I feel like a total cliche of myself but I *have* to write a review of ‘The Day of the Doctor’. Especially because The Guardian made the baffling decision to let someone who neither knows nor cares about the show to write their review. To put it simply (and in case you want to skip this 1000 words+ review): it was funny, it was in-jokey, it was new, it was flawed, it was brilliant, it was traditional, it was sad, it was joyous. I loved it. When I said this to my mum she detected a note of reservation in my tone, and I do indeed have reservations, but in the grand scale of how much I enjoyed the episode on an emotional, intellectual and fangirl level, they are hardly worth mentioning (although, obviously, I will).
Also, from here on in there are spoilers. Duh.
Like I said above, this episode really had everything. My knowledge of classic Who is limited but not tiny: I’ve seen my fair share of classic stories, particularly in the last year, and the little nods here and there were perfect for me. I agree with the sentiment that turning the whole thing into one big private joke or nostalgia fest is not how to celebrate the show. Little moments, that made you chuckle or nod (or, in the case of ‘I don’t want to go’, sob into your hands) struck just the right tone at just the right moments. There were some which harked back to recent episodes and some to classic episodes (as well as many, I’m sure, which went over my head), so that all fans old and new could feel that rush of laughing at a well-timed reference. Despite their ubiquity, they never overwhelmed what has to ultimately work as a piece of drama in its own right, and the episode did a good job of balancing the nostalgia against the new. I include in this the two major spoiler-rific cameos of Tom Baker and Peter Capaldi (who, I realise can’t count as nostalgic but certainly counts as a geeky, squeal-inducing reference).
I was also really pleased that the Daleks were not star of the show, villain wise. The Zygons strike that great balance (that word again) of being classic monsters but obscure enough that many new viewers (including myself) knew little of them. I think this gave the episode a much cleaner, sharper feel and allowed a more unusual story to unwind. The Zygon plot itself was pretty engaging. Both Kate and Osgood were engaging enough characters to see this drama through, although there were moments where I felt Osgood’s clear positioning as the fan cipher needed to be explained. One moment of ‘You have a pretty sister’ speechifying does not a three dimensional character make. I also greatly enjoyed all the scenes in Elizabethan England: Joanna Page was great and her relationship with Ten (which is, in itself, an in-joke and the perfect example of how the episode includes them without allowing them to overpower the plot) worked so well. Despite the fact that we never truly saw the resolution to the Zygon invasion, it was the perfect B-plot in an episode intimately interested in the Doctor’s relationship to violence, war and peace.
Indeed, while we’re on the subject of female characters, there are five women in this episode (Clara, Kate, Osgood, Elizabeth and Bad Wolf) who have different relationships to the Doctor (indeed, to different Doctors); from employer to fangirl to friend to wife to strange mind reader. They had personalities and motives and jobs and purposes which included him (which is, after all, the only way to be character in this show at all) but don’t completely rely on him (except Bad Wolf but, to be fair, she was merely an interface). I agree with most that is said about women in Moffat’s run, I have not been happy with them, but my issues were mostly absent here. Having said that, I’m starting to wonder if it’s my fault that I’m not gelling with Clara. She has great scenes in this episode with all the Doctors and Jenna Coleman is great but I still don’t get her, know her, care about or believe in her or her bond with the Doctor. She seems blank and that is only exacerbated by the other, more complex women on show here. Ten’s reaction to hearing ‘Bad Wolf’ (basically one of the best moments in the whole thing) really highlighted for me how much I believed that he cared about those people, and had reason to. I can’t imagine being so moved by a similar line about Clara and Eleven in five years time. I’m starting to wonder if this has more to do with the difference’s between the two Doctors than the companions.
So let’s deal with that actual Doctors plot. You know, the thing the episode is really about. While I have always loved the darkness in the Doctor’s past, the Time War shadow which hung over him, it is true that it is at odds with his general philosophy. It has been, since the reboot, the fuel of his passion for peace but it also stagnates him. He can’t grow, can’t nuance, can’t grow up with this weight hanging on him. His regression into increasingly child-like personas, which the War Doctor so strongly highlights explicitly and by his difference, is living proof of his inability to fully move on or accept what he did. I know, and broadly agree with the argument that the Time Lords were a narrative problem for classic Who and that it was a good idea for RTD to ditch them. But, despite my reservations, I am pleased the episode sets up lasting consequences, pleased the future has a shape, pleased the Doctor can be at peace and (hopefully) regenerate into something completely different. And I guess we all have to have faith that, when and if the Time Lords return in a full capacity, the future writers can handle them.
I loved having Ten back but this episode also made me realise how much I love Eleven. It felt a bit like introducing a new boyfriend to an ex: you can’t help but compare them but, more than anything, you really want the first guy to be impressed by your new man. I found myself willing Ten to like him, and he did (for the most part). They had moments of great humour, great snarky banter, great scenes of emotional intensity. I loved having Ten back, I knew I would, but it was great to see him spar with Eleven even more. And, considering John Hurt is completely new to the franchise, he fell right into the role with vigour and nuance. He felt like a classic Doctor, chiding his older (and yet younger) future selves, who despite their fear of what he represented also seemed to want to impress him as much as each other, and stood completely toe-to-toe with them in wit, wisdom and weight. Indeed, the complexity was well balanced (magic word) with the joy of the experience of seeing three, and it really felt like three, Doctors on screen.
This does bring me to my strongest reservation, if that’s the right word which it definitely isn’t. I know that this couldn’t be helped, I knew (like Moffat did) that it would never happen but I held out hope… this episode would have been so amazing with Nine there too. However much I loved Ten and Eleven arguing about their future guilt, just imagine it with Eccleston’s brooding Doctor still in the throes of that darkness. However much I loved Ten reaction to hearing ‘Bad Wolf’ again, imagine the joy at seeing Nine confused as to its meaning. And, more than anything, imagine his joy at the resolution, at his final absolution. He is the Doctor who really never moved on, who only through regenerating could deal with the trauma, he needed this episode the most and not having him there was, if not quite a hole then certainly a great shame. I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again: I will probably never forgive Christopher Eccleston for not taking part. I mean, that means literally nothing to him but… it’s part of the package, okay? David Tennant was in every other drama series this year and he still managed to fit it in. Just do it!
But I want to end on a high. The word I’ve used again and again in this (overlong) review is balance and, ultimately, I think that was the episode’s greatest strength. With the weight of history and expectation, the episode really had to be all things to all men and it achieved that by finding the perfect ratio of old to new, nostalgic to forward-thinking, knowing to earnest. This is not something the show has been good at of late: often I think plot is sacrificed for structure, or ideas are sacrificed for plot or character is sacrificed for time. But here, it worked, as a stand-alone work and as an important part of the franchise. When it mattered most, Moffat delivered. And there are fans everywhere who are eternally grateful.
A final thought: do we have to renumber the Doctors now? I am so used to calling David Tennant ‘Ten’ and it’s so perfect because it’s like his name (Arsene Wenger style) and I don’t want to change it. It would be eternally confusing. Let’s just all agree not to, yeah? Cheers.
GIANTLAWNMOWER 