The Doctor versus Tooth Face, Round Two

To-day's new Doctor Who was the season finale, delivering a plot with markedly less emotion than any in the Russell T. Davies or Steven Moffat eras. Generally I wished finales from the revived series wouldn't try to hit such high notes but this first finale by showrunner Chris Chibnall has shown me the folly of blandness.

Spoilers after the screenshot

One thing I'll give credit to "The Battle of Ranskoor" for is addressing the seemingly sloppy writing from earlier in the season. Whether it's because Chibnall was planning it all along (doubtful) or he engaged in some self criticism (probable and laudable) I like that Ryan (Tosin Cole) now calls the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) on using bombs while she lectures people about the use of firearms. The Doctor's explanation, essentially that she established rules so that she can break them--or people who've won her respect can--was a nicely Time Lady moment. You think this show's too liberal? The Doctor certainly has her Royalist side. I still think it would've been sensible to shoot the giant spiders.

And people certainly were happy to use guns in this episode. Yaz (Mandip Gill) even gives Paltraki (Mark Addy) a "Nice shot!" when he manages to shoot two thugs over her shoulder. Graham (Bradley Walsh) has meanwhile gone from quoting Pulp Fiction to quoting Die Hard and he and Ryan standing over Tooth Face at the end looked like a shot from Inglourious Basterds.

If Inglourious Basterds starred people from commercials for local retail. Graham's dilemma over whether he'll kill Tim Shaw in revenge for the killing of his wife lacked a lot of weight thanks to Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole's flat performances. Though it was also deflated for not making sense in the usual way heroes deciding not to kill two dimensional villains doesn't make sense. If you're talking about an anti-death penalty philosophy in a world where even murderers are complex, multifaceted beings with psychological problems that may be treated, it makes sense. But as Graham pointed out early on, all the Doctor did in letting Tim Shaw live was to give him opportunity to commit more atrocities. That's a really good point and no-one really brings up a sensible counterargument. Unless anyone really believes Tim Shaw is going to be stuck in that solitary confinement forever. Well, he was so dull, maybe the writers really won't bother setting him free.

I liked the concept of the two person species, it felt very old school Doctor Who, as did the concept of a villain stealing planets and miniaturising them (in fact that was part of the premise of the Fourth Doctor serial The Pirate Planet).

So that concludes the first season of the Thirteenth Doctor. Some really nice guest stars this season, particularly Susan Lynch and Alan Cumming; writing that ranged from terrible to average; dull companions (Yaz pretty much had no reason for being in the finale); bad music. Whittaker isn't bad though she's easily the weakest since Colin Baker. But I still think things could improve next season.

Twitter Sonnet #1183

Presented drums contain a secret gin.
The quiet sun delivered rain to class.
Reports were gathered late and promptly binned.
Connexions failed to see the noodle pass.
The quiet key contains piano sounds.
A glowing time configured fights for scrap.
Another name was picked to call the rounds.
Appearance spelled the crimson paper wrap.
A planetary orange withheld the seeds.
As harpsichords would tumble down the hill.
Instructive plants were rows of music weeds.
But nothing human wrote the final bill.
A tidy stream concludes with salvaged soap.
A cleansing froth replenished means to cope.

Weaving a Web Without Connecting Strands

I love Doctor Who and I love spiders so I should've enjoyed to-day's new episode, "Arachnids in the UK", a lot more. I do like the title, I guess a play on "Anarchy in the UK". It could've used some anarchy, at least a little loosening up of what felt like another stiff plot forced onto the narrow track of messaging. But I did feel like the characters were allowed to breathe a little more.

Spoilers after the screenshot

I found myself liking Yasmin (Mandip Gill) a little more in this episode and I like the idea of meeting her family. But the old shtick of a family who are so comfortable with one another they say hilariously insulting things to each other in front of strangers fell a little flat. It would've been better if there were no attempt to make them funny, maybe just have them talk over tea.

I've never been fond of the device where a dead loved one appears as a manifestation of a character's thoughts about them but in between those moments Graham's (Bradley Walsh) grief was kind of effective. I felt like Chibnall was trying to channel what made the first episodes of Broadchurch so effective. Though maybe we have Twin Peaks, as the prototype for Broadchurch, to thank more than Chibnall.

It's weird how much more effective the Doctor's anti-gun stance was before it became a seemingly mandatory message. This episode seemed in particularly bad taste in light of yesterday's synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. We're introduced to a thin Donald Trump parody named Robertson (Chris Noth) whose insistence that they shoot the spiders that've been attacking and killing people is presented as cartoonish, derided out of hand by the Doctor and her companions, who favour a vague plan involving luring the spiders with music. A giant mother spider is suffocating--when this revelation comes, the soundtrack actually gives us violins. That's only been a cliché for two, maybe three hundred years. But I did feel bad for the creature. When Robertson shot it, we were clearly meant to think he was a psycho, but as far as I can see he was right, it was a mercy killing.

Mind you, I'm speaking as a vegetarian. I'm all for sparing animal lives whenever possible but giant spiders that are hunting humans? If you're not going to use guns you need a good reason. Chibnall didn't supply it which ironically gave me the feeling that he doesn't actually understand the gun issue.

I did think Jodie Whittaker was good in the episode. My favourite part was the beginning where she was getting ready to leave, very reluctantly, and immediately jumped at Yasmin's offer of tea.

Twitter Sonnet #1169

The clouds in orbit blot the foundered moon.
At peril's edge a pair of houses drop.
The servant crew's compelled to promptly swoon.
The splintered floor occasioned songs to stop.
Machines surprise the moss from off the stones.
A creaking fate emerges round the wheel.
A cracking step discovers trodden bones.
A quiet host await a final meal.
A silent gust deprived the ground of grass.
A forest never grown obstructs the thought.
Conducting little flames the candles pass.
The cloven hill denies the answer sought.
The busy things've spun a webbing clock.
A swarm of ghosts invest the buried rock.

Chibnall's Doctor

I've written about Doctor Who every Saturday for several years now. It's the day the show traditionally airs, after all, so it seemed appropriate. But I guess that changes next week (or technically the week after next) when the show moves to Sunday. A big part of the pitch this season is that everything's different--the day, the cast, the Doctor's sex, the composer, the directors. Everything's different except, of course, the new showrunner, Chris Chibnall. He's written several episodes of Doctor Who and its spin-off, Torchwood. So I thought it would be appropriate to rank all of Chibnall's Doctor Who episodes to-day. Maybe we'll get some idea of what we can expect in the upcoming season première.

4: "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"

I liked this episode when I first saw it but found it too irritating to watch through the second time. Part of the problem was that in their last few episodes, the Eleventh Doctor's companions, Amy and Rory Pond, had well overstayed their welcome, a problem exacerbated by the intentionally broad zaniness of this premise. I remember this season was billed as more cinematic than previous seasons, something that seems to be a promise going in to nearly every season, including the one starting next week.

3: "The Power of Three"

Also suffering from Amy and Rory fatigue, this one drags us through their weirdly smug domestic life while they guilt trip the Doctor for hinting that maybe exploring all of time and space might be more fun than working in a hospital. This one also suffers for being the debut of Kate Stewart on the proper series, the inadequate, dull replacement for her father, the Brigadier. I wonder if this means Chibnall will be bringing her back, despite the promise that the new season will feature almost nothing from previous seasons?

2: "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood"

I always like when the new series does a two-parter. One-off Episodes generally feel rushed and the nearly two hour format still feels like it's natural for a Doctor Who story. It's a shame the upcoming season is said to be all stand-alone episodes. "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" featured some of the best qualities of traditional Doctor Who stories--it established a group of new people handling a problem in an interesting, atmospheric situation into which the Doctor is an unknown interloper. It's also the first appearance of the Silurians on the new series; they're not quite as fun but they do provide the basic look for the much better Madame Vastra later on. I suppose we've seen the last of the "Paternoster Gang"? I hope not. There's always the Big Finish audios, I guess.

1: "42"

Chibnall's first and still best, in my opinion. A tight, self-contained Tenth Doctor episode that is a nice sequence of suspense in the small confines of a spacecraft. It was one of my favourite episodes of the Tenth Doctor's second season and its humbler goals work out a lot better than the comparative garishness of "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship". I hope we see more like this in the new season.