the changing Man
PETER CAPALDI HAD THE MOST SATISFYING CHARACTER ARC OF ANY DOCTOR, ARGUES WILL SALMON
Pertwee-era script editor terrance dicks often said that while the actor may change, the doctor’s character rarely did. speaking to The Register in 2013 he said, “the central thread of the show is the doctor, who is always the doctor, with the same characteristics and attitudes, ideals and morals.” But when peter capaldi first stumbled from the tardis in Victorian London, it felt like that might no longer be the case.
with his “attack eyebrows”, fierce temper and the implication that he may have killed the Half-Faced Man in “deep Breath”, this was a doctor who seemed to have taken several steps down a far darker path. “am i a good man?” he asks clara, and when he is horribly callous to a doomed soldier in “into the dalek”, the answer no longer seems certain.
By the end of the season, the doctor has softened. His relationship with clara has warmed up and while he is far from the charming genius she knew, there’s an affection between the two. crucially, he’s come to a decision about himself: he’s neither a good or a bad man, he’s “an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver, just passing through”. that whole season feels like an origin story for this particular incarnation.
still, the shift in the doctor’s character between “Last christmas” and season nine is startling – leading some fans to suspect a degree of behind-the-scenes course correction. He’s reintroduced atop a tank, rocking out with his electric guitar and wearing sonic shades. and yet this new, happier, goofier doctor feels like a natural continuation, rather than a hurried revision. He’s older, more comfortable in himself and enjoying his adventures again.
capaldi’s final season takes place many years later. after living for 24 years on darillium with river song, he installs himself in a university where he meets his new companion, Bill. He’s a more reflective figure (note the pictures of both river and his granddaughter susan on his desk). No longer the prickly, scary doctor, this is a man who has dedicated himself to a task: protecting the vault where he keeps Missy and slowly works on trying to redeem her. Before taking on the cybermen in a battle that will cost him this incarnation, he makes an impassioned speech about the importance of kindness. clearly he’s come a long way from the man who once said of clara, “she cares so i don’t have to”.
whether this arc was planned or not doesn’t matter. By the end of the twelfth doctor’s run, we have a hero every bit as noble as his predecessors. perhaps terrance dicks was right
after all.