The Doctor, finally.
Steven Moffat took a brave leap with Peter Capaldi. He looked at seven seasons of dashing young sensitive Doctors celebrating & nurturing humanity, and chose to replace them with a cantankerous old arsehole Doctor who tolerated & patronised humanity. Last week’s ‘Kill the Moon’ was the apotheosis of that personality – abandoning Clara to make a choice that only a human could make. The right way, perhaps, but done with the entirely wrong attitude, and with transparently false platitudes to sweeten the pill.
This Doctor doesn’t sweeten pills. He is uncompromising as no other Doctor before him, and ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’ both clarified that and gave us back our Doctor – The Doctor as the ultimate problem solver when every solution seems hopeless. The Doctor, finally, as hero. Clara’s volte-face may seem overly sudden, but I think she saw it too. That the core of The Doctor remains intact and inviolable, regardless of the irascibility of the exterior.
Now all I need is for Clara to cut down on the domestic abuse. Twice now she’s slapped The Doctor in fury and last week she threatened to do so so hard he’d regenerate. Is that the kind of old school relationship tip we need to pass on to our kids, eh Mr Moffat? That frustrated folk can slap some sense into their partners? I find it puzzling that the Beeb can, on the one hand, vilify the likes of Kelly Brook for confessing to slapping boyfriends in her autobiog, and yet brazenly broadcast supposedly-strong-role model Clara’s abusive behaviour on Saturday night primetime.
Kind hands, Clara, kind hands. You hold the souls of millions in them.
Tags: doctor who