Maius Intra Qua Extra

I finally got to watch "Resolution" on Wednesday evening. It's a bit irritating that the specials are sold separately from the seasons, so I had to pay for it. But at least now I own it. I own the main season twice as well - once on Google Play and once for the blu-ray which I pre-ordered. That's okay, though, because I like supporting the show when I am enjoying it. No, I do not own seasons 8 through 10 or any of their associated specials.


The short answer is that I really enjoyed "Resolution", and for me, it rounded out a successful season of Doctor Who, with a Doctor and companions that has brought me back. The story was interesting and action-packed, and very thoughtfully concluded Ryan's story with his father. It ended a little too happily and easily for my tastes but it was certainly reasonable and well-executed.

For once, I'd like to call out the performances of Charlotte Ritchie, who played Lin, and Nick Briggs, who, as always, voiced the Dalek. They did a fantastic job working together to play the Dalek controlling Lin, and Charlotte switched between herself and being controlled seamlessly, never mixing the two personas.

The one problem I had with the episode was that there were far too many implausible events for my comfort. For example, much of the episode was about the chase, meaning the TARDIS crew finding and catching the Dalek possessing Lin before it can reassume power and/or hurt her, and so it emphasized the time pressure they were under. Yet, in that nebulous but supposedly short amount of time (certainly less than half a day), Lin drives out of town, infiltrates the company that collects alien artifacts, drives out of that town, finds somewhere with fabrication equipment, and builds an entire Dalek casing, complete with working eyepiece, gun, scanner, and Dalek bumps that house missiles. In addition, that's a hell of lot of Dalekanium and equipment that that company was collecting piece-by-piece from the black market - somehow enough to create one invincible Dalek warrior.

That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Though it didn't block my enjoyment of the episode or make either me or my husband angry, there were so many "No, really" moments that we were pausing the episode every few minutes to try to reason it out with each other. They weren't plot holes; they just really required a suspension of disbelief beyond the usual.

I will say that I for one appreciated the switch to New Year's, because it allowed Chibnall to dispense with the touchy-feely holiday vibe that has mired most of the Christmas specials. There were requisite nods to the time of year, but New Year's was the coincidental setting, rather than the holiday expectation that drove the plot and its conclusion, like in most of the Christmas specials. (If I'm not being clear, compare "The Runaway Bride" to "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe". TRB is set during Christmas, but its story and conclusion had nothing to do with the season, religion, or family, whereas TDtWatW was entirely focused on family, motherhood, and "not letting Christmas be the day that took their father away".)

And that's it, the end of this stretch of Doctor Who, and I'm pretty happy. Though it is nowhere near as inspiring to me as Series 1-5 were, Series 11 has reinvigorated my love for the show and the Doctor and her companions, and I'm very much looking forward to it returning in 2020, hopefully with a great story arc for Yaz (hopefully without completely marginalizing Ryan and Graham). Happy New Year, everyone!