Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Doctor Who - The Woman Who Fell to Earth


Doctor Who kicks off Jodie Whittaker's run as The Doctor with a Predator-style episode featuring an alien hunter sent to Earth after a human prey. With much of the story centered around the humans of Sheffield, The Doctor's main purpose is to struggle through her recent regeneration and keep the humans alive until she remembers who she is. New friends include Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) and his grandmother and her second husband. Also joining the proceedings is probationary police officer Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill), a childhood friend of Ryan looking for more adventure than dealing with traffic tickets. The group encounter not one but two aliens, the first is a mechanical search device created to find the prey and the other a cocoon to house the hunter Tzim-Sha (Samuel Oatley).

The episode is fine, but with the focus more on the humans than The Doctor we're still a bit in the dark as to what this version of the character will look like (once she finishes baking, so to speak). As with the first episodes of Tennant, Smith, and Capaldi's runs, it's a bit early to make any conclusions about Whittaker as we still have yet to see this Doctor in the TARDIS and operating at post-regeneration levels. Whittaker does bring a new energy, not as manic as Matt Smith, but there's certainly a boost of zaniness in comparison to Capaldi's run. While it looks like Ryan will be the most likely companion of the group, I was more interested in Yasmin and I'm still hoping for the show to find the stones to add its first non-human companion in decades (but I'm not holding my breath).

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