[SPOILERS] As is customary before the series' two-part finale, "The Lodger" was an episode of palate cleansing light entertainment, cheaply made and relying almost entirely on script and performance to see it through. Writer Gareth Roberts's history on the show has been mostly spent penning "historical episodes" like "The Shakespeare Code" and "The Unicorn And The Wasp", but here he adapted the idea behind a comic-strip he wrote for the Doctor Who Annual: what if The Doctor was stranded on Earth and had to pass himself off as an everyday human?
The Doctor (Matt Smith) was left marooned in modern-day Colchester after the TARDIS suddenly dematerialized with Amy (Karen Gillan) still inside; apparently the repercussion of a mysterious entity living upstairs in a local town house, which The Doctor decides to investigate first-hand by becoming the flatmate of the residence's coach potato Craig (James Corden). "The Lodger" essentially became an odd couple comedy with The Doctor befriending Craig and becoming both his eccentric new friend and frustrating rival, especially once it became clear the Time Lord's a better footballer and call centre worker than Craig will ever be. With Amy stuck in a time vortex limbo (though able to communicate with The Doctor thanks to a space-time earpiece), the mystery of who or what is living upstairs had to be solved... especially as the alien tenant kept enticing passers-by into its room to be dissolved into a patch of ceiling damp...I didn't expect to enjoy "The Lodger" as much as I did, but it actually felt very refreshing. I think this episode should have aired far earlier in the season, because it gave The Doctor opportunities to be charming and delightfully eccentric in a manner that made you to buy into him as a character and truly bond. I'm not saying The Eleventh Doctor's been aloof and unknowable until now, but we've certainly missed having a clearer focus on his personality and demeanour because most of the episodes this year have been very busy. The last time I remember being this enraptured with Smith's performance was way back in the premiere; everything since then has been quirks and mannerisms, ultimately. Maybe the fact "The Lodger" was the last episode filmed has something to do with it.
Guest stars James Corden and Daisy Haggard were both very good, although the latter was sadly underused. Corden tends to divide opinion as a celebrity, but I thought the script played to his acting strengths with Craig as a normal, congenial guy who can't find the words to tell his friend Sophie (Haggard) that he loves her. This was a lack of communication that went both ways, naturally, and while the arc of Craig and Sophie's storyline was obvious and predictable from the get-go, it played out nicely and earned its moments well.
Above all, this was a very funny episode. Simply seeing The Doctor try and approximate human behaviour was great fun to watch (such as air-kissing everyone he meets, even bewildered football players), and there were plenty of moments to make you giggle throughout -- such as The Doctor mistakenly using an electric toothbrush as his sonic screwdriver, discovering he has extraordinary talent on a football pitch, making a crazy omelette, delighting in being given house keys, or talking to the cat.The episode's storyline could perhaps have been beefier, but it was more a spine to hang the performances off, so achieved its aim with aplomb. It helped that it had a pleasantly spooky problem to solve (the alien posing as silhouetted elderly men or pigtailed girls to lure people upstairs), and the reveal of the alien's intentions gave the story a boost because it was something I didn't predict. Roberts's plot also earned my respect for finding a logical way to explain how The Doctor managed to get in touch with Amy once she'd vanished inside the TARDIS (which fans of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey will appreciate), and the last-minute sting of Amy discovering her engagement ring (and thus, total recall about her dead fiancé Rory?) set-up the finale very well.
Asides
- Great to see the show's two new catch-phrases make an appearance, with The Doctor again insisting that "bow ties are cool" and Craig getting the "Geronimo!" line.
- You've got to love The Doctor as a telephonist putting a callers on hold while he eats a biscuit, haven't you? Or the Wallace & Gromit-esque device he'd built in his room from umbrellas, fairy lights and rakes.
- My feeling towards Amy have certainly changed in recent weeks. I really love the forthright, sexy, confident essence of Amy Pond's character, but someone really needs to sit Karen Gillan down and tell her to find some light and shade with her performance. She screeched a good 50% of her few lines in this episode, again.
- Unrelated to this episode, but how amazing did the trailer for next week look? Exciting stuff. But I do wish the trails were about half as long as they've been this year. They give far too much away. I predict it's Davros inside the Pandorica, incidentally. Maybe he escaped through time in season 4 and the Pandorica's his "escape pod" that nobody since has been able to open, becoming a legendary artifact in the meantime?
- Time Lords can impart knowledge and share memories through violent head butts? I mean, really? This felt like one of those silly contrivances we'll never see or hear about again in the series, meaning nitpickers will always wonder why The Doctor doesn't just land a Glasgow Kiss on various villains he needs to convince of something in the future. Hey ho.
- "The Lodger" is based on a comic strip Gareth Roberts wrote for a Doctor Who Annual, although only the core idea survives this TV adaptation.
- A flyer advertising a Vincent Van Gogh exhibition can be seen pinned to Craig's fridge, having been part of last week's "Vincent And The Doctor".
- This one of few episodes where The Doctor barely shares the screen with his companion.
- Matt Smith was a gifted footballer as a teenager, playing on the youth teams for Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City. Unfortunately, a leg injury put a stop to his promising career. Fortunately, he instead pursued acting more rigorously, and the rest is history!
- Of course The Doctor's football strip number was 11, being the Eleventh Doctor.
WRITER: Gareth Roberts
DIRECTOR: Catherine Morshead
GUEST CAST: James Corden, Daisy Haggard, Owen Donovan, Babatunde Aleshe, Jem Wall, Karen Seacombe & Kamara Bacchus
AIRDATE/CHANNEL: 12 JUNE 2010 - BBC1/HD, 6.45PM
Next time...
