I did not expect to write so much about an episode of telly I didn’t enjoy. For the benefit of all concerned, including myself, I will not be doing so again 
Better than Space Babies. But then again, dysentery is better than Space Babies so maybe not the best compliment.
Summary
Initially what surprised me was Belinda. I expected to love her from the off but I didn’t. Maybe that’s partly my fault with having high expectations & hoping for a great companion for this Doctor, that it might help me connect with him.
Belinda does become a good character, but it took me a while to warm to her. Partly because some of the dialogue is shoddy & just feels like RTD has forgotten how real people speak - her reaction to being kidnapped is basically ■■■■■■■ odd. She doesn’t seem surprised at all, just slightly annoyed by it. It’s silly but not in a good way. No sense of danger at all. She carries on like this for a bit, I only started to feel like she was becoming a real person when she said to the Doctor “don’t shush me!”, from here on I can see the beginnings of an interesting dynamic between the pair. A relationship that actually has some character drama, we stop for a moment but don’t worry RTD will soon move on to some other thing. He just has to set up another mystery girl idea.
It all looks OK I guess, some decent production design but as with S1 not the huge leap in quality from the previous era. & because everything moves at such a pace I never felt like I got to engage with the world & characters here. Feels like a speed run through the story. & it’s not like I’m one of those old people who complains about TV being too fast now. I watch plenty of shows that manage to contain nuanced character moments, drama & action with the same running time.
Here the tone is weird, as if nothing really matters that much. As if RTD thinks, as long as we keep up the energy no one will have time to notice how average it all is. He only stops when he has no other option, at least I should be thankful he doesn’t want the whole thing to be incoherent.
& do I really need to mention Murray Gold? Some of his cues are just awful. That opening hospital scene for example. It feels like a crutch RTD relies on to add drama that’s lacking in the writing. But also often feels out of place. & SO MUCH OF IT. Please can we have maybe 60 seconds that aren’t swaddled in score. It feels intrusive rather than complimentary. I guess MG gets paid by the note?
& yes I am going to talk about crying. It happened so often in S1 that it became not only a trope of this Doctor but lost its impact. & of course it’s not real crying, it’s TV crying, turning away from everyone, looking stoically sad & a single tear rolling down his cheek. Also, for Doctor Who this was a moment, he was friends with Sasha 55 for what 6 months? For me the viewer. Didn’t even get to know her as a real person let alone feel the friendship between her & 15. So I don’t care. Especially given the impatience of this episode to constantly move forward, seemingly afraid to let any moment sit for a while or have a genuine sense of impact in case audiences get bored. It’s off & on to the next bit. Like quickly flicking through a comic book.
Oh & “it’s not AI its AL” Huge eyeroll moment, awww RTD & your wordplay again! There’s probably a good episode to be made that critique’s incel culture, sadly this isn’t it. Does RTD even know what an incel is? Or has he just read a Guardian article? But we did get an enjoyably strange psychedelic moment. & then it’s all over & we have another puzzle person for Doctor Who to solve.
But at least Belinda challenges this & the Doctor, & feels more a real person rather than a plot device. Varada Sethu is definitely the highlight of this episode. Maybe this would have worked better as a two-parter? Give the Alan & Belinda relationship more room to develop so his surprise return had some kind of impact. & given the rest of the story more drama. But when you only have 8 episodes I guess that’s impossible.
The literal earth shattering tease at the end? Well, here we go again with another magic button/reset. Zero peril.
As for Mrs Flood? Just annoyingly tiresome tbh, & after all that Ruby mystery nonsense where RTD just trolled the audience & didn’t play fair, ‘ooh look I’m subverting expectations!’ I just don’t care. Maybe I would if the character actually did something rather than just break the 4th wall & basically say, “I’m bloody mysterious me ain’t I?”
Based on what I’ve seen so far of the RTD2/15th Doctor era it just isn’t for me. The writing is generally bad, feeling like first drafts. The tone reminds me of the end of RTDs first era, smug & with an unearned sense of self-satisfaction & aren’t-we-all-so-clever-&-amazing. I wasn’t excited at all about his return. But what I didn’t expect was slapdash underwritten stories that feel like chunks of plot & character moments are missing. Then again I guess it does take a certain amount of skill to create something that is both fast paced & boring.
I hope those episodes with new writers are better, Belinda is potentially a great companion especially compared to her bland predecessor so deserves some great stories. Varada Sethu is a much better actress than Millie Gibson. Ncuti? Well he’s Ncuti. A very charismatic screen presence but still doesn’t have that special something that makes me think he’s a good Doctor Who. Again as with most of my issues it comes down to the writing.
I’ll wait now until the whole season has dropped, or maybe the week before the finale airs & binge it. Similar to what I did with 12’s era, catching up now & again rather than weekly appointment-to-view telly. & like then I’m sure I’ll fall in love with the show all over again when the next era arrives.
In short, 2 out of 5. Because in its current form Doctor Who is unremarkable, feels like just another sci-fi/fantasy tv show amongst a plethora of sci-fi/fantasy tv shows.
