Doctor Who Series 12: 10 Huge Questions After Orphan 55
3. Was The Doctor Acting Out Of Character?
Jodie Whittaker continues to grow in stature as the Doctor after a shaky start. Her Doctor is wonderfully improvisational, prone to over talking and being unwisely honest, reckless, but also protective of her own. Whittaker carries all this off well, with a scattiness and vulnerability that makes her version of the Doctor warmly relatable.
Until Whittaker had been fully established in the role it would have been unwise for Chibnall to commission scripts where she acts out of character for whatever reason. But now, shattered by the Master’s devastating revelation and her subsequent trip to Gallifrey, all is not well. She is trying to put on a brave face, denying what she had witnessed with her very own eyes, and making out to her companions that nothing is wrong, but she is clearly distracted and they can sense it straight away.
How far this might impact on her judgement (which to be fair was not immune to criticism in series 11 – Kerblam, The Demons of the Punjab) remains to be seen, but she does seem unreasonably dismissive of Ryan’s concerns about Bella and Kane. Sylas is the only non-regular who gets some reassurance and approval from the Doctor, which is a lovely touch and a reminder that this series is for children as much as adults.
The 13th Doctor is quicker to intervene than normal and less willing to suffer or humour fools along the way. She almost displays contempt for the Dregs and shows no sympathy for the creature. Again, it could be an editing mistake, but it looks like the Doctor intentionally traps the Dreg inside the complex to be blown to smithereens, and it doesn’t help if we reason that the Dreg agrees with her, especially when her mantra has been there is always hope.