Doctor Who - "The Name of the Doctor" - Review

Well, you certainly can’t fault Doctor Who in the Steve Moffat era for lack of ambition. That’s for sure. In fact, I would say that the series’ greatest problem under Moffat has been too much ambition. And while I really appreciate ambition, even ambition that falls short of the mark, Moffat is simply trying to cram too many ideas into any given episode, and this has become an increasingly bigger problem as the time under his tenure has gone on. They’re frequently very wonderful ideas but rarely are any of them given enough time to breathe.

“The Name of the Doctor” has a lot to like. But it feels like an episode that’s trying to tell a story that ought to have parsed out over a couple of episodes. For example, did we really even need the appearance of River (whose appearance itself is a mystery related to her being trapped in a database after “Forest of the Dead”)?

I like the explanation for Clara’s multiple lives. And somehow it’s both totally crazy and somehow kind of sound in that way that really only Moffat is capable of pulling off. But when the show tries to achieve these complex narratives with the pizazz and coolness so typical of Moffat occasionally the storytelling gets a little too convoluted. 

Another problem is that we haven’t spent enough time with Clara. While I really enjoy Jenna-Louise Coleman’s performance, we haven’t been given enough time to really understand this character and her relationship to the Doctor (her going into the time vortex without doubts doesn’t entirely add up with what we know about the character even as it attempts to be a powerful moment, which it is, but it also feels a tad forced).

The series has tried to cram a season long story into half a season, and that came partially out of the need to service the story of Amy and Rory. But I just don’t know if creating this over the top mystery for the show to solve was the best path to enter as the show entered ostensibly a new chapter. This becomes somewhat apparent in how the show never fully explains the problem at hand, leaving the episode on an ellipsis with the reveal of another version of the Doctor played by William Hurt. Another mystery.

I say all this because the mysteries have somewhat usurped the narrative. And Doctor Who has never been about mysteries. There’s been wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey content here and there, but at its core it’s been about a mad men with a box getting caught up in to situations where he tries to help out and potentially save the day. Even his love for humanity was something that grew, begrudgingly, over time. 

Now let’s fanboy here for a moment because the above probably comes off as totally despairing and cynical. The scenes of Clara placed into stock footage are a real treat, even as they stretch the limits of the budget to a point where they don’t totally work. The idea of the Doctor facing up to his future death by heading to his tomb is emotionally rife and honestly the episode doesn’t get enough time spent with the Doctor confronting this.     

There’s plenty of the expected fun in “The Name of the Doctor”, but it tries much too hard to get across what it wants to convey. 

Grade: B