The Woman Who Fell To Earth (2018) Review

"Sontarans ain't perverting shit anymore, ya hear?"

The Woman Who Fell To Earth is exactly what the doctor ordered - a visually ambitious, storywise basic retooling of the show towards a more general sci-fi loving audience. Initial impact aside, however, there's really not much to it.

WRITTEN BY

Chris Chibnall, freshly anointed showrunner and veteran writer for the series. Look no further than his previous episode - 2012's Dinosaurs On A Spaceship - to see his intended direction for the show.

PLOT

When an alien warrior starts hunting humans in 2018 Sheffield, it's up to the freshly regenerated Doctor and her new friends to put an end to the blood sport.

ANALYSIS

As a vehicle to introduce the new leads, it does its job well and there's a lovely atmosphere of enthusiasm permeating the episode. The death of Grace at the end was a welcome reminder that the show hasn't abandoned its morbid side entirely and things won't always be hunky-dory in this new, colourful era.

That being said, I'm still hoping we get some more in-depth alien cultures this season and it won't all just be action-adventure, because that can get boring very very fast, no matter how much fun banter we're going to have.

CHARACTERS

Jodie Whittaker is giddy as a schoolgirl(you may fantasise when ready) in her role as the Doctor, quite reminiscent of David Tennant's charismatic genius at times. Hardly surprising, given the closeness of the two actors in real life. She has an effortless ability to demand attention, though I do hope she gets more moments of actual gravitas, as most of them are undercut by humor in this episode.

If Bradley Walsh isn't a member of the Silver Cloak, I riot. Anyway, I like his pragmatic approach. For some reason, I had it set in my mind that he'd be the most enthusiastic companion and it's nice to see a more down-to-earth reaction without it going overboard. Hopefully, Grace's death will have an impact on future episodes as well, giving him some juicy character development.

I felt that Mandip Gill's Yasmin Khan was kinda rushed. We saw that she's a policewoman, yet her dedication to the law seems... um, nonexistent at best? I don't know, she just seems to go along with everything. As an actress, she's likable and engaging, but unlike the Graham-Ryan-Grace family unit, she was just kind of there as a character.

Speaking of Ryan, I think Tosin Cole was pretty good in an understated sort of way. I loved the fact that he wasn't capable of riding a bicycle as I think a lot of people underestimate some things that are seemingly considered basic skills in life. Heck, I can say right away that I don't know how to cook anything other than spaghetti. Sorry. :(

Amit Shah's Rahul wasn't around for a while, but managed to portray his character's obsessive need to find out what happened to his sister extremely well, with a nice haunted look in his eyes the whole time.

Johnny Dixon was believably skittish and deprived of female company as Karl, and I really loved his interactions with the Doctor, both when she convinced him to jump over to her crane and later berated him for his behaviour towards the warrior. I think it showcases the paradoxical nature of the Doctor's fondness for humanity rather well, in that she wants to inspire them, but also hold them back from their darker nature.

NOTES

*At the end of the last episode, we saw the Doctor falling to Earth. So, um, what happened to that? I could understand that a cliffhanger would be ignored if the writers changed(this happened sometimes in the early Hartnell era, when an incoming writer inherits the cliffhanger of the previous episode and the threat just fizzles out at the start of the new episode), but Chibnall wrote the conclusion of Twice Upon A Time so I'm inclined to believe he just wanted some way for the Thirteenth Doctor to start out TARDIS-less.

*And speaking of the TARDIS, man am I pissed we didn't get to see it this time. No intro either. Why would we not have an intro?

*What the actual hell was that listing of actors at the end of the episode? A tribute to Allo Allo?

*What's to prevent these hunters from returning to Earth? At least when the Tenth Doctor sent off the Sycorax, he made sure they were honor-bound not to come back and even told them to pass the news along.

*My favourite Whittaker moment of the episode has to be the motherly way she cheers Karl on as he's about to jump towards her. It was adorable.

*New sonic screwdriver! Looks like a dildo(no judging) and I guess it's bye-bye to Moffat's whole "same software, different case" thing. Also, I find it oddly satisfying that both screwdrivers we know that were constructed on Earth(this sonic and the Master's original laser screwdriver) had yellow LED lights.

*That Derbyshire theme remix is good, innit? Can't wait for the visuals...

*Sweet Jesus, we've had to hear that whiny regeneration sound effect for four episodes in a row...

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The Doctor comments that she was a white-haired Scotsman an hour ago. She also wears the Twelfth Doctor's costume throughout the majority of the episode(and looked damn fine in them, too).

BEST QUOTE

"Right, this is gonna be fun!"

CONCLUSION

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