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Raggedy Man, Goodnight – Looking at Matt Smith’s Farewell to the Doctor [“Time of the Doctor” Review]

By | December 25th, 2013
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

(Normally we do these articles in Five Thoughts, but I’m afraid I have a bit more than five thoughts this time. But I’ve been reviewing Doctor Who since Smith and Moffat took over, so, y’know, forgive me.)

Oh. And some spoilers are discussed, but none you can’t predict, sweetie.

One thing that’s perhaps fair to say about Moffat as the showrunner of Doctor Who in comparison to Davies is that Davies was always the better writer. It’s not meant as a slight or even a rather remarkable/new criticism, but with Davies as the showrunner there were a lot of things done with more subtlety and more impressive style. Moffat has always relied heavily on being able to trick the audience and effectively subvert their expectations, always lacking the subtlety of Davies’ work where the twists were nearly impenetrable. You probably didn’t realize what the four knocks at “The End of Time” were until it was too late, whereas Moffat gave us things like The First Question which (in fairness and in hindsight) was practically just an epic troll.

As such, that “The Time of the Doctor” was ultimately such a powerful farewell to the Smith-era of Doctor Who in the style of Davies is somewhat of a surprise. Doctor Who is always relatively enjoyable as an hour-long excursion into a land of sci-fi fun, but it hadn’t been rather great in quite sometime; always just good enough. This episode, though, was rather remarkable — and it primarily works because Moffat finally stopped writing like Steven Moffat.

There are certain things that are obvious about Moffat’s writing as showrunner of Doctor Who, all of which have been previously addressed. This episode was a rather different affair, however; his regular trademarks were there, of course, but with more of an emphasis on actually moving the story forward in an impactful way as opposed to dancing around clever reveals. This episode was almost like a rather great justification for every trickery and every last-second twist Moffat threw at fans, essentially showing that there was somewhat of a plan all along (or rather, showing that Moffat is really good at making you think there was a plan all along). With just one episode, you could even say that some of the worst episodes of the past couple seasons are forgiven because it ultimately all was heading somewhere.

That’s why this finale works. It’s not a finale in the sense that Doctor Who and Moffat continue on, but it’s a finale in that we are really saying goodbye to this incarnation, this particular notion and idea of the Doctor. It seems that between “The Name,” “The Day” and “The Time of the Doctor,” Moffat designed his Doctor Who trilogy, his biggest statement on the character, his importance and eternal legacy, and it’s actually a rather poignant look at why the character matters as a hero when all is said and done. It’s written in just a subtle enough way to make it all meaningful in the end, and the rather humorously meta line about not obeying the rules that Smith spouts off is perhaps the ultimate nod towards Moffat stepping out of (or at least redesigning/resetting) his box or playing field.

As such, the biggest surprise of the episode is just how much of it Moffat tied off to send this era out like a viking funeral; something to memorialize one particular run of this long-lasting character’s epic and eventful life. It’s partially a touch egotistical in the “Look at all these amazing things I did” way, but it never feels particularly egregious. We get references to just about every Moffat-helmed plot, both lingering and completed — the Crack, the exploded TARDIS, the Silence… you name it; everything you can think of that Moffat introduced is tied off in one way or another in the same way that Davies tied-off all his loose ends when he and Tennant said goodbye. But every piece of the puzzle Moffat designed fits together in the end, creating this rather interesting picture of a character who still has room to inspire.

And further still, Moffat peppers the episode with little nods to the grand history of Doctor Who as he always has done, including the a wonderful nod towards William Hartnell. Moffat has always boasted himself to be a rather big Who fan, and this episode is almost a better ode to why the Doctor matters than the 50th anniversary episode in some ways; it stands as a more personal statement on the Doctor and his legacy than that episode did, and it’s obvious that Moffat lets out all of his emotions in the writing here due to his saying goodbye to this iteration of the character that he so closely worked with. Even the most narcissistic of nods ultimately make way for bigger reflections on a 50-year legacy, and it’s nice to see confirmation of how much Moffat cares laid out in a few choice lines.

Continued below

Because I’d say one thing’s clear: for all the comparisons we’ve ever made about the two showrunners, more went into Moffat’s writing to make the finale a tearjerker than Davies did. Yes, they’re done in completely different ways; saying goodbye to Tennant was sad because Davies had designed a show that celebrated the Doctor’s legacy and ostensibly explained why exactly he had to leave, forcing the viewers to let go on more comfortable terms. What Moffat gave to Smith’s Doctor was more of a heartbreaker, something steeped in sentimentality and meditations on mortality. It was honestly closer to watching a friend die than watching a hero march off into the sunset; perhaps it’s a touch more manipulative the way Moffat did it, but it certainly worked. What Moffat wrote was one of the most heartfelt episodes of Doctor Who in recent memory, perhaps the most heartfelt episode of his career, and he sent Smith out in style.

That, and it was nice to get an episode that spent most of its tricks and double-meanings early on. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to see a Doctor Who special that didn’t toss you an oh-so-clever last minute hurrah or wink, and it made it much easier to sit back and enjoy the performance.

Which leads me to my next point, which is to absolute praise everything about Smith’s performance here. I’ve always liked Smith as the Doctor; I feel like a lot of fans were very hesitant to like him at first, perhaps even for superficial reasons, but Smith took the Doctor to brand new heights and all new places (including, for the first time ever, a regular and frequently watched place on American television for those who didn’t pirate or shovel out $80 for a DVD box set more than a half decade ago). Smith always had a certain amount of charisma and charm that leaked out of his madman in a box persona, creating an instantly affable character with his spontaneous hand jerks and twists and shouts. He was almost more of a friend to the viewer, someone you’d want to hang out with, as opposed to this partially imposing and nearly-omnipotent figure.

But with his final performance, Smith offers up perhaps his most nuanced take on the Doctor yet. It’s perfectly in line with everything he had done before, but it’s arguably much better than anything he’d had the opportunity to perform. Smith got to play the Doctor at the end of his rope, dying and old, and through this he was able to bring out a new aspect to the character he’d come to define for the past few years. Smith got the chance to play the Doctor in a way we may never see the character again, and it was actually rather tragic to see Smith play the Doctor as a literal old man (as opposed to someone who was just very old but had a young face), and even more interesting to actually see the Doctor grow old. The Doctor has always been defined by a certain level of energy and momentum, but seeing the Doctor in a single place and waiting out his days brought him closer to our level than perhaps ever before.

And yes, Smith got his big epic moment and got to go out in wonderful style, but seeing him take on a brand new challenge as the Doctor allowed Smith to bring out a whole new performance that we’ve never seen from him before, and it was a wonderful way to end his run.

It all came down to that final moment, though. With some rather touching final words and well-written lines, Smith leaves the show at the height of his career as the Doctor, and I think that’s all we can ask. Yes, there were some so-so episodes, but Smith ultimately made it all worthwhile in his touch of the grand legacy. In fact, looking back on it now, Smith as the Doctor can perhaps be described as The Little Doctor That Could, and between his aged, frail scene with Clara and the poem and his final stumbling, dying moments, we now see The Little Doctor That Did.

Continued below

Handles was a fun touch as well.

This Christmas special stands-out amongst recent Christmas efforts, most definitely due to the final Smith episode nature of it all but also because this feels like the first episode in quite a while that really focused on the heart of the Doctor. The nostalgia helps, even the finite nature of it, but this episodes’ focus on an emotional core has made it really stand out in the best of ways, as this episode absolutely should do. There was no grand meandering, just an emotional farewell to an iconic modern-day version of what has become a timeless pop-culture character.

I, for one, am rather remarkably satisfied. I’m sure many Who-fans are torn over the final episode of Smith’s run as the Doctor and there is certainly a lot to comment on in terms of what you may have liked or disliked in terms of resolutions. That’s been the most consistent element of Moffat’s run: he absolutely divides fans right down the middle. But for me, I’m satisfied that Moffat had the smarts to tie up his plotlines and that Smith was able to pack in a rather moving wallop of a final performance. It’s easily one of, if (again) not the best works they’ve done so far together, and it was a great way to say goodbye and pave way for the future.

It’ll be interesting to see where the show goes from here, with Capaldi’s new take and Coleman assumedly on for more adventures, but one thing is for certain — with the Doctor, there’s just no telling what you’re going to get. And that’s half the fun.


//TAGS | Doctor Who

Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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