It's always difficult for a new Doctor to enter the ring. It's slightly easier to write a good starter when considering that your predecessor's grand finale was lacklustre as regeneration stories go. But with so many returning elements out there to help viewers take to Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, is Deep Breath playing far too safe for an introductory story? Will Steven Moffat repeat his introductory success four years on? Or are we in for a simple retread of the past few years?
Deep Breath opens with prominent focus on Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) and fan-favourites the Paternoster Gang - consisting of Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), wife Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), and Commander Strax (Dan Starkey) - whilst the newly-regenerated Doctor catches some rest, courtesy of the sound effects department of the 2012 Three Stooges movie. This first act has Capaldi in the usual amnesia state as shared by a majority of Doctors prior to him, such as Peter Davison and Paul McGann, but he acts a bit too much like an angrier Scottish version of his precursor. As a matter of fact, he's like that for pretty much the whole episode. Even after the conventional knock out like Matt Smith and David Tennant before him, he goes whizzing about going on about speaking horse. In any other case, it would seem like the writer had no time to make changes from Smith to Capaldi, but as an introductory episode it's legitimately disappointing that Moffat keeps to a simple rehash for 90% of the episode.
With all eyes on Clara and company, you'd expect them to getting on with the mystery at hand, but alas, in order to drag the episode on for the whole 75 minute running time, they're left to just calming an unusually angry Oswald, despite the fact she not only met various past incarnations very recently in The Day of the Doctor but also her main attribute was being a part of the Doctor's ENTIRE life in The Name of the Doctor. It's a plot element which makes little sense when consider that being part of the Doctor's past pretty much made her who she is as a character, having had little time to develop her own personality outside of being flirty and intelligent in Asylum of the Daleks and a nanny in The Bells of Saint John and The Snowmen. Here, she's not only furious by her friend changing - as if it's new to her, which doesn't fit into the equation - but also furious by how he behaves now. But once the 'mythical veil' scene, which in itself is a rather stupid moment as Vastra asked Jenny to fetch her veil in a scene prior to this moment, is out the way and done with, she's completely fine again to the point of being willing to make herself useful for the gang (two of them are married to each. Can you believe it?!). And with some more Looney Tunes sound effects and some surprisingly-off humour from Starx, we have what pretty much makes up the first half of the episode. Little sighting of the Half-Face Man and the Doctor's busy gallivanting to force the idea that he's seen his face before (in 2008's The Fires of Pompeii) to hobo Brian Miller; A nice little moment dragged kicking and screaming to fit the feature length.
Speaking of the mysterious Half-Face Man, we have another forced attribute to join Vastra and Jenny - they're married apparently, she said so when she was posing - with the nature of the Clockwork Robot's background - a clear reference of 2006's The Girl in the Fireplace. Whether it be The Doctor pondering aloud about the nature of the plan or mentioning the SS Marie Antoinette, it's incredibly pushed throughout as the writer reminds audiences of a far-superior story, let alone one featuring these androids. That said, the design work done on Peter Ferdinando's face is spectacular stuff, and he does really well with the robotic nature of his character. He isn't any different to any other automation before him, but he does well at acting creepy. A pity he has little screen time, which diminishes his fear factor, and his counterparts are pretty much for background purposes. He also has to bring up a sudden spurge of non-TARDIS Clara with that teacher's scene (why do they have such terrible child actors in the show these days?) and an ongoing story arc. Fun! And as the Paternoster Gang join in the fun and the hot air balloon takes flight amongst aghast policemen, we finally get a conclusion which is left ambiguous for viewers to think upon. Now, usually this is a great technique, but the fact that we haven't had the slightest proper glimpse of this new persona makes it all the more interesting, yet drags the scene down a bit. All you get is the trailer-bait glare into the camera. Perhaps give more sustenance beforehand before going out and doing such a scene.
Meanwhile, Clara and co. are holding their breath forever downstairs. In an earlier segment, Clara manages to hold her breath for much longer than humanly possible, which not only loses the tension made in the scene but also all manner of thinking that she's as normal as we've been lead to believe. Here, it's repeated again but with more people, adding a completely unnecessary snog between a human and a lizard who may or may not be married. The only glimmer of greatness is incredibly subtle with Strax pointing his blaster at himself, as we finally get a look at character development rather than his gender confusement and lack of moral understanding. It shows that he's willing to take his own life in order to let his friends live, having been abandoned by his own race and taken up by the married couple. And with the subtleness of the scene, unlike many other aspects blaring out their purposes and meanings, it's left quiet leaving it even more special.
The episode ends with a surprise phone call from predecessor Smith, reminding Clara that everything will be fine; it's a nice enough scene, but again panders to the audience for familiarity and giving the thumbs up to the new guy. They leave with the story arc clues, and that was when I groaned. When I had enough of Moffat's writing. Missy (Michelle Gomez) is *shock* the Doctor's girlfriend and resides in Heaven, and is somehow much different than the likes of River Song, Madame de Pompadour, Tasha Lem, Queen Elizabeth I, Idris, and maybe even Marilyn Monroe (as she does marry him off-screen in A Christmas Carol). It's the same thing again and again with every character either long-term or one-time. It's a new era, fresh ideas are required. If you need help with that, put an advert in the newspaper for it (Missy clearly did).
Deep Breath is an overlong dinosaur dump. Badly written characters, a Doctor who's someone else for a majority of the episode, and constant referencing to facts even the most oblivious viewer will understand. Peter Capaldi does nail his performance, and Jenna Coleman does well in pushing this sudden character growth through the episode as she attempts to carry the story, but with this it feels very off. Comedy is hit-and-miss, and it's clear that make up was holding the production sector against the somewhat unrendered CGI. 3/10.
Wait, Jenny and Vastra are married?! Who knew!
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