Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument (11x02)

I'm pretty happy so far!

Cons:

I'm still finding the companions, particularly Yaz, a little bit one-dimensional. It's not a huge distracting problem or anything, but I'm not instantly connected to them the way I remember being with Rose, with Martha, and with Donna. Of course, it's dangerous to try and recapture Russell T. Davies-era Doctor Who, so I'm trying not to use that as my yardstick. Still, hopefully an episode coming up can shine a spotlight on who Yaz is as a person. We learn she has a sister. Maybe we could explore some of her familial relationships a little bit more!

The two characters racing to win prosperity for themselves and their tribes were really interesting, but I found the ending where they tie to be a little unsatisfying. Not the end result - that makes perfect sense to me. But the path to get there. We see them argue with each other throughout the episode, but it seems kind of like good-natured ribbing. But as we learn more of the truth, you get the sense that these two really hate each other. It felt odd that it took almost no convincing to get them to split the prize. In fact, we don't even get to see the convincing - it happens off-screen. There was something a bit uneven with how these two interacted with each other throughout the episode.

Pros:

The atmosphere and sets in this episode were really cool! I loved the desert planet, I loved the weird tent, the cool space crafts, and of course the long awaited reveal of the new TARDIS design. Each set felt cool and unique and distinctly alien, and it was really interesting to see.

One thing I really liked about this episode that's a bit difficult to pin down specifically, was how... Doctor Who-ish it felt. A pretty basic story, with lots of running, aliens, sonic screwdrivers, creative problem solving, quippy dialogue, and a few great introspective character moments. This is what I want from a weird alien TV show. This is what I want from my Doctor.

To get more specific, I think my favorite moment of the whole episode was when the creepy whispy things were talking to the Doctor, and a cigar saved the day. See? What a weird sentence. The effect on the voice was cool, the insight into the Doctor feeling like an outcast was cool, the solution used a simple Chekhov's Cigar maneuver, and the whole scene was tense and well-shot, directed, and acted.

Another favorite moment was of course the iconic TARDIS scene. Nobody said "it's bigger on the inside" this time around, but they did marvel at how she fit all that stuff in a police box, and it was so satisfying to watch these companions get one of their first legendary Doctor interactions. Shows with patterns work because the audience likes feeling in the know. The challenge with Doctor Who is to keep things fresh and interesting while still falling back on these familiar tropes. This episode did that wonderfully, even better than last week's premiere, in my opinion.

Jodie Whittaker is doing an amazing job. There are the more serious, intense moments, like her dislike of guns or her fear and despair at not being able to save her new friends. But even in the lightest, simplest of lines, Whittaker is charming and charismatic, and just so nice to watch and follow. I like her immediately. She's the Doctor, through and through.

Not much more to say with this one. Another standard, fairly grounded, episode of Doctor Who. I feel like we're setting the stage to show that this show-runner and these actors can carry the basic premise of the show, before we start doing some really wild and fun stuff. I'm looking forward to that!

8.5/10