In the opening seconds of the episode a T-Rex thunders it’s way onto the screen. The scale is already massive! As the camera slowly pulls back it reveals the dinosaur to be in the Thames in Victorian London. Recurring characters Vastra, Jenny and Strax are already on the case on the streets of London. How has the dinosaur gotten into Victorian London? How could it Time Travel? Right on cue, the T-Rex coughs up a blue police box which lands onto a nearby river bank. It is of course the Tardis. From it, stumbles a flustered Peter Capaldi, the new doctor! He rambles across the sandy bank struggling to come to terms with his new regeneration. Here we go again.
As The Doctor continually struggles throughout the episode, he does of course have a problem to solve. Just as he gets around to sorting out the problem he caused, he witnesses the dinosaur burn up into flames. It’s quite a dark moment which only hints at the things to come but it doesn’t last London before the doctor falls from the rooftop and commandeers a horse to race to the scene of the crime. There is something darker going on here, how can a dinosaur spontaneously combust in the way that it did? What else is lurking on the dark streets of London?
It’s this transition which feels slightly awkward. The dinosaur set up turns out to be nothing more than a hook to draw you in when the real story is happening elsewhere. It feels like a cheap ploy, especially when the actual threat to London turns out to be a really great villain who I would have liked to have seen more of.
Despite my grievance, this episode is in fact at its strongest when The Doctor and Clara have time to stand around and talk, it’s a testament to both actors that they can still provide a stand out dialogue heavy scene around a sci-fi heavy plot. Clara throughout the episode struggles to come to terms with the regeneration, how the young flirty Doctor can change into an older and sterner looking man. It’s a side to a companion that we haven’t seen in recent years and the episode feels more grounded because of it. It’s quite ironic that in a show famous for it’s monsters that this episodes saving grace was the human qualities displayed by the two lead actors.
So the question on everyone’s mind, what is the new doctor like? When Capaldi was announced, nobody threw into question his acting ability to pull off the role and as well they shouldn’t. His portrayal as The Doctor is strong. We get the quirky side of him which we have come to expect but also, more promising, glimpses of a darker side to his character. Capaldi’s stand out scene is shared with a tramp (Brian Miller, husband of the late Dr. Who favourite Elisabeth Sladen). In the scene he is on the search for clothes when he discovers a mirror, it’s here where he sees his face for the first time. I won’t spoil it but it’s performed brilliantly by Capaldi and has a mixture of brilliance and menacing at the same time.
Even though this wasn’t the strongest opener of recent years what we do have here is something different, I promise. As the episode draws to a close, there are moments which feel darker than we have seen on the show before. There is a legitimate threat to life, hints of suicide and a huge plot point where The a Doctor may or may not have done something he has never done before. By the end The Doctor spells it out where we are going this season by telling Clara that he isn’t her boyfriend and that this misconception wasn’t always his mistake. It’s followed then by a beautiful scene which will have fans close to tears. It’s a great and promising ending to the episode and hopefully a tease of what is to come.
