The Chibnall era of Doctor Who is adamantly opposed to fun, not only in the show's tone, but also in its strange refusal to give us a straight-up Christmas special. Gone are the days of settling in to watch the Doctor's newest adventure after Christmas lunch. "Revolution of the Daleks" is so anti-holiday, there's only the briefest mention of it being a new year.
The lack of fun continues as we get reacquainted with the "fam," all of whom shuffle through this episode as if suffering from severe post-holiday depression. Even when the Doctor is rescued from her space prison, their moods do not improve, and they keep guilting the Doctor about her absence rather than wondering whether decades in a Judoon prison have had any effect on her.
Thirteen's era is so odd. We spend an enormous amount of time with her companions, yet we never get to know them. Nearly all of their countless conversations have been about the same three topics: not giving up, not letting the Doctor down, how they're a family now.
Character growth has been so stagnant that when Ryan announces his decision not to accompany the Doctor anymore and states that he's found his purpose on earth, the most sensible question is "What is that, exactly?" All Ryan needed was one more line, indicating that he was, I dunno, going to join the police force, or look into UNIT, or pursue a profession--ANYTHING. Instead, the episode ends with him still having difficulty riding a bike, which is exactly--EXACTLY--where the character started! It's the show going out of its own way to indicate its own lack of character arcs.
(One tangential note to close: I've read a lot of other Thirteen-era IMDB user comments, and I notice a thread among a lot of the positive reviews: many of them start with some variation on "Don't listen to the trolls! They're all men who just hate the idea of a female Doctor!" Note to anyone who writes this way: This is an ad hominem attack, not valid criticism, and it will stop people from taking your reviews seriously.)
The lack of fun continues as we get reacquainted with the "fam," all of whom shuffle through this episode as if suffering from severe post-holiday depression. Even when the Doctor is rescued from her space prison, their moods do not improve, and they keep guilting the Doctor about her absence rather than wondering whether decades in a Judoon prison have had any effect on her.
Thirteen's era is so odd. We spend an enormous amount of time with her companions, yet we never get to know them. Nearly all of their countless conversations have been about the same three topics: not giving up, not letting the Doctor down, how they're a family now.
Character growth has been so stagnant that when Ryan announces his decision not to accompany the Doctor anymore and states that he's found his purpose on earth, the most sensible question is "What is that, exactly?" All Ryan needed was one more line, indicating that he was, I dunno, going to join the police force, or look into UNIT, or pursue a profession--ANYTHING. Instead, the episode ends with him still having difficulty riding a bike, which is exactly--EXACTLY--where the character started! It's the show going out of its own way to indicate its own lack of character arcs.
(One tangential note to close: I've read a lot of other Thirteen-era IMDB user comments, and I notice a thread among a lot of the positive reviews: many of them start with some variation on "Don't listen to the trolls! They're all men who just hate the idea of a female Doctor!" Note to anyone who writes this way: This is an ad hominem attack, not valid criticism, and it will stop people from taking your reviews seriously.)