Peter Capaldi has been almost universally praised for his take on the Doctor and I can’t argue with that. In fact, I think Capaldi’s Doctor is The Doctor We Really Need Right Now. Here’s why.

But before you get started, you can get all the best quotes from the episode over at Doctor Who “Deep Breath” – All the Quotable Quotes, and Then Some.

It was time to move away from the Romantic Doctor and back to a more authoritarian one. Before any of you get angered by that statement, let me say that I have loved every single actor’s take on the role so I’m simply enjoying the change in the character. I think Capaldi’s take on the Doctor is going to win the hearts of all but the most stubborn of viewers. It’s all because he’s mastered the real secret of the character – keeping the heart(s) very familiar while acting very differently. He should know, he’s been a fan of Doctor Who his entire life. I can think of no one more qualified to play the part than someone who has always been a fan of the show. That person is going to know the most about the character, care the most about their portrayal, and work the hardest at being the best damned Doctor they can.

Peter Capaldi is giving us an original take on the Doctor with bits of John Pertwee and Tom Baker while still maintaining a Tennant/Smith physical dynamic. It really is pretty damned impressive. I see a lot of Tom Baker in this Doctor, even if he’s openly admitted to being over scarves. The nerve! Aversion to scarves aside, this new Doctor became one of my favorites before the episode had progressed very far.

Like Baker, this is an unpredictable and sometimes dangerous Doctor, one who is often angry and befuddled. Unlike his recent incarnations, he is now faced with embracing his age and occasionally having to act it. Vastra best explained just how old the Doctor really is when she and Clara were having their debate over Clara’s depth of character. And while we’re on the subject of Clara, from that exchange onward she became an even more interesting person, no longer defined by her Impossible Girl status. Vastra certainly seemed attracted to her.

What I don’t really get, though, is why Clara’s having such a hard time with the Doctor’s new face and personality. As The Impossible Girl who entered the Doctor’s time stream and helped thwart the Great Intelligence at every turn, isn’t she the only person who has directly interacted with every incarnation of the Time Lord? Would that not make her the companion most likely to be unfazed by the Doctor’s regenerations?

Anyway, it was nice the way she used Tennant’s line about redecorating the TARDIS near the end of the episode.

We found out a little more about Vastra and Jenny’s relationship in this episode. It’s always been clear that because they’re a lesbian couple in Victorian London, Jenny publicly plays Vastra’s maid. In Deep Breath, however, we see Vastra has Jenny continuing this role in their private lives. Jenny calls her on it in one scene, but apparently doesn’t mind enough to take it much further.

The clockwork droids were of the same type as those from The Girl in the Fireplace. These served on the SS Madame de Pompadour’s sister ship the SS Marie Antoinette. Their time travelling space ship crashed in the distant past and the droids have been trying to repair it for millions of years, hence their knowledge of dinosaur physiology. It was fun to hear the Doctor repeatedly express a vague familiarity that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

It was interesting to see the Doctor’s reaction to his reflection when he’s telling the control droid it’s replaced so many of its parts so many times it probably doesn’t even remember where it got its face from. Because he expressed concern and curiosity about why he chose his own new face and what it must mean, it’s clear the Doctor sees the droid somewhat analogous to himself. He’s worried that he is no longer the same person he once was due to his many regenerations.

The demise of the control droid after his struggle with the Doctor aboard the SS Skin Balloon was left deliciously ambiguous. Did the Doctor push him out the door or did the droid sacrifice himself, convinced by the Doctor that his goal was pointless? Not knowing keeps a level of uncertainty about the new Doctor for viewers.

Clara could finally only accept the new Doctor after receiving a call from Eleven. He called her from Trenzalore in the past to reassure her that the strange face before her really still is the same man. More importantly, he tells her his new self will need her help and that she needn’t be afraid. It took until nearly the end of the episode, but this scene smoothed over the sudden change we saw back in the Christmas Special. It felt like needed closure, even though it was pretty late in the game.

The ending was all kinds of cryptic, wasn’t it? The control droid ends up very much alive in a garden where he’s met by a woman who refers to herself as Missy and to the Doctor as her boyfriend. She tells him he’s made it to the Promised Land; to Heaven. Missy is played by actress Michelle Gomez who was identified in promotional pictures as The Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere. I don’t know about you, but that title doesn’t sound like someone you’d find taking admission at the pearly gates.

Since she’s going to be in the season finale it’s a good guess Missy will show up here and there over the course of the season. My guess is she’ll be the big bad of a recurring story arc that may even lead up to Clara’s rumored departure. I do worry that with Steven Moffat stating something about needing to show there are consequences to choosing a life with the Doctor that Clara might exit in a more tragic way than most companions. This is just speculation and worry on my part, I have no factual basis for this at all.

And while I’m speculating, I’d like to toss in my thoughts about who Missy could be. I’ve heard talk that Missy, possibly being a shortened version of Mistress, the feminine of Master, means the Doctor’s old foe may be back. That’s too obvious and straightforward for Moffat. There’s also been talk of her being the Rani or River Song, but again these also seem too easy.

After doing some digging on variations of the name Missy in the Doctor Who universe I did find something that could be a connection. In a BBC Books story from the Eccleston/Piper era entitled The Clockwise Man there’s a character named Melissa Hart. This Melissa has clockwork droids at her disposal, starts as an adversary to the Doctor, and ends up an ally by the end. This seems like one hell of a coincidence, although nowhere can I find any indication that Missy/Melissa has any romantic designs on the Time Lord. Still, it’s oddly close to elements in this episode so I thought I’d bring it up.

Opening Theme

The new visual sequence is gorgeous and based on a fan-made intro by Billy Hanshaw we featured last October. Apparently Steven Moffat saw it and liked it so much he worked with Hanshaw on creating a slightly modified version for the show.

Murry Gold was definitely reaching for a nostalgic vibe with the music and he’s done a spot-on job. I’ve always enjoyed the newer, orchestral arrangements, but again, change is good.

See Hanshaw’s original version in our post Fan Made “Doctor Who” Series 8 Intro Is Perfect.

Here’s the final, official opening to compare with Hanshaw’s original.

Sherlock Holmes References



There were several references to Sherlock Holmes in the episode. These are just the ones I caught.

The character of Inspector Gregson appeared in several original stories.

Jenny refers to the “Paternoster Irregulars” which is another of the show’s references to Sherlock Holmes who had a gaggle of street children he used for intelligence gathering that he called the Baker Street Irregulars.

Minutes later Jenny mentions the Conk-Singleton forgery case and the Camberwell child poisoner which are more Holmes references; although I believe they are non-Conan Doyle stories. Someone please correct me on this if I’m wrong.

Character Connections

Barney (Brian Miller) – Barney was the tramp whose coat the Doctor coveted. Miller is the husband of the late Elisabeth Sladen. He also appeared in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures “The Mad Woman in the Attic” and in several episodes of Doctor Who in the 1980s.

Alf (Tony Way) – Also had a role in the 2012 Sherlock episode The Reichenback Fall.

Waiter (Graham Duff) – He’s been involved in two Doctor Who-based audio dramas by Big Finish Productions. He voiced a role in the episode Exile and wrote the episode Faith Stealer which starred Paul McGann.

Footman (Paul Kasey) – Played monsters on Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood, plus others too numerous to mention. He’s appeared more times in each of those shows than anyone besides the regular cast. If you want to see a complete list of his appearances click the link here: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Paul_Kasey

Inspector Gregson (Paul Hickey) – Previously played the same Inspector Gregson in a prequel short to the 2012 Christmas Special The Snowmen entitled Vastra Investigates. You can watch it below.

Doctor Who: Into the Dalek airs Saturday, November 30 at 9/8c on BBC America

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