Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time (2017) - Written Review
Imagine how frustrating it was then as the Twelfth Doctor thrust his hands into the snow to extinguish the regeneration energy. For the first time in Who history, the new Doctor could've been revealed by the regeneration. Instead, a small glimpse at the future - or, more accurately the past - as David Bradley stepped out of the snow as the First Doctor.
This episode starts with a small "previously on Doctor Who" segment, introducing the First Doctor's narrative via a variety of clips and recreations from 'The Tenth Planet' (William Hartnell's final serial in the role from 1966, which introduced the Cybermen). Instead of actually introducing this Doctor to audiences though, this was played as pure fan service. A simply prologue of the character exiting the base in the South Pole and walking back to the TARDIS would have sufficed, an indication to fans of his current placement in the timeline. Steven Moffat and co thought differently though, alienating most of the Christmas Day audience in favour of a diminishing fan base - most of whom probably haven't seen 'The Tenth Planet'. Does it matter if you have? The "previously" suggests so, but the rest of the episode does nothing with this. It's a confusing element for a casual audience that ultimately has no pay-off. For fans, its basically showing stuff we've already seen. An odd way to start this special.
In fact, while getting to see the First and Twelfth Doctors meet from each others' point of view was nice, getting the same treatment for the Captain felt a bit repetitive. A simple, brief flashback would have sufficed. Rachel Talalay is such a wonderfully visual director that I'm sure she could have done wonders with very little. Sometimes such moments should be based on what the camera shows from the actors, not what the actors read out from the script.
Finally though we're greeted to a proper introduction to the episode, meaning that....no, the plot doesn't start just yet. A slightly overlong sequence as our new trio get to know each other was nice, before they meet the mysterious glass woman and Doctor 12 is reunited with Bill...and the proceeds to decide that she isn't actually Bill. Low and behold, she isn't actually Bill. Instead, this is a glass facade of Bill, using her memories to help the Doctors realise their importance to the Universe - because according to Steven Moffat, the Doctor needs to be told he's the most important person in the Universe instead of just allowing everyone else to know that. The audience knows that the Doctor is the most important person the Universe, as do the other characters, so why does Moffat want to ruin that magic by explaining this to the Doctor? His ignorance to this fact is part of his charm. Explaining this is just ruining that charm, a charm that Moffat clearly recognised in the first place in order to ruin.
Bill's return was incredibly disappointing though, as despite Moffat's best attempt to have his cake and eat it too - Bill is both Bill and not Bill at the same time - the end result is a little confused. The audience are being told not to trust "Bill" for so much of the episode that when it turns out that she is benevolent and the episode does want her to seem as close to Bill as possible, it doesn't really connect at all. We've been told adamantly that this isn't Bill. And Moffat not only reiterates this, but tries to convince us that this not-Bill is Bill. You can't have it both ways, and as Bill's final episode, I found this to be incredibly disappointing. Nardole's cameo was a welcome return, but one ruined by his wonderful exit in 'The Doctor Falls', while Jenna Coleman's horribly green-screened Clara cameo was just a step too far. Moffat tried to make this the moment in which Twelve finally remembers his former companion...but there's no emotional weight to it. He doesn't not recognise her, so there's no moment of realisation at all. Clara's loss hasn't been on his mind since 'The Pilot', and even then that episode marks the only time that Clara's loss has actually affected the Twelfth Doctor. Moffat wasted what could have been a big moment and instead turns it into awkward fan service - as well as a reminder of 'Hell Bent'. Christ, if Moffat's idea of fan service is reminding fans about an episode a majority of them hated, he's really misjudged his audience.
Now, this isn't me saying that Bill, Nardole and Clara shouldn't have been in this episode. My criticism is that they have no place here. We've already said goodbye to them, and these returns feel more detrimental to their characters as opposed to beneficial. We're given another exit to all of them, but we weren't asking for one. Their stories ended. The Doctor said goodbye to them. Yet still Moffat throws them in for emotional weight without actually providing the weight to begin with.
I mean, when all is said and done, the First Doctor's narrative felt sidelined in the episode. As opposed to giving him and Twelve a fun adventure to bounce off of one another, he instead is basically told how he's going to act in the future and decides to go along with that. The reason why the Doctor went from an adventurer to a hero isn't because of the horrors of the Universe and a passionate desire to fight for the innocent, but because his Twelfth incarnation and future companion told him to. Steven Moffat even goes as far as to have the First Doctor explain why he left Gallifrey - as though that needed to be brought up again. Hey, remember how Melody Pond became River Song because an android duplicate of Amy explained to her that she'd become River Song, as opposed to - oh, I don't know - having an actual character arc? Hey, remember how great all the Hybrid stuff from Series 9 was? It was explaining why the Doctor left Gallifrey! Because apparently a small little mystery like that, which the show has intentionally left slightly ambiguous for more than fifty years, should be resolved to form a haphazard "story" arc (sans an actual story).
I'm struggling here folks. I really want to like this episode, but as I look over it and think more about it, I just keeping finding these things. I thought the whole episode was awkwardly-paced, but only upon reflection did I realise not only how long it took for the story to actually begin. Couple this with the fact that 'Twice Upon a Time' basically ended at the forty-minute mark and it's difficult not to realise a huge structural problem here. The last twenty minutes is just padding until the regeneration. I mean, the Captain's in his place in time, and that's that. Want to keep in the little Christmas armistice between the soldiers? A lovely way to end it. Yet that dragged on for far too long, and then the First Doctor just up and leaves so that we can have Twelve sitting around for a while, having a chat with some glass people, then wandering around the TARDIS having a rant and only then does he actually regenerate. By the time he actually regenerated, the episode was just treading water. The story was over. The character journey too. There was about twenty minutes of just...nothing, before the actual regenerated occurred.
'Twice Upon a Time' is ultimately a small character piece though, meaning that its small-scale story, small cast and lack of antagonist was entirely intentional, and by no means a fault. In fact, it was for these reasons that I was very much looking forward to the episode. Moffat's work on big, grand-scale epics often doesn't turn out well, but smaller episodes like 'Listen', 'Heaven Sent', 'The Pilot' and the Series 10 finale have been his better episodes in recent years. Where did it all go wrong? Well, there's no actual character development. The only character development present is the Twelfth Doctor deciding to regenerate once more, and even then, that was a tacked-on character beat forced into the closing moments of 'The Doctor Falls'. Having an episode with virtually no plot? That's not a problem. But having an episode with no real character arcs? That's a problem.
I'm not saying that there weren't nice character beats, as there certainly were some lovely moments with the Captain, with the two Doctors' interactions and between the Twelfth Doctor and Bill. However, in terms of actual character arcs, there weren't any. The First Doctor is told how he's going to change in the future. Bill isn't Bill. The Twelfth Doctor's arc is just a forced-in footnote from 'The Doctor Falls'. There's nothing to keep the story going, and thus it just sags at points, and Moffat has to pad-out the sixty minute running time. Even Rusty the Dalek's cameo felt oddly misjudged. A "legendary" anti-Dalek? I'd be amazed if many people even remembered his guest appearance in an episode from three years ago.
Focusing on the positives though, Rachel Talalay tried her best with the episode. The South Pole set looked like a set, but was lit very well, and the snow effects certainly added. The production design was pretty good, and the First Doctor's TARDIS was recreated very well with both its exterior and interior. Murray Gold worked some wonderful pieces of music in there, even if a reprise of 'Doomsday' felt a bit out-of-place. Peter Capaldi was very good, although this was by no means his standout performance from the series; Pearl Mackie was great in her limited role; Mark Gatiss provided a lovely and often quite heartwarming performance as the Captain (despite a clunky "twist" reveal at the end); and David Bradley was excellent as the First Doctor.
While 'Twice Upon a Time' was fairly enjoyable to watch, I have absolutely no desire to watch it again. Upon reflection, the episode just feels clunky and misjudged, relying on awkward fan service instead of building characters and story. There wasn't much of a plot, there was no clear direction to it and the pacing just didn't really flow well. Despite being an hour long, this felt like a forty-five minute episode of Who, if that. Had 'Twice Upon a Time' offered anything new or exceptional, I'd have probably liked it more. I just found myself left a bit cold by the end of it all. This was Peter Capaldi's regeneration, and I didn't feel anything. You know when I did feel something though? That scene in 'The Doctor Falls', as Twelve lies on the ground, looking up into a starless sky. What a wonderful ending for the Twelfth Doctor. And what a shame that this was the actual ending. 5/10
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PS. I'm really looking forward to Series 11 next year, I'm hearing great things so far, and Jodie Whittaker's casting is just lovely. Her debut in the closing moments of this episode was the standout for me, just getting to see her sheer excitement at getting to play this part. I was really hoping for a trailer, but I'm equally happy to wait.
While I'm here, let me also ramble on a little longer: Steven Moffat's years on Doctor Who have been...interesting, to say the least. He's had some spectacular hits along the way, and some spectacular misses. I appreciate some of what he's done for the show, but his writing has sometimes been completely misjudged.
As for Peter Capaldi though: he's been a wonderful Doctor, and a brilliant ambassador for the show. His enthusiasm has never died, and he's never delivered a bad performance. Despite considerably more turkeys than I'd like, he's been the lead in some wonderful episodes of Who, and I look forward to seeing his inevitable series of Big Finish boxsets released. Bravo, Doctor No. 12, and I'm sorry it ended like this.
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