NuWho Review: Series 8 Episode 1 "Deep Breath"

By: Steven Moffat

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

       If by now you have not yet seen the new episode from the new series of Doctor Who, well, I'm sorry. Because I have only one thing to say about it...YES! YES YES YES YES YESYESYES! Moffat is back and better than ever! I have complained a lot about Mr. Steven over the past year, being less than impressed with both Series 7 and his contribution to Sherlock in His Last Vow, but now I can safely say that Moffat has not completely lost his touch.

     This happens with every show that has the same main cast throughout. Eventually every actor, no  matter how good they are, tends to have tells. You notice the exact ways that they play certain emotions and parts the same way and that the writers utilize these certain quirks again and again until they become a bit stale. Doctor Who is a very unique show in that, built into its very framework, whenever it starts to stagnate or whenever the writers just need to reboot some things and start over The Doctor can regenerate and give us a new actor. We've seen this happen with Tennant and Smith and all of the Classic Doctors (I leave out McGann and Eccleston because they were never given the opportunity to max out all potentials of their characters) and now Capaldi has taken over to blow some fresh air into the musty closet and clean things out a bit. Much as I love Smith and was sad to see him go, it was time. This show thrives on change and innovation, and so we said bowties were cool for the last time and then said hello to a new incarnation of our Time Lord.

      Lucky for us, Peter Capaldi snatched up the TARDIS keys and took control of the role and has set about turning everything on its head...and it's glorious. I fully believe that he gave Moffat the kick in the pants that he needed, because this episode was some of Moffat's best work since Series 5. It was funny, touching, creepy, dark, and downright bizarre in places without any of the melodrama and style-over-substance that has plagued Moffat episodes in recent series'.



Favorite Moments & Random Parts:

- Nice Batman Cold Open there with the T-Rex, Moffat. I was quite confused...but in a good way. In a way that made me sit up and take notice rather than the way that makes me roll my eyes and change the channel. It was intriguing.

- I'll bet Sexy wasn't happy to have all that dino drool all over her...

- Did they have to bring up Handles, though? I'm still trying to reconcile the fact that I cried over a dismembered Cyberhead in my mind. I didn't need a reminder!

- The new title sequence AWESOME! It's very crisp and distinct. I hope that they keep it just for Capaldi because it feels very...distinguished. Just like him.

- "Don't look in the mirror...it's furious!" Was he talking about his reflection or about Sister Mine from The Family of Blood that he trapped in every mirror?

- Capaldi is a treasure. I knew he would be, but actually seeing him in the role of The Doctor is something very special. For instance...there is the scene where he does a stunning impersonation of a dog while solving what looks like multi-dimensional calculus on the floor of his bedroom. Priceless!

- "I'm Scottish. I can REALLY complain about things now!" Reminds me of all the times he made fun of Amy...

- All the scenes with The Doctor running about in his nightshirt give me flashbacks to the early days of Tom Baker. Not to mention the infamous Seven to Eight regeneration a la Frankenstein.

"They probably want to secede from my face and form their
own eyebrow nation!"

- "Does this face look familiar?"...John Frobisher or Caecilius of Pompeii?

- Also...CLARA! I have complained long and loud about the travesty that is Clara the Bland Girl, begging Moffat to get himself in gear and actually do something with her character. Well, I haven't forgiven him for everything, but I will say this: There was more character development for Clara in the first ten minutes of this episode than in all of Series 7 after Asylum of the Daleks. It looks like now that that the whole main Impossible Girl nonsense is over (and less said about that the better) she can become a person and not just a plot device with hints of a person hiding somewhere inside. I am very excited for this.

- She got angry, she got scared, she was concerned, she was judgmental, she was not always right, she was scared, she was not sassy and smug and bland and...it was wonderful! Jenna has always tried so hard to make Clara into a real person and here, at last, she was given a chance to really let Clara shine. I feel like they handled both her confusion over the regeneration quite well (curse you, Doctor, for always being so cryptic about it) and dealt with the whole Whouffle flirting with sensitivity too. Well done!

- I love the way Clara's relationship with The Doctor here was less of a betrayed lover and more of an exasperated nanny. I've always said that she was kind of The Doctor's caretaker, given that she was born to save him and all that. Clara Oswin Oswald: Intergalatic Supernanny.

- "Shut up! I was talking to the horse!" Right. Because The Doctor speaks French, Baby, and Horse. Oh! And T-Rex too, apparently.

- Roboterminator (my new name for the paradise-seeking-droids) was terrifying. I never liked those buggers and there's just something very unsettling about technology gone wrong (ESPECIALLY if it's just following programming) because technology can't be reasoned with. 

- The moment when Clara and The Doctor realise that the restaurant they are meeting in is actually a trap is a classic horror move and the kind of stuff I've been WAITING to see Moffat utilize again. It's the kind of thing we saw in Blink and in The Empty Child and it was what made Moffat's episodes really stand out.

- "Times like this I miss Amy." Is that because she had long legs or because she was more flexible due to the fact that, come hell or highwater, she WOULD be wearing a miniskirt instead of a corset and petticoats?

- Apparently all it took was a proper life or death case to (somewhat) unscramble The Doctor's brains. Heh. Every bout of regeneration sickness is different. 

- The scene with Clara holding her breath and sneaking out after being left by The Doctor (who is no adorable uncoordinated house cat this time) actually got me on the edge of my seat, something this show hasn't done since The Waters of Mars.

- I also like that she uses her past teaching experience to help her stall for time, even though she's petrified. Character development, people, we have CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!

- "This is your power source and I can use it to blow this room sky high if I see one thing I don't like...and that includes karaoke and mime."

- SS Marie Antoinette, sister ship of the Madame de Pompadour. Geesh. Moffat has been playing a long game, hasn't he? I loved the return of the droids. It gave us a bit of feeling of continuity after the mish-mash the show has been recently. Also...51st century? Does this mean we might get to see Captain Jack again?

- The mirror imagery (literally images of mirrors) in this episode was lovely. I love all the times The Doctor looked at his own reflection or mourned his short, grey hair. Maybe a bit too much emphasis was put on the great difference between him and Matt Smith, if you get easily tired of inside character jokes, but I think that it was good they didn't just choose to ignore it or gloss over it.

- My guess as to who the (quite creepy) woman in 'paradise' was, well, I think she may be The Rani. 

- I do feel like the old line about redecoration was a bit much, especially coming from Clara. It's just a bit of bland sassiness carrying over from the old Clara. Moffat can't change overnight, I guess. But about the time of The Phone Call, I forgave him. That was beautifully executed and gave us both closure for Matt, hope for Clara, and helped to smooth things over for those still skeptical about Capaldi. 

        This episode was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. There was a few problems with pacing (I honestly think we could have benefited from a shorter running time and less filler) but it did its job and did it extraordinarily well. It introduced a new Doctor and a new series arc and left us with lots of questions and mysteries to be solved throughout the series. I also like that Peter Capaldi's Doctor is looking to be darker even than Eccleston (along the lines of Colin Baker, actually) and that by the end of the episode, though we - like Clara - are given resolution as to who he is, we're still not entirely certain if we can trust him or not. It's a change from the norm. It's refreshing. Deep Breath is a 4/5.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?