Doctor Who: Time Heist

[unheard_secret]

 I can tell I'm going to be frustrated with Time Heist for awhile...

...because, that should have been a shining jewel of an episode. And it just wasn't.

More thoughts exist under the cut, but I don't want to harsh on anyone's squee, so don't click if you're not happy with a critical review of the episode.

The episode starts promisingly enough. In a scene obviously penned by Moffat, Clara is about to leave on a date with Danny. (Can I just pause for a moment to say how much I love Danny. Because I really, really do.)

Then the action starts and Thompson gets to have a go and the results are... mixed.

I'll start with my biggest frustration first... Character is sacrificed to the plot on almost every level, destroying what could have been a good episode. (It would almost have been easier to watch if it was just bad from start to finish, at least that way there wouldn't be the frustration of something that was 'almost' but 'not quite'...)

In terms of plot, this episode is actually a rather brilliant when you think about it. By the end, everything falls in place and there are very few loose strings left. That's actually very rare for an episode of Doctor Who - and particularly rare for an episode that uses a time loop at its centre. 

Why are the Doctor and Clara robbing a bank? To save a life. Probably the most justifiable reason of them all.

Why did they need to lose their memories? To survive a telepathic creature that would have been forced to kill them if they had known why they were there. 

Why all the stupid running around in time? Because the main vault was only accessible at a time when the TARDIS could not be used. Furthermore, the TARDIS might have been able to provide an entry, but it could never have provided an escape (and the Doctor was never going to leave it on the planet to weather the solar storm), so they had to find a way that didn't involve the TARDIS at all. 

Overall, the main plot is pretty much logically consistent. In fact, for Doctor Who it's actually doing all right. 

So... where does it fall down. 

In one word: character.

In many words: Steven Thompson has no feel for cadence or personality, and absolutely zero ability to hit the tonal quality needed for an episode where the stakes are meant to be high and the characters are meant to be under constant pressure. 

Basically Steven Thompson can't write, and I don't know why he's still allowed to. 

He's obviously Moffat's best friend or something, because come on he should have been fired years ago. 

This episode fails because on almost every level the characters are not people. They are pieces being moved around the set to create the optimal outcome: aka the plot.

The result is a show that feels glossy on the top and hollow at the centre. It isn't the actors fault - they do an amazing job with what they are given. But you can't polish a turd. 

This episode is a stunning example of what happens when plot is good and character is bad. The answer: a bad episode. 

The last episode, Listen, interestingly enough is the perfect example of the opposite. What happens when plot is ho-hum and character is absolutely perfect? A good episode. 

Character needs to come first. Always.

Interestingly enough, the most damning example of bad characterisation isn't  to be found in the Doctor or Clara, or even Psi or Saibra. It's Karabraxos herself. 

If ever there was a character that needed to be developed beyond the 2D, that needed to be given a heart beneath the jaded exterior, and a soul under the glitz and the glamour, it was her. 

After all, our characters are - nominally - robbing the bank because she asked them to. 

Unfortunately, despite Keeley Hawes stellar performance, I wasn't convinced that Karabraxos was the sort of woman who would have a crisis of conscience (even on her deathbed) over allowing an unknown race to perish. 

There was nothing - not a single thing - in the episode to support this change of heart.

In fact, everything and I mean everything pointed to the opposite. 

If Steven Thompson had just done a few things differently - given her more screen time, or - more ingeniously - somehow made sure she was switched with her clone as she tried to escape the bank, it would have worked. I particularly like the clone idea, because I'd seen so much of her in the episode that I actually did almost like her by the end, and I could almost have believed that she would have had a change of heart on her deathbed.

But he doesn't do either of those things. Damn it.

It's unfortunate really that the characterisation of Karabraxos was so integral to the episode, because many of the other flaws could almost have been overlooked. 

Well... most of them could have. 

But, as it is, this failure to pull it out of the bag at the most pivotal point of the episode actually makes it harder to be forgiving (at least for me), and so some of the other problems bug me more than ever before. 

Let's start with the largest one:

The Doctor as the Architect. I can't say I didn't see it coming. (It was obvious from a mile off.)... and I wasn't frustrated with it until the very end. 

For most of the episode I was sort of mildly amused by the idea, and really rather looking forward to the reveal. 

And then the reveal happened. 

Urgh. 

Everything about the reveal was wrong. 'How can you trust someone if they look back at you out of your own eyes?'... That was meant to be the question that made the Doctor realise the truth. That?

Nevermind that the Doctor has never actually seen the Architects eyes. Or that he should should have suspected something long before this. (After all, it is the Doctor and he is going to have the big moment of revelation... why not make it more interesting and have him know well before the others and not tell them. I feel like it would have played better to Capaldi's Doctor if he'd been lying by omission for at least half the episdoe.)

Also - why was the 'eyes' line used so extensively in the reveal about the Architect when it was obviously intended to parallel Karabraxos' relationship with her clones? 

In the end, any redeeming feature the 'eyes' comment could have had was lost because Thompson didn't apply it where it was most apposite. In the end we know nothing about Karabraxos and her clones and all we're left with is questions: Why does Karabraxos use clones? I don't know. Why doesn't she hate them so much? I don't know. Why does it even matter? I don't know.

Still: those weren't the only reasons the line failed.

Ultimately, it failed because it's not only a weird observation, but a wrong one. Sure most people probably feel a certain insecurity when they realise someone who can take their face is only a step away from being able to take their lives. But seriously?

How many of us really think that the first thing that would happen when we see ourselves reflected back at us is going to be horror and fear?

How many of us hate the person we see in the mirror, or in a photo, or on the holiday recording?

(And, it should also be noted here, that this is a show about a man who changes his face on a regular basis. If you think seeing someone else wearing you face causes cognitive dissonance, try looking in the mirror and seeing someone who isn't you!)

I think Clara's initial reaction when Saibra turned into her in the corridor was more on the mark. Caution and curiosity. 

Not hatred. Not distrust. Just a wary interest. 

Furthermore, the Doctor's declaration of 'I hate him because he's everything I am and isn't that horrible' is frustrating just because it's badly written. 

Steven Thompson tends to mishandle moments that could lead to great character insight. We saw it in The Curse Of The Black Spot, and we see it again now. 

This could have been the perfect moment for us to learn about this new Doctor, this enigma that has got us all wondering what his 'deal' is. It could have meant so much, to the episode and to the show as a whole.

Instead the moment where the Doctor essentially reveals the key character traits of the architect - 'Overbearing, manipulative, likes to think that he's very clever' - is mishandled. It should feel like he's looking into a mirror and (if previous episodes - 'Am I a good man?' - are anything to go by) he should be ever so slightly horrified by what he sees. 

But that doesn't feel like it's the case at all. 

I still blame the set-up ('how can you trust someone who has your eyes' seriously), but I do have to confess that Capaldi's performance doesn't milk this moment for what it's worth - not until the very end, when he's utterly on target with the line 'I thought you might want to give me a call'.

So, in terms of characterisation flops, that's one of the worst. But there are others that come before... and my biggest gripe, the one thing that adds insult upon insult to injury is that almost all of them should have been, could have been, great moments for the characters. 

Lead characters first... 

Clara only gets one flop moment that I can think of, which is impressive given the nature of the episode. I think the fact there's only one is partly down to Jenna's absolutely amazing acting. (Is it just me, or has she been absolutely incredible this entire season???):

When the Teller locks onto her and the Doctor tells her that she has to think of 'nothing', there's definite moments where she's not succeeding. 

How much more powerful would it have been to actually see what crossed her mind when in that sort of danger? It was the perfect opportunity for character development. Among other things it could have been used to develop Clara's somewhat underdeveloped relationship with her family by showing that they were the last things she thought about, or to push the Danny/Clara relationship forward. Either way it was a missed opportunity. 

In many ways Clara gets several of the moments that redeem the episode. In particular I liked the one where Psi pulls her apart after the Doctor has been his brusque and abrupt self and says 'You can tell you've been travelling with him for awhile. You're good at the excuses.' That moment was one of the very few that rang absolutely true. 

The Doctor, unfortunately, unlike Clara, gets more than one flop this episode. Along with the whole 'Architect' shindig I tore apart above, there was at least one other moment that had me gritting my teeth:

The moment when Clara questions the necessity of them actually robbing the bank is entirely misplayed and the poor Doctor bears the brunt of it. Instead of answering 'We don't really have a choice' and leaving it - very appropriately - at that, the Doctor has to add the absolute clunker of a line 'We've already agreed to.' 

What? You mean this Doctor - proven to be unpredictable and mercurial in his moods - is actually a man of his word after all?

Colour me shocked. 

The real motivator here should have been that they had no way out of doing what the Architect had told them to if they wanted to get home. It really should have been left at that. 

Alternatively, have the Doctor be playing the long game. Have him know that they don't need to go ahead, but have him dismiss that option because curiosity and a need to know (both what's in the vault and what could have possibly made him to agree to such a plan) are driving him on - Clara, Psi and Saibra's safety be damned.

The secondary characters were, perhaps predictably, where it all fell apart really badly. 

Saibra didn't really work as a character for me - she was cool enough (yay, mutants in the Who'niverse, who'd have thought). But she killed the show twice over with her line about 'eyes'... and, more frustratingly, there was never anything about her that really stood out. 

Beyond 'mutant' she was an absolute cipher, with no past, no future, no family, no friends. Not a great recipe for a character. 

Psi was different. I really liked Psi and I thought that Jonathan Bialey absolutely knocked it out of the park playing him. However, he got some of the worst dialogue - often it was well meaning, but written so badly it failed. For example:

• The 'So that's why you call yourself a Doctor. Professional detachment' line.
  
  Wouldn't it have been more likely for him to just say 'how can you be so detached'? No one has made a big deal of the Doctor being the 'Doctor' this episode, so that line just felt out of place and strange.
   
• The moment when he draws the Teller away from Clara and makes his 'For what it's worth' speech. I have no problem with the sentiment. But I have to say that I found the execution lacking. 
   
• The moment where he says to the Doctor 'there's a big blue box. Is it yours?' 
  
  That right there is why it's important to think through delivery. It was an important piece of information (yay, we know where the TARDIS is, everything is going to be ok), but it was just a horrible line, and it's not surprising Psi didn't deliver it well. 

That being said, there were some moments when Psi really shined. The conversation about deleting his family was pretty much perfect. Not only was it well written, it also felt utterly true to character. 

 

So, that's about it for characters (well... I'm sure there's more, but I'm going to leave it there), but there were quite a few things that bugged me, which I haven't managed to fit in anywhere else. In no particular order: 

• The caved-in skull thing. Why do they seem to think that losing your brain also means losing half your skull as well? Bone doesn't not sag, not like that.
   
• The weird transition when they enter the Teller's chamber. I thought it was a flashback at first and was really confused. Whoever was in the editing booth that day needed to be given a lesson on when and when not to use fuzzy transitions.
   
• The whole scene in the Teller's hibernation chamber. 
  
  For one, we're meant to believe they just happen to stumble across a room right next door to Ms Delphox (who you would assume is at the top of the building, isn't that how these things go?) while running around the maintenance corridors. Um - I just don't buy it.
  
  And two: isn't the creature meant to be in hibernation? How does having people in the room make that not work? It's pretty bad forced hibernation if all you need is to have someone else in the room to break it.
   
• And what? Apparently the Doctor and Clara didn't warrant the Teller's treatment? 
  
  Seriously. You're going to tell me that despite all the build up Ms Delphox isn't even going to try and use the Teller on them? She's just going to send them down to the cells? What?
  
  Why would you even?

And last but not least - things I actually liked about the episode. Yes, yes I know! There actually were a few of them!

• The point where the Doctor tells Clara to to and change her shoes. I might have done a fistpump. Yes!
   
• The monster himself. If he hadn't been convincing the entire episode would have flopped. Can I just say the art department have outdone themselves yet again. (Except at the end where you saw the two creatures waltzing through a field of flowers. Just. Um. What was that even???)
   
• This exchange between Saibra and the Doctor: 'Why are you in charge now?' 'It's my special power. What's yours?'
   
• And this exchange between Psi and the Doctor: 'Still don't understand why you're in charge.' 'Basically it's the eyebrows.' (This one was just capped of perfectly by Jenna's expression. Her 'oh, well, that's not a lie' moment was hilarious.)
   
• The Doctor's apparent emotional distance after Saibra's death. This was horribly handled on Psi's end (again, who can make dialogue like 'So that's why you call yourself the Doctor. Professional detatchment.' actually work. No-one, that's who.) On the Doctor's end, however, it was brilliant - showing a deliciously darker side to the Doctor.
   
• And last but not least, a crowning moment of glory - the Doctor making a 'call me' gesture behind Clara's back after Psi offered to help with a future heist. I suppose that what Clara doesn't know can't hurt her...