Reviews

I have to agree with the consensus of viewers who like Jodi Whittaker as a female doctor, but can't bear the terrible writing this season.

I come back each week hoping for better, but the plots are very simplistic and insipid, and full of holes. The writing seems to run out of steam well before the end, so there is little or no satisfying resolution before the episode is over too abruptly, and I am left with questions of "well, what about (this or that) dangling plot point?" Attempts to be topical are misplaced, as in the Rosa Parks and India/Pakistan partition episodes, which are important historically, but not within the scope of Dr. Who. They tried and failed to send social justice messages, whereas in previous seasons, the WWII plots with Churchill, or werewolves with Queen Victoria, were mostly fun and sci fi, with thrills, humor, and cleverness. I really miss the brilliant plots of Steven Moffat. The cleverness is markedly missing from this season.

I also get annoyed with the new companions when they are told by the Doctor to stay put, not interfere, etc, at the risk of screwing up history and/or their own timelines, and instead the companions behave in petulant, stubborn ways, with mutinous looks on their faces, and the Doctor doesn't take a firmer hand. She doesn't seem to be able to say "no" to the kids. It was insane for the Doctor to take them to India, where things could have gone wrong in myriad worse ways than the nonsensical plot line that they actually used in the episode, as could have their ill-thought-through interference with Rosa Parks.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

And Nana the grandmother was by far the most appealing and compelling of the companions in the first episode-I truly wish that they hadn't killed her off right away, because she brought depth, bravery, and fun to her role, and the dynamics of her interactions and relationships with the other characters were fascinating. I regret all those lost opportunities for better, more layered storylines with her in them.

After it is over each week, I think through the same episode as if David Tennant (my favorite Doctor) or Matt Smith played the Doctor in that episode-and it's really hard to imagine. I miss the Doctor as a slightly arrogant-but-fun brilliant genius, with whimsy, passion, and charisma. Chris, David, and Matt all had that, (even though Chris was harder, with less humor). Yet Jodi seems wide-eyed with wonder and almost accidental discovery as she goes through her problem-solving process, which just makes her seem a little slow on the uptake in comparison.

I want this Doctor to be just as brilliant and quick and several steps ahead of everyone else that all the Doctors have been, with the same sense of confidence and personal power. It's still the same Doctor in her person, after all, and there has been very little evidence that she retains the same history and memories of her previous incarnations.