Doctor Who - Flatline

[byslantedlight]

I missed posting about last week's ep (and I still have to reply to people about the week before's - I'm sorry!) but I'm determined to keep going... World colliding - it's Moxie B-for-Billy! (Thanks Tauna's Slash Den for the Pros screencap).

I liked the story to tonight's Doctor Who, but (perhaps unsurprisingly) I didn't like the idea of Clara "being the Doctor" and playing with his sonic screwdriver and all. She wasn't an exceptional Doctor at all, and I hate that she demanded to be told that she was (though granted that may be as much about me being tired of dealing with princesses as anything to do with DW... *g*) That said, she is a more real character these days - it's just that I don't like the character she's become, she seems over-confident and entitled, somehow... give me someone who's impressed with the wonders of time and space any day!

I wasn't sure about Rigsy as a character either - again I think we didn't get to find out enough about him to make all sides of his character gel. He's nice enough to chase after a girl to apologise for his mates being rude, and he's very articulate about the idea that "they don't care about us", and he's all proud of his art, but that didn't seem to gel somehow with his involvement with the graffiti in the first place. Not that the things couldn't go together, of course they could, but I think we could have been shown how in a subtle line or two, rather than being expected to immediately believe in him...

I did like the non-black-and-white world that the ep gave us this time - the Doctor saving someone who it turned out wasn't such a nice person - and I liked having the Doctor back with "This planet is protected!" It felt a bit as though he was coming across his own self again, somehow.

Not sure about all the you're-lying-to-Danny stuff, mind - has the Doctor minded before about his companions lying about where they were when they were off with him (because the truth would fry their brains, of course - but we seem to be mostly over that now, and when there's something odd about someone the first thing that's asked is "Is he an alien?" rather than "What is he?" Ah, the twenty-first century... *g*)? Sorry, lost control of that sentence a bit, didn't I..? *g* Anyway - I'm not sure why he's making such a big thing of it with Clara. I'm not sure why she answered the phone when she was running away from aliens either, that just seemed a bit clever-clever of her, and one of the things that I don't really like about her... and she really doesn't seem to be particularly in love with Danny either - more perhaps in love with the idea of having a boyfriend (though perhaps if we hadn't just had Amy and Rory to compare her relationship to it might not stand out as much...)

And now I'm just rambling to avoid carrying on with work for a bit - but I'll be interested to re-watch this series on dvd, and see if my impressions are the same. I do often end up liking characters more after I've re-watched eps...

Comments

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

she is a more real character these days - it's just that I don't like the character she's become, she seems over-confident and entitled, somehow... give me someone who's impressed with the wonders of time and space any day!
Yes. I really dislike Clara. That's never happened to me with a Doctor Who companion before. I don't like her attitude or her manner, I don't like the way she treats the people around her - entitlement is exactly the right word. She is completely the wrong personality type to be a companion of the Doctor. And has is she really still learning this lesson? Have we really spent an entire season watching Clara slowly learn something she should already know, a concept every other companion ever grasped pretty much by the end of their first adventure? ?Whose bright idea was that?

Strong episode - Mathieson has a nice light touch that's been missing for most of the season. Capaldi's Doctor was lovely here. But Clara drags everything down for me.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I wasn't madly keen on Rose, to be honest - but I did feel as if I knew who she was from the start, whereas I didn't have that with Clara at all (as we've discussed many times! *g*) Which lesson are you thinking she's still learning? It seems to me that there are quite a few that she should be learning! I quite like the idea that she's the wrong personality type to be a companion of the Doctor - though when I think about ways of describing her, I end up thinking about Tegan from way back. I must rewatch some of those old eps!

I liked Capaldi's Doctor in this ep too, he seems to be becoming more himself, somehow... I can go with the idea that he's a bit lost in this regeneration, after everything that happened with the War Doctor and all, but I do want to see him become him again... And I would like to see the other characters being made as more well-rounded individuals too, rather than just slightly caricatures of who they're supposed to be...

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I wasn't that keen on Rose myself, but she did feel like a real person, warts and all, and although I thought she and Tennant's Doctor together were a bit too much and the hyperbole that came to surround her both in- and out-universe really grates, I could appreciate her as a character and the role she played in the show. She always felt very real to me. Clara has never had that. I think they are trying, but the character just doesn't work - and perhaps part of the problem is that they are trying too hard, overselling her, and missing the target by a mile.

The lesson she's spent all season learning is about the moral ambiguity inherent in being in charge during a crisis: that the person in the hot seat, trying to solve the problem, doesn't always get to be the nice guy, has to make hard decisions for other people, etc. It's been drummed in again and again and I still don't think she gets it, and meanwhile the show keeps spelling it out for us in crayon even though we the audience get it already. We got it years ago. And okay, there's value in exploring the concept over a period of time, but the way it's been handled here has been so heavy-handed.

Clara does have a lot in common with Tegan, but also crucial differences. Tegan also complained a lot about not making it home - and was very unpopular with the audience of the time because of it - but her situation was nothing like Clara's and her discontent always makes sense to me, her story tracks, even if it is clumsily told. She was on her way to her first day at a new job that she was really excited about when she wandered accidentally into the TARDIS and got caught up in all kinds of deadly shenanigans that were nothing to do with her. Then when the crisis died down (two successive and tumultuous adventures later), the Doctor promised to take her home so she could start her new job – a job she really wanted – but he kept missing the target. Most of the whining and complaining she is criticised for come from this period of the show, a time when Tegan hadn't chosen to be aboard the TARDIS, wanted very much to go home for a very specific reason, was struggling to adjust after a turbulent introduction to life with the Doctor, and was repeatedly frustrated by the Doctor's failure to keep his promise. When she finally did make it to Heathrow, it was too late, time had passed and that job, her dream job, was gone. And even then she lacked the harsh edge Clara has had this season – and Clara doesn't have anything like her excuse. She has chosen to go on these adventures, keeps choosing to go despite knowing full well what it involves, insists on cutting the timing very fine despite knowing that both the Doctor and the TARDIS are fallible, is just extremely inflexible and demanding in her approach. Most of the conflict in Tegan's later adventures comes from the tension between her not really enjoying the adventures, but being too emotionally attached to her friends to leave them; with Clara, most of the time it's hard to believe she even likes the Doctor, never mind feels emotionally attached. She's addicted to the adrenaline rush, which isn't the same thing.

I'm certain Clara's story is leading somewhere and has been designed this way for a specific purpose. But I much prefer it when a character's journey through their adventures is shaped by their personality, rather than their personality through their adventures being driven by the requirements of plot, as is the case here.

The Doctor, on the other hand, was great here – he is really starting to come together, now we're being allowed to see his point of view. Shame the season wasn't focused on him from the start.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you, it's not been a good lj-week for me, somehow!

I do agree about the differences between Rose/Tegan and Clara - Clara's a much shinier, unbelievable character somehow. Mind you, as I write that I'm thinking of the way alot of girls are made-up (as in lipstick etc.!) these days, and how I once described them as not-real looking, and too shiny... Clara makes me think of that as well, sort of crossed over with all sorts of media-type reactions rather than genuine ones (gods help us if people really are starting to spout media-type reactions everywhere...) And yes, I think I could believe Clara's somewhat harsh edge if we'd seen more of a reason for it. I mean in some ways she's got good reason - all that messing about saving the Doctor's life eternally and so on, and all those lifetimes and that sacrifice, and what did it mean to him in the long-term? He's a new Doctor, he doesn't get her any more than she gets him. But I don't think we've been given enough to really understand that could be the reason. To be honest I've never even had the impression that she's really addicted to the adrenaline rush of it all either, she doesn't seem appreciative enough, or gleeful enough, or something.

I like what we're seeing of the Doctor too, and I agree - I want more of him! I wonder if TPTB are trying to ease people into an older Doctor by focussing to start with on the young-and-pretty assistant? (If so, I don't like it!) Oh gawd, I've just thought... maybe they're going to do something to try and ease people into the idea of a female Doctor - I hope that wasn't where all that you-make-a-good-Doctor guff was going, because I didn't like that, either! (And despite the fact that I would perfectly enjoy the adventures of a female Time Lord (maybe Riversong, for that matter) I don't think I could believe that this Doctor was female - I don't want them to do that, no matter what good perfectly-justifiable reasons they might have for it!)

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

I've not liked Clara from the start, but in this ep I was actually moving towards acceptance - right up until she was begging for praise like a dog that just fetched a stick.

I wondered if the Doctor is not objecting to her lying to Danny as much as he's upset she's lied to him about Danny. And I feel rather sorry for Danny as he has to be aware she's lying to him. I don't like that aspect of her character at all.

Good pickup on Billy; I knew the face but couldn't place it!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I wondered if the Doctor is not objecting to her lying to Danny as much as he's upset she's lied to him about Danny.
Yes, it could well be a reflection of that... and perhaps he's clinging to her hopeful-goodness because that's what he's used to with companions, and in fact even from his first glimpse of her as the dalek, and then in her role as saving him through history...

I'm a bit conflicted about Danny. It's not so much whether or not he knows Clara's lying to him, but that he knows she's off having adventures around the universe and he doesn't want to go as well! I know we've had other people who didn't want to travel with the Doctor, but... really? With everything else we know about Danny?

Billy is one person I always recognise, to be honest, because I "knew" him first as Moxie from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and only later spotted him as Billy (though of course he was Billy first...) It's the same with the telecom man in Purging (not the main one, his companion who's with the van) - he will always be Arthur from Eastenders to me, even though he was in Pros first! On the other hand, "Miranda's" mum will always be Ann Holly! *g*

Kiashi

[(Anonymous)]

My favourite bit of the entire episode - was the good doctor's impersonation of a hermit crab - most amusing! ...Kiashi

RE: Kiashi

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Heee - yes! *vbg*

[caffyolay.livejournal.com]

Still not feeling the Clara love. *g* But overall a good episode that I enjoyed. I enjoyed them all so far and am really liking Capaldi.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

No, me neither, sadly... and it's worse than when I didn't feel the Rose love or the Amy love, because I feel a proper antipathy towards Clara... But I'm not sorry to have watched any of the eps, and I like Capaldi alot too! I'm quite looking forward to seeing how he'll work with a companion of his own, so to speak, too (whenever that may happen)!