Doctor Who 08.01 “Deep Breath” reaction post

[annathepiper]

We just finished watching the Doctor Who premiere (and in Paul’s case, watching it for a second time, since he watched it last night when Dara and I weren’t home). Picoreview: Capaldi is definitely an interesting new take on the Doctor. It’s nice to see Clara showing some active character development, and I generally always like Vastra, Jenny, and Strax.

However, the sexism in the episode did not elude me, and I found quite a few moments heavyhanded even for Moffat.

Spoilers!

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Mirrored from angelahighland.com.

Comments

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I agree with most of what you say. I haven't had any investment in the arc plots of Doctor Who for several seasons now - I find them the most forced and boring aspect of the whole show generally. I loved River, and disliked the direction they took her character and background in.

At this point, I'm really watching for some of the actors and the odd individual episode which is really great (the 50th anniversary special was one of the rare cases where a good episode actually involved arc plot instead of being standalone). I thought Peter Capaldi was wonderful, and it is nice to see a reversion to the grumpy old man of old. I loved him not being a hugging person and Clara telling him he didn't get a choice :-)

I think if any one of the Claras had all the knowledge and experiences of all the splintered Claras, they would go utterly mad. Her reaction to the regeneration didn't bother me at all. Clara is her own individual person making her own choices in each of her existences - besides, a companion with too much knowledge of everything would very rapidly become dull.

I loved the relationship between Nine and Rose, but I didn't see any romantic angle to it. They were just really good mates, sometimes having fun, and sometimes needing one another to hold them up. I thought the romantic aspect only came in with Ten, but your viewing may differ :-)

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I liked the idea of River Song a lot better than the actual execution. I disliked the entire "she's hanging out in prison for no apparent reason because she never actually killed the Doctor, who, by the way, NOBODY REMEMBERS ANYWAY" thing.

And oh god yes the 50th was beautiful, but I'm pretty much with you--hanging in there for the occasional moments of brilliance. Like the bit with the hugging. :)

Thinking about it, it did occur to me that Clara Prime must clearly not share all the experiences of her splinter selves for exactly the reason you describe.

And hrmm. I agree that Rose didn't really seem to kick in with being romantically interested in the Doctor until he turned into Ten--but then, I would have bought it if they'd gone that way with her and Nine too.