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What makes “The Caretaker” interesting is seeing
the way an ostensibly standard Smith Era premise (even if it was only done
twice) works with a new Doctor. And as Capaldi's still quite fresh at this
point, it works quite well - the second half of the episode is very different
to the usual "Doctor as a fish out of Water" material, instead
exploring the ramifications of Danny finding out about Clara's TARDIS travels -
the episode demonstrates the shift in approach from the Smith era to the
Capaldi era more than any season eight episode, by spending half of each
episode on the two era's distinctive tone and style (first half Smith, second
half moves to Capaldi)
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It is worth acknowledging the significant differences
to the Smith era Craig episodes, if only because the common suggestion that
this is just a clone of those scripts is more than a bit harsh. The differences
start with Capaldi. This is a case of trying a new Doctor with a well known
premise from the previous era to see how he works with a well known Doctor who
premise. And there’s a very different dynamic to those Smith era “fish out of
water” episodes: instead of being about the Doctor trying to fit in to human
society, it’s about him trying to fit into the companion’s home life, with the
tension of the episode centering on Clara’s attempt to keep the Doctor hidden
from her home life as he turns it upside down.
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The second half of the episode becomes a story
about Danny finding out about Clara. The key scenes are in the middle of the
episode, where Danny sees the Doctor fighting the Blitzer, Clara then comes
clean to Danny, and tries to show him how she interacts with the Doctor in the
TARDIS. The characterisation particularly strong in those scenes, as we get a
sense of each character’s competing motives in each scene, their internal
worlds and the thoughts they keep hidden beneath the surface of their dialogue.
And each character is contributing something different to the dynamic: Danny’s
confusion in the school hall scene, and directness in the TARDIS, the Doctor’s
aloofness, and Clara’s desperation to continue juggling these two aspects of
her life, to keep them under control.
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It’s also worth talking about the Skovox Blitzer.
It may be a fairly disposable alien for a comedy episode focused on the main
characters, but its backstory and function supplements the conflict between
Danny and the Doctor - it's a soldier in search of orders in an episode where
Danny and the Doctor clash over Danny's role in the military, and they defeat
it using Danny's soldier-esque heroics and the Doctor's General-like orders,
while Clara risking her life to follow the Doctor's plan is paralleled to the
Blitzer, and pointed out by Danny – as Danny puts it, Clara is thriving by
living the Doctor's lifestyle and mimicking his habits in much the same way a
soldier would under a demanding General. It's a disposable monster, and the
episode knows that, but it's appropriately used in the story to support the
character development.
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Also important are the Character notes for Clara.
“The Caretaker” explores her double life, as her attempts to maintain the
separation of her home and Doctor life break down. She’s always been a
character capable of having both a home life and a Doctor life, and that
doesn’t change here, but she is unable to maintain the strict barrier she has
drawn between the two anymore: she has to acknowledge that both lives are a
part of who she is, rather than two separate identities. We also see her
thriving under the Doctor’s command, distracting the Blitzer, visibly loving
the danger, and being a hero. On a similar note, I love the way Jenna Coleman
plays Clara’s reaction to the invisible watch, as she switches from concern for
the children and frustration with the Doctor to glee at the Doctor’s new gadget
– there are so many subtleties to her performance that capture Clara’s
competing duty of care and adventurelust – she’s easily the best actor to play
a companion. The final significant note comes when Danny tells her to let him
know if the Doctor pushes her too far, a seed to pay off later in the season.
·
Also significant of this episode is its critique
Doctor’s privilege, which mostly comes through Danny’s argument that the
Doctor’s personality is reminiscent of a military general. This explores the
other side of the summary of his heroism in “Robot of Sherwood”, where Robin
describes him as man of privilege who couldn’t bear the plight of the
oppressed, so chose instead to help them. Here, we see that the Doctor’s
privilege isn’t something he has fully shed, and that this does lead to some
less than okay behavior on his part, as he is outright prejudiced towards Danny
in this episode. It is welcome for the show to be willing to make this critique
of its central character, and a sign of the growing maturity of the Capaldi
era.
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However, this critique of the Doctor’s privilege
does embody the uncomfortable aspect to the episode. There are unfortunate
racial implications to the Doctor being unable to accept a black man is
intelligent enough to be a maths teacher, even though it’s clearly actually
about Danny being a soldier, and the Doctor’s prejudice towards soldiers, not
black men. It’s also incredibly clear that the text is portraying the Doctor as
being in the wrong for being prejudiced towards all soldiers. But the racial
undercurrent to the Doctor’s actions is still a part of the text, and this is a
kind of unpleasant that it’s not nice to see the Doctor being: even with the
calling out of his behavior, this isn’t a way one wants to see the Doctor
behaving. There’s a similar problem with the Doctor and Danny’s paternalism
towards Clara, and the way the episode becomes about them fighting over her.
This undercurrent is redeemed a little by the resolution of the episode, where
Danny and the Doctor reach an understanding as Danny says “it doesn’t matter if
he likes me. All I have to do is be good enough for you”. The Doctor and Danny
acknowledge that their dislike towards one another is irrelevant, as long as
Clara is happy with both of them being a part of her life. Her decisions about
who she has in her life are more important than what those people think of the
other people she spends her time with. But this doesn’t make the sense that
they both insist they know what’s best for Clara any more pleasant: the Capaldi
era frequently does a good job of critiquing the Doctor’s paternalism towards
the women in his life, but here it feels a bit too much (perhaps simply because
Danny brings in twice the amount of protective paternalism).
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And that’s “The Caretaker”. Not the best episode
of the season so far, but definitely better than “Time Heist”, “Robot of
Sherwood”, and about on a par with “Into the Dalek”, pulling off complex
characterisation, good humour, a fun balance between the new Doctor’s Era
(which is now ready to emerge fully formed) and the previous one, and some
solid exploration of its central themes. However, it is hamstrung by some
unpleasant undercurrents that make it possibly the least enjoyable watch of the
Capaldi era so far.
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