ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
There was massive excitement when Peter Capaldi took over as
the Twelfth Doctor, it’s probably safe to say that Deep Breath didn’t quite
live up to the hype. Although it’s not a bad story, it’s a bit flat and gets
very distracted from the actual story by dealing with Clara’s angst at loosing
her Doctor, particularly when we’d seen little sign of her emotional attachment
to Matt Smith’s Doctor before!
In Victorian London the Paternoster Gang are called to the
River where a Tyrannosaurus Rex has turned up near the Houses of Parliament.
The T-Rex seems distressed and spits out the TARDIS onto the River bank. The
newly regenerated Doctor and Clara emerge and Vastra takes them back to her
house to allow the Doctor to recover. Whilst he does so, she confronts Clara about
her prejudice towards this new, older Doctor but is impressed when Clara argues
back vociferously. When the T-Rex suddenly spontaneously combusts Vastra
confirms to the Doctor this is not the first occurrence of such a thing in
recent times.
The Doctor and Clara investigate separately, but both see an
advertisement in a newspaper and meet up at a restaurant. This turns out to be
a spaceship populated with clockwork robotic humans. Their seats suddenly turn
into a lift and they are plunged into the depths of the ship, here they
encounter the Half-Faced Man (Peter Ferdinando) who the Doctor works out is
using human parts to replace his robot parts as they run out.
The Half-Faced Man reveals he is trying to reach the
‘Promised Land’ and is using bits of organic lifeforms (including the unlucky
T-Rex) to prolong his life to be able to reach his destination. He activates
his escape module – a hot air balloon made of human skin – and as he and the
Doctor hover over London they discuss the morals of what the Half-Faced Man has
done. The Doctor warns the Half-Faced Man he must kill himself or the Doctor
will have to kill him to protect the humans. The Half-Faced Man then falls onto
the top of Big Ben and is killed, appearing in a garden with a woman called
Missy (Michelle Gomez) who welcomes him to the “Promised Land”.
The Doctor tells Clara he suspects the woman who gave her
his phone number is somehow trying to keep them together. Clara is unconvinced
by this new, hard-edged Doctor until she receives a phone call from the
Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) who asks her to give this new persona some time.
First impressions of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor are, I must
admit, mixed. He is very funny when he’s talking about attack eyebrows or when
he and Clara are baiting each other in the restaurant. However, the hard-edge
is emphasised a bit strongly at times which makes him rather unlikable.
All the stuff with Clara getting a phone call from Matt’s
Doctor seems very unnecessary, almost like the production team don’t have the
confidence in casting an older actor and feel the need to reassure the audience
– not just Clara. Having said that it is acted very well. This is a good story
for Jenna Coleman who has a confrontation with Vastra and later with the Half-Faced
Man which gives her some super acting opportunities which she more than lives
up to.
All in all, this story feels very bitty and the ending,
deliberately left uncertain as to whether the Doctor pushed the Half-Faced Man
or he jumped, feels a bit unsatisfying. However, this mysterious woman Missy is
intriguing.
NEXT UP: INTO THE DALEK
© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2022
