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| The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) tracks an alien menace. |
THE PLOT
Modern-day Sheffield, an ordinary night. Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh) and his wife Grace (Sharon D. Clarke) are on a train home... A trip that is disrupted by a mysterious ball of energy that Graham insists can't possibly be alien, because "We don't get aliens in Sheffield!" Grace's grandson Ryan (Tosin Cole) and young policewoman Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) also arrive at the train - Just in time to see a mysterious woman (Jodie Whittaker) literally fall from the sky, through the train roof, into the compartment.
The woman can't remember her name. Or the word for "tongue." And is surprised to learn that she's a woman. She is quick to take charge of the situation, however, prompting the group to investigate both the energy ball and a bizarre, egg-like form Ryan discovered in the woods. The investigation brings them face-to-face with a hunt by an alien determined to prove his worthiness to rule his people - and who thinks nothing of killing anyone who gets in his way!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Jodie Whittaker debuts as the first female Doctor, which depending on which Internet forum you stumble onto is either the Second Coming or the Social Justice Warrior Apocalypse. Up-front: I've never been either strongly for or against the idea of a female Doctor (something that's been mooted, with varying degrees of seriousness, since around 1980). It seemed clear enough during Capaldi's tenure that the groundwork was being laid, so I wasn't particularly surprised - And as a fan of Broadchurch, I was mainly relieved that a genuinely good actress had been cast.
In her first story, Whittaker is... fine. She is terrific in her introductory scene and during a couple quiet, contemplative scenes centered around a funeral near the end. She has many effective moments throughout, showing good comic timing as well as an unsurprising (for those who have seen her past work) capacity for dramatic scenes. What she doesn't quite seem to have down, at this stage at least, is the ability to switch on a dime between the comic and dramatic, and she comes across a bit forced in scenes that call on her to do so... And also in moments that call on her to recite Technobabble. On the whole, it's neither a disastrous debut nor a triumphant one, but somewhere in the middle. I do note that this was one of the first two stories shot; perhaps the production team should have borrowed a page from the Davison and Smith years, and started with a mid-season episode to allow her to find the character?
Graham/Grace: There's nothing at all forced about the performances of Bradley Walsh and Sharon D. Clarke, both of whom are splendid and absolutely authentic throughout. The Doctor's arrival turns their lives upside down, and they have wonderfully contrasting reactions. Grace is thrilled by the excitement of this adventure, throwing herself in head-first and even asking, "Is it wrong that I'm enjoying this?" Graham's blunt response? "Yes!" Graham is the perfect audience stand-in, reacting as most of us would - Stumbling through, doing the best he can in the situation, but also reluctant to willingly put himself or his family in harm's way. I was already liking him, but I knew he'd end up being a favorite in a scene midway through the episode, when he wonders why they're running toward the dangerous alien instead of away from it.
Ryan/Yaz: Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill round out the regulars. Ryan struggles with dyspraxia, a condition that affects physical coordination, and also with his relationship with Graham, his grandmother's husband of three years. Yaz is relatively new on the police force, and is frustrated at the dull calls - hoaxes and parking disputes - that she's assigned. As a policewoman, she wants to take charge of the situation, but she fairly easily bends to the Doctor's force of personality and confidence. Both characters are likable enough, with potential for growth, but they make much less of an impression than Graham and Grace do.
Monster of the Week: T'zim-Sha (Samuel Oatley) is from a warrior-like race known as the Stenza, and is on Earth to fulfill a hunt for a "designated human target" to prove himself as leader. The Doctor sizes him up quickly, and finds him wanting. His hunt is supposed to be without aid, but he cheats - using the energy ball to locate his target and DNA bombs to cover his tracks. The Doctor taunts him for being a "cheat," and mocks him by referring to him as "Tim Shaw." There's not much more there - this is not a complex, layered villain, but basically a Predator that speaks.
THOUGHTS
The Woman Who Fell to Earth feels less like the start of a new season than the start of a new series. It's not just that the Doctor is female now - Except for certain dank corners of the Internet, that's honestly the smallest and least significant change. The entire tone, style, and approach to the series is starkly different. The pace is slower, with more time taken to establish characters and setting. Nonverbal beats are lingered over longer. Coupled with these shifts, new composer Segun Akinola favors atmosphere over bombast, making the entire production feel much lower-key than the Davies and Moffat eras. Finally, continuity has been stripped back, limited only to Whittaker appearing in (and looking fabulous in) Capaldi's outfit for the bulk of the story and a single reference to her having previously been a "white-haired Scotsman." It honestly feels more like "Season 1, Episode 1" than Rose did.
Again, my cards on the table: The Moffat era is my favorite period of the new series, and among my favorites of the entire franchise. Moffat was fearless, always willing to aim for big ideas, large scale, epic scope. At its best, his Doctor Who was dazzling. At its worst, it failed because its reach exceeded its grasp, which is vastly preferable to failures that just don't try at all.
For all of that, I feel that every one of these changes was needed. The epic approach had reached its height at the end of Series Nine (which, since I haven't yet reviewed it, I'll just note is my favorite new Who season), and started to run aground in Series Ten. If everything's epic, if every situation carries ultimate stakes, then nothing really matters much at all. If the Doctor is a superhero, then you need ever more powerful supervillains, and there's a point at which it's all gotten as "big" as it can reasonably get.
The Woman Who Fell to Earth brings things back down to Earth, and has a far more authentic feel to it than did the previous era. As noted, it feels like an "Episode One," and I could easily imagine this being a jumping-on point for new viewers. New showrunner Chris Chibnall takes the opportunity to re-align expectations. When asked who she is, the new Doctor doesn't declare herself to be ancient, god-like, formidable, or the last of the anything. She just simply replies that she's a traveler who helps out where she can - A needed rescaling of a Doctor who had, as the Eleventh Doctor once observed, gotten "too big."
If I'm not talking much about the plot... Well, it's because the actual story is very pedestrian. This is no Eleventh Hour, which trampled all my expectations and had me leaning forward in my seat in exhilaration and delight. But it does a good, solid job of relaunching the series with a new lead and a new direction.
Rating: 7/10.
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