Closing Time
·
In “Closing Time”, we get something of a rarity
for this season: a solid episode that is neither great nor deeply flawed.
Instead, we have a story that justifies the return to the basic concept of “The
Lodger”: a fish out of water buddy comedy with the Doctor and Craig that serves
as a low key episode before the season finale.
·
What it perhaps doesn’t work as is a Cybermen
story. This is definitely the kind of Doctor Who episode that uses a
deliberately generic monster plot to focus on a different story, something that
shows particularly strongly in the story’s resolution. With that said “blew
them up with love” has a wonderful brazen cheek to it, that almost dares the
audience to have a problem with the use of the trope, with the Doctor’s
attempts to give a technobabble reason for the Cybermen’s defeat coming across
as just as petty as any potential criticisms of the ending.
·
The start of the episode is particularly
demonstrative of the episode’s attitude towards its alien invasion plot. The traditional
“Monsters kill off an extra in the pre-credits to show something is wrong”
opening sequence is intercut with scenes of the Doctor discovering something is
wrong, that Craig is hiding something, until he finds… that Craig has a baby
now. As with “I blew them up with love”, it’s a self-aware lampooning of the
tropes of a generic Doctor Who adventure, that highlights where the the
priorities of the episode lie (hint: it’s not with the alien invasion). So it’s
hard to say the episode cheats the audience, or isn’t up front about its
intentions. While this episode uses a generic Doctor Who alien invasion, it
does so deliberately, and is even quite clever and self aware. I suspect the
main reason this aspect of the episode receives criticism is related to the
fact that the villains are not “generic” monsters: they’re the Cybermen. As a
result, fans are left feeling like significant Doctor Who villains have been a
disservice. But the Cybermen have never really worked in New Doctor Who, at
least not on their own (I think they’re pretty effective in “Army of Ghosts/
Doomsday” and “Dark Water/ Death in Heaven”, but they appear alongside other
major villains in both of those stories). In a way, that makes them the perfect
choice for a story about the tired, worn down Doctor facing the end of his life:
in this story, the supposedly iconic monsters feel just as tired and worn out.
·
Now let’s focus on what the episode does work
as: firstly, it works as a sequel to “The Lodger”. The pairing of Craig and the
Doctor works on return, as Smith and Corden still have excellent chemistry
together, and make a great double act. Their dynamic here is closer to the Tenth
Doctor and Mickey’s version of “the Lodger”, as the tension in the episode
doesn’t come from the Doctor being unable to pass as human to an unknowing
Craig in spite of his weirdness. Instead, it’s about Craig struggling to be a
father, and the humour that comes from him wishing he found dealing with his
responsibilities as easy as the Doctor seems to. The Doctor and Craig know more
about each other now, and that changes the nature of their comic double act,
even if Craig is still playing the everyman to the Doctor’s wacky eccentric.
·
Which is what makes Craig well chosen for this
story. “Closing Time” requires the Doctor to be travelling alone, so he needs a
pseudo companion for the episode. In Craig, the show has a character who knows
the Doctor, which allows it to use a the fact that Craig knew the Doctor when
he wasn’t immediately facing his death, and is confident he was going to win:
it’s a faith in the Doctor that parallels Amy’s faith from “The God Complex”. And
because he knows the Doctor, Craig knows something is wrong at the end of the
story, although not sure what: he falls asleep when the Doctor first confesses
he’s going to die, and is being cyber converted during the second confession.
As a result, the episode becomes a story about the Doctor holding his fear
close to his chest, and never quite being able to admit to it and reach out to
his friend, something that will be addressed in the season finale.
·
The other strength of the story is the way it
portrays the Doctor accepting his coming death. The episode’s central metaphor
is woven into its title – “Closing Time” – and the Doctor’s repeated mantra “I
was here to help”. From the moment the Doctor “noticing things” at the start of
the episode, he is drawn back into his role of being the man who saves
humanity, because he’s never done saving people, even as he is approaching the
end of his life, and badly wants to be finished. Even as the shop reaches
closing time, the Doctor is here to help.
·
The story of the Doctor’s impending death is
also told through the lens of his interactions with Craig and Alfie: his “I
owned the stage” speech to Alfie, where he tells himself off for being crabby and
cynical, and reflects on his life while comforting a crying child. The other
key scene is the “I’ve always believed in all of you” moment, where the Doctor
calls on his faith in his companions (a potential implicit answer to Amy’s
question from “The God Complex” about who the Doctor believes in) as he begs
Craig not to die before he does. Matt Smith’s portrayal of desperation,
dejection, and joy really sells that scene, and is a remarkably cathartic
moment. And finally, there’s the subplot about the Doctor wanting to see the
alignment of Exxidor that pays off with the Doctor missing his slot to clean up
Craig’s house. It’s a conception of the Doctor’s values that will pay off in
the storyline for “Time of the Doctor”: this is key character set up for “The
man who stayed for Christmas”, the eventual culmination of the Eleventh
Doctor’s character arc. When faced with a choice between spending his final
hours seeing the wonders of the universe, or choosing to do an insignificant
favour for his friend, the Doctor will choose the latter.
No comments:
Post a Comment