NuWho Rewatch: The Unicorn and the Wasp
Mar. 8th, 2015 03:11 pmThis is the first story this season that doesn't feel like it is a part of the larger story and, instead, is just marking time and being an adventure. Fortunately it is enjoying itself a lot which makes, I think, its lack of direction less of a problem that it was for, say, The Idiot's Lantern.
First time around I recall being very concerned about the kiss in an "oh no, not again" kind of a way. It raised the fairly real spectre that the season was aiming for a plot line in which the Doctor and Donna would discover they were in denial about their feelings for each other and we'd be back to a dynamic that seemed rather mined out. NuWho has, oddly, never really been comfortable with the idea of the Doctor and companion as platonic friends even though it has now had more such such relationships than it has romantic ones - but even so it still seems to feel the need to alternately suggest that the companion, at least, has romantic feelings for the Doctor, and then heavily underscore the point that there is no hanky-panky here. While I like this season a lot, certainly the most of Tennant's seasons, it never feels easy in its own skin with the relationship between the Doctor and Donna which is a shame.
Fortunately the kiss really was just another (I would say misguided) attempt to emphasise that the Doctor and Donna are not attracted to each other. Otherwise The Unicorn and the Wasp is revelling in its silliness, wheeling out the conventions of televised Agatha Christie stories with enthusiasm. The backstory is implausible but that's less of a problem here than elsewhere since we're not being expected to take it all that seriously.
First time around I recall being very concerned about the kiss in an "oh no, not again" kind of a way. It raised the fairly real spectre that the season was aiming for a plot line in which the Doctor and Donna would discover they were in denial about their feelings for each other and we'd be back to a dynamic that seemed rather mined out. NuWho has, oddly, never really been comfortable with the idea of the Doctor and companion as platonic friends even though it has now had more such such relationships than it has romantic ones - but even so it still seems to feel the need to alternately suggest that the companion, at least, has romantic feelings for the Doctor, and then heavily underscore the point that there is no hanky-panky here. While I like this season a lot, certainly the most of Tennant's seasons, it never feels easy in its own skin with the relationship between the Doctor and Donna which is a shame.
Fortunately the kiss really was just another (I would say misguided) attempt to emphasise that the Doctor and Donna are not attracted to each other. Otherwise The Unicorn and the Wasp is revelling in its silliness, wheeling out the conventions of televised Agatha Christie stories with enthusiasm. The backstory is implausible but that's less of a problem here than elsewhere since we're not being expected to take it all that seriously.