![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecat"Capaldi's a lot better an actor than most recent Doctors" my tame layman commented at the end of Listen.
Actually I think the impressive thing about Capaldi's performance here was that he opted neither for a very minimalist acting style, nor for the frenetic hyperactivity characteristic of most modern Doctors. It was the fact he was playing somewhere in between that made the final reveal here, I think, both a surprise and not a surprise.
No-longer-so-small child bugged out early on this one claiming that it would give her nightmares and it was interesting to see her relax once I explained the set up to her later. I think it interesting that a show that is notoriously about scaring children (behind the sofa) chose to make an episode that was explicitly about how there was nothing under the bed and how our own fears can magnify the mundane into something horrific. Of course, part of Moffat's schtick is making the mundane horrific, and he was enjoying doing this here but it was nice to see him pull the rug from under his own feet. It was also nice to see he can write a story that is about something real people experience. His stories have a tendency either to be about little more than the puzzle they present, or about rather esoteric sci-fi concepts - "what if my daughter was kidnapped at birth by time travelling cultists intent on killing my best friend and was nevertheless conceived in the space time vortex and so has strange time lord powers and is now older than me" type of stuff.
Clara, once again, got a much better role than she had last season. Despite the somewhat rocky start at the end of Deep Breath, it's been interesting to see Clara getting the role of someone who makes decisions for the Doctor, not something I think companions have done much in the past. I'd be interested to see that continue. Seeing Clara going back to the Doctor's childhood didn't annoyed me in the way it has obviously annoyed many people. It obviously requires a massive hand wave to make sense within Doctor Who's own logic (but, hey, impossible girl) but there is a hand wave that makes it work. I'm also not sure it was intended to be as all-encompassing a definition of the Doctor's character as many have suggested. I don't think this was Moffat hubristically trying to lay claim to Doctor Who's entire back story. He laid claim to an influential moment but I think that the show has to do that kind of thing from time to time simply to move forward and I'm not sure it is any more show-stopping than destroying Gallifrey, inventing the Time Lords, or suggesting the Doctor is half-human.
Easily the best story for some time, I would say, and the first time I've actually been convinced by Capaldi's performance, and convinced that he has the potential to be an excellent Doctor.
Actually I think the impressive thing about Capaldi's performance here was that he opted neither for a very minimalist acting style, nor for the frenetic hyperactivity characteristic of most modern Doctors. It was the fact he was playing somewhere in between that made the final reveal here, I think, both a surprise and not a surprise.
No-longer-so-small child bugged out early on this one claiming that it would give her nightmares and it was interesting to see her relax once I explained the set up to her later. I think it interesting that a show that is notoriously about scaring children (behind the sofa) chose to make an episode that was explicitly about how there was nothing under the bed and how our own fears can magnify the mundane into something horrific. Of course, part of Moffat's schtick is making the mundane horrific, and he was enjoying doing this here but it was nice to see him pull the rug from under his own feet. It was also nice to see he can write a story that is about something real people experience. His stories have a tendency either to be about little more than the puzzle they present, or about rather esoteric sci-fi concepts - "what if my daughter was kidnapped at birth by time travelling cultists intent on killing my best friend and was nevertheless conceived in the space time vortex and so has strange time lord powers and is now older than me" type of stuff.
Clara, once again, got a much better role than she had last season. Despite the somewhat rocky start at the end of Deep Breath, it's been interesting to see Clara getting the role of someone who makes decisions for the Doctor, not something I think companions have done much in the past. I'd be interested to see that continue. Seeing Clara going back to the Doctor's childhood didn't annoyed me in the way it has obviously annoyed many people. It obviously requires a massive hand wave to make sense within Doctor Who's own logic (but, hey, impossible girl) but there is a hand wave that makes it work. I'm also not sure it was intended to be as all-encompassing a definition of the Doctor's character as many have suggested. I don't think this was Moffat hubristically trying to lay claim to Doctor Who's entire back story. He laid claim to an influential moment but I think that the show has to do that kind of thing from time to time simply to move forward and I'm not sure it is any more show-stopping than destroying Gallifrey, inventing the Time Lords, or suggesting the Doctor is half-human.
Easily the best story for some time, I would say, and the first time I've actually been convinced by Capaldi's performance, and convinced that he has the potential to be an excellent Doctor.