A Divided Opinion: Deep Breath (Part 1)

Guest contributor Lewis Royce shares his mixed views on Capaldi’s first episode.

Upon my third viewing of Peter Capaldi’s wonderful debut within the Doctor Who universe. It was fiery, it was explosive and featured the timey-wimey action expected of a show such as Doctor Who. In particular, that one heart-breaking decision the Doctor had to make has really stuck with me, as it questions the very morality of the Doctor’s adventures, and whether he really makes things better after all…

Oh, what’s that, fanbase? I’m not supposed to be talking about ‘The Fires of Pompeii’? My mistake. ‘Deep Breath’, then. Now, I’m going to throw this out there, please don’t instantly click off of this article when you read this, I will explain: I can’t decide if I like ‘Deep Breath’ or not. The whole episode stuck out to me as memorable in places, but frustrating in others. It seemed to have some of the best ingredients Steven Moffat can put into a script, but some of these elements were watered down by other, less interesting ideas.

As a basic question, is Peter Capaldi any good playing a role that we are all so familiar with and changing that role into a man that we can recognize and can’t recognize, that we can emulate with and feel alienated by? Were his interactions with the confused, startled and upset companion both entertaining and suitably endearing?

These, however, aren’t the right questions! The right question is ‘Did ‘Deep Breath’ achieve its goal?’ As a standard post-regeneration story, ‘Deep Breath’ will naturally be held up against such episodes as ‘The Eleventh Hour’, ‘The Christmas Invasion’, or even ‘Rose’ or some of the other classic serials from the earlier incarnations of the Doctor. All of these episodes have one purpose, to both sell this new actor as a suitable replacement for the actor that came before them, and to set the overall tone of that Doctor. Whether they are a funny Doctor, or a dark, moody Doctor, these stories are a crucial part of the process, as it is the first proper interaction a viewer will have with that regeneration of the Time Lord; the actor must sell themselves as the Doctor or quickly lose any interest from the fanbase.

So, did ‘Deep Breath’ sell itself to me? The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’, because while Peter Capaldi seemed to excel at the role provided to him, Steven Moffat seemed unable to set a specific tone for the episode. While the first thirty minutes, to me, seemed aimed at children and was almost awkward to watch at times, though that may be because of the degrading commentary of my family, who took an instant dislike to this new Doctor, the rest of the episode felt like a dark, gritty adventure starring a charismatic, dark hero and a villain that was, quite frankly, nasty.

So, as this series opener is so difficult for me to decide upon, I shall explain the features of the episode that I found both excellent, and skip-able, and try and decide by the end of this article.

Peter Cap-who-di?

Back in August of 2013, when I first heard that Peter Capaldi was going to be playing the next Doctor, I got understandably excited. Of course, every time I heard about a new Doctor, I was excited, but it wasn’t until later that I really thought about this man, who would soon be playing such an iconic figure to so many people, that I was really excited. As a firm member of the Whovians, or whatever we call ourselves these days, I had read many different opinion articles on Peter Capaldi’s casting. There were arguments that he was too old, he’d been on the show before, he was Scottish (I’m honestly not sure what the problem was there; I could always point a finger at David Tennant?) and so on. My own family complained up until launch day that he was too old to play the part. When I asked my parents just who their favourite Doctor was, they informed me that it was Jon Pertwee. Their logic bamboozled me, until I heard the reasoning that “having an older star makes the show less appealing to a younger audience.”

This led to a long and frustrating debate where I realised that Peter Capaldi was indeed, an older man than Matt Smith, or David Tennant. The younger crowd may suddenly be unable to easily associate this lined, frowny face with the soft, easy grin of a Doctor such as Smith. And that is certainly a refreshing change within the show, as it allows facets of the Doctor’s life to shine through that weren’t as easily visible before. With the aftermath of Gallifrey’s survival and the possibility that Doctor Who has put the Time War behind it, the young dashing warrior has been replaced by the wise, elder spokesman.

Which leads me to ‘Deep Breath’. Did Peter Capaldi deliver? The only answer I can give to that question is ‘yes he did!’ Capaldi seems to fill every single pixel of the television when he is on screen, his presence simply electrifying, seeming to inspire and invigorate even the slowest of scenes. What could have been a slow, uninteresting scene with the Half-Face Man in the escape capsule turned into a gritty, dark conversation with dialogue that really fits this newer, darker man. Capaldi’s questioning of his own identity and puzzlement over his own selection of face during that alleyway scene sticks with me especially, as I felt genuine concern for that poor tramp caught up in the Doctor’s mad ramblings.

Even at the end of the episode, when he had considerably calmed down from his regenerative trauma, I still felt a powerful aura emanating from this newest Doctor. Certainly, he was scared of being alone, the look on his face when Clara announces her intentions to leave being worth the casting of Capaldi all by itself, as it perfectly demonstrated the fear he has of not only being alone, but being alone within himself, not knowing who he really is. Clara is his only link to the past, with even his TARDIS being updated, though perhaps some more round things would have been nice, where does he keep those? This vulnerability was something most newer viewers can’t say that they have often seen, as every time he has regenerated, the Doctor has instantly either found someone for him or stayed with his previous companion; this sudden desire to leave from Clara, a girl he had considered himself previously “her boyfriend,” seems to hurt him in such a deep way, the expressions running across his face being some of the best acting within the entire episode.

This darker, grittier Doctor was a genuine pleasure to watch ramble, roar and rampage across the episode; when he observed the smouldering remains of the dinosaur, spitting insults at his own companions and friends, I was quite intimidated by this startlingly new man. Not intimidated as in, watching from the side-lines, intimidated as in genuinely fearful of this rage that seemed to lash out at his own friends. This was a Doctor I believe could have committed murder to save his friends and he may well have done by the end of the episode, I certainly believed him capable. I don’t think I was the only viewer who was stunned by his apparent dismissal of Clara to her fate at the hands of the Half-Face Man. Due to Moffat’s clever writing, Ben Wheatley’s intricate directing and Capaldi’s own acting, our own worries about this new Doctor and his relative new-ness were played upon to create a truly shocking moment that shook our faith in this new Doctor, only to restore it minutes later with a dashing rescue, perhaps to show a more Sylvester McCoy-esque manipulative side, while still demonstrating him and proving him as a hero and, more importantly, the Doctor.

And while his costume has been equally debated, seeing him in that subtle blue, with the red highlights across his stomach, standing tall with hands in pockets, he really did look every bit the Doctor I was expecting to see. I could really imagine this man giving a scientific lecture, only to dash off halfway through as some horrifying alien threat emerged from the shadows, which is exactly how it should be. Perhaps the only thing missing is a similarly red cravat, which would add another splash of colour and add the bit of wackiness to the costume that every Doctor has, though maybe more “cool” neckwear isn’t really what we need right now.

Peter Capaldi was, I think, the best part of ‘Deep Breath’. The moral questions he asked himself, the mysteries of regeneration pondered and the way he resolved the conflict, by either directly murdering the Half-Face Man, or by talking him into committing his own suicide, he certainly made an impact that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

“I’m Scottish! I can complain about things! I can really complain about things!”

Companion Confusion

One of the biggest dividing points that I have noticed online ever since the release of ‘Deep Breath’ was Clara’s attitude towards the Twelfth Doctor. Some people claim her reaction to the departure of Matt Smith and subsequent arrival of a Scottish, angry lunatic was the most realistic portrayal of a companion to date, while others slate her for acting so uncaring of the scared, emotional, vulnerable Doctor. None of this criticism falls onto Jenna Coleman, however, as her performance was another highlight of the episode; in fact, the acting of all the characters throughout the episode was sublime, the timing was perfect and the emotion everyone seemed able to fit into their lines was both surprising and applaudable.

While on my first viewing of the episode, I found her treatment of the Doctor to be deplorable, knowing beforehand exactly what regeneration is and acted, in a way, selfish by demanding that they change him back to her Doctor, my second viewing softened my attitude to her considerably. What we must take into account is that despite knowing beforehand that her friend (boyfriend?) would change, it still must have been a real shock to her to see him suddenly change before her eyes, to be replaced by someone who couldn’t be more different.

Let’s look back to ‘The Stolen Earth’, when the Tenth Doctor was about to regenerate. Rose, who had witnessed his regeneration before, still begged him not to change, telling him, “you can’t.” This is the same fear that Clara had of losing Eleven, but I have never seen Rose criticised for this attitude. Clara appeared to be in a state of shock, which was portrayed perfectly by Coleman, as it took her outside of her apparent comfort zone as a control freak. While the banter between Twelve and Clara was perfect regarding this apparent need to control, and I found myself laughing several times, especially at the confusion over the newspaper advertisement, I was surprised by this declaration. I recall the first mention of a “control freak” back at Christmas 2013, when under the influence of Trenzalore’s truth field, and it all seems to have bloomed from there. If I’m wrong, please don’t slaughter me in the comments, it just seemed a bit of a jarring shift in character.

While her initial reaction to Twelve’s appearance seemed harsh and unfair to him, much like many of the protests against Capaldi’s casting after Matt Smith stepped down, I really enjoyed the new relationship these two seem to have struck up, with Twelve seeming more of a teacher figure to her now, which is ironic, given her own profession, while she cares for the vulnerable man searching for who he really is.

Continued in part 2…