Doctor Who 11.09

[selenak]

Which I liked, with one big caveat; said caveat I suspect comes from the mixing of genres in the episode and reminded me a bit of JKR giving Harry a Roald-Dahl-esque family background with the Dursleys in the first HP novel (living under the stairs and all), which as the later books mature and go away from that type of whimsical dark fairy tale clashes with just how monstrous/avarage the Dursleys are supposed to be (and by implication Dumbledore for leaving Harry with them, spell protection notwithstanding). Anyway, back to DW - my caveat notwithstanding, I enjoyed this one a lot, Graham remains my favourite of the new bunch, and whoever thought of the frog as a way to avoid a wank explosion about the Doctor's Most Missed Person (tm) was a genius.



The caveat, of course, is that no matter how distraught by his spouse's death he is, a father who leaves his blind daughter terrified by a pretend monster he set up as a way to avoid her running off while he goes off he doesn't know how long has all the parenting skills of Fontane's Geert von Innstetten and belongs these days sued for child neglect (at the least), not left with said kid. Now as I said, I suspect this was the result of a mixing of genres. I mean, the episode was the first since Moffat left to go for a fairy tale atmosphere all around, as well as going for allusions to British fantasy classics for kids - going through a portal in another world and returning, saving/retrieving the distraught parent - AND, on the other hand, it was another good entry into what now comes across as a season long theme of grief and coping. But when, say, Kai from Andersen's Snow Queen is taken by the Snow Queen to her real, she leaves a shard in his heart turning it to ice, and thus it's not his fault (metaphor possibilities not withstanding). He doesn't rig things up so Gerda believes there's a monster outside to keep her from leaving, either. Or: C.S.Lewis is able to handwave the psychological implication of the four siblings having grown up and having lived adult lives before returning in their child bodies at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe because it's not that kind of story. So I assume strictly within fairy tale rules, Erik was supposed to come across as someone like Kai, and at the end, having been returned to his daughter by the Doctor and no longer with a pretend dead wife, as now ready to live with Hanne in the present and be a good father to her. But, see above, mixing of genres.

This being said: loved everything else. The whimsy (the sheep, plotting), Graham being the first on screen companion to think of always packing a sandwich since given the pace of life with the Doctor, it's hard to say when you'll get the chance to eat otherwise. The way Yaz' police skills continue to inform her characterisation now - in this case, her having been trained how to calm down an upset kid. Graham's trying to hold back from accepting the fake Grace as the real deal but unable to not respond as she keeps being in character, and then, conversely, getting his heart broken all over again but immediately realising the real Grace would never ingore her grandson's distress. Ryan's "Granddad" at the end offered in the most low key manner possible. Speaking of grandparents: the Doctor having had seven grandmothers. And did I mention the frog was genius? Seriously though. I mean, I loved the Doctor manipulating the conscious universe (not sure about the spelling of the name, so won't try) into rejecting Erik and sending him back, but I also was torn about whether I was more curious or more dreading to see whom Team Chibnall would choose to let the Conscious Universe dress up as from the Doctor's lives. Because whoever it was would surely cause endless debate in fandom, plus new viewers - whom they are going after in this soft reboot season, after all - would not feel the same emotional resonance. Instead, the episode neatly avoided this entirely, and in a way that felt right, too. After all, the C.U. knew the Doctor knew the truth, so there was no need to pretend as with Erik and Graham.

Mind you, maybe the Doctor should have needed more than a minute to persuade the C.U. that they needed to part for the sake of preventing universe explosion, but Jodie Whittaker made me buy it while I was watching. Throughout the entire scene, from the "you don't want him, you want me" manipulation onwards; she wasn't lying at any point - and you could tell she really liked and was fascinated by the C.U. - but she always knew what she was saying and what her endgame was.

Lastly: there was no particular reason why this episode should be set in Norway, but I liked that it was. After all, countries not Britain or the US do exist on contemporary Earth, even in the Whoverse. ;)

Comments

[kernezelda]

Agreed. I was very uneasy about Erik from the moment Ryan found the speakers. When it turned out he wasn't in an altered state of time, but was aware he'd abandoned his child for days in that terrifying environment--a man who, in the first place, would play such an elaborate hoax specifically targeted to his child's vulnerability--is he suited for parenthood at all?

Loved Graham and Nan, Ryan and "Granddad" so low-key, Graham's practical sandwich-having. where is the Tardis' kitchen? I'd love to see it!

The Woolly Rebellion! I've never met a sheep in person save for a petting zoo, but I guess I don't have to worry since we've got another century plus before it happens. :D

I thought the Doctor's notes on the wall were clever, and also Hannah's suspicion they were words, not a diagram. Loved Nan's frog necklace that Graham wears, and that the CU when choosing a new form chose a frog just because they liked it.

Ryan's still having dad issues, but he was right, Hannah's father did leave her. Even if she's a teenager, she's not been left in a normal state, but in grief, and with deliberately applied terror.

I was curious that Yaz didn't see anyone. On an aside, I've been re-watching Hannibal this past couple of weeks, and was reminded by Nan and Trina of a term used there--imago--with its Latin meaning of image of the beloved dead that still influences one. Perhaps Yaz hasn't suffered a loss like Graham and Erik have. It seems more likely that the CU in its instability didn't have enough strength to create two more characters for Yaz and the Doctor, whose memories stretch far, far longer and contain so many more people than any human mind could.

It struck me from the beginning of the Doctor's explanation how very lonely the CU seems to have always been, and how cruel it is to create a character for a single episode that has been alone and literally outcast for all of its existence, and completely aware of it.

If the CU is powerful enough to create the setting of a small patch of world, and complex enough to people it from living memories, is there no way it could create an avatar or even a mental link with a living soul in the other, vast reality? A tiny bit of itself lodged into the heart of the Tardis, perhaps, shielded from reality by that energy, and yet able to observe all of time and space, and perhaps even interact with the Doctor and/or any passengers.

[moon_custafer]

They’ve experimented with CU-type beings before – the Land of Fiction in The Mind Robbers might be considered an example, though it may have several minds/inhabitants. One of the “Missing Adventure” novels, State of Change turned out to involve a pocket universe with a single, god-like (when introduced to the concept of a name, it picked “Iam”) inhabitant who is benevolent, but naïve enough to be manipulated by the Rani for most of the story.

[kernezelda]

I'm a casual Who viewer since the 2005 reboot, so thank you for the info; that's even more disturbing!

[selenak]

Ryan's still having dad issues, but he was right, Hannah's father did leave her.

Yes, and if you think about it, Ryan's father used the death of his mother as justification, too.

re: Yaz not seeing anyone - I agree with your theory. If creating two different personae already started destabilization, the CU probably couldn't embark on a third.

I really like the idea of a mental link to give it at least some Chance of experiencing companionship, because yes, it's a truly dark horror Story if you think about it, isolated and conscious through endless millennia. (Mind you, this being a bedtime story for Gallifreyans is very… Gallifrey. After all, the Toclafane, whom the Master named the last self-cannibalizing humans after, were a bedtime story on Gallifrey, too. Explains a lot about Time Lords.)

[kernezelda]

Surely these were the equivalent of Grimm's fairy tales, where we accept Cinderella's sisters cutting off their heels to fit a shoe, or princesses dancing in magic shoes until they die, or loyal sisters sewing with nettles to return swan brothers to human.

[contrary_cal]

Perhaps Yaz hasn't suffered a loss like Graham and Erik have.

Yes, what we've seen of Yaz's life suggests that she isn't lonely because of a loss (or an abandonment and a loss combined); she's lonely in the middle of a crowd. That wouldn't give the Solitract a way in.

[nenya_kanadka]

I'm going to headcanon that Thirteen helps the Solitract set that kind of mindlink up, because that was really heartbreaking, otherwise. But if she and it, or it and the TARDIS, can be pen pals or something, that's much better!

[davetheanalyzer]

Yeah, I was a bit disquieted Erik's actions were left unaddressed. That doesn't mean I think he should be beyond redemption, but that at least should be accompanied with a more explicit acknowledgement of wrong and attempt to do better.

When the Solitract (The conscious universe's name) changed its environment while 13 stayed behind, was I the only one who thought we glimpsed her childhood barn from 12's era?

I was kind of sad Ryan wasn't present to deal with the conflict of the fake-Grace. But him calling Graham "Granddad" is interesting. There was no super-dramatic moment in the previous episodes I can recall where their relationship majorly shifted. I think the writers were going for how mixed feelings and relationship struggles sometimes go away quietly and gradually between people. From my personal experience, that's not that far from real life.

[selenak]

Yes, that was the impression I had, too. Also, Ryan has now had a lot of experience with Graham as his own person, not "my gran's new significant other", and I think that makes for a different relationship.

Childhood barn: for a second or so, I agree.

[nenya_kanadka]

Ditto on the barn, and the Ryan-Graham relationship!

[vilakins]

I really enjoyed that one: great fun, scary sheep and Woolly Rebellion and all, though sheep here are a placid bunch. The father was a self-centred bastard, but I'm assuming that the Doctor wrote on the wall got to him. One hopes it will bloody well stick.

Awwww, Graham! The actor is the host of The Chase (a game show I only watch when it's 'celebrities', usually unknown to me, teaming up to earn money for for charities) but I don't even think of that any more when watching him as Graham. He's a very good actor. Ryan finally calling him granddad made me very happy for both of them.

I love that it was in Norway too, as it gets very samey just being in the UK or US when on this planet.

the psychological implication of the four siblings having grown up and having lived adult lives before returning in their child bodies at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
That was always creeped me out. As did the child brides in The Horse and His Boy. [shudder] And of course Susan being rejected as unworthy for daring to be so frivolous as to wear makeup - or so I remember from being a pissed-off teenager. That's one book in the series I never reread.

[selenak]

Re: sheep - well, good to know, since isn't your country the one which has most of them? :)

re: the famous Problem of Susan: I think that pissed off most readers, though to be fair it's Susan who rejects Narnia first as a "silly childhood game" and doesn't want to talk about it anymore with her siblings. I've come across a lot of great fanfic exploring Susan, her reasons for first deciding to put Narnia behind her (usually, it's because Aslan had told her and Peter they could not return after Prince Caspian), and then later how she coped with losing her entire family (since all her siblings and cousins died in a train accident in "our" world.

[vilakins]

That would be Australia. :-) We seem to have very amenable breeds in both places as I know English people who are scared of theirs; some of those black-legged black-faced ones apparently can attack.

I thought they all died in a train accident, but then I haven't read The Last Battle since I was about 11. Did Peter turn up? If so, Susan ought to eventually if she wasn't on the train.

I don't know why Aslan didn't want them back after they grew up, given that they grew up there and even contemplated marriage. It's not as if he said they were needed more in our world, did he? If he did, that should have been some consolation but I don't think he was a very consoling sort of lion. Anyway, how cruel to abandon a character after such a tragedy. If Susan wasn't already bitter, she would be after that and very unlikely to be drawn to our world's Aslan*. But hey, Lewis's sexism. Little girls like Lucy might be all right, but women?

* Not that I got the whole allegory of Aslan when I was a kid.

[kalypso]

Lake District sheep can be very aggressive - they used to chase my Thomas, and we once met one who for some strange reason was determined to stop my brother getting into the car - it kept forcing its way between him and the door.

The episode came in handy last week when my colleagues and I were discussing the appropriate use of "surreal", which a lot of people now use to mean "a bit odd". I said "the end of the last episode of Doctor Who was surreal", and they asked what had happened, so I said "she was talking to a sentient universe embodied in a frog", and they had to agree that was surreal on anyone's definition.

[vilakins]

I remembered that story but not who told it - and I know there are others who also had scary sheep stories. Perhaps some of our Welsh friends? Your sheep dp look different; maybe our breeds are just easy-going and indeed a bit stupid. When someone told child me that the bible expression separating sheep from goats was because sheep were preferred, I was puzzled and said I'd rather be a feisty independent than a mindless sheep. [uses cow icon because lacks sheep]

Very surreal! I did enjoy that episode a lot but I still feel there's something missing this season. Not enough bite, somehow.

[corvidology]

A female doctor was all little me ever wanted and I remember my big brother told me it was silly of me and little me insisting even harder.

So, at the mo, analysis seems beyond me I'm just sat watching every episode with a big stupid grin on my face. :D