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<\/a><\/p>\nLadies and gentlewhovians, the new Doctor is here! The last time we saw any incarnation of him this side of reruns was 2013\u2019s Christmas special which, to be honest, left me a little cold. Yes, yes, I\u2019m a bad person for making that joke and no I\u2019m not sorry about it.\u00a0 But really, it was lack luster. I\u2019d have gladly watched ANY other Doctor special than the halfhearted goodbye to the man who was the introductory Doctor for a giant part of the new Whovian population.<\/p>\n
But I digress. I\u2019m not here to bring up old wounds Steven Moffat has inflicted upon me. I\u2019m here to talk about the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor\u2026 or the thirteenth depending on how you treat the War Doctor. Let us begin.<\/p>\n
The beginning was off-putting. I understand that the familiar characters of Madame Vastra and Jenny Flit were tossed at us from the get go to help ease the blow of what was a rocky transition, but something was off. I\u2019m not sure if it was a stylistic choice on Moffat\u2019s part, if it was my new TV, or if my old man eyes (I\u2019m 31 now, officially old) just take in light differently, but the entire show looked different. It was darker.\u00a0 Reports and press releases have been mentioning the darker direction this Doctor will take ever since Capaldi was announced, but I didn\u2019t realize it\u2019d be literal too.<\/p>\n The change in opening sequence was upsetting. I know that each Doctor has slight changes to the theme and sequence, but this one was so different that I was taken aback. It sat right on the border of goofy and cheesy but couldn\u2019t commit to one side.<\/p>\n Capaldi wasn\u2019t in much of this episode as the plot revolved more around Clara coming to terms with the Doctor\u2019s regeneration. A thought had occurred to me was I watched Clara dealing with her new reality. Why was she as shocked as she was? Didn\u2019t the Doctor ever take time to explain regeneration to her? Some shock and transition time is warranted, but I think she went a little far. I know she was supposed to represent us, the audience, but I wasn’t a fan of it plot wise.<\/p>\n Clara was off her game, the Doctor was absent most of the episode, and we only saw the TARDIS and the sonic screwdriver a couple of times. The only familiar aspects were Vastra, Flint, and Strax the Sontaran butler. \u00a0When we did see the Doctor he was trying to figure out who he was which Capaldi pulled off very well.<\/p>\n I feel like I’ve been very negative thus far so let me bring up something I liked a lot. Strax is always great comic relief and even though his jokes are all of the same vein, they were used sparingly and at the appropriate times to lighten the mood without getting old. I laughed out loud and scared my cat half to death when he threw the paper up at Clara and hit her in the face. Well executed slapstick is always funny.<\/p>\n I liked how Moffat explained Capaldi playing the Doctor after appearing as Caecilius in series four episode two The Fires of Pompeii. He didn\u2019t really tell us as much as he gave us enough to work out our own answers. The Doctor said something along the lines of \u201cI\u2019ve seen this face before,\u201d and \u201cI don\u2019t know where the faces come from.\u201d True, it’s not a lot, but it’s easy to speculate. Karen Gillan was in the episode too but she had so much makeup on that her appearance as Amy Pond didn’t need explanation.<\/p>\n The halfway mark was when the show really picked up steam and was the same time things got really creepy. At first I thought it was a brand new villain, some flesh collecting robot. It wasn’t until I watched After Who with Chris Hardwick that I realized they were the same clockwork driod from my favorite Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace. Couple that with Capaldi’s references to Amy Pond and Tom Baker and this episode had a plethora of references to Doctors of the past.<\/p>\n There are two parts which I want to highlight as the best scenes in the episode. The first was after the Doctor left Clara behind with the clockwork droids and she had to hold her breath to try and escape. It was one of the most intense scenes in recent Who history. The second and arguably best scene in the episode was the phone call from the Eleventh Doctor. It was as surprising as it was heart breaking. This was the goodbye that Smith deserved and it was just what the fans needed.\u00a0 The plea from Eleven to Clara to stick by Twelve wasn’t just aimed at her. It was aimed at us.\u00a0 A reminder from the Doctor that the transition is never easy and even though he may look and act different, he’s still the Doctor.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n