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selenakBack again on a more than specials basis, and much missed by yours truly. This was a classic "new Companion" introduction, and a very likeable new Companion, too. I hadn't been that keen on the last Christmas Special (not least because the one before that had been fantastic), so that was a welcome return to form.
Not much plot, which is par the course for introduction episodes. Interestingly, while all RTD Companion introduction episodes put the audience in the pov of the introduced Companion, the fact that Moffat made both Amy and Clara initially mysteries (of different types) meant he couldn't do that, and thus he took the Doctor's pov for both their introductions (well, several introductions, in Clara's case). Here, he's setting Bill up more Davies-style - we're firmly in her pov throughout, the family member she's got around is a foster mother she's having a good/bad relationship with (not as close-yet-issue-ridden as Rose & Jackie nor as dysfunctional as Donna & Sylvia; Martha actually had a good relationship with her mother, it was more the fact her parents used her as an intermediary that was the problem), and there's an absent parent she has issues about (her biological mother). However, with a Moffatian twist this time it's the Doctor who presents the to-be-solved mystery (for Companion and audience; the Moff just loves his seasonal mysteries): why did he take the university job, whom did he make a promise to, what is he hiding in the vault? Which presumably will be resolved within the season, seeing as it will be Capaldi's last (and I will miss him; Twelve is my Moffat Doctor). Continuity nods galore, most prominently with the photos of both Susan and River on his desk. (River is the obvious suspect re: university job promise, but otoh my current guess is Bill's biological mother who looked like her (obvious set up for her to be played by the same actress, and explanation for the Doctor's initial interest in Bill).) (Second unlikely but don't I wish guess is that the promise was made to Ian and Barbara whom he reunited with between seasons after they heard about all the Class related shenanigans at Coal Hill and came out of retirement to investigate. After all, as of the Sarah Jane Adventures they were still alive, unaged...)
Bill being gay and black is handled matter-of-factly in this episode, which is to say, noone remarks on it and it's not what her plot is about (though it might influence her relationship with her foster mother and curiosity about her biological mother), and the plot with Heather proceeds the way it would were Heather a Heath. That the alien who hijacks (or not) Heather turns out not be a rerun of the deadly water creatures from The Waters of Mars but a possibly a more benevolent creature forming symbiosis as opposed to destroying the host is another very Moffat twist. And it's possible we'll see the Fluid Alien/Heather-as-pilot again; after all, this episode demonstrated it can travel through time and space as much as a TARDIS can, which sounds like set up to me, plus if Heather did in fact stay with the fluid alien voluntarily you have the obvious parallel of both Bill and Heather ending the episode deciding to travel with aliens through time and space.
The actress has an easy chemistry with Capaldi, which is important, and we'll see the type of relationship they develop. I always thought Eleven and Clara were a bit uneasy with each other (partly because Clara was stuck with being Eleven's last season mystery), whereas Twelve and Clara sparked from the start (again, partly because at this point Clara got actual character development and didn't have to be the seasonal mystery anymore, but also because it was a very different relationship from the one before). Based on the flimsy evidence of one single episode, I detect no such "how to write the Doctor in a new relationship with a new Companion" awkwardness between Twelve and Bill, plus Nardole being present means yet another variation of the dynamic; I think this is the first time in New Who that there's a third party in the TARDIS who isn't sexually interested in either the Doctor or the (main) Companion.
In conclusion: bring on the new season. I've missed you, show.
Not much plot, which is par the course for introduction episodes. Interestingly, while all RTD Companion introduction episodes put the audience in the pov of the introduced Companion, the fact that Moffat made both Amy and Clara initially mysteries (of different types) meant he couldn't do that, and thus he took the Doctor's pov for both their introductions (well, several introductions, in Clara's case). Here, he's setting Bill up more Davies-style - we're firmly in her pov throughout, the family member she's got around is a foster mother she's having a good/bad relationship with (not as close-yet-issue-ridden as Rose & Jackie nor as dysfunctional as Donna & Sylvia; Martha actually had a good relationship with her mother, it was more the fact her parents used her as an intermediary that was the problem), and there's an absent parent she has issues about (her biological mother). However, with a Moffatian twist this time it's the Doctor who presents the to-be-solved mystery (for Companion and audience; the Moff just loves his seasonal mysteries): why did he take the university job, whom did he make a promise to, what is he hiding in the vault? Which presumably will be resolved within the season, seeing as it will be Capaldi's last (and I will miss him; Twelve is my Moffat Doctor). Continuity nods galore, most prominently with the photos of both Susan and River on his desk. (River is the obvious suspect re: university job promise, but otoh my current guess is Bill's biological mother who looked like her (obvious set up for her to be played by the same actress, and explanation for the Doctor's initial interest in Bill).) (Second unlikely but don't I wish guess is that the promise was made to Ian and Barbara whom he reunited with between seasons after they heard about all the Class related shenanigans at Coal Hill and came out of retirement to investigate. After all, as of the Sarah Jane Adventures they were still alive, unaged...)
Bill being gay and black is handled matter-of-factly in this episode, which is to say, noone remarks on it and it's not what her plot is about (though it might influence her relationship with her foster mother and curiosity about her biological mother), and the plot with Heather proceeds the way it would were Heather a Heath. That the alien who hijacks (or not) Heather turns out not be a rerun of the deadly water creatures from The Waters of Mars but a possibly a more benevolent creature forming symbiosis as opposed to destroying the host is another very Moffat twist. And it's possible we'll see the Fluid Alien/Heather-as-pilot again; after all, this episode demonstrated it can travel through time and space as much as a TARDIS can, which sounds like set up to me, plus if Heather did in fact stay with the fluid alien voluntarily you have the obvious parallel of both Bill and Heather ending the episode deciding to travel with aliens through time and space.
The actress has an easy chemistry with Capaldi, which is important, and we'll see the type of relationship they develop. I always thought Eleven and Clara were a bit uneasy with each other (partly because Clara was stuck with being Eleven's last season mystery), whereas Twelve and Clara sparked from the start (again, partly because at this point Clara got actual character development and didn't have to be the seasonal mystery anymore, but also because it was a very different relationship from the one before). Based on the flimsy evidence of one single episode, I detect no such "how to write the Doctor in a new relationship with a new Companion" awkwardness between Twelve and Bill, plus Nardole being present means yet another variation of the dynamic; I think this is the first time in New Who that there's a third party in the TARDIS who isn't sexually interested in either the Doctor or the (main) Companion.
In conclusion: bring on the new season. I've missed you, show.
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Date: 2017-04-16 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-17 08:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-16 07:18 pm (UTC)I kind of agree, but a part of me also thought that the way Bill and Heather almost-but-never-quite-had-their-moment was a different dynamic from how it might have been played if Heather were a Heath. Not in a bad way, I just wondered whether I would have bought the almost!romance as much if she had been male. And that's part of why I loved her and the story.
Bill being gay and black is handled matter-of-factly in this episode, which is to say, noone remarks on it and it's not what her plot is about
Not what the plot is about, but at the same time, the plot might have moved in a different way if she wasn't. I loved the way they did it--her sexuality was simultaneously a minor thing and essential to who she is, which is what I loved.
The actress has an easy chemistry with Capaldi
Gosh, yes, she does! And I was nodding at all your notes about Clara, too. I loved that there was such an instant teacher-student relationship between them, but with the Doctor as the teacher (I always felt Clara was his teacher) and a friendship mingled in underneath. I was side-eyeing Nardole a lot in the specials, but the way the this TARDIS team dynamic is shaping up made me like him a lot more.
I've missed this show so much!
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Date: 2017-04-17 08:59 am (UTC)Yes, that's the best way to put it. Bill being gay didn't have the whiff of "Very Special Episode"-ness, yet at the same time, you could not change this without making her another person.
Moffat did a "almost but never quite" het romance with Sally Sparrow and Billy in Blink, but in that case, the "might have been" element is entirely due to the Angels' interference, and otherwise Sally would have gone on that date with him immediately. Which supports your argument.
re: Clara as the teacher in her relationship with the Doctor - good point. And a quintessential element as to who Clara was, too. I think the Doctor-as-mentor (that is, deliberately on his part, not accidentally as part of time travel) is something that hasn't happened since Seven and Ace? With him having chosen to be a Professor for a while, I can't help but wonder whether there'll a connection revealed, or maybe just a few more thematic nods.
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Date: 2017-04-16 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2017-04-25 05:59 pm (UTC)I'll really miss Capaldi as an actor. There was a moment when I wondered who he was reminding me of - ten minutes later, I suddenly clicked - he had Tom Baker's smile off pat.