Doctor Who - "Deep Breath" - Review

Intro

I don't want to do any beating around the bush this morning so I'm just going to jump into doing spoiler warnings and my review. I didn't get much sleep last night, so please excuse any mistakes or whatever.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen Doctor Who, Series 8, Episode 1: "Deep Breath", please do not spoil yourself by reading this review. It contains at least cursory discussion of plot elements and characters. If you have not seen the episode, go watch it and then come back. You'll be glad you did.

Doctor Who - "Deep Breath" - Review

My Viewing Experience

While I don't usually discuss such things, I think at least some of my thought processes and whatnot should be explained before I jump into actually reviewing the episode itself.

I spent most of yesterday immersed in Doctor Who. My best friend and I spent a good chunk of the day rewatching episodes on BBC America, starting with "Hide." She left around 4 to go to work and I watched "The Day of The Doctor" and "The Time of The Doctor" by myself. I still shed many a tear during these episodes even though I've seen both at least twice already.

Then came that blasted "pre-show" nonsense. I will commend BBC America for giving Doctor Who prime billing. However, there was next to no point in delaying the episode for 15 minutes just to have Chris Hardwick and Wil Wheaton chat a bit and feature random interviews with Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi. My Initial Reactions last night spent the first two entries being incredibly irate about the pre-show.

Finally "Deep Breath" was permitted to air. My cable had started to do that digital buffering issue thing it does probably during "Nightmare In Silver" and it did not let up during "Deep Breath." So, in addition to various commercial breaks that pretty much killed all the tension, I had to deal with choppy ridiculousness during the episode itself. I was fairly irate to say the least.

I did rewatch "Deep Breath" later in the night on my computer where I had none of these issues. My review was mostly written during and after watching it the second time.

Oh Hey, Here's The Actual Review

Alright, first and foremost, I have a gigantic problem with the way the post-regeneration was handled. But my problem does not rest with The Doctor. No, my problem is with Clara's reaction. Clara should not have had the reaction she did given her history with The Doctor. This is the Clara who knows The Doctor best. This is the Clara who jumped into The Doctor's time stream and met, or at least saw, all The Doctor's faces. This is the Clara who met two younger Doctors independent of her time stream journey. This is the Clara who, despite the repeated line "I don't know who The Doctor is anymore," should not have had such an extreme reaction to the older regeneration.

This is not to say that I don't understand the script/real life reasons for Clara's reaction. I completely understand that there are viewers new to Doctor Who who needed the hand-holding through the regeneration. I completely understand the confusion of The Doctor being "renewed" and yet having an older face. However, given Clara's recent history with The Doctor, she should not have completely rejected this new regeneration as she did before that phone call at the end. It just doesn't make sense from a character stand point.

On an almost complete side note, that phone call and subsequent aftermath was heart-wrenching. I loved it, despite how superfluous it felt. It made my all-day watching of Doctor Who worth the viewing issues. It also came as a surprise. That's never happened before and initially made me suspect shenanigans of some sort.

As for the rest of the plot, I was thrown by the droids. Thrown in the way The Doctor was thrown, except it didn't for a moment click on first watch until the S.S. Madame du Pompadour was mentioned. I'll admit some of that had to do with a rumor of something from "The Talons of Weng-Chaing" coming back this Season. That Chinese droid sent me down that path, to be honest. I was kicking myself on second watch for not realizing these droids were very similar to the ones in "The Girl in the Fireplace." I'm really pleased with this re-imagining of them.

I read a review by Tom Preston last night that sited a lack of horror reaction to the human-skin balloon. I only mention this because it got me thinking about my own reaction to the general gross-ness of what went on in the rest of the episode. I was honestly more grossed out and horrified by The Doctor wearing another person's face during Clara's interrogation scene than I was by the balloon. Honestly, after that, the balloon didn't come as a surprise. No one in the episode was focused on it. No one by the Paternoster Gang, Clara, or The Doctor knew what it was even made of. It was hard to tell from the ground anyway. Yes, it was gross. Yes, it was horrifying. But really, the zombie-droids were a lot worse.

On the subject of The Paternoster Gang, let's go ahead and switch gears to them for a bit. I really enjoyed seeing more of Vastra and Jenny's relationship. The way they work as a couple is so amusing and sweet. I'm not entirely sure why Vastra felt the need to test Clara... again, technically... but then I had a problem with that bit of storyline so... Strax. Strax was essentially relegated to comic relief. That's pretty much where he fits best so I don't have a problem with it. Just mentioning it for the sake of completion. I also enjoyed the brief bits we got the the inspector. He's both clueless and amusing, if superfluous.

Lastly, on the subject of Missy. I'm not entirely sure what to make of her except to say that she's clearly insane. The way she talks about The Doctor reminds me of the way some stalkers talk about their stalk-ees. I in no way think she actually has a relationship with The Doctor. She's there to shed more ambiguity on the "death" of the lead droid. Did he jump or was it The Doctor? I'm sure that will stay ambiguous for a very long time. Personally, I don't think The Doctor pushed the droid, but that's just me.

Also, just to get this out of the way: I don't believe for a second that Missy is either River or The Rani. She can't be River because A) we've said goodbye to River and B) River gave all her regenerations/regeneration energy to The Doctor in order to save him. Not to mention she never called The Doctor her boyfriend. I don't think Missy is The Rani because The Rani just doesn't strike me as the type to ever get herself involved with The Doctor unless she's using him for something. She'd also never refer to The Doctor as her boyfriend. So there's that done and dusted.

Overall, I thought "Deep Breath" did better on second watch without commercials and technical problems. The story hung together and flowed much better instead of coming across as incredibly choppy. I can't wait to see what we've go in store for the rest of the Season.

Independent Thoughts

• The Doctor wondering where he'd seen his face before was kind of cool. Acknowledging the past in at least two different ways with that. Caecilius from "Fires of Pompeii" and Commander Maxil from "Arc of Infinity" essentially referenced there.
• I'm sure The Doctor essentially forgetting "The Girl in the Fireplace" will throw many David Tennant fangirls into a tizzy. Though he never did know the name of the ship so... *shrug*

Favorite Lines

• "No dear, people are apes. Men are monkeys." - Vastra
• "I'm not sure you get a vote." - Clara
• "Still not sure you get a vote." - Clara

Love ya, Jessie