TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0803: Robots of Sherwood

I mentioned last week that putting a Dalek episode so soon after the very different Series 8 premier was a smart play on Moffat's part, due to the popularity of said monsters, but I never said that is was the right move. The new Doctor this series, as played by Peter Capaldi, is not just new in that he has a new face, he is new in that he seems to be taking his life more seriously than the previous few Doctors have, and that is very new for the common viewer these days. I have mentioned that Moffat seems to be taking Doctor Who back to its roots as serious SciFi drama mixed with historically-based stories, forgoing a lot of the humor that the series has come to be known for in recent years. I don't really think that this is a bad idea, but putting two such heavy stories as Deep Breath and Into the Dalek back to back, I think, was a mistake. If it had been me, I would have put this episode second in the series, and, in fact, I think it actually fits better there anyway.

 

Now this is a Doctor Who episode! I liked Into the Dalek as a study of the psyche of the Doctor, specifically this new Doctor, who may or may not be destined to become the villainous Valeyard, and who must be worrying himself is this is the case, but I still didn't enjoy it as an episode of Doctor Who. There was none of the fun, and too much weight. And yes, I know that Who wasn't always about fun and romping around, that it was once a show which, more or less, took itself seriously and tried to promote thought and teach people about the past, but for most of its run, Doctor Who has been more lighthearted while doing these things, or at least had a lighthearted undertone to it. To revert the show too much would simply kill it dead, as the much more put-offish personality of the sixth Doctor and the less relatable nature of the seventh Doctor, combined with some pretty derivative stories, did back in show's original run. This episode proved that this new series will still have a more lighthearted undertone to it, and it did so by telling a good story, with great guest actors, and a really fun guest portrayal of an icon.

 

This episode, you see, was a Robin Hood story. It wasn't a groundbreaking one, or a trope-defying one like the recent '06 series (which is great, and you should watch it). In fact it included virtually every Robin Hood cliché, from the Merry Men, to the splitting of the Sheriff's arrow, but it did so in a really fun, entertaining, and refreshing way. It was a story that we all already know, just as this episode with its structure was so much like a typical Who episode. In more than one way, this episode was like going home again.

 

As for the plot of the episode, the Doctor, presumably to apologize for almost getting her killed by Daleks, asks Clara where, and when, it is that she wants to go. She is embarrassed to say, however, because the one person in history who comes to mind is thought to be only a legend, and so she's sure that the Doctor will tell her that it's impossible. She wants to meet Robin Hood, and when she refuses to believe the Doctor's repeated insistence that the man is, in fact, not real, he takes her to Sherwood Forest in the correct time period to prove her wrong. But once again the TARDIS takes them where they need to go, and no sooner has the Doctor stepped through her doors and declared that there is no Robin Hood to be seen, an arrow strikes the TARDIS and Robin himself emerges from the brush showily. Soon he and the Doctor are swashbuckling on a fallen log over a shallow river: Robin with his trusty swords, and the Doctor with a metal spoon, and the Doctor bests Robin, tossing him into the water, before Robin bests him back, doing the same.

 

From there things progress much as you would expect. Robin laments his separation from Maid Marian and introduces the Doctor and Clara to the Merry Men, while the Doctor scans them to determine if they are robots, shape shifters, or just Nestene Duplicates. He doesn't believe that Robin can be real, and between annoyance with Robin's jovial attitude, and the fact that all of his tests suggest otherwise, he's becoming quite frustrated.

 

It isn't long before Robin reveals that he plans to compete in the archery contest from the story, where he splits the arrow, and is revealed to be the outlaw that he is. Clara tries to warn him that it is a trap, but he already knows, and he doesn't care because all he wants now is to be the man who his Marian wanted him to be: a hero who will defy the corrupt Sherriff of Nottingham at every turn. He competes, and he splits the Sherriff's arrow as he does in the story, only to have his arrow split in turn. The Doctor has arrived and thrown in his lot, and soon he is once again competing with Robin (do you see the pattern here?) Eventually the Sherriff has had enough, and he orders his robotic soldiers with laser faces to seize them.

 

Yes, I said robot soldiers. With laser faces.

 

In this version of the story, the Sherriff is working with robots who crashed in a spaceship, on the promise that they will use their advanced technology to make him king of all of England (queue maniacal laughter). He is using his authority to gather gold from the citizens that the robots need to repair their engines, and a workforce large enough to make the repairs. Still convinced that Robin and the others, including the Sherriff, are all false, likely constructs of the robots based on literature in their computer banks, the Doctor works to escape his bonds and stop them, though this doesn't stop him from bickering with Robin in the dungeons, to Clara's annoyance.

 

Finally, though, the party is free, and they discover the robots' ship. Things become more dire as the robots close in, and the Doctor is separated from Clara and Robin, who has learned that he is thought to be a myth in Clara's time. On top of that, the Doctor does the math, and there is no way that the ship will be ready enough by the time that it is launched, at least not ready enough to not blow up and take half of Europe with it. Everyone comes together in the climax. The Doctor leads the workers against the robots and they manage to defeat them, but the Sherriff still stands in the way. Robin arrives, and the two engage in swashbuckling above the vat of molten gold, where Robin defeats the Sherriff by pushing him into the vat, using the same move that the Doctor used on him earlier. The Doctor comes to the realization that Robin and the others are, in fact, quite real, and he starts to treat Robin and the others better (though he's still annoyed by their cheerfulness). He even saves Marian and brings she and Robin back together.

 

The Doctor goes to leave, but first he has one last one on one conversation with Robin, where both men are quite frank. Robin says that he is glad that he becomes a legend, as it is the greatest accomplishment for any hero to have their stories become myth. He even calls the Doctor a hero, which the Doctor fervently denies. Robin says to him that he isn't a hero either, that all of his confidence and all of his joviality is only to play the part, and to inspire those around him who have even more courage and capability to be heroes in his name, and that maybe that's what the Doctor does, too. The Doctor doesn't deny it, a stark contrast to all of his other various denials regarding his so-called heroic nature throughout the episode. This episode was about meeting Robin Hood, but it was also an episode questioning whether the Doctor is a true hero, and revealing the type of hero that he is, because regardless of the reason, he fights, and that makes him heroic whether he wants it to or not.

 

The Doctor and Clara leave. Clara is happy, having met her hero and found him to be all that she thought, and the Doctor deep in thought, for not only has he gleaned insight into his own nature, he also learned something from the computer on the robots' ship: that this ship, crewed by robots, which crashed on Earth, was looking for the Promised Land, just like the Clockwork Cyborg and his Droids before them. Two ships, with two mechanical crews, crashing at the same planet, in search of the same impossible place. The Doctor has a mission again.

 

This episode was brilliant. It was fun, and lighthearted, with serious moments, which gave insight into the characters, featured wonderful performances, and furthered the overall plot. The first historical story to feature Capaldi's Doctor was a smashing success. The Doctor got to be more than just disheartened and cross, showing some more of his, recently a bit lacking, personality, and structurally, I think that the episode was a perfect model for how Who episodes should be handled going forward. There were still some things lacking, however. The Doctor may know about the Promised Land being more than the delusion of a cyborg who longs to die, but he still doesn't know about Missy. The resolution of the episode was also a little rushed and silly, even for this show, and a few of the set pieces and costumes felt like they could have been a bit better. Still, I give this episode a 9 out of 10. I plan to watch it again tomorrow after I've slept my two hours, I'll probably watch it again after that, and I think that you should watch it too.

 

Now, before I call it quits with this post, I want to talk again about the state of the show, as I did last week, though this time I want to discuss this new Doctor, or rather this new take on the same character, since I said last week that he is still the Doctor, and he still feels like it, even if you have to pay a little more attention for that feeling to come through than you used to. I decided to give it three episodes before passing any kind of judgment on this Doctor, and I'm glad I did, because before tonight, I didn't like him, at all.

 

Yes, there were a few brief moments when he seemed like the Doctor, but overall he was just too serious, and vague, and angry, and blunt, and, whether it be because of the writing, the direction, or the portrayal, just not very interesting. His mental state and motivations were interesting, as I said in last week's review, but outwardly he didn't really hook me too much. It was Clara, Vastra, Jenny and Strax in Deep Breath, and the psychological stuff, and the implications of an anti-Dalek Dalek in Into the Dalek, which I found interesting, not the Doctor himself. I convinced myself that this was just because the two episodes were so heavy, hoping that once the series found time to lighten up a bit that things would begin to change, and change they did this week. Capaldi seemed more energetic. His quirks seemed more endearing than put-offish. Overall it was just a much better portrayal, and it got me invested in the Doctor again. I laughed at his confrontational relationship with Robin, and I hung on every ridiculous word that he said as he uncovered the robots' plans. This was the Doctor.

 

Do I like this Doctor? Maybe not yet, and certainly not as much as the last two, but I can see myself liking him as much some day down the line, something which I couldn't after the previous two episodes. After seeing the Doctor in this episode, I could even accept if we got more of that cross, blunt, unfriendly Doctor from Into the Doctor from time to time down the line in really serious situations, knowing that he will get more of this Doctor again later. He still isn't perfect, and he has a  ways to go, but I can certainly believe, after this great episode, that there is a real chance that this series is going in the right direction.