A 16 second review of the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas special

[alexandraerin]

...but substitute for "internet feminists" instead of "hippies."

That's not to say there wasn't anything to like, but the ham-fisted attempt to make it an allegorical paean to the strength of Woman erodes a lot of the promise of the first act. As an individual, Madge Arwell was a likable character... as the exemplar of feminine strength and thus the archetypal woman/mother, she is less so.

The scene with the three security guards feels like something spliced in from a sketch comedy show. Don't get me wrong, I like my Doctor Who to be funny. It succeeds as a comedy slightly more often than it does as a drama, for me. But it's the difference between having Catherine Tate on for her comic timing and having her on to be Lauren.

That scene felt off before it became apparent that it was an allegory: the female officer who wouldn't point a gun at Madge because she "respects her as a woman" is a feminist, the male officer who was reduced to tears by her plight is the modern sensitive man, and the CO who rolls his eyes and then agrees to disarm the squad before interrogating the prisoner even though he knows better is the much put-upon real man.

Was this allegory accidental? It's so blunt and on the nose that I have a hard time believing it's not. But it's in the middle of an episode whose moral is "WOMAN STRONG, man weak (...because of BABBIES)". So was this a nod to the real men in the audience that Moffat didn't think anybody else would catch? Like, "I'll distract my critics with an a-plot about how strong and awesome women are, but I'd better wink at the lads so they know I'm still one of them."? I don't know. I don't know how to take it. And before anybody says to stop trying to figure out the message and just enjoy the story... I can't. This part of the story made so little sense I couldn't enjoy it. If I didn't have a context for the subtext I would just be mystified, and complaining about how out of place it was.

The opening of the episode was brilliant. One of my favorite Moffatisms is the idea that the Doctor has his most ridiculous and most stereotypical voyages between episodes. During Davies's tenure we always got to hear Rose talking about the breathtaking sights on the Planet of Not In The Budget. With Moffat, it's the automatic sand of Space Florida, or an Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express IN SPACE. Here we see the end of a perhaps slightly more typical space romp, but said ending is equally (and awesomely) ridiculous.

(As a sidenote, I have to wonder if the invaders of the week were attacking earth because of the rumor of the Doctor's demise, hence the "You stand alone" line.)

Then we're introduced to Madge Arwell as a spunky comic character, which provides an effective contrast with her more dramatic demeanor once the story catches up to the current "present" three years later. And... the Doctor as the Caretaker. His "repairs". This hammock has developed a fault!

Basically, the episode showed a lot of promise early on... but whether he thought he was showing solidarity with his feminist critics or giving them the finger, Moffat's determination to look directly at the camera and address them undermined the whole thing badly.

Comments

[rhivolution]

yes yes yes. Thank you for this, it's exactly how I saw it. Namely, I couldn't tell what the intent was, but either way it was not.on.

[notemily]

Great points! While watching the episode I was just enjoying the silliness and not thinking too hard about it, but afterwards I started to see some of the problems with the whole BABBIES thing. I forgot all about the scene with the three guards until you wrote this, though. I feel like Moffat was trying for a "women are more powerful than they look" thing with the gun deal, but he... didn't quite pull it off. Should have stuck to jokes about wool.