DW 8.06. The Caretaker. (Soldiers without guns.)
First and foremost: Happy Happy Birthday to the other half of my brain, someone I quite simply couldn't imagine my life without: The incomparable promethia_tenk.
Your birthday snuck up on me, so the only thing I have is (rather rushed) meta! And - although you'll know it all already - it's something at least? So, I hope you like. ♥
(Everyone else: There are so many things I don't mention. I loved the humour of this episode, loved Courtney, loved how very real the school felt, loved the ending... But it's limited what you can throw together in less than two hours.)
DW 8.06. The Caretaker. (Soldiers without guns.)
‘The Caretaker’ is an episode dealing with a lot of difficult issues, but it is disguised as a comedy.
The main issue being soldiers, and the Doctor’s attitude. (I’ll get to the second issue further down - they’re connected.)
Now Twelve is obviously very different from Eleven, but I think it’s more than just a regeneration. This was more like a re-set and Twelve is, in many aspects, channeling One. But trying to delve a little further, we can ask why now? Ten was very anti-soldiers (and guns etc etc), but then he was Ten. Eleven was far more morally grey, and this was reflected in the show and the stories - see River above. A major part of Eleven’s arc was about letting go of the warrior and healing the pain of the past. And then… he spent the best part of a thousand wars fighting a war that he knew would eventually kill him.
Every regeneration is, in great part, a reaction against the previous one. And this is particularly true of Twelve. I don’t think it’s a deliberate case of ‘Soldiers are baaad, m’kay?’ - more a deep-seated conviction that he must somehow change:
“I’ve lived for over 2000 years, and not all of them were good. I’ve made many mistakes - and it’s about time I did something about that.”
The problem is - he’s the Doctor. And he has a tendency to project his own issues outwards. So, because he is unhappy with his war-faring past, he distances himself abruptly from any soliders. We see this attitude raise its head in ‘Into the Dalek’, when he refuses to take Journey Blue with him as a companion.
And in the same episode Danny is introduced.
So we get the two stories running parallel, exploring both sides at the same time: The Doctor’s issues, that he projects (and not always wrongly), and our actual soldier.
This is not a simple ‘The Doctor is always right’ situation. No, everything has been very carefully set up so that when things come to a head in ‘The Caretaker’ we understand both sides, and know that nothing is as simple as it would seem.
Of course we know the Doctor’s story in great detail, and now - thanks to ‘Listen’ - even the fact that he was a small scared child who did not want to be a soldier, but wanted to go to the Academy instead.
And here it’s important to stop for a moment and consider Doctor Who as a product of British culture. (See this post: Layers in Doctor Who - Allegory Level specifically.) The Doctor was a renegade - someone who rebelled against the system. Someone who did not want to do what society expected. The sort of person who, rather than behave respectably, stole a TARDIS and ran away. And yet - all that breeding, all that privilege… It’s still there. (“Just walk around as if you own the place - works for me!”)
A picture from my Layers in Doctor Who post:
Which also reminds me of this:
As so many have noted, John Smith embodied so many stereotypical "Time Lord" qualities: arrogance, casual cruelty, racism and an implaccable sense of what is "right". And, when you think about it, 1913 England was a time period when values and morals were very fixed, they had yet to shaken by the class upheaval's brought on by war, everyone knew their place and right was right and wrong was wrong. There was very little grey in that black and white world. For the TARDIS to pick that time and that persona says an awful lot about her knowledge of *her* Doctor. She was looking out for him by placing him in a time and place that he would feel comfortable and adjust to without question because on some, deep level it harkened back to the society he knew as a child and we all know how those deep, primary memories shape us. He wouldn't waste valuable time or resources questioning the society because on an elemental level, it felt *right*.
(From scarlettgirl’s post on Human Nature/Family of Blood.)
Now, Danny. The way Danny has been introduced is very clever indeed. Pretty much the first thing we learn is that he obviously did something he deeply regrets whilst he was soldier. We also learn that he dug 23 wells and that he is very defensive about his days in the army - his defensiveness proving a good tool for the writers to put this across. He worries that Clara has ‘the wrong idea’ about soldiers.
So, as a contrast/mirror to the Doctor we are given a complex and layered young soldier - someone clearly scarred, yet proud of what he has done. Someone very human and relatable.
The fact that these are two sides of the same coin is spelled out explicitly in ‘Listen’, when both of them are given the small toy soldier without a gun. Although as I said at the time - one toy, two meanings. What is the important part - the fact that he is a soldier, or that he has no gun?
Also take into account how the Doctor shaped little Rupert’s dreams - and how Rupert’s soldier shaped the Doctor in turn. These two [stories] are entwined.
And inbetween these two - their connection - Clara. Again: one Clara, two meanings.
- She is the Doctor’s Impossible Girl, his touchstone, the one who knows him, his self-declared teacher. Their relationship something out-of-this world and unique. She is the girl twice dead, the one who Answered the Question.
- She is Danny’s girlfriend. The slightly odd English teacher that he can’t quite work out, but that he is clearly in love with. Their relationship something normal and grounded. She's a girl from Blackpool - and you don't get much more down-to-earth than that.
So now these two finally meet, and the difficulties start before they even know who each other are. The Doctor is - to Danny’s evident bewilderment - rude and unpleasant as soon as he finds out that Danny used to be a soldier, continually insulting him. (I think the Doctor’s continued insistence on calling him ‘PE’ is that this is probably one of the Doctor’s ultimate insults, as he is not exactly known for his physical brilliance - from his report card from school: Sport: Hopeless - total geek. Again - his own issues rising to the surface. Of course in the end, it is Danny's physical prowess that saves the day at the last minute.)
It isn’t until the scene in the TARDIS that things make sense [for Danny]. It’s clear as day that the second he hears the words ‘Time Lord’ that he can immediately categorise everything and put them all in a framework. And both he and the Doctor understand this, although the Doctor doesn't want to play (Don't salute, Don't call me 'sir') - the Doctor is a rebel, labels like these are what he has refused to adhere to against his whole life. There is a definite sense of Danny calling out the Doctor on his double standards - if he wants the respect that he so very clearly expects, then he's got to own up to what he is.
And that’s what makes this so interesting. We have the Doctor trying to get to grips with his past (which in many ways means running away), but the story, and the characters, very clearly do not intend to let him off the hook easily. He won’t be allowed to just shut away and banish the parts of himself that he dislikes - Danny is a walking, talking criticism of this attempt. I very much look forward to seeing where this goes.
And now to the other side of this: Clara.
The Doctor, bless his little cotton socks, jumps to entirely the wrong conclusion about Adrian, but it’s easy to see why. He wants to keep her. And if she is dating an avatar of his former self, she is very much still his. In other words: Adrian isn’t a threat.
(Nor was Mickey seen as a threat. And Eleven laughed at Rory, before he knew him, not seeing him as a threat either.)
Danny, however, is.
The moment Clara says ‘I love him’ - the Doctor knows he’s lost her. You can literally see his hearts breaking. Danny’s initial leap of insight is spot on: He *is* her Space Dad. (Or grandad.) And since Susan, he has known that sooner or later they leave - or he must leave them behind. He hates endings, and with three little words Clara reminded him that one day she, too, will leave.
And on top of that he is indirectly being forced to face some uncomfortable facts. Danny isn’t the pleasant, slightly ridiculous mirror Adrian presented, where Twelve could kid himself that it was Eleven’s handsome face Clara fell for. No, Danny is a darker mirror. Danny reminds him of all the things he wants to brush under the carpet. And this is the person Clara is seeing. This is the person she declares that she loves. This is the person she will probably leave him for, in the end.
What does that say? About Danny? About Clara? About himself?
Now Danny, on the other hand, is very insightful. He and Clara have a very interesting conversation at the very end of the episode:
DANNY: I know men like him. I’ve served under them. They push you, and make you stronger, ‘til you’re doing things you never thought you could. I saw you tonight. You did exactly as he told you. You weren’t even scared. And you should have been.
CLARA: .. I trust him. He’s never let me down.
DANNY: Fine. … If he ever pushes you too far, I want you to tell me, because I know what that’s like. You’ll tell me if that happens, yeah?
CLARA: Yeah. It’s a deal.
DANNY: No, it’s a promise.
CLARA: OK, I promise.
DANNY: And if you break that promise Clara, we’re finished.
CLARA: Don’t say that.
DANNY: I’m saying it because if you don’t tell me the truth I can’t help you. And I could never stand not being able to help you. Clear?
CLARA: Yes.
By putting their relationship on the line over this, he is literally betting everything on her being honest with him, in order - I think - to make sure she doesn’t end up in whatever place he did. Like I said, we’ve seen that he has some sort of trauma in his past. He wants to spare Clara that.
And in doing so, he is also drawing direct parallels between them. Danny very clearly positions himself and Clara as the same. He is a soldier, and so is she. (In all but name.)
So far we have usually had family members say ‘Keep her safe’. (This is quite ridiculous when you think about it, as life with the Doctor is incredibly dangerous. *g*) We have also had Rory telling the Doctor that he makes people a danger to themselves, and seen the Doctor take this on board and - as a consequence - send Amy away.
This is different. Danny isn’t telling the Doctor to keep her safe, putting her in an inferior position as someone who needs looking after. (Of course, the companions are generally the ones doing the looking after - I’m thinking purely in terms of what families tend to ask.) He is asking Clara to make sure she doesn’t get pushed too far. He is obviously upset that she lied to him (ditto the Doctor - oh there have been lies all around! She sure has learned something), but rather than throw a tantrum he uses it to ensure her wellbeing as best he can. It’s not an ideal situation, but neither man, I don’t think, want her to be worse off because of them.
And so they reach a delicate balance.
But what happens if (or rather when) it gets upset?
Because - as River showed - the Doctor doesn't get to walk away from his problems. No - he gets to confront them, and deal with them. And that is a good thing. So here's to Danny!
Your birthday snuck up on me, so the only thing I have is (rather rushed) meta! And - although you'll know it all already - it's something at least? So, I hope you like. ♥
(Everyone else: There are so many things I don't mention. I loved the humour of this episode, loved Courtney, loved how very real the school felt, loved the ending... But it's limited what you can throw together in less than two hours.)
DW 8.06. The Caretaker. (Soldiers without guns.)
‘The Caretaker’ is an episode dealing with a lot of difficult issues, but it is disguised as a comedy.
The main issue being soldiers, and the Doctor’s attitude. (I’ll get to the second issue further down - they’re connected.)
Now Twelve is obviously very different from Eleven, but I think it’s more than just a regeneration. This was more like a re-set and Twelve is, in many aspects, channeling One. But trying to delve a little further, we can ask why now? Ten was very anti-soldiers (and guns etc etc), but then he was Ten. Eleven was far more morally grey, and this was reflected in the show and the stories - see River above. A major part of Eleven’s arc was about letting go of the warrior and healing the pain of the past. And then… he spent the best part of a thousand wars fighting a war that he knew would eventually kill him.
Every regeneration is, in great part, a reaction against the previous one. And this is particularly true of Twelve. I don’t think it’s a deliberate case of ‘Soldiers are baaad, m’kay?’ - more a deep-seated conviction that he must somehow change:
“I’ve lived for over 2000 years, and not all of them were good. I’ve made many mistakes - and it’s about time I did something about that.”
The problem is - he’s the Doctor. And he has a tendency to project his own issues outwards. So, because he is unhappy with his war-faring past, he distances himself abruptly from any soliders. We see this attitude raise its head in ‘Into the Dalek’, when he refuses to take Journey Blue with him as a companion.
And in the same episode Danny is introduced.
So we get the two stories running parallel, exploring both sides at the same time: The Doctor’s issues, that he projects (and not always wrongly), and our actual soldier.
This is not a simple ‘The Doctor is always right’ situation. No, everything has been very carefully set up so that when things come to a head in ‘The Caretaker’ we understand both sides, and know that nothing is as simple as it would seem.
Of course we know the Doctor’s story in great detail, and now - thanks to ‘Listen’ - even the fact that he was a small scared child who did not want to be a soldier, but wanted to go to the Academy instead.
And here it’s important to stop for a moment and consider Doctor Who as a product of British culture. (See this post: Layers in Doctor Who - Allegory Level specifically.) The Doctor was a renegade - someone who rebelled against the system. Someone who did not want to do what society expected. The sort of person who, rather than behave respectably, stole a TARDIS and ran away. And yet - all that breeding, all that privilege… It’s still there. (“Just walk around as if you own the place - works for me!”)
A picture from my Layers in Doctor Who post:
Which also reminds me of this:
As so many have noted, John Smith embodied so many stereotypical "Time Lord" qualities: arrogance, casual cruelty, racism and an implaccable sense of what is "right". And, when you think about it, 1913 England was a time period when values and morals were very fixed, they had yet to shaken by the class upheaval's brought on by war, everyone knew their place and right was right and wrong was wrong. There was very little grey in that black and white world. For the TARDIS to pick that time and that persona says an awful lot about her knowledge of *her* Doctor. She was looking out for him by placing him in a time and place that he would feel comfortable and adjust to without question because on some, deep level it harkened back to the society he knew as a child and we all know how those deep, primary memories shape us. He wouldn't waste valuable time or resources questioning the society because on an elemental level, it felt *right*.
(From scarlettgirl’s post on Human Nature/Family of Blood.)
Now, Danny. The way Danny has been introduced is very clever indeed. Pretty much the first thing we learn is that he obviously did something he deeply regrets whilst he was soldier. We also learn that he dug 23 wells and that he is very defensive about his days in the army - his defensiveness proving a good tool for the writers to put this across. He worries that Clara has ‘the wrong idea’ about soldiers.
So, as a contrast/mirror to the Doctor we are given a complex and layered young soldier - someone clearly scarred, yet proud of what he has done. Someone very human and relatable.
The fact that these are two sides of the same coin is spelled out explicitly in ‘Listen’, when both of them are given the small toy soldier without a gun. Although as I said at the time - one toy, two meanings. What is the important part - the fact that he is a soldier, or that he has no gun?
Also take into account how the Doctor shaped little Rupert’s dreams - and how Rupert’s soldier shaped the Doctor in turn. These two [stories] are entwined.
And inbetween these two - their connection - Clara. Again: one Clara, two meanings.
- She is the Doctor’s Impossible Girl, his touchstone, the one who knows him, his self-declared teacher. Their relationship something out-of-this world and unique. She is the girl twice dead, the one who Answered the Question.
- She is Danny’s girlfriend. The slightly odd English teacher that he can’t quite work out, but that he is clearly in love with. Their relationship something normal and grounded. She's a girl from Blackpool - and you don't get much more down-to-earth than that.
So now these two finally meet, and the difficulties start before they even know who each other are. The Doctor is - to Danny’s evident bewilderment - rude and unpleasant as soon as he finds out that Danny used to be a soldier, continually insulting him. (I think the Doctor’s continued insistence on calling him ‘PE’ is that this is probably one of the Doctor’s ultimate insults, as he is not exactly known for his physical brilliance - from his report card from school: Sport: Hopeless - total geek. Again - his own issues rising to the surface. Of course in the end, it is Danny's physical prowess that saves the day at the last minute.)
It isn’t until the scene in the TARDIS that things make sense [for Danny]. It’s clear as day that the second he hears the words ‘Time Lord’ that he can immediately categorise everything and put them all in a framework. And both he and the Doctor understand this, although the Doctor doesn't want to play (Don't salute, Don't call me 'sir') - the Doctor is a rebel, labels like these are what he has refused to adhere to against his whole life. There is a definite sense of Danny calling out the Doctor on his double standards - if he wants the respect that he so very clearly expects, then he's got to own up to what he is.
And that’s what makes this so interesting. We have the Doctor trying to get to grips with his past (which in many ways means running away), but the story, and the characters, very clearly do not intend to let him off the hook easily. He won’t be allowed to just shut away and banish the parts of himself that he dislikes - Danny is a walking, talking criticism of this attempt. I very much look forward to seeing where this goes.
And now to the other side of this: Clara.
The Doctor, bless his little cotton socks, jumps to entirely the wrong conclusion about Adrian, but it’s easy to see why. He wants to keep her. And if she is dating an avatar of his former self, she is very much still his. In other words: Adrian isn’t a threat.
(Nor was Mickey seen as a threat. And Eleven laughed at Rory, before he knew him, not seeing him as a threat either.)
Danny, however, is.
The moment Clara says ‘I love him’ - the Doctor knows he’s lost her. You can literally see his hearts breaking. Danny’s initial leap of insight is spot on: He *is* her Space Dad. (Or grandad.) And since Susan, he has known that sooner or later they leave - or he must leave them behind. He hates endings, and with three little words Clara reminded him that one day she, too, will leave.
And on top of that he is indirectly being forced to face some uncomfortable facts. Danny isn’t the pleasant, slightly ridiculous mirror Adrian presented, where Twelve could kid himself that it was Eleven’s handsome face Clara fell for. No, Danny is a darker mirror. Danny reminds him of all the things he wants to brush under the carpet. And this is the person Clara is seeing. This is the person she declares that she loves. This is the person she will probably leave him for, in the end.
What does that say? About Danny? About Clara? About himself?
Now Danny, on the other hand, is very insightful. He and Clara have a very interesting conversation at the very end of the episode:
DANNY: I know men like him. I’ve served under them. They push you, and make you stronger, ‘til you’re doing things you never thought you could. I saw you tonight. You did exactly as he told you. You weren’t even scared. And you should have been.
CLARA: .. I trust him. He’s never let me down.
DANNY: Fine. … If he ever pushes you too far, I want you to tell me, because I know what that’s like. You’ll tell me if that happens, yeah?
CLARA: Yeah. It’s a deal.
DANNY: No, it’s a promise.
CLARA: OK, I promise.
DANNY: And if you break that promise Clara, we’re finished.
CLARA: Don’t say that.
DANNY: I’m saying it because if you don’t tell me the truth I can’t help you. And I could never stand not being able to help you. Clear?
CLARA: Yes.
By putting their relationship on the line over this, he is literally betting everything on her being honest with him, in order - I think - to make sure she doesn’t end up in whatever place he did. Like I said, we’ve seen that he has some sort of trauma in his past. He wants to spare Clara that.
And in doing so, he is also drawing direct parallels between them. Danny very clearly positions himself and Clara as the same. He is a soldier, and so is she. (In all but name.)
So far we have usually had family members say ‘Keep her safe’. (This is quite ridiculous when you think about it, as life with the Doctor is incredibly dangerous. *g*) We have also had Rory telling the Doctor that he makes people a danger to themselves, and seen the Doctor take this on board and - as a consequence - send Amy away.
This is different. Danny isn’t telling the Doctor to keep her safe, putting her in an inferior position as someone who needs looking after. (Of course, the companions are generally the ones doing the looking after - I’m thinking purely in terms of what families tend to ask.) He is asking Clara to make sure she doesn’t get pushed too far. He is obviously upset that she lied to him (ditto the Doctor - oh there have been lies all around! She sure has learned something), but rather than throw a tantrum he uses it to ensure her wellbeing as best he can. It’s not an ideal situation, but neither man, I don’t think, want her to be worse off because of them.
And so they reach a delicate balance.
But what happens if (or rather when) it gets upset?
Because - as River showed - the Doctor doesn't get to walk away from his problems. No - he gets to confront them, and deal with them. And that is a good thing. So here's to Danny!