Well, we’ve now arrived at the first ever mid-season hiatus of Doctor Who. We’re seven episodes into Matt Smith and Steven Moffat’s second season in the TARDIS, and dear Lord, have we seen some crazy things. I have a few notes to make at this point:
-I won’t make any predictions at this stage, because one thing I’ve learned about the Moff is that he loves to confound and surprise, in the best possible way. Like the rest of the Internet, I did figure out who River Song was in advance of ‘A Good Man Goes to War’. I made sure to triumphantly tweet Moffat the fact too. He did not reply. Clearly dumbfounded.
-With every viewing, I love ‘The Big Bang’ a little more; it’s become one of my favourite Who episodes. So I was delighted that the current series followed that episode’s mind-bending example. The opening two-parter was a work of sheer genius; incredibly clever, while not lacking in emotional punch. I actually gasped at the brilliance of the Silence’s eventual defeat, not to mention THAT jaw-dropping moment at the end of ‘Day of the Moon’. We’ve had lots more clever threads; the woman in the eye-patch, Amy’s mysterious pregnancy – and these have been paid off now too. I hate it when threads are left tantalisingly hanging.
-Continuity from the last series has also been handled well. We’ve had lots of reminders of Rory’s 2000-year wait in particular, which makes me think it must be significant. There’s been lots of speculation that Rory is the real “good man” – maybe even the man River killed, the “best man [she] ever knew”? Only time will tell. We also had the rather casual introduction of a Silurian in the most recent episode.
-Speaking of Madam Vastra the lesbian crime-fighting Silurian – that sounds like the greatest spin-off series imaginable. Keep your Torchwood; I’ll take a ninja reptile over a bisexual immortal any day of the week.
-I’ve gotten quite used to Matt Smith, and really come to like him, which is great. He feels like “the Doctor” to me; it’s a tricky point to reach, but once it’s reached, it makes him almost untouchable. Every generation has “their” Doctor; for the Moff and his cohorts, it’s Tom Baker or Jon Pertwee. For some slightly older viewers, it’s Patrick Troughton. For my friends and I, it’s David Tennant. Some younger viewers now will be adopting Smith (how appropriate) as their Doctor now, and they’re lucky. His eccentricity is perfect for the character.
-As for Karen Gillan, I continue to admire her in a terribly objectified way. I do quite like Amy... but really, I just can’t get past Karen.
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| Can you blame me? |
-‘The Doctor’s Wife’ – what is there to say about this episode? It was more or less perfect; certainly one of the best episodes since the series’s return six years ago, and probably one of the best ever. I expected something great from Neil Gaiman, but it really surpassed all my expectations. The idea of personifying the TARDIS seems so simple with hindsight, and yet no-one else could ever have thought of it. I’ve always loved the idea of the Doctor and the TARDIS having a close personal relationship, so this episode was perfect for me. Plus we got to see some TARDIS corridors, which is something I always enjoy.
-Every episode so far has been of a remarkably high quality. ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’ was probably the weakest so far, and yet I found it hugely enjoyable; not the let-down I was expecting after the sheer brilliance of the previous episodes. It’s hugely premature, but I’m really coming to suspect this could be the best season yet.
Expectations are higher than ever before, but there is a real sense that the Moff, unlike his protagonist quite a lot of the time, has a real plan for the future and isn’t just making things up on the fly or throwing as many ingredients as he can think of together to form a huge, empty spectacle (yes, I’m talking about a certain giant Welshman). So, with no more than a glimpse of a skeletal hand holding a sonic screwdriver, let’s look to the future, and get ready to kill Hitler in the autumn.
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