlier episodes incorporated her into their scripts. Given my first impression of her from those episodes, I'm pleased to discover that I like Courtney a lot more than I had suspected I would. I had the impression that she was nothing but a bully, but now that I know her better, I'm revising my opinion to "attention-seeking", "forthright", and I'll go as far as "disrespectful of authority". The "making fun of people to their face" aspect is less attractive, but she seems to have plenty of compensatory good qualities. She's very tenacious, isn't she? Courtney refuses to leave the Doctor alone until she's quite satisfied about what's inside his blue box. I really liked that aspect of her character, and was gradually warming to her, until this line finally catapulted me firmly into Team Courtney:
Courtney: "I'm a disruptive influence."
Doctor: (recognizing a kindred spirit) "Good to meet you!"
Courtney: (mocking him) "And you!"
I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, for so long, at a Doctor Who line. Absolutely perfect, especially Capaldi's performance! Courtney's character arc was a complete surprise to me. Throughout the episode, I was actively worried that Courtney was going to sneak into the TARDIS, so I was shocked when the Doctor stood back and let her have a look inside! Then when it turned out he'd actually taken her along for the ride to dump the Scovox blitzer in space, my jaw dropped. I love it, and I couldn't help but wonder if this experience might make her into less of a disruptive classroom influence? Might she have had her mind broadened? Or perhaps learned a little humility? Well, that's probably asking too much from one nauseating look at deep space. Ellis George is great in the role, and has a couple of other really superb line deliveries: "You're weird." and "Can I go in space?" Yes please, let's have her back.
Clara's would-be beau Adrian (Edward Harrison) does seem rather sweet. I didn't even realize that he was meant to resemble Matt Smith until the Doctor mentioned his bowtie; until then, the Doctor's "possibly reminded me of a certain dashing young time traveller" line made me wonder if he was supposed to resemble a youthful Hartnell! I find myself unexpectedly charmed that the Doctor approves of Clara dating a 'sort of younger him'. Shouldn't I be icked out by that? Seb (Chris Addison) is another interesting character who we just might see again. I liked the way Addison plays him as mild-mannered and gently comforting, but also slightly catty!
Oh, yet again, we almost made it through an episode without them. Oddly, I don't find the Doctor's lines as objectionable as usual, because he's very obviously being a jerk.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Not that this is any surprise, but I was really impressed with Gareth Roberts' script. I could run through a list of complaints that, it pains me to admit, I often have with modern-day Doctor Who scripts, and Roberts avoids them all. The characters' dialogue not only fits their individual voices but also gives them some development. The jokes are funny, but the script also tackles difficult questions that don't have easy answers. The emotional moments feel realistic, honest and convincing, rather than sappy, flowery or poetic. And the dialogue is thematically meaningful, with apparent throwaway lines later recurring and resonating in a different situation. Between this thematically satisfying dialogue, the evolving relationships among the three leads, conflict resulting from long-hidden secrets finally being forced into the open, and of course the secondary-school setting, The Caretaker actually gave me Buffy vibes on more than one occasion, which is practically the best compliment I could bestow on Gareth Roberts.
In previous cowritten episodes, I've been assuming that Steven Moffat was taking charge of the Clara/Danny scenes and leaving the bulk of the episode to the principal writer. That may or may not be true! But if it is, then the lines are very blurred this week, and I have absolutely no idea who wrote what. But whoever scripted the interaction between Clara and Danny did a great job of it. A prime example is the date-cancellation scene, as Clara secretly wants to help the Doctor while Danny secretly wants to tail him. They both realize that the other's hiding something, but nobody's admitting to anything. I suspect it's only because Danny knows he has his own secrets that he doesn't push Clara further when she blurts out that the caretaker speaks highly of him. It's clear from the look on his face that Danny knows perfectly well that isn't true, and he's wondering why Clara would be talking to the caretaker at such length, but he lets it pass.
The effects this week are stunning, with numerous candidates for the top award. The episode opens with a beautiful vista of a rose-lit rocky planet, with the Doctor and Clara chained to a pair of ornate desert pillars in front of a majestic crag. I actually gasped at the gruesome effect of the policeman's smoking charred hand hitting the floor, illuminated by his flashlight. The cyclonic time vortex is a lovely effect, with its spinning twinkling lights. My favorite, though, was the fantastic shot of the stacked chairs with a burning perfectly-circular hole through them. That can't have been easy to do! I'm very fond of the design of the Scovox blitzer, which looks part insectoid, part reptilian, and part Mestor the giant gastropod. The spiderlike way it moves adds to its creep factor.
Murray Gold's score is just lighthearted enough to suit the story, with some moments of mystery and tension at the appropriate points. I enjoyed the frantic music as Clara attempts to reach the Doctor and Danny, the romantic version of Clara's theme as the Doctor imagines a romance between her and Adrian, and the reused theme as Danny first sees the TARDIS interior. The sound effects that jumped out at me included the superb echo as Courtney faces the open TARDIS door while speaking, and the almost retro sounds made by the Scovox blitzer. Even though I think it was used for a different TARDIS function in this episode, I nevertheless loved that the TARDIS door-opening sound makes a reapparance! I can't remember, have we ever heard it since the start of the revival? Now that the gigantic inner doors are gone, there hasn't been a need for a door-opening lever since 2005.
Overall I loved Paul Murphy's direction, which accentuated the story to a greater degree than his work on Robot of Sherwood. His direction for The Caretaker is very kinetic, using handheld camerawork and swooping shots and interesting angles. At times it seems like the camera's always on the move, so The Caretaker is anything but point-and-shoot. My favorites were the shot from above of the policeman coming up the steps of the abandoned building, his use of closeups as people won't stop talking to Clara, the blitzer barrelling through the burnt-out door to the caretaker's hut, and that amazing shot of Danny leaping over the blitzer. That is how you use slow motion. His direction leads us to realize that Danny has somehow deactivated all of the chronodyne generators before the Doctor discovers that they're all blinking red. The only objection I had was the cut after the Doctor slams the teacher's lounge door in Clara's face; before the cut, Danny has walked off and Clara is facing the door; after the cut, Danny is facing the door and Clara is standing to his left.
Minor points:
Clara: "Freak shower!"
Danny: "...Is that seaweed?"
Clara: "I said 'freak'."
Clara: "Are the kids safe?"
Doctor: "No. Nobody is safe. But soon the answer will be, yes, everybody is safe, if you let me get on."
Clara: (re: Jane Austen) "Oh, what, and I suppose, what, she was your bezzy mate, was she, and you went on holidays together, and then, you got kidnapped by boggins from space, and then you all formed a band and met Buddy Holly!"
Doctor: "You'd better run along, sergeant. That ball isn't gonna kick itself, is it?"
Danny: "I, I'm not a PE teacher. I'm a math teacher."
Doctor: (thinks about this) "Nope. Sorry. No, I can't retain that. I tried, it's just not going in."
Doctor: "Off you go. Haven't you got shoplifting to go to?"
Clara: "This school is in danger."
Doctor: "Well, it's lucky I'm here then!"
Clara: "From you."
Doctor: "Me?"
Clara: "You wouldn't be here if there wasn't an alien threat nearby. Your strategy for dealing with it involves endangering this school."
Doctor: "You don't know that."
Clara: "I don't know anything, because you haven't told me anything, which means I wouldn't approve, which means you are endangering this school."
Clara: "I underestimated you."
Doctor: (reassuringly) "It's easily done, there's a lot to estimate."
Clara: "I am so gonna confiscate that watch."
Doctor: "You wouldn't go out with a PE teacher. It's a mistake! You've made a boyfriend error."
Doctor: "Is this part of the surprise play?"
The Caretaker has all of the great characterization and witty lines that I know I can count on from the pen of Gareth Roberts. So far, aside from a couple of relatively minor stumbles, series eight has maintained a very high standard of quality. Long may it continue!