Doctor Who: Eve Of The Daleks Review - 9 Ups & 4 Downs
4. DOWN - A Flat Speech
It hurts to mark this one down, because Whitaker has been sorely lacking in big speeches throughout her run. This one was, in truth, a pretty decent speech too, with a nice moral about learning from your failures à la Thomas Beckett’s famous quote:
“Try Again, Fail Again, Fail Better”.
This is a great sentiment that ties in extremely well thematically, so what’s the issue?
Unfortunately, as much as we’ve been defenders of Jodie of late, it’s a matter of delivery. Something about the way Thirteen talks during this speech makes it feel like she is talking down to her companions in an unintentionally patronising way - verging a little too close to CBBC presenter.
The speech also doesn’t feel as if it is placed correctly in the episode - every moment is precious to the gang, who have mere minutes to get themselves out of the time loop. The Doctor spending so much time on getting philosophical doesn’t feel particularly wise at this point.
Shame though, it’s good speech.