Kill the Moon [TV/2014.10.4]

★★★☆☆

  It's been eight years since I last watched Kill the Moon, and since then I've encountered so many discussions about it that I was almost convinced I had no choice but to dislike it. There are people who see pro-life viewpoints in this episode, and I think that's a fair judgement. Episodes like this and Kerblam! may not have been made to express a certain viewpoint, but viewers have a right to interpret artworks in their own ways. I'm not sure that I think this is necessarily pro-life, but that's neither here nor there. What matters is that Kill the Moon is, like many of Series 8's stories, a flawed but ultimately necessary and exciting piece that deepens our understanding (and for some, hatred) of the Twelfth Doctor. Here's a man who's willing to have expletives flung upon him for the sake of giving his loved ones a chance in crafting their own future. Here's a man who's such a departure from Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, someone who's not quite gotten the way to deal with kids and not make his companions feel vulnerable and in danger. This is very much an incarnation with problems, and I appreciate Peter Harness going straight into the heart(s) of the matter to create drama instead of backing away from it.

  So many other flaws prevent this from being truly great, and that fact infuriates me. The Steven Moffat era was very much trying to find a teenage companion to accompany Clara, I think, and the showrunner never quite got it. Courtney, like so many underage characters before her, fails to be of any importance and is written to be utterly obnoxious (though the Tumblr bit is still as funny as I made it out to be eight years ago). Science and logic may not be home for these 45 minutes, but if you're hardwired to look for such things in a show like Doctor Who, you're already engaging in a losing battle. Twelve is written to be just off during the first few minutes or so, but that's quickly rectified once the spider-bacteria come into play. Peter Capaldi makes even the lowest of the low palatable, and the same can be said about some atrocious dialogue sprinkled here and there. A particular high here is Jenna Coleman, who may have made this nonsensical and delicate (both in the sense of very real human drama and the potential to spark serious discourse online -- which it has) choice absolutely work with her performance. Her Clara is furious at the Doctor for abandoning her and leaving her feeling unsafe and manipulated, and it's a pivotal moment for the character. Not only is it a sign of growing pains for Twelve, it's also Clara learning to speak out for herself. I think that's quite a nice moment to have in a show like this.

  I don't think Kill the Moon is trash, and I don't think it's quite the saviour of Series 8 either. It's somewhere along the middle, a mass of 'really good' that could have been -- and had the potential to be -- 'absolutely fantastic'. For what it is, though, I can sit through the appalling dialogue and skips in logic to end up in the meaty dramatic conflict and presentation.