Season 11 of Doctor Who was one for the books. It was the first season with a female doctor! Jodie Whittaker (“Venus”, “Attack the Block”) did a fantastic job. I can’t imagine it was an easy role to fulfill, but I think she nailed the witty leader well. This is also the first year that the main writer stepped down. It was a little obvious that the writing styles changed, but it wasn’t too bad. Overall, I think this season was an emotion-filled adventure.
I honestly hadn’t seen Jodie in any performance other than her episode of “Black Mirror” and she played a complicated, second character. Basically, I didn’t know what to expect from her and I wasn’t optimistic. Boy, did she blow me away! From her very first entrance, I was laughing at her little phrases and sensing her passion that she put into her rendition of the famous Time Lord. There were so many moments that I remember being wowed by her acting, but I was more touched by it during gloomy scenes. Her empathy was tangible, and I appreciate that so much with a show that you become invested in such as this. Every Doctor has their own personal twists on the character and their own way of behaving. Jodie’s Doctor is going to continue to be a likable and supportive one, and I love that. There are often times when the Doctor doesn’t seem human enough because they aren’t one, but she felt more human than the others.
The writers also changed with Steven Moffat having left the show. The main writers of the season were not brand new, however, with Chris Chibnall writing many of them. It almost felt as though they played it a little safe with how they wrote Jodie’s lines and with the villains they chose. The Doctor wasn’t as flirty, this season, or as arrogant. I imagine they wondered how a woman would translate on screen playing with these traits. General audiences may not have accepted Jodie as warmly if she seemed flirty. There’s also the question of which gender would she flirt with, as the Doctor always flirted with women. I bet you they will have to tackle this issue next season. However, I did feel like I felt a tiny bit of spark between Yasmin and the Doctor on one episode. Perhaps they will have a female love interest for her next season. As for the villains, some were awesome, like the mud invaders in “The Witchfinders” and the shapeshifters in “It Takes You Away” along with the demon-looking ruler of the other world. However, I felt like some of the antagonists and villains were quite lame. I was especially disappointed with the tooth-faced Stanzas. They were laughably bad. They looked like the loser cousin to Jeepers Creepers who only stole teeth. The writers could have made these episodes more dramatic, scariest, and made the Doctor less feminine and possibly a little cockier. Although I did enjoy how much she relied on her partners.
Speaking of the new partners, I really loved the dynamic between everyone. Jodie’s Doctor played well off of each of them. I also didn’t feel like there were too many people, and I liked each of them. Ryan, Yasmin, and Graham were all so different, had their own strengths, and gave something to the Doctor and the show. They were smart to kill off a new character in the beginning, in order to make us feel connected to the new group. Ryan and Yasmin have a nice friendship/possible romantic connection between them too. They were an extremely helpful group, too, and didn’t seem like there were confused or in the way.
My favorite episode was “Rosa” and it was about the group going back in time to the ’50s in the US. They end up helping Rosa Parks and Ryan even meets Dr. Martin Luther King. It was such a touching episode and one that really strikes with today’s events. It had rage, sweetness, pride, and so many different emotions. The whole group really worked together in this episode and there weren’t any terrible characters/villains in this one.
This season had a kickass female doctor, a diverse and large group of sidekicks, spectrum of emotions, great celebrity appearances (Chris Noth, Alan Cumming, Phyllis Logan, etc.), and some good episodes. I think, in general, this season was a pretty good one, with Jodie Whittaker being the highlight of it. I give Doctor Who season 11 an 8.
