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The first female Doctor Who is a bad person, but the story provides a lackluster and earthbound start to the new era.
[Editor'sNote:Thefollowingcontains[Editor’sNote:Thefollowingcontainsspoilers from "Doctor Who" Season 11, Episode 1, "The Woman Who Fell to Earth."]
Jodie Whittaker bursts out of the gate with vitality, humor, and grace in her official "Doctor Who" debut, giving an engaging performance that does the time Lord pedigree proud. After 50 years of men in the role, the Doctor is now a woman, but viewers tuning in for the first time to witness Whittaker's historic assumption of the Doctor's mantle will find no barrier to entry. Her regeneration has gone wonky, so she and the audience are figuring everything out together. She's always everyday, mixes up common sensations, and does not know her own name. Nevertheless, she is undeterred in her calling as humanity's champion. "When people need help, I never refuse," she declares.
Goofy and curious, commanding and contemplative, Thirteen is already well on her way to demonstrating the complex emotional makeup that is the Doctor. She also demonstrates a cheerful, can-do spirit. While her predecessors somehow obtained their sonic screwdrivers fully formed and functional, she can be found in a surprisingly well-equipped garage. The image of a two-headed blowtorch is the equivalent of a Rosie the Riveter poster for the geek crowd. Doubters, take note: This new doctor is a badass
Jodie Whittaker, "Doctor Who"
BBC Studios 2018
Sadly, the hourlong episode does not have the time to create the same character. Instead, Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) is the guy with dyspraxia, Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) is an ambitious cop, and Graham (Bradley Walsh) is Ryan's stuffy step-grandfather. Thrown together to face a weird alien threat, they're too busy reacting to circumstances to get a handle on their individual personas.
Ryan's grandmother Grace (Sharon D. Clarke), who is married to Graham. Since the show is one of the first ones to be a reality, it will be a great challenge to have a good time. Sure enough, the show sacrifices her in a senseless act that reduces her to a mother Ryan and Graham.
Character issues aside, Chris Chibnall ("Broadchurch," "Law & Order: UK") has been crafting an episode that is distressingly earthbound, and this shortcoming has nothing to do with the Doctor crash-landing into Sheffield. Not every episode needs to take place on an alien planet or whizzing around the Doctor's Tardis – conspicuously absent here – but usually the Doctor's terrestrial adventures still have elements of fantasy gold intrigue that inspires wonder. Where is the time travel? Where are the ghosts? Where's the anthropomorphic lady lizard in Victorian garb?
Instead, a new alien race called the Stenza is introduced to a solo representative, where the Doctor dubs Tim Shaw (Samuel Oatley). He's on earth to hunt one randomly selected human, but he does not inspire the fear and awe of the usual Whovian monster. His most frightening trait is his face, thanks to his incredibly gross habit of embedding one tooth of each of his victims into his flesh.
With the exception of Tim Shaw's unappealing self, Whovian. Gone is form showrunner Steven Moffat's sense of play, both in verbal sparring and convoluted storytelling. At least writer Jamie Childs has given the Doctor some humorous lines, such as when she realizes her new gender: "Am I? Does it follow me? Half an hour ago I was a white-haired Scotsman. "Peter Capaldi, who played the Doctor's previous incarnation, is Scottish.
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Perhaps this is Chibnall's crime-drama background at work, but notwithstanding the episode seems to be one of its procedural TV episodes. It is enjoyable in a serviceable, unremarkable way. The problem is that "Doctor Who" is supposed to feel remarkable. The climax that takes place on the arm of a crane is the epitome of what the episode does wrong. There is no point in this random rental, and the built drama feels flat and uninspired.
Chibnall worked on "Who" before, and on its spinoff, "Torchwood." He is well aware that the sky is, in fact, not limited when it comes to storytelling in this universe. The premiere's cliffhanger ending in which the Doctor has unexpectedly teleported her three new companions and even sheer space that the season will have corrected its course in its second outing. As the Doctor observes as she is formulating a plan on the go, "It's a work in progress, but so is life."
Grade: B-
"Doctor Who" airs new episodes on Sundays at 8 pm ET on BBC America.
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