For the past few regenerations there’s always an adjustment period during the new Doctor’s first episode, where he’s still cooking and getting used to the change- during that period those around him also take a moment to get used to the new appearance, voice, (at times) accent and characteristics. By ‘those around him’ I’m also referring to the audience, because just as his companions/friends need to come to grips with who the doctor now is, the audience must also adjust. Peter Capaldi’s debut as the twelth Doctor is rocky, in terms of the episode itself, but the man, the mystery, the timelord? Capaldi nails it. As a darker character than his predecessor I didn’t expect for him to make me laugh as much as I did during the episode. It was a pleasant surprise, I love that Twelce is incredibly crotchety and isn’t a hugging sort of person. And at over 2000 years old he’s picked a face that outwardly exhibits that age.
Madame Vastra: “He looked young, who do you think that was for?
Clara: “Me?”
Madame Vastra: “Everyone. I wear a veil as he wore a face- for the same reason.”
Clara: “What reason?”
Madame Vastra: “The oldest reason there is for anything. To be accepted.”
The episode itself was a bit, I don’t know, we saw a dinosaur materialising alongside the Houses of Parliament in Victorian London, and the Pasternoster Gang are relieved when the Police Box is spat up. But the appearance of the TARDIS doesn’t bring help, but rather a Doctor in need of it; newly regenerated, extremely volatile and questioning his self-worth. The only person that may be able to help him is Clara, whose name he can’t even remember in his discombobulated state, and she’s still grappling with the losing the Doctor she knew and loved.
Their new dynamic shows promise and I’m very much excited for more. So I found the appearance of Smith a tad unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Eleventh doctor, however bringing him back for that phone call with Clara was just a bit overboard. I suppose Clara needed that push to get her to accept that the doctor is still the doctor even if he looks, sounds and kinda acts differently now.
Honourable Mentions
- Who is Missy? (APART FROM BEING PICKWELL IN BAD EDUCATION- I GOT SO SCARED WHEN I SAW HER LOL) She said she loves the doctor, she lives in what she calls some kind of heaven. Sure she’s not the Master, because the Master had a very volatile relationship with the Doctor. And also, the Master refused to regenerate. It’s someone else entirely. But who, what where and why?
- Madame Vastra and Jenny are my OTP. Just, seriously. LOVE THEM.
- Fires of Pompeii: So we address that initial issue of ‘but he’s been on the show before!’ The Doctor talks about how he’s seen his face before but can’t place it and then goes talks about how the regeneration always chose his face from faces it knew. Remember when we saw this face, Ten learned that, to a certain extent, time can be rewritten, that even though history says everyone in Pompeii died, Peter Capaldi’s character and his family were saved. And at the end he tells Clara he’s made a lot of mistake and that he’s going to start doing something about it. Interesting.
- Who placed the ad? Same person who gave Clara the TARDIS phone number way back when?
