Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Big Questions After 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth'
2. What Was The Core Message?
There are a number of positive messages aimed especially at the younger audience from how to deal with grief and loss to ‘new is scary’ (a nice acknowledgement that some fans will find the new series or the new Doctor hard to get along with). But the thrust of the story is that every child is special and of equal worth and value.
Tim Shaw received the Doctor’s ire for suggesting that “This creature (Karl) is irrelevant”. The line had added import given that Karl did indeed feel his life was worthless and was using a self-help programme to tell himself that he was special. But the Doctor then turns on Karl for pushing Tim Shaw over the edge of the crane - “You had no right to do that.”
For the Doctor, there are no limits to the scope of human kindness and it must extend to strangers and enemies. Even a murderer such as Tim Shaw is not beyond redemption. The Doctor recognises that the alien cheats because he doesn’t think he’s good enough to be the leader he wants to be.
Back under the old regime, that would be grounds for showing how the Doctor herself identifies with such a trait, but here she is like a teacher, ever so slightly patronising in the process, but nonetheless a mouthpiece for truth and wisdom. It’s a bit clunky, a bit twee, but it is a message that is likely to be fleshed out in future stories, illustrated in action rather than preached about.