The second to last adventure of the Eleventh Doctor is upon us before he returns to Lake Silencio to meet with the Impossible Adventure. Or — well, something along those lines, anyway. I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s the Doctor. He’s always fine!
But until we figure out how he dies and all that good stuff, let’s talk about the return of Craig after the cut.
“The Lodger,” the last episode to pair James Corden and writer Gareth Roberts with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor was easily one of my favorite episodes of the last season of Doctor Who — or, at the very least, the most rewatchable. Corden is rather hilarious (anyone who has seen Gavin and Stacey certainly knows this), and his interactions with Matt Smith’s spastic interpretation of the titular Who character were effortlessly enjoyable. It’s certainly not an episode that you’d think would need some kind of reprisal, but given Eleven’s minimal human interactions outside of Amy and Rory as well as his imminent demise, I suppose it’s fair for the Doctor to pop in and say goodbye.
Which is exactly what he does in this episode. The Doctor has been known to do pop-ins (see David Tenant’s “Goodbye to everyone” before his death), but Smith has that added sense of epic social awkwardness about him to make this visit that much more amusing. “The Lodger” was successful in that Corden could be the straight man to Smith’s goofiness, and the same is very true here; Smith talks with Stormageddon, Lord of Darkness while Corden tries to keep a straight face, but the result is seamless and hilarious. Doctor Who has always been a show that was kind of funny, but never too funny as to detach from the overall seriousness of the events of any given episode, but Moffat sort of threw that notion out of the window when he took over as showrunner, infusing much more humor into the show overall. It’s nice now to watch Smith get even more loose than he already is, and paired with Corden the results are, once again, wonderful.
Of course, the one major downside is that the return of Craig does seem like a bit of a leap. Not to say that the story isn’t fun (I love me some Cybermen), but the premise of the Doctor and Craig’s initial reaction was much more believable. The original meeting of the two, caused by a primitive time machine screwing with the Doctor’s, was one of those accidental-on-purpose scenarios, and it worked. You can understand the motivation that would bring the Doctor to this visit, but everything from there seems a tad bit forced; while not unnatural to have the Doctor show up at “just the right time,” the idea that he happens to show up just as Craig is alone for the weekend while there happens to be a series of disappearances is a bit too convenient. It takes the viewer out of the episode a little bit, and the general storyline with the Cybermen is certainly not the best Cybermen story ever told either. Considering the Cybermen have yet to get a good chance to shine in the Moffat-helmed show, it’s kind of a let down, but not enough to be unable to see the bright side of things.
It’s with that that we have to weigh the pros and cons of the episode. Hooray for Craig/James Corden, but there is a fair amount of handwavium in the episode to reconcile the oddness of it all. The Doctor comments about how the universe doesn’t do coincidences, but it’s really up to the viewer to decide if you buy it or not. Two hundred years passing between this episode and the last? Amy now being a model (for Petrichor perfume, a reference to “The Doctor’s Wife” with a tagline referring too coincidentally to the Doctor’s nickname for Amy as “the girl who waited”)? Even the final scene, when the Doctor receives his stetson and blue envelopes from Craig, it’s one of those moments that should be more powerful than it is and instill a feeling of dread in the viewer, but it’s all a bit too cheesy.
So it’s not a bad episode, per se. No, in fact it’s rather good. In fact, just like “The Lodger”, “Closing Time” will assumedly become the most rewatchable episode of this season, if only for Stormageddon. However, it is noteworthy that the loss of the “tradition” in letting the showrunner (i.e. Moffat) tell an epic two-parter is felt. The two-parter finales always increased dramatic tension and made the final moments of any given season that much more intense. While we know the identity of the Impossible Astronaut now (which everyone should have figured out, honestly), it would’ve been nice to let the whole drama that is Eleven’s (supposed) death get a two-hour slot, as opposed to what might end up as a rushed hour to answer “hundreds” of questions.
(“Hundreds” in quotes because I’m speaking in hyperbole, mind you.)
Either way, it was nice to see you again, Craig. Hopefully you and Stormageddon can come back soon.
