It doesn't feel like nineteen years since the 2005 revival of "Doctor Who," and then again "Doctor Who" hasn't really felt so much like "Doctor Who" in a long while. I've somehow kept up with all fourteen series so far, and found myself right back where I started this season, with Russel T. Davies as showrunner, and a brand new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) unlike any that we've seen before.
I don't think I've ever latched on to any Doctor so fast as the Fifteenth. Gatwa is so full of energy and emotion and unbridled enthusiasm for the part. In the face of his charisma, you instantly forget that he's the first non-Caucasian doctor (not counting Jo Martin), the first explicitly non-heterosexual doctor (not counting all the flirting with Captain Jack), and the first without a signature outfit - though that could change. Millie Gibson as his companion Ruby Sunday is very charming, and I'm sad that we're going to lose her after only one series - though I'm sure we haven't seen the last of her. Not many companions get a story arc as well-considered and neatly wrapped up as this one, and I have no complaints.
Thanks to the involvement of Disney+, which now has the international broadcast rights to new "Doctor Who" episodes, the program has never looked better. However, the real difference is having Davies back, writing most of the scripts this season. Former showrunner Steven Moffat, responsible for some of the best "Doctor Who" installments ever, also pitches in an episode, while Kate Herron and Briony Redman handle a "Bridgeron" parody/meta romance. The quality has its ups and downs, which was always the case with the Davies-helmed episodes, but there are some very strong hours once everyone's settled in. Highlights include "Dot and Bubble," which is dark science-fiction in the vein of "Black Mirror," "73 Yards," which sends Ruby on an alternate timeline solo adventure, and "Rogue," which sees the Doctor romance another time traveler played by Jonathan Groff. The big series-long arc didn't pay off very well, which is typical.
I found myself not quite able to embrace the show fully because I was never able to shake the feeling that so much of this season felt recycled from earlier ones, especially the David Tennat era. I found myself comparing "Rogue" to "The Girl in the Fireplace," thriller "Boom" to "Silence in the Library," and "73 Yards" to "Turn Left." The new episodes were all executed beautifully and the new characters never felt like they were shoehorned into the plots, but I was a little disappointed that the better episodes were often variations on concepts I'd seen before. Having a deep bench of good guest stars like Jinx Monsoon, Aneurin Barnard, and Callie Cook helped a lot, and I'm very relieved that the series' sillier first two episodes didn't signal that "Doctor Who" was going for a younger audience now that Disney was involved. Several of the new episodes are as intense and upsetting as anything that "Doctor Who" has ever dreamed up.
As a longtime "Who" fan, I'm eager to see the new versions of The Master and the Daleks and all the usual "Doctor Who" standbys. I understand why they weren't in the first season, and the big callback to Classic "Who" turned out to be something else. I'll definitely stick around for next season, when Verada Sethu is set to become the next companion, maybe as soon as the Christmas special.
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