10 Doctor Who Moments That Make NO SENSE
5. The Doctor's Cue Cards
Under the Lake is the first part of the first two-parter from Series 9, in which the Twelfth Doctor and Clara have to deal with a bunch of murderous ghosts aboard an underwater mining facility.
It's all very interesting and spooky and science-fiction-y, but none of that is why it's on the list. That reason is something far more simple.
When the Doctor confronts the crew of the facility early in the story and realises he's been a tad insensitive by expressing amazement at their dead friend coming back as a ghost, Clara reminds him of the cards in his pocket – a selection of stock phrases to help him deal with various situations.
This gets a cheap laugh when the Doctor reads out the painfully generic statement written on one card, but everything else about this moment is seriously flawed.
The Doctor might be an alien, but he's not an idiot. He's dealt with plenty of complicated emotional matters without needing a script, so what makes this one so different?
It's also difficult to believe that the Doctor and Clara sat down one night for some arts and crafts to put these cards together. Clearly the writers liked the gag, but put little thought into whether or not it made sense.