The new introduction sports a more twangy and shrill synth playing the Doctor’s melody over animated cogs from within the Doctor’s pocket watch. The melody is a bit much for me, like nails on a chalkboard. There is something that happens in the episode that might come into play later in the series and this might be foreshadowed by the intro taking place in the pocket watch versus the untempered schism. But this is just the intro, what we all want to know is who this new Doctor is. The episode starts with a dinosaur having been transported to Victorian England. The cause of this is the TARDIS in it's throat. The dinosaur coughs it up and the Paternostra gang confines it to a force field. The Doctor emerges and after a rant collapses. While he and Clara are being cared for by Vastra and co. the dinosaur along with other several people disappear. As the Doctor and Clara come to terms with his regeneration they must also solve the mystery of why and who is doing this.
The Doctor:
The introductory scene to the 12th is done similar to many Doctors. His brain is still a bit scrambled by the regeneration so facts are also scrambled but I didn't think it was all that funny. In a way it was clearly another actor doing his own take on a rant somewhat similar to 11's, which is weird, especially since he is suppose to be a departure from 11. I guess Moffat was still trying to find 12's voice.
I said there was some clunkiness. The clunkiness itself comes from some odd choices they make. There is a scene where the Doctor runs away to try and solve a case. He has this entire scene with some random hobo about his own face, where it comes from, and why it has angry eyebrows. All this was so that he could give his Timelord watch to him so that it can come back to bite him in the butt later. The scene itself would have been more meaningful if he had done it with one of the actual characters. The hobo thing could have been done off screen. So either this hobo is returning in an episode later or they missed an opportunity for the Doctor and Clara to share a moment. Even though she was freaked out it would've helped her to start to understand that he's as confused as she is. Or if he had done it with the Paternostra gang, it would've solidified his trust in them as companions. Because they seemed to be fine with dealing with him in regeneration madness.
There is a throwback scene in the episode that plays to this Doctor being of a darker nature. The 7th Doctor is infamous for how drastic his character changed to a darker tone when the studio was trying to make him more interesting. He was known to use people and even companions as chess pieces. One of the more well known instances of how sinister the Doctor can be is when he convinced a Dalek to commit suicide. A similar situation comes into play in this episode where the Doctor gives an android an ultimatum to kill itself or be killed anyway.
Now the outcome here is ambiguous, happening off screen (although I'm betting they'll reveal that he did it just to show how dark he is). I think the slight of hand here is juggled and dropped. While I understand that the antagonist’s plans were uncovered, and this Doctor is physically stronger than him, I don't understand why the android would have even contemplated killing himself. He wanted to get to a place called the promise land. It sounded like the android believed it was a physical place he could fly to, if that's the case, why couldn't it just build another space ship? From the sounds of things it had been working on it’s ship forever, so it definitely has patience. Did it's human parts give it some doubt?
The Doctor played on his human side, stating he’s more man than machine, which was interesting because it’s often the otherway around, but even still I think the episode spent so much time on the Doctor, as it should have, but then the climax of the episode didn’t have enough time to breath. Honestly, had they spent the first two episodes on Deep Breath I would have been fine with it since it warrants both things. It was either this or finding a more efficient way to tell the story and give the Doctor the climax to establish who he is.
Prior to the climax there is a moment where Clara and the Doctor must escape from a room in the spaceship, containing the dormant android. As the android wakes up the door slams behind the Doctor trapping Clara within. As the Doctor tries to open the door it gets stuck and he shuts it back down, running off, leaving Clara trapped, stating “There’s no point in us both being caught.”
Now, I know they want to have a darker Doctor, and what he says is logical but only if he runs off to do something useful. In this instance he does not. He runs off to hide, having Clara behind. The androids for some reason then open the door and while holding her breath Clara is able to deceive them and run off. Unfortunately she runs into another hallway full of androids who are now powering on too. Unable to hold her breath any longer she breathes and is taken back to the main room where the main android asks where the other person who entered with her is. She is afraid… and for some reason we get a flashback of her being a teacher in a room full of spoiled brats. She immediately gives them a final ultimate and a student calls her bluff. The only reason I understand this scene existing at all is simply to serve as a means for giving her an idea for stalling. Honestly this scene makes no sense and I can only hope it also comes into play later otherwise it’s so non-sequitur it’s ridiculous. Anyway, she stalls for time and is able through logic and tears convince the android to monologue. When she can stall no longer the android who brought her back to the main room is revealed to be the Doctor in disguise. -- This is meant to be Capaldi’s parallel to 10’s badass scene with the Sycorax and 11’s speech to the Atraxi to show how stout he is, but it just doesn’t work. This Doctor ran off with no plan. He mentions in his reveal that he wanted information from the android, but why didn’t he just stay and ramble and extract the information himself? How did he know they wouldn’t kill Clara, and if they had killed her how would he have escaped? Holding his breath? I doubt he could have done so for too long. So he had no plan. He was a jerk and left with no plan. Unlike the 7th he was shown to not be clever. When he confronts the android, he is unable to use logic to disarm him, instead he relies on Vastra and gang to save the day.
Paternostra gang:
With the Doctor in regeneration and with Clara in shock of his change, this episode featured Vastra, Jenny, and Strax more than it ever has in the past. They are entirely accepting of the Doctor's regeneration and in some ways Vastra is really well equipped to deal with him, maybe having done so in the past, knowing how to talk to him to get him to calm down amidst regeneration madness. This was interesting to see, although there is a weird bit. In order to sedate him, Vastra asks him to mind-meld with her. He states that since his mind is so vast it would be like dropping a piano on her. She asks him to be gentle and instead of her getting knocked out he gets knocked out instead. Now while it works for a comedic moment, the nerdy part of me is like... so her mind is more vast than the Doctors? Nothing else that she's shown as a character leads me to believe this. There are rumors that they're eyeing this group for a spin-off series. If they do, I'd like them to do a better job with their team dynamic. Why are these oddballs together? Why does Vastra like Jenny, other than her being pretty? Because to be honest, Jenny is super simple... like there isn't much to her. She fights... and is pretty... Also they really want us to know that they're married. No one who's married mentions it so often without it being somewhat of a joke. In this case less is more. I don't mind that they're married but they tell us so often instead of showing us with how well they know each other. Which leads me to my next point, they have this gang as a well-known private eye firm that the police consult but it isn't really shown why. Vastra fights and eats people. Strax is violent but funny. I like Strax because there's fun with him, and what you see is what you get. Strax is kind of the muscle. But what makes Vastra such a good detective? None of that has ever been addressed or depicted well. In fact the one thing that she's supposed to do well is fight and the last few times we've seen her she's lost or is tossed aside like nothing. Which leads me to another point. The fighting in this episode is appalling and extremely boring to watch. They need a 2nd or 3rd director who knows how to shoot action. They also need a better choreographer. It's like they tell the actors to look like they're struggling while the cameras just get some medium shots of the gang's faces in battle. So what they need to do to make the Paternostra gang better: 1) make Vastra an actual detective who actually fights well 2) make Jenny a more interesting character and 3) if there is a fight, better choreography and cinematography.
The final scene between Clara and the Doctor is about how they're going to move forward. And it’s here and now that if there were any doubts as to the nature of their relationship, the Doctor says straight up that he is not Clara’s boyfriend. After stating he’s spent most of his life making mistakes and that he should do something about it, he includes that he did not want to be Clara’s mistake. There is a sad moment, from this dark Doctor when Clara says, “Am I home?” to which he replies “If you want to be,” smiling, believing she means the TARDIS. She then replies in the negative saying she no longer knows who he is. She then receives a call from a surprise cameo, 11. In his final moments from Trenzalore he tells her to not be afraid of him that he is more afraid than she is…
Does this mean the Doctor never trusted Clara with his true nature? That he has no trust in her strength of character? Supposedly he’s never fully trusted anyone other than himself, but there’s always been some level of trust. Clara’s characterization is a problem in this episode. The companion has often been utilized as someone the audience can identify with-- someone who represents the audience. In this episode they change Clara to fit either a joke about the audience or the new Doctor’s nature. Clara is called out to be vain and controlling when she always just seemed to be someone who liked adventure and smarts. The problem is that this characterization simply serves a purpose and seems to come from nowhere.
The episode itself does serve its purpose to reboot their relationship and ends on a sweet, estranged father-daughter moment between Clara and the Doctor, where the Doctor just wants a chance for her to get to know him again.
There's one final scene where we see the deceased android with a strange woman who claims to be the Doctor's girlfriend. She's a bit off and asks if the android committed suicide or if the Doctor pushed him. The camera zooms away as she eerily dances around a water fountain. Who is she? Evil Clara? Tasha Lem? The Rahni? The Master? Evil Idris?
It would be really interesting if Capaldi's Doctor had to face a darker version of himself.
