Doctor Who - THE WOMAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (S11E1) Review
- Adam Tye
- Oct 12, 2018
- 7 min read
In the end, Jodie Whittaker was always going to be okay. Better than okay, in fact, but it was essentially a given, right? Once the whines and the tantrums and the Daily Mail calmed down, I don't think anyone was actually worried that she wasn't going to be the right choice. And sure enough, here she has arrived in truly manic, authoritative force; wide-eyed wonder practically screaming from her eyes every second the camera so much as glances her way. There's a messiness present here as has befitted any Doctor in their first episode, but the takeaway is clear: Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor.
Of course, she also arrives amidst a swirling smorgasbord of changes to the show itself - changes which ultimately prove to be more challenging to long-time fans than the change in cast. If a singular positive thing can be said about The Woman Who Fell To Earth (or TWWFTE, because I value my sanity), it's that the episode is a triumph of aesthetic execution. The crew has switched to Cooke and Angenieux lenses for this Series and whilst I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what that means, it definitely makes the show look a lot less flat and a bit more textured. New show runner Chris Chibnall is also quick to pick a tone and slather it with concrete until it's been cemented into the episode's DNA. Everything is grounded now: the lighting is moodier, the characters' dialogue ticks are more naturalistic and if there's one thing Chibbers wants you to take away from this first hour, it's that it's absolutely bloody well set in Sheffield goddammit. I'll be the first to admit that I miss the the wit that Davies and Moffat brought to the table (to the extent where I worry it might start to carve a hole in the show's personality after a while), but I'm hesitant to bear down too hard on this, given that would involve not meeting the show on its own terms. It'd be like watching a silent film and calling it bad because there isn't any dialogue in it.
There's a consistency of tone, then - to the extent where I'm not at all surprised that a lot of viewers found it a much more 'solid' viewing experience than the last few series or so. For that alone, TWWFTE is an achievement and a relief, successfully completing the free fall that Jodie Whittaker began ten months(!) ago.
The thing with free falls, however, is that you tend to pick up a few bruises when you hit the ground.
So, I'm not sure if this applies to anyone reading at the moment, but I had a feeling whilst watching TWWFTE that I know has been echoed by others online and that I hope to try and convey as best as possible here. And that was the very vague and general sensation that something felt...off. Actually not off; missing. A common sentiment I've seen repeated online and from others is that the episode felt like a mid-season one rather than a premier, or that the story in general just fell flat. It's something that's been nagging away at me for the last couple of days now and after having a chat with a couple of people about it, I began to understand why.
Because I'm not sure TWWFTE, as a piece of storytelling, is actually telling us anything.
So that's a pretty harsh take and not one I expect anyone to respond to lightly. But I think it's easiest to start breaking that apart by looking at what this episode is saying.
Every episode of Doctor Who that introduces a Doctor is trying to do two things: the first is to setup the arcs of each character (including the Doctor), whilst the second is more meta-textual, in that it is trying to reassure the audience that 'don't worry, this is still The Doctor'. So, for instance, Rose did this by having the new companion reflect the perspective of a new audience, whilst setting up a Doctor that was untethered from his very soul. The Christmas Invasion established the Doctor as being capable of great fury, whilst building the whole episode to his reappearance so the audience would want him to arrive. Perhaps the best example of these aims being executed is The Eleventh Hour, which not only puts the Doctor under immense pressure to get the audience acquainted with him at breakneck pace, but also establishes the Doctor as someone with immense mythic power that can turn around an army at the mention of his name.
TWWFTE, I believe, is only concerned with one of these two aims: i.e. reassuring the audience.
From minute one of Jodie's appearance there is no beating around the bush - only an immediate rush to convince the audience that she's the Doctor. It works, of course it does - but then what? The Doctor arrives fully formed, but also with nowhere to go and nothing to learn. This is the Doctor as an idea, not really as a character or a person. There's an attempt to implement some sort of arc over the top with the Doctor forgetting her name and inadvertently bringing death to her new group of friends, but they're both a ruse that don't actually mean anything. We don't see the psychological effect of Grace's death on the main cast as they all seem pretty chill with the Doctor hanging around Grace's funeral and beyond (this might come up again next week, though, so I'm not going to town here), but it's the Doctor's search for her name that rings the most untrue. The Doctor has arrived at the beginning - she's already the culmination of every ideal the character has embodied for generations. So when the inevitable "I'm the Doctor" moment arrives, it leaves me cold because it doesn't mean anything. She's just remembered her name.
It starts to click after this that whilst TWWFTE posses a definite aesthetic, it doesn't really possess a vision. To get really harsh; TWWFTE isn't an episode. It's a demo reel; a pitch to the audience. It contains all the elements of Doctor Who and a new tone to go with it, but hasn't got much to say about any of those parts. We can see this in the new companions as well (or 'friends' as the new team are calling them). Ryan gets the most screen time and offers fantastic representation for the disability of dyspraxia, but aside from this we actually don't really know much else about him - aside from the opening and the ending, he doesn't actually have much to do. Graham is a refreshing change of rhythm (and Bradley Walsh is extremely likeable), but his character is cheapened by the lack of shits he seems to give towards the Doctor about Grace's death. Considering the 'grounded' approach to character that Series 11 is showing, I'd expect Graham to be acting fairly irrationally towards the Doctor at this point (as I said before, though, this might get sorted out next week). Yaz actually shows the most promise despite having basically nothing to do, as she gets to explore a level of conflict with the Doctor that reveals facets of herself (her insistence on reporting the case in the face of the Doctor telling her not to).
Wow, this is coming off a lot harsher than I'd intended. To be clear, if the episode is a pitch, then it's definitely mission accomplished and I comfortably await seeing where the series decides to go next. But the effect of the episode itself is one of a shrug. It hits all the beats without earning most of them. It gives us a whole new aesthetic but doesn't suggest where it will go. As a result, Doctor Who has never felt more dangerous, but has also never been more safe.
TWWFTE survived the fall from space, but I worry that time will be less kind to it.
★★★
Other notes:
So I feel weird coming down so hard on the episode. Firstly, because it's Doctor Who - a show I've stuck by for thirteen years and I don't particularly want to back down now. The second reason has to do with the fact that a lot of these criticisms are going to be fairly insignificant in comparison to the bigger achievement the show has achieved in its representation. As has been pointed out before, craft of storytelling is important, but is really often secondary to whether the content speaks to people. So whilst I can talk about the narrative substance all day, it kind of isn't the point when the show is finally giving women or people with dyspraxia an exposure that has been denied for far too long. And I'm not being cynical about this - the importance of Jodie Whitaker being the first female Doctor is far greater than the constructive criticism I can level at the episode itself. Do I wish it was better? Yes. But I also realise that, for this episode at least, that almost might not be the point.
Some people are asking how the Doctor survived the fall. At a guess, it's because she's only just regenerated and if you can grow back a decapitated hand in that state, you can probably survive a fall from space. Maybe. Possibly. That sounded more convincing in my head.
Tim Shaw's face fits in that perfect zone where it's pretty goddamn stupid, but would've been so disappointing if they hadn't gone for it. I call this the 'The Statue of Liberty is a Weeping Angel' zone of Doctor Who.
So I feel bad for laughing when I found out that it wasn't the Doctor that was 'The Woman Who Fell to Earth'. It's definitely a clever twist, but there's no way to find that out without it sounding like the punchline to a really dark joke.
Bradley Walsh's Instagram video is very wholesome.
Two dislikes on Ryan's goodbye video for his Gran? Ooft.
Script notes on twitter has this interesting snippet about Jodie handling lines that she can dig into, rather than the quick asides. I think that's interesting, but on other hand, some of that dialogue was pretty awkward.
So a big difference between Chibnall and Moffat (amongst many), is that Chibnall is definitely not a very visual writer. With the exception of Tim Shaw and the weird square signal at the beginning, there's not a lot of visual moments that operate purely on their own. There's a much greater emphasis on the procedural talkiness here. I'm not gonna pretend to think this is an upgrade, but if Chibnall can play to that strength, then go for it.
This wasn't a particularly funny episode as I said, but I got two chuckles: one when the Doctor admitted she would have also touched the light and the other when she casually throws away the wolverine claws after setting them up as important.
The episode manages to bypass the sonic screwdriver as an unfair solution by having it be a crucial part of the plot earlier on. Plus, there's a sort of plan on display with its usage, rather than just waving it at a screen to blow up a ship.
The Doctor is a pacifist and has pulled the 'I gave you a chance' move before. Still, anyone else find it jarring that the Doctor saved the day by jamming a bunch of bombs into a guys neck?
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