Doctor Who Recap Season 11 Premiere with Jodie Whittaker

"So today, I want to talk about the tallest woman I've ever met …" – Ryan Sinclair

With this declaration begins a new era of Doctor Who, with a cast and a new team. It's always an exciting time for this series, especially with regard to the creative ones, because it allows the rebirth, essential to the long-term health of the series. The show's ability to change so radically is one of its many charms and much of what makes it unique. What other series can not only do that, but should do it? Only Doctor Who feel this freshness and this new in his 11th season (or his thirty-seventh, if you count well).

Chris Chibnall, host and author of this opening episode, wants the viewers to think that Ryan is talking about the new Doctor, but as we will see later, this is not the case. Much of "The Fallen Woman" is not what it seems at first, and even after watching, the title of the episode works on more than one level, as the series seems stronger than it has been in a long time.

We present ourselves successively to people who will feel like a family at the end of the next ten weeks. Ryan (Tosin Cole), 19, tries to ride a bike without success, with the help and encouragement of his grandmother, Grace (Sharon D. Clarke), and her second husband, Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh) None of the men in Grace's life seem to be comfortable with each other, and she is taken in the middle. In the industrial city of Sheffield, police recruit Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) solves a silly fight between two women (the hammer in the windshield brings a nice touch). These people all seem exceptionally average by Doctor Who standards of accompaniment.

Normally, the new companion has an obvious spark, but Chibnall plays his hand less visibly. They are complicated people with real problems. The idea that Ryan can not ride a bike because he has dyspraxia – a "coordination disorder," as Nan says, is the kind of thing that would seemingly disqualify a mate in past seasons. Doctor Who. Somewhere in the world, afflicted children will also withdraw from this episode, thinking that their problems would not prevent them from traveling under the TARDIS program.

Similarly, we learn late in the game that Graham is in remission of cancer, which is even more shocking. This is the kind of real life condition Doctor Who has never been part of his week-to-week fabric, and yet there is a man who will travel with the Doctor, apparently at ease on everything in life because he has almost lost his. Grace is the character that most closely resembles the classic and fearless companion mold (she also shares the name of a previous companion) and ultimately pays for her life. Does Chibnall make a statement?

And then there is Yas, who aspires to do something different that will put her to the test. She echoes the classic companion, but it's the friend we know the least, because beyond going to primary school with Ryan, she is not part of the family tapestry that unites the other three . It's perfect because we have a whole season to learn the inner workings of this woman who seems to have risen above her place in life. In any other recap, it would be a little strange to go so far without mentioning the brand new doctor, but perhaps it is a testimony to the strength of the new friends and the dramatic potential of the heroes' journeys on the verge of to start.

The Doctor crushes through the roof of a train, improbably unhurt and in the lives of these people. It goes into action, momentarily disabling a threatening alien creature with a hanging electrical cable. The familiar rhythm of the iconic themed theme accompanies the moment. Jodie Whittaker is the doctor immediately – not just in his first episode, but in his first scene. What an embarrassing development for those who have been claiming for a year that this will never work and that the series has been ruined. Let's hope that they see the mistake of their hyperbolic ways, because any fan who watched this episode must have left him wanting more.

As this episode must be exciting for people who have invested so much emotion in the idea of ​​a female doctor. Any new Doctor must have the impression of giving an answer to the previous Doctor, and this Doctor is charged with positivity and light (which the world desperately needs at this moment) in the face of the dark complexity of the Doctor of Peter Capaldi. The production team talked a lot about how this new incarnation of the series speaks of inclusion, and this is what is most evident in the Doctor herself. Exceptionally polite and without the ostentation that often envelops the character, she affirms the ideas and questions of her friends, never allowing any of them to feel less important or unimportant. It's hard to imagine this Doctor whipping her old chestnut "I'll explain later." In fact, she seems to want to explain as much as possible, in the most efficient way possible.

"This is the moment when you are about to die. And then … you were born! It's terrifying. At the moment, I am a stranger to me. There are echoes of who I was and a sort of call to who I am. And I have to keep my cool and trust all these new instincts. Train me to them. It will be fine. At the end. J & # 39; hope. But I have to do it, because you need help and if I'm sure of something, when people need help, I never refuse! Right? It's gonna be fun! "- The doctor

This speech moved the tears in the eyes of this graying veterinarian (following him immediately after the Doctor forged his new sonic with spoons and an extraterrestrial technology is a master stroke). Redefining and reworking the ideas in this series for over 50 years can not be an easy task, and yet Chibnall (and Whittaker) make it effortless with words like that. It is far too early to make radical statements about what this vision of Doctor Who That is all that matters, but what has struck me the most is how much Chibnall is indifferent to being spiritual for the sake of it. This is not a script designed around a single line and good words. There are moments of humor (like the "Tim Shaw" gag), but these are not the moments that people will forget.

Instead, we will remember the humanism in which he is immersed, not just the main characters, but characters who are on the periphery, such as the unfortunate Rahul, who devoted his life to discovering this. who happened to his sister, or Karl, the emotionally damaged crane operator who listens to self-help tapes, or even the unnamed security guard who kindly talks to his grandson moments before his untimely death. This is definitely sci-fantasy of the man who brought us Broadchurch just like the last six seasons were from the man whose previous hit series was Coupling.

The extra-terrestrial conspiracy around which the meat is made is a useful reworking of Predatorbut Tim Shaw (Samuel Oatley) is unlikely to be called a big bad guy. However, the problem of teeth is undeniably gag-inducing. The new magnificent new photograph and the new score of another world of Segun Akinola deserve to be discussed. The shot of Ryan, Graham and Grace, lifted at the top of the rocks overlooking the city, looks like a painting of depth and color. Similarly, the shot closer to the doctor watching Ryan's attempts to control the bike. Murray Gold has orchestrated the soundtrack for the last ten seasons, but these atmospheric rhythms are much closer to what I've always thought modern. Doctor Who should look like. The scratching noises that move from left to right as Rahul's van carries the carrycot through Sheffield are particularly effective and strangely strange.

The grand finale at the top of the crane is a real treat for the crowd (perhaps even more aware that Whittaker has done all his stunts) and the last 10 minutes seem to have been scheduled for the rest of the season. How long will it take to see the new TARDIS? I'd be good to extend the teasing for a few more episodes while time travelers chase the machine into the remnants of extraterrestrial technology. How about this doozy of a cliffhanger? Fascinating choice for these people to be forced to adopt this lifestyle rather than wanting to travel with the Doctor, as is usually the case. Will Chibnall bring the cliffhanger back every week? Grant next week to presumably see a sequence of appropriate opening credits, which, after closing here, will, I dare to suggest, bright.