Oh, Russell T Davies, you're your own worst enemy. "The Giggle", the final episode of the very short Fourteenth Doctor era on Doctor Who, has some very good ideas at its heart but is almost completely derailed by Davies' good and bad intentions (and I do think he had bad intentions) as well as having to carry an overabundance of plot. The directing and editing were also fraught with problems but I don't think I can blame Davies for that.
Neil Patrick Harris was fine as the Toymaker. He bears a slight resemblance to Michael Gough and he carried the zany, campy vibe Davies came up with for him. The idea of having him use a vaudevillian, broad German accent to make up for Harris' weak British accent was a decent enough and pleasantly silly idea. Not a politically correct idea, but a good idea.
But, oh, boy did Davies want to be politically correct, even when it didn't come naturally to him. I think he's absolutely outraged that people disliked his friend Chris Chibnall's run on the show on the grounds that it was too woke. And he wants revenge. I get it, I'm the same way; I tend to get much angrier on behalf of my friends than I do for myself. All that energy that in 2005 and '06 he put into the Doctor trapping villains in mirrors for all eternity and such he's now putting into getting even with Internet trolls. I get it but I would also put to him the same question that the Fourteenth Doctor puts to the Toymaker in this very episode, "Why are you so small?"
This is no way to bring viewers back to Doctor Who or bring new viewers in. This is how you push people away.
The premise behind "The Giggle" is that there's chaos all over the world because, "everyone thinks they're right". Which is how the problem with Internet discourse is often described. But it's not a good description either for the Internet or for how people act in this Doctor Who special. Everyone thinks they're right, everyone always has, it's just how the human mind functions. You'd never be able to get through a day if you didn't make observations and judgements based on those observations. The problem with the kind of Internet discourse Davies is attacking is that people are unwilling to alter their opinions based on rational judgement or new data. When Kate Stewart demonstrates by temporarily disabling her armband gadget, she angrily attacks everyone in the room, including Shirley, the token wheelchair character, because she believes Shirley is lying about needing a wheelchair. The problem isn't that Kate thinks she's right, it's that she is wrong.
And Davies has an idea there's more to it than an unshakable certitude. The Toymaker says the real motivating desire is to win, and that's where the Toymaker's interest comes in. That's a really good idea and one that might have been great to have play out in character development instead of being explained at us. That's why "Wild Blue Yonder" worked so much better. Davies took these fears and anxieties about AI and turned them into a visceral experience within a story. "The Giggle" leaves no time for that because it has too many other matters to attend to.
Of course, this episode also has a regeneration, or, for the first time, a "bi-generation", in which the Doctor is split in two. The Fourteenth remains while the Fifteenth arrives. And it feels rushed and Ncuti Gatwa, whose charisma immediately grabs the viewer's attention, is criminally short-changed. By having the two of them there, Fourteen feels like the real Doctor and Fifteen doesn't. Fourteen bears the weight of all that experience and Fifteen comforts him. And the last act of the episode is all about Fourteen. Hopefully the Christmas special will do something to rectify the matter but this reminded me of some of the worst moments in Davies' original run on the series.
Having Fourteen stick around to live with Donna is very much like the copy of Ten living with Rose. That wasn't so bad because at least that copy really wasn't the Doctor. The impression I got from that family dinner at the end of "The Giggle" was that Fourteen was going to be happy with them for maybe a month or a year and then he'd be off in his TARDIS again, probably with Donna or the token trans character Rose. "Well, that's all right then!" as the Toymaker said when he inexplicably decided to criticise how all of the companions during Steven Moffat's run left the Doctor (no mention of Yaz but, to be fair, who can remember what happened to Yaz?). Every one of them kind of died, but then every one of them kind of lived, so there was a bit of a cheat. It seemed like Davies was criticising that but then he went even further on the same tack.
Who is this for? The little kids who are too sensitive to handle any character deaths, or the adults who, after all, are the only ones equipped to understand much of the rapid fire, complex plot jammed with references to things from 10 to 60 years ago?
I don't blame Davies for not doing the usual anniversary thing and bringing back multiple Doctors. Chibnall had just done that at the end of his run. But he did bring back Mel Bush. It was nice getting caught up with what happened to her after the end of Seven's first season. Though her confidently proclaiming that she was his first red-headed companion makes me wonder if the Doctor forgot Turlough or just decided never to mention him again. Maybe Turlough doesn't count because he was a boy and the Fifth Doctor was heterosexual? But then does Donna not count since Fourteen is gay?
I thought it was stupid a lot of people on the Internet took the bait and got just as angry as Davies wanted when "Wild Blue Yonder" hinted that Fourteen was gay. This is nothing new. Doesn't anyone remember Nine kissing Jack Harkness back in 2005? I thought he was at least bisexual. But now he's gone to live with Donna and apparently he can't see her as more than a friend. Back luck for her she didn't get the one Billie Piper got.
And what did we get with the new Rose? She's very polite. And she's trans. She's perfectly normal and did I mention she's trans? Also there's a woman in a wheelchair and she's also normal. And that's all we know about her. Davies is doing the exact kind of thing that woke commentators criticise about old progressive corporate media. It's downright tragic. Especially since, if "Wild Blue Yonder" is any indication, Davies could've made something amazing if he could have set aside petty, ham-fisted revenge and concentrated on exploring thoughts and feelings.
The Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials are available on Disney+ in most places and on the BBC iPlayer in the UK.
X Sonnet #1797
The danger dancing broke the candy shoe.
The hour closed with tinsel floors bereft.
Solutions sprang from slyly chosen glue.
The hoof distinctions come from how they're cleft.
For rice we substituted flakes of snow.
The wrapping rose to coat the door and walls.
We judged the book to cover all we know.
As luck departs, the printed paper falls.
Invasive vintage tins restrain the tea.
No thinking time's allowed when draining pools.
A Santa hat could suit a cosy bee.
We hitched the house to twenty braying mules.
Regeneration turns and eats itself.
Ahead, the soldier seeks to meet an elf.
No comments:
Post a Comment