Doctor Who Series Blog – The Name Of The Doctor

I’m giving you this review from the future. The phrase ‘I’ll knock you into next week’ is absolutely applicable for Doctor Who’s series seven finale, The Name of the Doctor. John Hurt is the Doctor. Yes the Doctor rejected, the Doctor who “broke the promise” but did so “without choice”. If you are scratching your head –and I suppose you cannot be blamed- then let me try and shed some light on the subject. Since Matt Smith’s Doctor remembers this man it would seem that John Hurt is playing a version of the Doctor who incited the end of the time war, killing both Timelords and Daleks alike. The man who destroyed all those lives can hardly be called ‘the Doctor’ could he!? He broke the promise of the occupation the name Doctor suggests – a person who saves people! No wonder Matt Smith’s Doctor wants to keep his murderous past-self locked away. Well at least that’s how I interpreted it at any rate.

Right then. With the cliff-hanger dealt with let’s talk about the episode that must be this series’ highlight. The pre-titles sequence is a fan’s dream. The seamless, well ok –not quite seamless- blend of Jenna-Louise Coleman’s intruding on all the adventures of previous incarnations of the Doctor was a wonderful shock and surprise. In regards to the fans who have been moaning that this fiftieth-anniversary year of Doctor Who has not paid enough attention to the shows history, then this sequence will silence them. Clara Oswald then, is the Doctor’s saviour, a woman who exists throughout history to save him. By the time the titles were rolling, my mouth was already agog.

This episode re-introduced the Paternoster gang and the welcome return of River Song. The gang’s psychic conference call which involved a bemused Clara and a debate concerning the Doctor’s greatest secret provided the episode with a comical edge just before things got scary. If you strip away the twists and turns and that ‘oh my god did that just really happen!?’ finale then the episode itself really does have a scary concept. The time-travelling Doctor has to go to his own grave! It’s no wonder the TARDIS was so keen for that not to happen! With regards to the obligatory monster-quota, the Whisperman, praised by the production team and cast for being very scary additions to the monsters of who-lore are indeed frightening. When a Whisperman is dangerously close to stopping Strax’s heart, you genuinely fear for his life. It also begs the question: would the Doctor have announced his name, and thus prevented the deaths of his friends, if it wasn’t for River’s timely intervention? This hanging thread continues to support the subtle darkness of Matt Smith’s Doctor that I mentioned a few weeks back. Richard E. Grant also makes a welcome return as the physical embodiment of this series’ ‘big bad’, the Great Intelligence. Grant’s drawling delivery of “What is your name? Doctor, Who?” is excellent. Of course, it’s not a question that is, or ever will be, answered despite the episode’s infamous title. I still maintain his name is Gertrude however.

The performance of the two leads, Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman, has been consistently brilliant over the past nine episodes and the two have their best scenes yet here. Whether that’s Matt Smith alarmingly tearful breakdown at the foreboding news that they must go to Trenzalore or Clara’s moment of cleverly understated self-sacrifice. Not to mention that Alex Kingston is on fine form as River Song. A character with a history as varied and mad as the Doctor’s yet this could very well be her last appearance in Doctor Who. The Doctor’s gentle goodbye to the River Song, who is just an echo that should have passed on, is emotionally raw and is all the more satisfying for keeping the focus on their relationship itself and not the timey-wimey narrative that surrounds it. There is so much to love about this episode that it is hard to criticise. I suppose it is noticeable that the eponymous prophecy that “silence will fall, when the question is asked” is never really addressed. The sticky and convoluted threads from series six do not seem to ever want to get answered.

To wrap things up then, an extraordinarily satisfying finale to one of Doctor Who’s most contentious but ultimately best series’. There is just one question that remains (if you ignore how Clara and River are psychically linked that is): Is it November 23^rd yet!?