Josh and company review Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the Doctor

Here we go! 

Reviews of Ncuti Gatwa's episodes as the Doctor, featuring commentary from me (Josh!) and my kid Percy!

The Church on Ruby Road

Percy: Ruby is a great companion for the 15th doctor. They balance each other well. However, companions are becoming closer and closer to my age. Me? Nervous? Never.

Josh: Companions getting close to your age? Wait till the Doctor stops being older than you!  Peter Capaldi was the last time I'm ever going to have that!

I didn't really warm to Ruby in this one. She was fine, just kinda there, but I tend to give the first episode of each new Doctor a pass. The writers have to juggle a lot of stuff, primarily introducing a new audience to the universe, and having a companion show too much personality could distract from that. So they're a little flatter in their characterization than they would be otherwise.

The Goblin number was bonkers! 

I do like musical episodes in non-musical entertainment. 

RTD has always used music well, going back to the Toxic scene from Eccleston's run.

Josh's Score: 7/10

Space Babies

Percy: I just wasn't super sold on the premise. Sorry to any space babies reading out there.

Josh: You made the Space Babies cry, you monster. I like the absurdity, and I like the smaller "Base under siege" type stories, because there is a tension. Obviously the Daleks aren't going to succeed in destroying the universe but they could be successful in wiping out a bunch of scientists and soldiers.

I mean, obviously, not in this specific instance.  You're not going to reboot your beloved children's show by killing a bunch of babies, but I think you take my larger point.

And it is a children's show. It's beloved by those adults who grew up watching it, but it was conceived as a children's show and it has arguably evolved beyond that but it's a show for kids and it's okay to be silly. 

Tell 'em, Tom!

Besides, that's the kind of storytelling I like and the distillation of what I think science-fiction should be, asking "What if this were true?" and extrapolating and playing it straight from there.

Josh's Score: 6/10

The Devil's Chord

Percy: Drag demon? I'm down for that concept. Go on...

I did think some things were done well here. The crawling out of the piano, the scene of complete silence, the rooftop song for sad lesbians (Josh: Surely that's the name of someone's band), and the brief Charlie Heaton cameo. (Editor's note: Not actually Charlie Heaton, though the resemblance is uncanny) Yes, Music was overdramatic and loud, but guys, it’s MUSIC, the child of the TOYMAKER, what part of that character would ever be read as stoic and phlegmatic?

Josh: I like these mythic episodes.  The Seventh Doctor era is my favorite and one of its defining characteristics was his battle against the Elder Gods.

Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro was radiating WOULD YOU LIKE A LARGE HAM?! energy. 

"I thought it was non-diagetic!" made me laugh out loud.

The costuming was brilliant. 

The Twist at the End was catchy. I don't care what the haters say.

Score: 9/10

Boom

Percy: I liked it more than my dad did, which is a low bar, because he hated it. Some of it was a bit heavy handed, and when my dad remarked that he thought the twist was predictable I was surprised, because I hadn't realized it was meant to be a twist. I legitimately thought it was just a plot point we had already known. I do like a one-location episode though, sue me. I will say, it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth when the Doctor shat all over the concept of faith in and of itself. Organized religion can be and often is dangerous, but a young woman who believes in a larger force looking out for her does not deserve to be absolutely microwaved like that in front of a crowd. Also that guy's daughter was so stupid it was exhausting.

Josh: This episode was dogshit.

I'm generally good at making a distinction between "This was bad" and "I didn't like this" or "I would have done this differently."  I can respect the craftsmanship of a well-told story that just doesn't "work" for me. I don't think that's what this was. I think it was just bad. Too quippy, too infatuated with its own cleverness, too eager to call back to Moffat's earlier work. I'm not religious, but it rubbed me the wrong way when the Doctor took some unnecessary cheap shots at the concept of faith.

My very favorite moment from Classic Who is the Haemovores attacking the church in Curse of Fenric. They're a kind of vampires, and like vampires, they are repelled by an expression of faith.  You have to watch his lips because the sound mixing is bad and you can't hear the spoken words over the music, but the Doctor recites the names of his past companions, "Barbara, Ian, Susan..." That's what he has faith in. 

Years ago, I was watching an episode ("Anniversary Dinner") of the Horror anthology show Tales from the Darkside with my buddy Tim. 

It had a hiker with a twisted ankle or somesuch, and she comes across an older couple in the woods. The old woman is nice, the old man is mean. There was an earlier establishing scene with the older couple, where the old man cuts his finger and his wife licks at the blood and asks, "How can an old sourpuss taste so sweet?" and then they say something about "Having the children over FOR DINNER" (looks directly into camera), and we're like "Well, they're cannibals. Are they really going to try to tease this the entire episode?" Yes, that was the twist.

The marines are fighting a war against nobody. They couldn't have made it clearer if someone had winked at the camera hot time tub machine style. 

I'm reminded of Roger Ebert's review of North. 

I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.

Josh's Score: 0/10

73 Yards

Percy: Delightfully creepy. Nails the feeling of isolation. Really fleshes out Ruby's personality. A great character episode, a solid standalone as well as a valuable addition to the season, an overall win. Plus, the aging makeup was better than I might've expected. I love it when an episode makes me want to cover my back a little bit. The tavern scene achieved that feeling!

Josh: I'm firmly of the opinion that exactly one Doctor-light episode is the right number for a season.

Ruby got a chance to shine. Millie got a chance to show off her acting chops. Great character moments with the supporting cast in the tavern.

I always enjoy throwaway references to alternate futures. (I'm thinking of how the Doctor mentions that he was with the Filipino Army when it marched on Reykjavik in the 51st century.) This story does that trope well.

With Roger ap Gwilliam, I think RTD succeeded where Chris Chinball failed. Chinball's first series had no returning monsters and I think that he understood that for Doctor Who to grow, it would have to introduce new and interesting adversaries.  He didn't quite hit the mark, but I give kudos for attempting something new. Roger ap Gwilliam is introduced, built up and vanquished in less than an hour. He's referenced later in the season, but I don't think we'll be returning to him later one. His story was told.

 Really good, in the way Midnight was good. Unnerving. There was a wrongness to it, in all the right ways.

10/10

Dot and Bubble

Percy:

Q: What is Black Mirror without sex, setting, and subtlety?

A: Dot and Bubble.

However, it's nice that we're clearly letting children design the monsters again.

One additional point because I appreciate sending a colony of rich space racists out into immediate and horrible death.

Josh: I...liked this one. I don't know how I raised such a cynical child.

I mean, yeah, it's not a subtle work. We're watching the Boys now and I grew up reading the Narnia books and they were each about a billion times more nuanced with their metaphors.

However, I like that it surprised me in the same way that Voyage of the damned where the one rich jerk, (Rickston Slade, the fucking prick), survives and celebrates, observing that the circumstances of the episode would make him even richer. I like seeing jerks get their comeuppance as much as anyone, but it feels better if it doesn't happen all the time.

I didn't think the scene at the end with the survivors rejecting the Doctor was racist. I thought it was classist. However, other people smarter than I observed that Lindy didn't have any non-white friends.  Like all good twists, it's obvious when you know the secret. 

I didn't notice, because I haven't needed to be vigilant like that in my day to day interactions. It hasn't been necessary for me to cultivate that awareness. I'm aware that it's a reflection of my privilege.

But RTD has confirmed that this was his intent and I went back and watched it and it is extremely conspicuous if you know to look for it.  I guess the message in Dot and Bubble was just too subtle for Josh 

Josh's score: 7/10

Rogue

Percy: This is a great episode of Doctor Who. Emotional, poignant, dramatic, alien. Jonathan Groff is so beloved within my personal friend circle that his appearance in this episode has devolved into a joke, where an attractive person is referred to as 'straight up Groffin' it'

Spawned from this

I wish he got a chance to sing, but that can wait for when we see him again.

...right?

(One last note- A lost loved one is a tried and true way to characterize a Doctor and give some motivation & personality to a new face. I'm looking forward to the Groff search.)

Josh: He better come back. He's a less problematic Cap'n Jack.

I tend to prefer my Doctors to be asexual. Not a dealbreaker, just a preference. I think partnering him with a human diminishes that essential alien nature.  So, No Ten and Rose. (Percy: The only suitable partner for Rose is an oversized garbage disposal.) No River Song. No Moffat using discarded Coupling scripts for his entire run. 

That said, I think the relationship with Rogue is one of the best human romances. Would they have made it long term or was it just mutual infatuation? I don't know but I'm interested in finding out.

I liked the dynamic between the aliens. Real Family of Blood/Human Nature vibe.

Love Indira Varma. Generally the best part of whatever she's in. I loved her as Suzie Costello in Torchwood. 

Josh's Score: 10/10

The Legend of Ruby Sunday

Percy: The Harbinger speech was really solid, I liked the sense of dread there. The kid genius character is a nice guy in real life, and I'm happy he landed this role.

I wish Kate got more chances to be competent. It's frustrating to see a woman in power getting consistently shown up by a man, or a male-presenting Time Lord.

Josh: This episode was pretty great. Steadily rising dread throughout. Exquisitely paced. 

Josh's Score: 8/10

Empire of Death

Percy: Not everything needs to be a one-for-one replica of Original Who. The Sutekh followers just look so goddamn stupid. Why does such a good show always fumble with their choice of contact lenses? It looked really good on the Harbinger and tremendously, embarrassingly shit on everyone else.

The 7th Doctor's sweater vest (AMERICA!) cameo was cute. I like the idea that the doctor carries love and nostalgia for all the people he has been. The 15th Doctor is all about self love, and this is a perfect way to represent that visually.

Reminds me of the "how blue eyed people look at you" joke

Spot the difference, readers

Yeah. Those looked like trash. Also, while I liked the TARDIS wordplay/misdirect, H. Arbinger was just lazy and certainly not clever enough to use TWICE! "Paging Doctor Acula..."

Despite all that, I liked the whole thing a lot. When Kate was dusted, I was like, "Guess we're getting a reset button at the end". I do love RTD, but he leans on that reset A LOT. 

The mom with the baby was some of the best Who ever.

Mel's best televised outing. I liked seeing her curled up with the Seventh Doctor's jumper. It was just sweet.

It goes back to what I said at the beginning of this piece, with my comments on Space Babies and what I've been saying for years. Raising the stakes every season isn't sustainable. ("They threatened the universe last time and now they're threatening ALL THE UNIVERSES!!")  It's mitigated in part, because of how it's tied to the human element. But not completely. 

I liked Mrs. Flood. I enjoy the mystery that came with her and the fact that everything wasn't wrapped up in a season.

Josh's Score: 8/10

Overall, I liked the season a lot. Maybe my favorite of modern Who.