Saturday, November 28, 2020

The Doctor Sends in a Little Bill

I'd forgotten how much I liked the first episode of the Twelfth Doctor's final season. Considering how bad Thirteenth's run has been, I'm sure there are many who consider Twelve's last as the last proper season of Doctor Who. For all that, its first episode is intriguingly low key. How many times did Steven Moffat have to reestablish the show? With "The Eleventh Hour" and "Deep Breath", of course. But also "The Snowmen" and the beginning of Eleven's second season are grandly toned introductions to the show. Sometimes that's great but it's refreshing just watching an opening scene where the new companion, Bill (Pearl Mackie), quietly walks into the Doctor's university office and all the tokens of his personality and past are shown without fanfare.

I love the collection of sonic screwdrivers, putting the final nail in the coffin of the idea that he'd been permanently deprived of the tool in The Visitation.

It seemed a damned shame at the time that Bill was only getting one season. Knowing now what was to come, it seems even more of a shame. Here was a young actress who could actually act. Some of her lines are a bit too clever in the way Steven Moffat's could be but mostly he and Mackie do a good job establishing her as a normal girl working at a chip shop. I love that the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is intrigued by her because she smiles instead of frowns when she doesn't understand something. She's not enrolled in the university so she is hesitant to accept when he offers to be her tutor. There's no mention of financial trouble but, given her job, it's kind of implied. There's a subtle point being made about the value of actually being engaged with the material of a college course instead of just collecting the credits to make a credential.

I also liked the love interest/villain. The scene where Bill hears someone in the shower is really effectively tense, nicely balanced with a little relationship humour.

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