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| A Series 11 publicity shot. |
"CHANGE, MY DEAR..."
-Caves of Androzani
I mentioned in my review of The Woman Who Came to Earth that Series 11 is less an eleventh season than it is a new first season. This was clearly designed as a jumping-on point for new viewers, eschewing the increasingly heavy continuity of the Moffat years in favor of a "back to basics" approach. As I noted then, in many respects The Woman Who Fell to Earth plays more like the first episode of a new series than Rose did back in 2005!
With Chris Chibnall taking over from Steven Moffat as showrunner, it's no surprise that the tone and style of the series is sharply different. In my opinion, the Doctor's gender switch is by far the least significant change. Chibnall, probably best known for the emotionally-charged Broadchurch, is practically the anti-Moffat. Moffat's era was lightning-paced and full of grand, almost operatic ideas. Chibnall's Who is much more leisurely, and decidedly life-sized.
The Doctor has gone from being "The Oncoming Storm" to being "just a traveler" who helps where she can (and who sometimes gets it wrong). There is as much emphasis on the companions as on the Doctor; the major character arc of the season belongs to Graham and Ryan, not to the Doctor. Also, for the first time since the 1960s, historically-based stories that actually center on history are a major emphasis... and are largely the season standouts. Supervillains are conspicuously absent, with even T'zim Sha, whose appearances bookend the main season, less a supervillain than a petty thug with delusions of grandeur.
I actually agree with all of these changes. The series' trajectory since its 2005 return has been to go progressively "bigger" each season, until it really got about as "big" as it could get. Paring it back was needed, and indeed Moffat attempted the same in Series Ten - But Moffat being Moffat, inevitably the best episodes of his final season were the ones that went big. Chibnall being Chibnall, the best episodes of his debut season are the ones that feel the most authentic, the most true to the characters we meet and the places we visit - which I suspect is why the historical stories for the most part work better than the more traditional sci-fi/monster tales.
"YOU MAKE YOUR INCOMPETENCE SOUND LIKE AN ACHIEVEMENT"
-The Daleks' Master Plan
So in a macro sense, I think Chibnall gets it right. On a big picture level, I actually really like his direction for the series.
Unfortunately, on an episode-by-episode basis, not everything quite comes together.
I have noticed that, as a writer, Chris Chibnall struggles with the axiom, "Show, Don't Tell." This is evident in his scripts throughout the season. There's a moment in The Ghost Monument where the group approaches a river, where the water is absolutely deadly to living things. This is a great idea for a set piece, reinforcing how dangerous the planet Desolation is. Unfortunately, Chibnall's script has the Doctor scan the water with her sonic screwdriver and just tell us and the other characters that it's dangerous, and that's the end of it. None of the characters are even close to the water at that moment! In 1964, The Keys of Marinus knew to show us the acid water by having one of Susan's shoes fall in as she was about to paddle in it; in 2018, in an episode with resources the 1960s production team couldn't have dreamed of, The Ghost Monument contents itself with telling us that the water's dangerous and that's an end to it.
The season introduces three companions for the new Doctor, all of whom are likable, all of whom are played by engaging actors. While Graham and Ryan are given a nice, emotional arc across the season, Yaz is consistently sidelined. Even in her supposed spotlight episodes (Arachnids in the UK, Demons of the Punjab) her material is less interesting than Graham's, and in fact less interesting than those two episodes' guest characters. By the end of the season, we know that she is compassionate, we know that she is very loyal to the Doctor to the point of hero worship, and there are some nods at a potential relationship with Ryan - But all of that is pretty well established by the end of Episode Four, and is not much expanded on by the season's end. For the most part, she comes across as an extra character, someone for the Doctor to bounce exposition off while Graham and Ryan get the real character material.
The season also struggles with having the four regulars interact among themselves. Too many episodes this season split the team into default pairs: Graham and Ryan get comedy beats and emotional material to further their arc, while the Doctor and Yaz do exposition and plot stuff. There are certainly exceptions to this: The Doctor and Graham get some good scenes in Rosa and Battle; Yaz and Graham share a good scene in Demons; Yaz and Ryan have scattered good scenes across the season. But the Graham/Yaz scene in Demons of the Punjab is the only substantial scene between those two characters in eleven episodes! Graham and the Doctor - the two characters with the most life experience, played by the two strongest actors - only have a handful of decent interactions, with Graham mostly just providing wry commentary on her eccentricities.
If Chibnall could mix up the characters a bit, playing with different combinations, I think it would greatly enrich the series. And if he could make threats tangible, rather than just content himself with telling us the threats exist, then it would certainly make things more gripping.
"STUPID, FOOLISH GIRL - WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE RELIED ON YOU!"
-The Ark in Space
Of course, it would be ludicrous to talk about Series 11 without talking about The First Female Doctor. A glance over my reviews should show that I feel (mostly) pretty positive about Jodie Whittaker's Doctor. She hasn't gotten the character attention that Matt Smith or Peter Capaldi received, but she has largely run with the cues she's been given, and anchored the series with an enjoyable and engaging performance.
Minor confession, that might surprise those who have read my reviews. To the extent that I cared (which wasn't particularly much), I would have counted myself against a female Doctor. I've never been an advocate of change for the sake of change, and I worried that a self-consciously quirky comedienne or a "sex symbol of the moment" would be cast, either of which would have likely been disastrous.
However, it's been clear enough for several years that a female Doctor was going to happen sooner than later, with Moffat actively laying groundwork to ease the way during the Capaldi years, so it wasn't particularly a surprise when the announcement was made... And when Jodie Whittaker, an actress whose work I have enjoyed since Venus, was announced, I found myself: (a) quite relieved that an actress with proven range had been cast; and (b) surprised at how positive I felt about it. Though it still took a while for me to return to Who, Whittaker's casting was a major factor in getting me interested in catching back up with the show.
But again: I love the casting in principle. I love her performance... in parts. She's terrific at quiet, contemplative little moments: Remembering her long-lost family in The Woman Who Fell to Earth; tenderly reuniting with the TARDIS at the end of The Ghost Monument; frankly acknowledging that no, she can't make it so that Rosa Parks can sit anywhere she wants on the bus in Rosa; her enthusiasm dropping away as she realizes her new friends may be leaving her in Arachnids; and so on. She's excellent at substantial dramatic scenes, such as her confrontation with King James in The Witchfinders. She's good when she gets moments of strength, such as warning the Thijarians that the local humans are "under (her) protection" in Demons or her varying moments of anger and irritation in Kerblam!
I think Jodie Whittaker could be a truly great Doctor. But as of the end of Series 11, she isn't one.
Whittaker stuggles visibly with Technobabble. When she talks about "artron energy" or "psychotropic waves," she occasionally looks like a non-English speaking actor phonetically reciting painfully learned lines. She also struggles with goofball comedy, which is particularly visible in Arachnids in the UK. She is good at other types of comedy. I enjoyed her moments of sarcasm, as when she deflates Enzo's posturing in The Ghost Monument ("Do you practice those lines in a mirror?") or ridicules the Dalek's makeshift shell in Resolution ("What do you call this, then? Junkyard chic?"). I enjoyed her playfulness in Rosa, when she teases Graham about whether or not she actually is graffiti artist Banksy. But the goofball stuff, that Matt Smith and David Tennant could pull off? She really doesn't.
These are not crippling weaknesses, and can easily be compensated for by the scriptwriters avoiding meaningless Technobabble (never a bad thing anyway) and avoiding overt goofball moments. But right now, there are just enough scattered bad moments to make the overall performance a touch uneven. Combine that with a lack of a strong character arc for her in Series 11? I'd have to say that it's easy for me to like the Thirteenth Doctor - But something extra is needed before I love the Thirteenth Doctor in the way I have loved some of the previous incarnations.
"ONE GOOD, SOLID HOPE IS WORTH A CARTLOAD OF CERTAINTIES"
-Warrior's Gate
So what would my wish list be for Series 12 and beyond?
First, I want the series to make some dramatic use of the gender swap. The Doctor's the Doctor - But now she's a woman, which should impact how others react to her. Modern career women regularly observe that if they are assertive in the exact same way that male colleagues are, they are dismissed as shrill or unlikable, and that's just in modern settings - In historical settings, it should be a genuinely difficult struggle for her to get local authorities to take her the tiniest bit seriously. That is a narrative challenge... And like most challenges, instead of ignoring it, there is real potential for drama in making ful use of it.
The tie-in book The Good Doctor sees the Doctor reacting with frustration to being treated differently when she is herself no different... Which means that a tie-in novel, not exactly a traditional source of great literature, does more with the gender change than the actual season does! Of eleven episodes, only The Witchfinders (well, and one scene in Rosa) bother to acknowledge that being a woman changes how the Doctor is perceived. I would desperately like the series to do more with this. Not in every episode, certainly - But the gender change has story possibilities, and should be worth more than an occasional one liner.
The series needs to do better with story endings. Kerblam! and Resolution were both potentially excellent episodes, both let down by problems in the final act. Arachnids in the UK was a junk episode... But it was mostly a fun junk episode, that left a sour taste by basically having no ending at all. An occasional whiffed ending is inevitable in series television - But more than a quarter of the season having weak endings? That points to a problem, one that needs to be addressed.
I already sufficiently addressed character interactions and "Show, Don't Tell" earlier, so I'll avoid repeating myself - But I would like to see improvement in those areas, as well.
I actually really like the shift in tone and style, and hope that is retained. A more grounded Doctor Who is an interesting change, and one that suits Chibnall's strengths... Though admit that I wouldn't mind a proper, over-the-top romp once in a while. I enjoyed the focus on historical stories, and hope that continues - Though at the same time, I would like to see some attention paid to making the contemporary and sci-fi stories as strong as the historical ones.
Finally, I would like to see a truly scary Doctor Who story. It's been years since there was a good "horror Who," and I actually think Chibnall's style would fit a slow-burn scary story pretty well. Just a personal preference, but this is my review, so I'm throwing it in there.
"TRAVEL HOPEFULLY"
-The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos
When all is said and done, I liked Series 11. I agree with the changes Chibnall has made to the show, and I think his instincts for the series are largely correct. There are certainly areas for improvement - "Show, Don't Tell" should be imprinted on Chibnall's computer monitor so that he sees it every time he sits down to write - but I think the loudness of the detractors' voices has led to faults being overstated and virtues being ignored.
I like all four regulars. I like Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, and with better material I think she has the potential to be great... if the material can be a bit better-tailored to her strengths and away from her weaknesses. This newest version of the show isn't quite fully formed yet in its debut season - But if the production team took a good, hard look at what worked and what didn't, then there's nothing stopping Series 12 from taking the pieces and potential and making something truly special out of them.
We'll see soon enough - But even on its own merits, I liked the season more than not.
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