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[llywela]

Bah.

I was on the fun train, thoroughly enjoying the episode, right up until they inserted Clara into the Doctor’s childhood. As if she hasn’t had enough Epic Significance to his entire timeline bestowed upon her by Plot Device already

And putting an important First Doctor quote into her mouth as well, that makes me kind of ragey

Every time I think I’m starting to like her at last, they do something like this. I want to like her on her own terms, not because Moffat is banging me over the head with how Perfect and Important and Special she is, the Magical Girl and font of all wisdom the Doctor needs to teach him important lessons, despite being a couple of thousand years and more than a dozen lifetimes old

I enjoyed the rest of it. I liked Danny Pink and his ongoing habit of putting his foot in his mouth and them beating himself up about it. I enjoyed Capaldi's Doctor and felt his relationship with Clara was settling into something fun, although they're still way overplaying the 'I'm his carer' angle by writing him as obtuse and her as always right. I was even enjoying Clara slightly more than I usually do and not minding (much) that valuable screen-time was being given over to her love life - I like it when she's rattled because that's when she feels most like an actual person rather than an cardboard cut-out ideal

But the end kind of spoiled it for me

Comments

[francy-m79.livejournal.com]

I agree about Clara. She just has to be the Most Amazing and Most Important Companion ever, hasn't she??? What would the Doctor be without her guiding him?? He would be nothing.

*rolls eyes*

That said, despite this fuckery I'm enjoying this seasons 10,000 times more than seasons 6-7. Twelve is a total upgrade from Eleven, and the tone is different, which I'm grateful for.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

She just has to be the Most Amazing and Most Important Companion ever
I thought that was Rose... (sorry for jumping in, but when I saw your comment it totally reminded me of how much I hated the way Rose was described as the One True Soul who could Keep the Doctor Knowing What's Real... *g*) And then Amy was also supposed to be Special-So-Special, and... Is it just Martha and Donna who've been ordinary people as well as companions, perhaps, since the new series started...? I think for me it'd help if Clara was more ordinary looking, more realistically scared sometimes, and hadn't been cast as an English teacher for no apparent reason... but actually it definitely helps that the Doctor is noticing her tiny brain and wide face and all!

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Now, I kind of agree, but at least Rose wasn't defined as Perfect until after she'd gone (when her hagiography started to really wind me up). While she was on the show, her first season especially, she was shown to be a person who made plenty of mistakes, which Clara tends not to be allowed. And Amy wasn't defined as Perfect, either, although she had the More Special Than Special gig down cold. It's definitely a very NuWho disease, though, this need to make each companion more special than the last in some way, increasingly so, with Clara currently the pinnacle.

I think switching Clara from nanny to teacher was done for a few reasons - the nanny thing wasn't working out (those kids went down really badly with the audience) but the character had been shown to be really good with children (one of her few clearly defined traits) so they used that by moving her to a school environment, which allowed them to shoehorn Coal Hill into the anniversary, and allows them now to have two Coal Hill schoolteachers, calling back to the origins of the show. I wouldn't mind if there'd been some transition shown, or at least more than a throwaway line, but last year's specials were terribly jarring, with no space for natural development of character stories.

With Clara, as well as the writing, I think definitely either the acting or the direction or both isn't working for me - like you said, she's almost never realistically scared. Too composed, too controlled, too sure of herself - and that's in the acting, because she could do all the same things without coming across that way, and it would add so much realism to the character. It's why I've come to like her best on the rare occasions she's visibly rattled.

[francy-m79.livejournal.com]

Rose was emotionally particularly important to the Doctor, probably because she happened to be his first companion after the war, and he latched onto her like a lifeline.

But she was portrayed as a mess, she was a chav, a brat, she was often rude, rash,inconsiderate (of Mickey), etc. She was everything but perfect.

Clara is just intolerable in her constant perfection and badassery in the face of everything (she doesn't even react to things like a human being. She never seems scared or upset to me, just endlessly sassy), as The Impossible Girl she was responsible for saving every single incarnation of the Doctor, and now we found out that she gave him wisdom and courage as a child.

Rose was a full-rounded character. Clara is not a character. I don't even know what she is. She's not as bad as River, but almost.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

The trouble is, Steven Moffat doesn't write characters (although he thinks he does, which I find troubling), he writes plots. And thenhe ties the plots to the characters and believes that's enough to give them depth. It isn't.

Also, he believes that bigger is always better. Me, I tend to believe that less is sometimes more.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Oh heck yes - this season is a huge improvement over the last two, I'm so relieved. It just still has these niggling moments that prevent me enjoying it as wholeheartedly as I'd like. Like how instead of being Doctor Who through the eyes of the companion, it's become the Story of Clara the Schoolteacher and her Wacky Alien Friend.

My biggest complaint about NuWho in general is that it has a bad habit of pushing a good idea just that bit too far. And Clara is definitely an idea taken too far.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Agreed on all counts! Capaldi really helps, and thankfully the last couple of epps weren't as boring as the first two, but actually mostly fun. Thank goodness.

Although of course nothing will really improve at its core until Moffat is out.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I quite liked that bit of continuity with Clara as the Impossible Girl again - just when I thought that was all wrapped up and she was only pretty and sassy, they gave her a bit of point again... I also like that the Doctor totally negates the whole "she's-so-special" by not seeing that she's pretty at all - her face is too wide and her eyes are too big, and she's really let herself go... *vbg* I must admit that her being the one instilling wisdom to the Doctor took me aback at first, but then I realised that it made her more her rather than perfect-girl, which like you is what I don't like... I'm sort of waiting for the perfect-thing to bite her on the bum at some point, too - it could turn out ve-ery messy!

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of waiting for the perfect-thing to bite her on the bum at some point, too - it could turn out ve-ery messy!
Oh, I hope so, I really want to see her taken down a peg or two! Is that awful? I'm so tired of her always being right, always bestowing wonderful wisdom on this ancient and wise character who has to be diminished to prop her up.

I'd kind of like to know what triggered last night's little adventure. There was no inciting incident. The Doctor has been with Clara (intermittently) for quite some time now, so it isn't the sheer fact of meeting her that triggered that dormant memory. But we weren't told what set it all off.

Also, on due reflection, I'm a bit concerned that Clara is throwing herself into a relationship with Danny before either one of them is quite ready just because she thinks its pre-destined in some way. I mean, they don't know each other very well, they didn't get on terribly well on their date, but she now believes she will be the great-grandmother of his great-grandson, so that means it's all okay after all, so they can leap into a relationship, whether they're ready for it or it's right for them or not. It's fairly typical Moffat, he thinks that kind of thing is really romantic - but I'm a bit over his predilection for complicated timey-wimey relationships that rely on plot contrivance rather than natural on-screen development to move them forward.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think Moffat even said something once about not really getting how relationships happen--and it shows. Almost every relationship he includes involves time-travel and meeting someone as a child and then being romantic with them as an adult (see: Girl in the Fire Place, that one Christmas Special, etc). It's gross.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Moffat even said something once about not really getting how relationships happen
And yet he built his career on the back of rom-coms...

And the thing is, the timey-wimey romantic twist he loves so much wouldn't be a big deal if he'd done it once only - when Girl in the Fireplace aired, we all shrugged and said 'oh, that's different, nice idea' and moved on. But going back to that same trope over and over just exposes the creepiness of it (as well as his lack of originality), while attempting it with the regulars brings the horrible flaws in the concept bang front and centre. Bleurgh.

I don't know who could take over at this point. But I can't wait for Moffat to leave. I understand exactly where his vision for the show comes from and why he does the things he does, but I can't stand it - it's not my sort of Doctor Who and it drags the show down, for me.

*goes and buries myself in the Key to Time season for comfort*

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

I too enjoyed the episode until the twist at the end, which I thought was stupid. I was not keen on the DW flashback...like wtf since when do Time Lords live on rustic farms with 19th century-style clothes? And your point is also true--once again giving Clara ~special insight~ via plot. Not unlike Madame de Pompadour getting special insight via an unwanted mind meld--Moffat is nothing if not unoriginal/repetitive. Also while in theory having there be no monster is great, in practice in this epp it just doesn't add up in classic Moffat fashion. Like what the fuck was that on the bed or outside the spaceship? The alternative explanations were not convincing.

But overall IMO Clara is much more enjoyable season now that they are treating her like a person rather than a mystery to be solved. Too bad we are apparently just ignoring completely All that transpired with her character in the last few epps of season 7 (Moffat: "Continuity? What's that?"). I also think she has a much better rapport with Capaldi than Smith.