and I thought about how your first doctor really is like your first love. You fall in love with them so completely and your life is never really the same. Although you will learn to love others and can have a great relationship with them, it isn't quite like your first. In my case, I happened to fall for a
Although I highly suspected Matt would be the one, I truly knew when I saw him Closing Time. I have to admit discovering your first doctor is a bit like having a crush that leads to infatuation and before you know it you are ready to marry the person. I would say my crush began with The Eleventh Hour and my infatuation grew over series five and six. It wasn't until I saw this episode that I knew I would be committed to Matt for the rest of my life.
There are many magical moments in this episode, but I'll try to be objective. Gareth Roberts seems to infuse his scripts with comedy, action, drama, and intrigue. I can only imagine the fun it must be to play such a role that allows you to highlight various qualities in your performance. There are an infinite amount of ways you can deliver a line, gesture, or fill the silence with nuances. I thought Matt handled the balance beautifully.
The only critique I may have on the teleplay is the amount of homoerotic jokes. I would have liked to treat the idea of homosexuality a bit more seriously. Chris and David's doctor seemed heterosexual due to their love for Rose, but Matt's doctor seems to allow a bit more freedom. Audiences know he flirts with River, but there is a sense of asexuality or at least a fluidity in the Doctor's preferences and I think opening up the idea to homosexuality would have been an interesting take. Matt has already proven he is capable of handling such roles when he did Christopher and his Kind. The only other critique is the silver rats as I've always had slight issues with actors dangling objects in front of their faces and screaming. If the object is that terrifying, why wouldn't you simply toss it or whip it across the room and run?
On the other hand, I have to admit I would love to open my front door to see
I've often heard other actors discuss playing awkward believably is quite difficult. During my brief time as an actor, I would agree comedy and awkwardness is much more difficult to convey than drama.
It's one of the reasons why I find Matt's performances so impressive as he handles both quite well. I also think there are moments when he is whispering
but that's a different story. James is such a great companion and it's easy to place ourselves in his shoes as the ordinary man caught in an adventure. It's also nice to imagine the Doctor grabbing me in a teleport to have a moment like
even if the Doctor is disguising his real emotions in order to protect me. One of the most delightful moments is seeing Matt interact with the children while operating robotic toys and then pointing out the absurdity of us having name tags.
I love how Matt changes the dynamics slightly as he interacts with an elderly sales associate, his male companion, cybermen, and a baby. It seems so effortless and yet so believable.
I think the moment that stole it for me is him kissing the baby and talking with it.
I also enjoy how the Doctor doesn't need to be the hero in every moment. In this episode, we see a father's love save the day. I found it intriguing how we went through something quite whimsical and tender with Craig in our department store and at the apartment when the Doctor reveals he will die the following day to something much more intense upon the spaceship with the Cybermen. We ease into the end of the episode with Matt in a hat, which seems to be a nod to the series premiere and to the iconic hero shots in a western. In a span of an hour, we have seen dramatic, action, comedic, and whimsical and perhaps iconic performances from one man and he did it effortlessly.
The most notable aspect is he also has the grace and generosity to allow his co-stars to shine and to treat them all as equals no matter the age or special effect. If I had to choose anyone to go in a Tardis with at all, it would definitely be eleven.
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