I’m back! This blog post will be the first of a 12-part series of reviews of Series 8 of Doctor Who, which will be updated weekly (I promise this time). The later posts will probably be a bit more focused than this one, too. Let’s get stuck in then, shall we?
Spoiler Warning: No two ways about it, this review is going to be full of them. So, if you haven’t seen ‘Deep Breath’ yet and don’t want to know any details or plot points, you should probably go and watch it first.
I’ve been a big Doctor Who fan for a year or so now, so I was hugely excited for the first episode of series 8, especially due to the coup of Peter Capaldi’s casting as the 12th Doctor. To get that out of the way, then, he is fabulous as the grand old man of space and time (as Steven Moffat recently described the character). This Doctor is noticeably spikier and less predictable than his predecessor- when he leaves Clara with the Paternoster Gang there’s a very real threat that he might not return- but still witty and eccentric to the core. Apparently, he now drinks whisky and hates karaoke- who knew? Post-regeneration amnesia is always great fun to watch, but the Doctor’s rambling, irate confusion at the concept of a bedroom was especially hilarious. Mixed in with the humour, however, were some beautifully delivered moments of solemnity by Capaldi, one example being his sleeping translation of the T-Rex’s lament. The performance was subtle and perfectly pitched, and felt almost Shakespearean. Another of my favourite post-regeneration scenes was the sequence that takes place in the alleyway with the tramp. It was satisfying to see Peter’s previous appearance in Who, in 2008’s The Fires of Pompeii, touched on, without being heavy handed, and the scene ranged from this to entertaining discussions about his eyebrows and Scottish accent. One gets the feeling, by this point in the episode, that 12 is beginning to shake off the lingering ghost of his previous incarnation, and by the 45 minute mark the Doctor feels entirely established as his own man.
The Doctor isn’t all that’s new here; there’s also a brand new title sequence and theme tune to usher us into a new era. I quite enjoyed the former, but suffice it to say that the new theme is like nails on a chalkboard. Maybe it’ll grow on me, but I’m not holding out much hope. One thing I did love, though, was the redecorated Tardis interior; it felt much warmer and more homely than it has in the last year or so. The characters feel rejuvenated, too, in particular Clara. So often in series 7 she felt hollow and two dimensional, and was treated as a cipher, a puzzle to solve, the ‘Impossible Girl’, but her characterisation comes on leaps and bounds here. In her argument with Vastra she is strident, defensive and almost bitchy, but almost paradoxically more likeable. She finally feels like a real person, and Jenna Coleman executes this more rounded, complex version of Clara beautifully. The Paternoster gang are always a welcome addition too, and although Strax was pretty much business as usual, Vastra and Jenny’s characters and relationship was expanded nicely.
Aside from being an introduction to the 12th Doctor, ‘Deep Breath’ functions well in its own right. Ben Wheatley’s direction lent it a wonderfully filmic feel, and the writing maintained a decent balance of mystery and sci-fi elements with the episode’s more profound themes of change and acceptance. The cannibalistic construction of the clockwork-powered Half-Face Man was deliciously dark and macabre, and his spaceship made of human skin made me shudder. It’s exactly my flavour of morbid Victorian mystery, and the droids in Mancini’s restaurant are utterly unsettling. It’s a bit of a shame, then, that some elements felt a little half-baked and didn’t go anywhere in particular; namely, the T-Rex. I felt like it was mostly there because it looked cool, and needed integrating more into the main plot. The Tardis being shot out of its mouth and the subsequent interactions with the Doctor were entertaining, though, and it fulfilled the role of opening bombast nicely. Overall, as post-regeneration episodes go ‘Deep Breath’ was perhaps not as tightly plotted and rollicking as ‘The Eleventh Hour’, but I feel this was partly due to its slightly padded length, as well as the added baggage of an existing companion to address in contrast with series 5’s relatively clean slate.
The episode ended with two scenes which are likely to be divisive among fans, or at least a subject of heated discussion for weeks to come. The first was Matt Smith’s phone-call cameo as the 11th Doctor. I’d known about this months in advance via a spoiler thread on a popular Doctor Who forum, so I wasn’t at all surprised, but it’s a moment that I imagine will have been unexpected for some. Personally, I don’t believe it was entirely necessary, but it was nicely executed and brought Clara’s discomfort and uncertainty, which had haunted much of the episode, to something of a conclusion. The 12th Doctor’s hurt at her inability to “see me” was a particularly moving moment, and a lovely portrayal of emotional vulnerability. The second of these scenes was the introduction, at the very end of the episode, of the mystery of Missy and the Promised Land. This seems to be the beginning of a series-long arc, although it is possible that the concept of Heaven and the afterlife may prove to be more interesting than the character of Missy herself. Michelle Gomez did well with her short appearance, though, and was delightfully bonkers. Here’s hoping this mystery goes somewhere interesting.
In conclusion, I thought ‘Deep Breath’ was a fantastic introductory episode for the 12th Doctor- thrilling, poignant, and inventive. It felt slightly over-long in places, but was for the most part extremely enjoyable. With any luck the rest of the series will show this new Doctor to be as intriguing and unpredictable as we have seen so far.
The Final Verdict: 8/10
Occasionally Opinionated 