Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Ben Wheatley
Airdate: 23 August 2014
Since this is my first time reviewing the show, I figured I'm going to start with a little introduction. I started watching Doctor Who almost exactly 3 years ago. I've seen only the first episode of the Classic Series (An Unearthly Child) and the entire New One, starting from Rose and The Ninth Doctor. My favorite incarnation of the Doctor happens to be Ten, played by the brilliant David Tennant, but I'm also a fan of Nine and Eleven. I believe there's something great about each of them which is probably why I'm really optimistic about the new Doctor and excited about this new season. Speaking of...
We're starting the episode with a dinosaur in the middle of Victorian London when the Paternoster Gang (Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny and Strax) arrive at the scene after being called for help by the local police. They get there just in time to see a dinosaur spitting out the TARDIS. The gang gives the police a way to keep the dinosaur in The River Thames and then approaches the TARDIS. That's when they meet the newly-regenerated and clearly confused Doctor talking to the dinosaur and forgetting names and faces of his companion Clara and the rest. Things turn out to be too much for his current state and he collapses.
The rest of the episode follows the Doctor's struggle to adjust to his new look and personality, Clara's doubts about her friend being gone after the regeneration and the Gang's fight with the episode's villain, a cyborg, trying to reach the "promised land" and using parts replacements to prolong his life on the SS Marie Antoinette, the sister ship to the SS Madame de Pompadour (which I have to say is a nice reference to one of my favorite episodes, The Girl in the Fireplace).
Starting from the Doctor, at first he's clearly confused and overwhelmed with all the memories and physical changes but he still manages to form a connection to the dinosaur (the Doctor speaks dinosaur), even in his sleep, letting us know what the trapped animal feels and showing us her (!) perspective. And the words... "The wind bites now and the world is grey... and I am alone here. Can't see me. Can't... see me. Doesn't see me." Like with the Doctor. He awakens, hearing the dinosaur's painful death after being attacked and set on fire (spontaneously combusts in front of thousands of people). And once he realize he crime has been comitted, the Doctor starts his work, leaving Clara and the rest behind. He ends up in the alley, really cold and trying to understand where his faces come from, since the one he has now seems very familiar. He complains quite a lot to the scared homeless man and continues to follow the mystery case of the multiple spontaneous combustion.
When you stopped seeing it"
As for Clara, it's certainly a very Clara-centric episode. She can't quite see the Doctor in his new body. His very new, yet old, appearance, along with his changed behavior and clearly confused mind make her question if he's really the same man she cares about and she travelled with for a while now. She has quite a confrontation with Madame Vastra, who accuses her of judging people based on their looks and missing her friend's much younger and flirty self. After it becomes clear it's not a case the two decide to work together in order to bring the Doctor, "lost in the ruin of himself", back home. Once the Time Lord disappears Clara shares a couple of funny scenes with the always entertaining Strax before meeting again with the Doctor after finding a message in the newspaper for the Impossible Girl.
The Doctor and his companion finally have a chance for an honest conversation which almost ends up in a big argument before they realize the disturbing nature of the restaurant they're in. Where the dead bodies can mechanically move and fake eating dinner, without words or breath. From there, it doesn't take them long to figure out the fact that the restaurant is really just a cover for a "sort of automated organ collection station for the unwary diner". And they happen to be the next position on the menu. They manage to free themselves from the restraints and find the cyborg in charge (recharging and asleep) who is starting to become more and more human after years of adding human parts to his original self. Moments later the robot awakes and Clara's caught while the Doctor apparently chooses to hide and once again, leave her behind, this time with the deadly robots after her. Even though Clara tries to hold her breath and not let anyone know she's a living human, eventually she collapses after quite a terrifying walk among the dead people turned cyborgs.
Then comes one of my favorite moments in the episode, with a beautiful performance by Jenna Coleman: Clara's confrontation with the cyborg. Despite being absolutely frightened and not being able to hide her tears, she stands bravely against him, resisting his threats and protecting the Doctor, still believing in him, despite the fact that it seems like he's abandoned her. Fortunately, the truth is that, at his core, the Doctor is still the Doctor we all know and love and he obviously comes back for her, just when she needs him to. What's more, it's clear that he was staying close to her in the disguise and listening to the entire conversation. When the situation quickly gets even more dangerous, Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax come to the rescue. And while the Doctor goes after the cyborg in his escape capsule, the rest stays behind to fight the robots. When they start to lose Clara suggest they all hold their breath and fool the enemies to stand down. Luckily, they're able to hang in there long enough for the droids to deactivate after the cyborg's (the control node's) death.
As for his death... The cyborg, in his hot-air balloon made of human skin, lifting the restaurant into the sky, and the Doctor who's inside with him, have a long talk about there being no "promised land", what it means to be human, using parts replacement as a way to prolong a life and whether the cyborg is even still his original robotic self. Finally, the Doctor offers him a choice to end his own life or being killed by him. And we're left not knowing which way he chose.
Once the fight is over, the Doctor disappears in the TARDIS, once again leaving Clara with the Paternoster Gang. Though at first she believes she's gonna have to stay and join the detectives in their everyday work, she changes back her clothes to her modern ones and after hearing the TARDIS says goodbye and enters the newly redecorated control room. Despite their last events Clara admits she's not sure she knows the Doctor anymore and wants to come back home.
Clara almost parts ways with the Doctor but then she receives a surprising phone call from...Eleven. It's him already feeling the regeneration and he's asking his friend to stay with him and help him after he changes, convincing her it's still going to be him and he needs her. And that's enough. Finally Clara looks at Twelve and sees him, sees the Doctor, the one she just talked to, different, yes, but strangely familiar. "Thank you. For phoning." And the hug says it all. They're ready. First coffee, then, the next adventure!
Whovian notes and questions:
2. Were you surprised by Clara's reaction to the Doctor's change? How do you think their friendship is going to change? Or how do you hope it will?
3. "There's a woman out there who's very keen that we stay together." Any theories?
4. What did you think about the epilogue? In the so-called paradise with Missy? Honestly, confusing for me. New season-long mystery or something else?
5. "Please tell me I didn't get old. Anything but old. I was young. Oh...is he grey?" Still not ginger! Poor Doctor. Never works.
6. My favorite scene was the phone call. Then the Clara & the Cyborg confrontation. Also how funny were those bits with Clara and Strax? Loved all the gifs I've seen online. Any favorites in the episode for you? MVP, scenes, quotes?
Thanks for reading. Would love to hear your thoughts. And till the next week!
