The last couple of Doctor Who episodes haven’t had bleeding-heart Social Justice Warrior plots – the kind of stories that led someone on ‘Have I Got News For You’ to call the show ‘lectures in Social Justice’ – and I’ve been quite happy with that. Don’t get me wrong – I love the Social Justice stories. Rosa Parks stands as very powerful TV. But all that worthiness can be exhausting, and we needed a break. Episode 8 The ‘Witchfinders’ offered that very nicely. Yes, of course, abuse of witches is a social justice issue, but not a very current one. …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 6 – Kerblam! review
After five episodes of this new Doctor that were often heavily freighted with political overtones, moral messages and Social Justice Warrior battles, it was extremely refreshing to get episode 6, Kerblam, that had almost nothing political about it at all. Except it did. The political bit got snuck in during the last maybe 5 minutes, and provided a glorious reversal that I hadn’t seen coming. Also – despite it being set in the future – it echoed the historical appeal of Luddism beautifully. Plus it mocked/tore up/tipped its hat at Amazon. I enjoyed it very much. Image from BBC The …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 5 – Demons in the Punjab review
I’ve seen some reviewers charging that Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who is too fluffy and doesn’t engage with weighty issues. When I read that, I can’t help but scoff. What on Earth are they talking about? Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who is absolutely a Social Justice Warrior of the very best, foremost class. Thus far she has taken on the very real issues of: Racism and Jim Crow in the Rosa Parks era – as well as in the far future The evils and stupidity of guns The terrible cost of fascist dictatorships (destroying whole worlds) The very fact that she is …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 4 – Arachnids in the UK review
After the intense social commentary and emotional social justice warrior-ing of episode 3 Rosa Parks, Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who goes for a simple ‘monster of the week’ episode – in this case, spiders. But this new Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) can’t leave PC politicking well enough alone. It’s everywhere you look, and I admire that enormously. The episode begins with the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham arriving back in Sheffield, and facing their imminent dissolution. The Doctor is about to go off on her own, the others back to their lives. It’s quite a sad moment, because sure, the Doctor leads …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 3 – Rosa Parks review
Last night’s episode of Dr. Who, in which the Dr. and her merry band went back in time to meet and protect Rosa Parks from a time-traveling rogue white supremacist from the future, absolutely shattered TV boundaries and thoroughly nailed its unabashed, bold, and beautiful progressive colors to the mast. Image: BBC It blew my head off completely. I feel like I’ve never seen anything like this on TV before, and certainly not within the world of Dr.Who. Where before it was always frivolous, empty, frothy escapades with a pointlessly manic Doctor, whizz-popping like LSD balls in a tombola through …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 2 – The Ghost Monument review
I am loving the new series of Dr. Who. Embedded in the stories, characters and setting so far are deep, meaningful comments on our current world from an unapologetic, muscular kind of liberalism. When one character suggests using a gun, the Doctor rounds on that unequivocally. That is a bad idea. It’s stupid. We have to use our brains. And because the show is bending to her will, the attempt to use a gun goes incredibly badly. It’s humiliating. And so it should be. In England we think guns are bad. People shouldn’t have them. We are right in this …