Before I get to the point of this blog, I want to point out that I have been enjoying this new season of Doctor Who. I know many of my past blogs have been very critical of the show, so I don’t want this blog to be viewed as coming from a “hater’s” perspective.

In fact, I’ll actually preface this blog with talking about why I like the new season. I’m enjoying the Doctor character much more this season. I don’t know if it’s Peter Capaldi’s age, his Scottish accent, or if they’re actually writing the character different…but he seems much more like a douche now. That sounds like a dig, but it’s really not. The main character from House (I forget his name) was a douche and I loved him and that show. But the Doctor has always been kind of a douche and I haven’t liked it and I think I know why. David Tennant and Matt Smith were too damn likeable. Whenever they were douchey, it broke my little heart (Especially David. Oh David, my latest man crush). But when Peter is douchey, it just works better. I don’t know if I’m doing a good job of explaining this (Especially since it sounds like I’m saying Peter Capaldi isn’t likeable). So I’ll just stop and say I like his take on the Doctor and I’ll move on to the point of this (now overly long) blog.

Is it me, or does Clara look super goofy in this pic?

I finally watched last week’s episode, “Kill the Moon,” and I really liked the first 90% of it. Warning…

I’m definitely getting my money’s worth from that gif

The plot involves the Doctor and his companion, Clara, (and some new character who is not important to my analysis) going to the moon in the near future. Once they get there they find out that’s no moon…it’s an egg! And it’s hatching! The creature inside could destroy the Earth…or just the process of hatching could send tons and tons of moon rocks into the atmosphere…killing millions. So Doctor Who says the humans have to choose; will they end this creature’s life before it’s born, or will they let it live and take the risk of losing everything?

It took a lot of episode to set up that dramatic question, but once they got there, I loved it! This is the kind of sci-fi I like. A clear metaphor for real world problems played out in a fantastical outer space setting. In this case it was the abortion debate played out with an alien moon baby. Bravo, Doctor Who. Very bold, indeed.

The part where I kind of lost that love was when they made the “safe” choice and let the baby hatch. It would have been REALLY bold to say, “Yeah, we terminated this thing because it would have been a disaster if we didn’t.”

Adding to that, of course the Earth is totally unaffected by the hatching. So they made the easy choice and they didn’t have to live with any negative consequences. Kind of a cop out, in my opinion. I know this is coming from a guy who loves Star Trek, a show where almost every moral conundrum is solved with a tidy cop out, but for some reason this really felt weak to me.

To top it off, the end of the episode has Clara snapping on the Doctor and sending him away because he forced her to make that decision. Really, Clara? THAT’S your breaking point? The Doctor has put you in way worse situations…and I’ve only seen precious few of the episodes that you’re in. I know the only reason you’re butt hurt is because the actress playing you is leaving the show soon and they have to find a reason to write the character out.

See? This is what I was worried about. Starting to sound very negative again. So I’ll jump back earlier in the episode. Early on, the characters kept talking about the moon being blown up and I kept thinking, “There’s no way. We’ve seen the moon in the far future and it’s still there. So whatever happens the moon will be fine. This is a total Simpsons-esque continuity issue.”

But then Clara expressed that same view in the show and the Doctor found a way to explain how the moon they’ve seen in the future may not have been the same moon. Brilliant! Way to plug your plot holes, Who. You’re doin’ it.

Okay…I’m going out on a positive. Alons-y!