The Caretaker Advance Review
Note: From this week and onwards we’re changing the title to “Advance Reviews”. The content of these will be still aim to be as detail-free as we reasonably can while still offering a critique, however as everyone’s spoiler sensibilities are different we advise you read on at your own discretion.
For the second time in Series 8, we’re heading into a more lighthearted affair with “The Caretaker”. The premise is a very simple one with Capaldi going ‘undercover’ as the titular caretaker at old haunt Coal Hill school whilst he tries to avert another robotic threat to Earth in the form of the Scovox Blitzer. Inevitably many antics ensue as this all clashes with Clara’s school life and her increasingly desperate attempts to keep Danny and the school in the dark about what is really going on.
Gareth Roberts is another recurring Doctor Who writer whose episodes seem to be an acquired taste. Despite the Moffat co-writer credit here this episode is recognisably comparable to Roberts’ previous couple of efforts. If you liked “The Lodger” and “Closing Time” a lot, chances are you’ll get a bit more of enjoyment out of this week’s episode. For everyone else this is rather average Doctor Who fare, raised by some solid character moments.
Really this episode is a three-handed character piece between the Doctor, Clara and Danny. Therefore the plot and the main threat of the episode are an afterthought. Sadly while this worked in “Listen”‘s favour, here things don’t gel quite as nicely.
Seeing the Capaldi’s Doctor trying to fit into a ‘normal’ lifestyle and messing it all up for Clara is admittedly fun at first with a decent helping of humorous moments, but the jokes start to wear thin and it doesn’t help that we’ve seen this bag of tricks before. While grumpy old Twelve makes for a different spin on things, Capaldi is arguably at his best when he’s dealing with material with more substance and he doesn’t get too much of that here.
What is more problematic is the Doctor finally meeting Danny. Firstly, given that the Doctor has already met the familiar faced Orson Pink you’d think there’d be a major reaction to seeing Danny. However this is passed off and not addressed in any meaningful way. Secondly, Capaldi’s constant jabs and outright prejudice against Danny due to his past life as a soldier gets taken to uncomfortable levels. It pushes the Doctor a bit too far into unlikable territory. His actions don’t ring true. After all wasn’t this the Time Lord who was mourning the passing of his long-time friend the Brigadier not so long ago?
As for Clara and Danny, they fare far better. It’s pleasing to see their relationship developing from the flirty awkwardness of what we’ve seen up to this point. There’s some heartwarming character moments for the pair. Samuel Anderson gets to play something a bit meatier than he has (as Danny) so far in a fiery confrontation with the Doctor. And there’s one heroic act that will inevitably win Danny over plenty more fans.
The only notable guest star this week is young newcomer Ellis George who is playing recurring Coal Hill pupil Courtney Woods. Keen observers will have spotted the character briefly in flashbacks earlier this series. Here we get our first proper introduction with some amusing scenes with the Doctor. Courtney hasn’t been painted in the best light in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them scenes, but thankfully she comes off better in this episode. Child actors can be a worry and while her performance won’t be winning any awards, it’s not terrible either.
Director Paul Murphy returns for his second and final episode this year and it’s another competent outing. There’s a couple of well-directed action scenes, but the Scovox Blitzer could have been shot better at times. It’s a fairly menacing presence in its first scene while hidden in darkness and stalking its prey, but by the end it comes off looking pretty goofy and unthreatening, despite the pyrotechnics.
Ultimately, The Caretaker seems to have its heart in the right place for the most part, with some strong individual moments, but it doesn’t quite solidify into a satisfying whole. Still, Kill the Moon beckons and with promise of a dark adventure and big repercussions we can only hope this story is merely the relative calm before the (oncoming) storm…
Doctor Who TV Verdict: 6/10
