Doctor Who – Series 8 Episode 1 “Deep Breath” Review

It’s been 8 months since we saw Peter Capaldi burst onto our screens complaining about the new colour of his kidneys. And now after so much anticipation, series 8 of Doctor Who has arrived, and in an impressive fashion.

Contains minor spoilers

There’s no doubt about it, 2013 was a huge year for Doctor Who; what with the incredible 50th anniversary celebrations, the recovery of lost episodes and of course the announcement of Peter Capaldi as the 12th (or 13th) incarnation of the Time Lord. Being such a significant year in the show’s history it was clear that the public were more eager than ever to discover what the new take on the Doctor would be like. And now after 8 months of anticipation, the majority of fans will be confident in saying: Peter Capaldi is the Doctor.

While “Deep Breath” does have a plot, it is definitely not the episode’s priority. That role goes to introducing Peter Capaldi’s Doctor to the world, and so it’s fitting that this is the best thing the episode does. Simply put, Capaldi is magnificent in the role. While it was always expected that he would bring a more mature and less flirtatious quality to the character, he still delivers an incredibly energised and comedic performance that it is a delight to watch. This being a post-regeneration story, the Doctor as a character is all over the place yet Capaldi nails every aspect of his growth, whether it be the confused and forgetful character he appears to be at the beginning or the darker and angrier man we see throughout the episode.

An older, grumpier and less predictable Doctor that fans will adore.

It’s clear that this is a less predictable Doctor, a Doctor that could be capable of abandoning his friends or even murder, yet the extent of the new Doctor’s darker personality is only ever implied and not fully expressed, creating a brilliant sense of mystery around the character which only adds to the appeal. Getting to know this Doctor further is definitely going to be enjoyable.
While Peter Capaldi is obviously the centre of the episode, the supporting cast do still have many impressive moments, particularly Jenna Louise Coleman as Clara. Personally, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Clara, while there is nothing inherently wrong with her character, she just seems to often be present to do what the plot requires her to do, which makes her come across as a simple plot device as opposed to fully fleshed and believable character. However “Deep Breath” might just be Clara’s best episode yet.

A huge improvement for Clara’s character.

It’s clear that the Doctor’s regeneration has put some strain his relationship with Clara which forces her to confront and challenge the Doctor in ways we have not seen before. Not only this but on multiple occasions the Doctor’s more unpredictable nature forces Clara to handle situations relying on only her own initiative; the scene in which she (and the audience) believes she has been abandoned by the Doctor to the clutches of the clockwork cyborg (whom I shall talk more about later) is a great example of this as she takes a stand against the villain herself and tries hard not to be afraid even though she clearly is, this was a brilliant character moment and I hope that we see more of this side of Clara in the future.

As for Vastra, Jenny and Strax; their inclusion does provide some well executed comic relief and some contribution to the plot however it’s very apparent that they are only present because they are familiar faces and so can ease the transition for some viewers. Thankfully their inclusion doesn’t get too silly which could easily have happened, yet I feel as if Steven Moffat has been using them too frequently lately.

Not particularly memorable yet great nonetheless.

It is lucky that the episodes villain is something original (well almost), the clockwork cyborg man may not go down as one of the most memorable villains in the show yet he was still a great villain. It was a brilliant concept, innovative design and overall just a strong villain that the Doctor could work off in a variety of ways, some of which resulted in some fantastic moments that gave the audience great insight into the Doctor’s new personality. The robotic villains also provided the show with one of its scariest moments in a long time; Clara attempting to escape the droid’s ship while holding her breath was an incredibly gripping moment that reminded many people of the suspenseful scenes Moffat is capable of writing. Although Clara’s flashback to her struggling to control her school students did feel very out-of-place.

As far as the script is concerned this is one of Steven Moffat’s stronger and more intelligent scripts, the dialogue is witty and highly comical, there are plenty of suspenseful moments, intimate character moments and some incredibly dark moments that are all woven into a strong plot. Multiple references to previous stories, most notable “The Girl in the Fireplace” were also a great touch. However some of Moffat’s weaknesses are present, the most notable example of this is the veil scene with Vastra and Clara. In this scene Vastra says that she wears a veil to be accepted by the public and she likens this to the Doctor wearing a young face, the implication being that the Doctor looked young before regenerating in order to be accepted, this makes very little sense. This could simply be a way of Moffat telling the fan-girls who prefer a younger Doctor to get over themselves yet within the context of the story it makes very little sense. However the parallel between the Doctor and the Clockwork man towards the end of the episode was a metaphor that did make sense. Saying that the man had replaced his parts so many times that there was nothing left of the original robot is in itself an interesting concept but showing Capaldi’s reflection in the tray when showing the clockwork man his was a brilliant moment of visual storytelling and illustrates just how much the Doctor as a character has changed over the years.

Ben Wheatley was the director of this episode and while this might have seemed like a strange choice at first when considering the adult and violent nature of previous projects of his; his directive style fits in brilliantly with Doctor Who. The opening image of a Dinosaur in Victorian London was simply brilliant and this summed up the visual style of the story as a whole. Aside from some scenes which had some awkwardly places camera shots, Wheatley does an impressive job behind the camera and I’m sure this will be the first of many episodes for him to direct.

Arguably the biggest problem with “Deep Breath” is its length, the episode did not need to be 75 minutes long. While the episode did have to introduce the new Doctor to us as well as have a standard plot, it should have been closer to 60 minutes. The excessive length does show during some scenes involving Vastra, Jenny and Strax and while they are comedic, they are just not necessary and seem to only be there to make the episode longer. With that being said, having a larger amount of longer dialogue driven scenes is a welcome change to the traditional episode formula.

While “Deep Breath” might not be as memorable a series opener as “The Eleventh Hour” from back in 2010, it is still an incredibly strong start to series 8 and a magnificent introduction to Peter Capaldi’s take on the Doctor and with the final scene with the mysterious Missy in what is apparently Heaven, we’ve got an interesting series to enjoy over the next 11 weeks. But for now, the Tardis is in safe hands.

8/10