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promethia_tenkBecause I'm a fan, dammit!
So, the new season of Doctor Who has not been doing it for me. Bless Jodie Whittaker and her Doctor, they are blameless in this. She's delightful and perfectly cast.
And, hey, the plots have mostly been middling to rubbish, the dialogue is dull and frequently clunky, and the writing in general is uninspiring. But if you were unprepared for any of this then you didn't do your homework.
What's really getting to me, though, and the thing that I was definitely not prepared for is how little emotional investment I feel in any of it. If Chibbs can do anything, surely he does characters and their relationships, right?!?! I've been batting around reasons for why things aren't clicking. Do we just need more time? (Torchwood was solid dreck for a season and a half before erupting into brilliance.) Is three TARDIS companions one too many? (Quite possibly yes, I'm thinking.) Am I just bitter that somebody thought we still needed a white dude on the cast? (Yes.) But I recently read a review somewhere that really snapped things into perspective for me, which noted that Ryan and Graham are now the heart of the show. And, frickety-frak, the reviewer is right. Ryan and Graham's relationship has been the major emotional through-line of the whole thing, has born most of the emotional weight. And it has been rather nice to watch, for what it is. I don't have a problem with their relationship in and of itself. I rather love Ryan, who is so my favorite. (Graham is fine.) But in the meantime Yaz is still underdeveloped and the Doctor hasn't really established a meaningful bond with any of them yet.
So let me ask you: how is it that, in getting a female Doctor, the show has somehow become more male-centric?
So, the new season of Doctor Who has not been doing it for me. Bless Jodie Whittaker and her Doctor, they are blameless in this. She's delightful and perfectly cast.
And, hey, the plots have mostly been middling to rubbish, the dialogue is dull and frequently clunky, and the writing in general is uninspiring. But if you were unprepared for any of this then you didn't do your homework.
What's really getting to me, though, and the thing that I was definitely not prepared for is how little emotional investment I feel in any of it. If Chibbs can do anything, surely he does characters and their relationships, right?!?! I've been batting around reasons for why things aren't clicking. Do we just need more time? (Torchwood was solid dreck for a season and a half before erupting into brilliance.) Is three TARDIS companions one too many? (Quite possibly yes, I'm thinking.) Am I just bitter that somebody thought we still needed a white dude on the cast? (Yes.) But I recently read a review somewhere that really snapped things into perspective for me, which noted that Ryan and Graham are now the heart of the show. And, frickety-frak, the reviewer is right. Ryan and Graham's relationship has been the major emotional through-line of the whole thing, has born most of the emotional weight. And it has been rather nice to watch, for what it is. I don't have a problem with their relationship in and of itself. I rather love Ryan, who is so my favorite. (Graham is fine.) But in the meantime Yaz is still underdeveloped and the Doctor hasn't really established a meaningful bond with any of them yet.
So let me ask you: how is it that, in getting a female Doctor, the show has somehow become more male-centric?
(no subject)
Date: 30 Oct 2018 10:57 am (UTC)I thoroughly resent this statement. Torchwood was amazing from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang onwards.
(no subject)
Date: 30 Oct 2018 12:07 pm (UTC)The reality is probably more of an incredibly slow upwards trend over the course of the whole two seasons that finally seemed to gain its own momentum in the second half of season two.
But that isn't nearly as fun as saying 'unmitigated dreck.'
(no subject)
Date: 30 Oct 2018 12:13 pm (UTC)I suspected as much. ;)
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Date: 30 Oct 2018 06:17 pm (UTC)However, the rest of the season was rather drab and it wasn't until S2 that the show as a whole got on board with the early show of promise.
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