Doctor Who is back! After taking a whole year off with only a Christmas episode to keep us entertained and for fans to forget to review (Oops) we're back with a new companion and Capaldi's final season. So let's get to it. In this episode we see The Doctor is still recovering from losing River and has settled down in a quiet life as a university lecturer, when a young woman named Bill catches his interest and eventually she is exposed to his world and has now joined him as the new companion.
A while ago I discussed Moffat as a writer and something that this episode reminded me of is how well the man plays with structure. What very much could be a very formulaic episode, that being the introduction of a new companion, Moffat is able to reinvent it in ways to make it feel fresh. In this case, this isn't the introduction of a new status quo, but we're thrown into it when The Doctor is already in a stable life, is already aware of Bill, and by the end of the episode they've known each other for several months. Now true this is a very hit or miss style of writing for Moffat, it can easily make things too confusing and feel more like homework trying to keep up with things, but this is one of the cases where it actually plays out rather easy to understand because it's a simple premise, and one that we've seen done a multitude of times.
Something else less conventional is where The Doctor currently sits emotionally. A noticeable pattern when it comes to a Doctor's second companion is very often the relationship is never as strong as the prior companion because at the start of that friendship it's clear The Doctor is still hung-up on his last friend. 10 did it with Rose & Martha, 11 did it with Amy & Clara, and I was worried 12 was going to do it with Clara & Bill. But instead, he's not miserable, he's contempt. The loss of Clara and having to say goodbye to River has obviously left an emotional toll on him, but instead of shutting himself out from the universe, he's instead decided to rebrand himself. Settling for a quiet life as a lecturer, while also working with Nardole on a secret project known as 'The Vault'. Nardole is another important thing, because it means The Doctor is not having to face things alone, and considering he's been doing this for 50 years now, having someone who knows him that well by his side has to be helpful.
Bill as the new companion gives an instantly positive first impression. Her first meeting with The Doctor told us everything we need to know of her personality and why The Doctor is drawn to her. She's excited by the curious, she's energetic, she's upfront, she's abnormal, she thinks outside the box. This relationship starts off on equal grounds, The Doctor has a liking for her excitable personality, and she rather than being startled by the unknown, learns from it as she goes (Her point about the TARDIS acronym was hilarious). She's the complete anti-Clara, while Clara suffered from no personality, warped morals and Moffat's obsession with making her the most important person in the universe, he's created a character that is completely the opposite. She's strange, but still believable, she's creative & intelligent, but also naive and weird. Something else is that Clara never had anything to ground her, nothing real to come back to Earth for. With the first episode we're already told about Bill's dead mother, as well as her relationship with her foster mum. Speaking of dead mother, the fact that The Doctor went back in time, befriended Bill's mother, convinced her to let him take a bunch of photos of her just to get Bill a Christmas gift was the most adorable thing the 12th Doctor has done.
However, Bill is not the only companion this year, we also have Nardole, the one off character from the Christmas special in 2015 is now a main character. Unlike Bill, this is a character that did not leave a good first impression on me and I groaned when I first heard the news. However, between this and the 2016 Christmas special, the character has actually turned out to be rather entertaining. I'm not sure how much draw he'll bring to the drama or action of the series, but from a comedy aspect he's certainly improved, also as I stated earlier, he has now spent decades with The Doctor, meaning he has an understanding of how he works and could provide an interesting perspective. I'm actually enjoying the character and I'm curious to see how he'll play out in future episodes.
For what is basically a new starting point for Doctor Who in an attempt to draw in new viewers, I think it works fine from that angle. It's not a hard core rebranding like Moffat has tried to do several times in the past, thus I'm not sure how it'll work in bringing in new viewers apart from being mildly entertaining. I do have to say, as a long time fan of the series, I was quite fond of the episode. Peter Capaldi is still amazing as The Doctor, Nardole isn't as annoying as I thought he would be, and Bill left a very strong first impression. 7/10.
-Danny
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