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In which the Doctor dons a brown janitorial jacket, shows off his skills as a handyman and saves the planet, while Clara's boyfriend passes muster.
Light comedic flare, the tone and feel of this episode owes a lot to The Sarah Jane Adventures. More to that CBBC spin-off, I'd say, than to actual Doctor Who, even of the RTD era. And, as in many of the SJA Adventures, the episode basically explores family dynamics. The alien of the week? It's not the Skovox Blitzer, who is almost incidental as anything but a plot catalyst. It's the Doctor.
Given the tone being set by Gareth Roberts, here the Doctor's truly alien because he's a proper, embarrassing, grown-up. He can't fathom the actions of Coal Hill School teens, nor understand Clara's interactions with her colleagues, or her boyfriend. Thus, Roberts invites the viewer to enter the episode (and Who-niverse) not only through Clara's eyes, but though Courtney's younger ones.
And from the beginning of the episode, the play's the thing: Clara playing with the Doctor, as she nips into the TARDIS to go and see the fish people. Clara playing with Danny - Ozzie hearts Squaddie - as the school graffiti rightly reads. Then there's the TARDIS appearing centre stage on a school proscenium stage and mention of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Nods to The Tempest are very interesting, particularly as they're also clearly in Listen. Here, the script casts the Doctor as Prospero (given all the nods to him as magician - more on that in a moment) and possibly casts Missy (seen in the tag at the end of the episode) as Sycorax. Clara? Well, Prospero's daughter Miranda was expected to remain chaste. Clara is only expected to canoodle with permission and approval.
The episode is really all about Clara, the Doctor, and Danny Pink.
That said, Clara and Danny's growing relationship doesn't come across well even with the montage of dates which make up the episode's teaser. We get a good sense of the adventures Clara's having off screen (across time and space) but it doesn't juxtapose well with her dating life, even if she is picking seaweed out of her hair and climbing into a taxi more than a little drenched. Why? The emotional tone between Clara and Danny hasn't changed from previous episodes. There's still an awkwardness between them, rather than a familiarity. We're expected to believe that's all down to the lies Clara tells while living her second, secret, life but I don't buy it. Her relationship, and thus her declaration of love, rings false.
In direct contrast, acting-wise, the Doctor is clearly fond of and cares for Clara. But the tone or flavour of his caring? That swings wildly from paternal to possessive and back again. And symbolism in this episode do invite a reading of romantic posessiveness, even if it's a reading I don't personally agree with.
On the one hand we have the Doctor inviting Courtney aka the 'disruptive influence' (who is more than a little reminiscent of Melody Pond, though nowhere near as cool) into the TARDIS, thus suggesting he sees Clara in a similar light. On the other he openly states both he and Clara look the same age, which means he does see her as an adult. Couple that with his respectful, off the cuff, remark that she reminds him of a teacher he used to have (Barbara? After all, it doesn't have to be a teacher who taught him) throw in the scene in which he climbs up a a ladder to Miss Oswald's window - in an inverted Romeo and Juliet's balcony moment, played to the strains of Austen's Pride and Prejudice - and
Well, I came to the conclusion that the current crop of writers, or at a least Gareth Roberts, wouldn't know subtext or symbolism if it hit him with a soniced brick.
The Doctor's misreading of Clara's smiles and conversations with one floppy-haired, bow-tied Alistair, tells us the Doctor takes it for granted Clara would fancy his doppelgänger. He assumes his companion (now cast in the role of 'daughter') 'grew up' to fancy someone who reminds her of her so-called 'space-dad'. Capaldi's pointed eye-roll says as much. Subtextually, that's a rather negative dig back to Rose left on Doomsday beach with Handy. And then there's Danny's take on proceedings, once Clara fills him in on her friendship and travels with the Doctor. The use of the word elope is charged and redolent with references to Amy. Amy Pond who ran away with the Doctor on the night before her wedding. Her Raggedy Man can easily be read as romantic competition for Rory Pond-Williams but, unlike Amy, Clara is never going to have Danny and the Doctor as her boys.
Personally, I rather love the fact that Clara's choice undercuts the reading of companion as unrequited love interest (Rose, Martha, Sarah-Jane?) and that she's dating someone the Doctor wouldn't necessarily approve of. But, I do wish the writers and show runner would decide if the Doctor is being purely paternalistic, and over-bearing - or not. Did his outwardly younger, previous regeneration, have romantic feelings for Clara? For all of the jokes about boyfriends and Christmas, given River and Tasha Lem, I'd say he didn't. But popping into the TARDIS and running away with the Doctor to live an alternate life is akin to a romantic affair, when seen though a particular lens.
It's also akin to the Doctor being read as a member of the fair folk inveigling us to come away human child…
Interestingly, Gareth Roberts juxtaposes that very invitation with his characterisation here. Roberts writes Twelve as an eccentric, curmudgeonly old man with a short fuse: "Go Away Humans". I don't have a problem with his characterisation, but I do have a problem with Roberts overtly drawing allusions between the Doctor and a magician. The TARDIS appears on the stage from behind red velvet curtains. His sonic screwdriver has either developed a retconn setting, or now it doubles as a green tipped wand and the Doctor's threatening to cast obliviate.
I detest the fact the script seems to condone the Doctor wiping someone's memories. Changing the pathways of Danny Pinks' mind (possibly giving him a sonic lobotomy) doesn't seem to worry the Doctor. This from a man who was destroyed at what he had to to do Donna Noble. Persuading a young Rupert Pink that his meeting with Clara (and this grey stick insect of a Doctor) is a dream, by use of psychic 'dad-skills', doesn't seem to me to be on a par with wiping someone's memories!
It's an abuse of power and while that fits extremely well with Gareth Roberts' view of the Doctor as Time Lord and officer, suddenly turning the High Council and Time Lords of Gallifrey into hereditary peers jarred. Does this correlation exist in Classic Who? I had thought any Gallifreyan who finished the academy with distinction, and survived looking into the Untempered Schism, became a Time Lord. Time Lord as P.H.D not M.P. Couple this with Danny Pink's demeanor and salute, and it's implicit Roberts writes Danny as a soldier who detests commanding officers (possibly with cause) in the vein of a man who carried his pack Up the Line to Death.
And, let's remember that, being a children/family show Doctor Who's main U.K. viewers have spent much of the previous school year learning about the First World War, given the centenary.
What do we know about Danny Pink?
Given Moffat's love of mirroring and reflection, I am hoping his focus on Clara's lies (and the detrimental effect they have had on her burgeoning relationship) foreshadows her later discovery that Danny has been lying to her all along. Aside from the fact that he grew up in a children's home, met Clara and the Doctor in what he may vaguely recall as a half-remembered dream, and grew up to be Dan-the-soldierman, we know very little about him. Something about the way he plucked the Doctor's vortex-devices out of flower-pots and electrical ducts made me think he's still a soldier. An active soldier. His over emphatic point about wanting to call in the army and evacuate the school? That made me think of UNIT. We know UNIT holds a file on Clara in the Black Archive. They interviewed her and are probably still keeping an eye on her. Which begs the question: Is Danny Pink under cover?
I found his vaulting and roll tuck, over the body of a live firing Skovox Blitzer, suspect. Is Danny Pink UNIT's Mata Hari? If he isn't then Samuel Anderson's acting is a lackluster thing. The emotional tone he's hitting in his scenes with Jenna (throughout the majority of this episode) is exactly the same as it has been since he was first introduced. This, more than anything, creates the sense their relationship hasn't progressed one iota.
His warning (as regards the Doctor's behaviour) and his forced promise from Clara, is probably meant to imply Danny was ill used by his superiors. I know viewers have found it creepy and coersive. Personally, it just called to mind how brilliant Rory/Arthur Darvill was - by contrast - when he confronted the Doctor in Vampires in Venice:
"Rory: You know what's dangerous about you? Something you make people take risks is you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around."
It's what the writer, actors and director are probably reaching for, but their reach exceeds their grasp.
The Caretaker gives good banter from the moment the Doctor enters stage left carrying a broom. Peter Capaldi gets most of the best lines. But the episode suffers from being 'Meet the Space Dad'. Danny Pink has been placed into Mickey Smith's shoes, back when Nine first dubbed him "Mickey the idiot". I can only hope he gets a character arc that's as worthy as Mickey's, because Danny's is looking particularly flat at the moment.
At the tail end of the scene, where Danny confronts the Doctor and then marches out of the TARDIS, Jenna Coleman's body language (denoting dismay and disapointment) was utterly brilliant. Acting wise, throughout, Peter Capaldi excelled. His face is fantastically expressive and thus the Doctor's affection for Clara resonates. Anderson is the weak link.
Anderson and plot.
Symbolically, I do wonder at the giant chessboard setup in the courtyard at Coal Hill School. Clara stands to one side of the chessboard, not stepping onto the grid. White and black pieces, and pawns, lie scattered. Given the chess game Eleven played with the Cyber-Controller, can this be incidental?
And then there's the nod to Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life & Death encapsulated in the endless white hall, replete with bureaucratic filing cabinets, which welcomes the recently deceased policeman (seen in the teaser) to the Promised Land.
Will the Doctor be placed on trial for his life? His new, extended, regenerations granted through a crack in the fabric of time and space? Will he be tried for the fate of his companions, due to the danger he places them in? Doubtful. If so, I can only hope it's in an episode written by Neil Gaiman someone other than Roberts.
The Caretaker is comedic and tweeny. A Doctor Who take on dating without your parents approval. It's got sharp dialogue, good effects, and a couple of chase sequences. It's watchable, but it's not anywhere near being on a par with Listen.
As the episode airing at the mid-point of this run, I'd say it's more disapoointing than successful.