C+Q - Time Heist (2014)
Time Heist was by far the episode I was most worried about going into Series 8. Despite how much I like Steve Thompson's work for Sherlock, his previous Doctor Who adventures, Curse of the Black Spot and Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, are the worst stories of their respective series for me. They're both incredibly sloppy scripts (there's a pirate in Curse of the Black Spot who literally vanishes from the plot for no reason) with poor characterisation and many logic gaps. Luckily, Time Heist is actually pretty good, but it's hard to tell whether Steve Thompson has improved at all given this script was co-written with Steven Moffat. It's possible that any quality it has comes from His influence.
Unlike Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, Time Heist does timey-wimey circular storytelling in a way that both makes sense and improves on a second viewing. I'm aware that other viewers are getting sick and tired of time travel being such a major component of episode plots, but my stance is that this is a story that could only be told in Doctor Who. A show with such a unique ability to traverse time and space should take every opportunity to use its unique quality to do things no other show can. There's a lot of inventive stuff here, like the ensemble cast's memories getting wiped so their guilt can't be detected.
In fact, everything to do with guilt and the Teller has me hooked. The monster suit looks incredible and the lack of any obvious eye holes for the actor to see out of makes the suspension of disbelief easier. My only issues with the production of this episode are the incredibly annoying scene transitions that kept pulling me out of the adventure. It's like how Sherlock Series 1 and 2 has Paul McGuigan who brought such an effortless visual style and flair to the direction, including some beautiful transitions (like the bed in the field from A Scandal in Belgravia), and then all the directors in Sherlock Series 3 desperately tried to emulate McGuigan with ridiculously over-the-top transitions that all failed. Douglas Mackinnon is good but there comes a time in every young director's career when he has to realise they're not Paul McGuigan and never will be. But that's okay; we already have a Paul McGuigan. Not that I'm saying Paul McGuigan has a monopoly on good scene transitions. Edgar Wright also has some flawless ones in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End. However, Paul McGuigan and Edgar Wright are both very subtle about it. Having the camera whiz around with a five second animation overlay is not subtle in the slightest. Oh, and neither is having the characters walking into a bank in slow motion to the sound of twangy guitar music. It's such a weird moment that isn't particularly cool or atmospheric or anything. It's just empty.
Time Heist introduces us to Psi and Saibra, two great characters who I'm sure we'll be seeing more of in the future, even if it's just a cameo in the Series 8 finale like Vincent van Gogh's cameo in The Pandorica Opens or Winston Churchill's cameo in The Wedding of River Song. Psi and Saibra are too good to throw away after 45 minutes. That's the sign of a good character: when you want to spend more time with them and learn more about their past. When Saibra is trapped by the Teller, she tells the Doctor, "You're a good man. I left it late to meet one of those." That's such a great line because it's so small but implies such a huge backstory. The imagination races with lines like that. All of a sudden, Saibra is no longer just a character created for the sake of this story, but is actually a person with a full life that shaped her and made her who she is when we happen to meet her. This is a very smartly written script from every angle; the plot, the characters, the emotions, it's all top-notch.
Overall, Time Heist blew me away. I went in expecting to hate it, so the fact it turned out to be so entertaining has given me faith that the remainder of Series 8 will be just as good. Perhaps this will be the first New Who series without any duds. Here's hoping.
Next: The Caretaker