Remember This Soundbite?
“It’s about time I did something about that.” This statement from Deep Breath was a focal point at the beginning of the season. I’d be interested in knowing how many people feel that it has carried through the season and in what way? Or, do you feel that it hasn’t actually been addressed and that we’ve been left hanging.
This statement as well as the Doctor’s question “Am I a good man” remained with me throughout the season. I was frustrated that it did not appear that an answer was quickly forthcoming. And, perhaps, we did not receive an answer that was entirely clear, but I do feel that we began to see that the Doctor was processing his own thoughts regarding this throughout the episodes of the series. Toward the end of “Mummy on the Orient Express,” the Doctor made this statement: “Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose.” It could be argued that the Doctor was coming to the realization that, though he felt he’d made mistakes, sometimes there is no other option. At the end of “Flatline,” Clara is insistent in wanting to know if she was a “good” doctor. His response was “Goodness has nothing to do with it.” The implication being that there are things that simply need to be done, whether one labels them good, bad, or otherwise. By the time we reach “Death in Heaven,” the Doctor answered his question as to whether or not he is a good man: “I am not a good man! I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I’m definitely not a president. And no, I’m not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning.” In the course of passing through, helping out, learning, the Doctor (as we all do) made mistakes. . .but it appears that he came to terms with the mistakes and realized that there could not always be rectification. An answer certainly wasn’t laid out all nice and neat for the viewers, but I do feel that there are dots that can be connected. Check out http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/episodes12.html for transcripts of all Series 8 episodes.