Puddle vision

You'd think the start of the final Steven Moffat series of Doctor Who, heavily trailed and with a lot of publicity around the first openly gay companion, would be something to get excited about. But that would be to underestimate the ability of those BBC1 "One-ness" idents to suck any sense of enthusiasm out of whatever it is you're about to watch.

"The Pilot" by Steven Moffat, directed by Lawrence Gough. Spoilers after the cut.

Fortunately the episode itself, "The Pilot," is Moffat very much back on form, although he may finally have run out of perfectly everyday things to turn into monsters - maybe I'm wrong and kids will be terrified of puddles when they go back to school but I wouldn't bet on it. The touch about reflections being backwards which makes this one weird has the potential to be creepy though - I wonder how many kids will be a bit freaked out by noticing for the first time that their usual image of themselves is the wrong way round.

Peter Capaldi continues to feel a lot more comfortable in the role than he did in his first season, the disguise - which he's evidently been keeping up for half a century offscreen - of a university professor is one that matches his portrayal, and can let him balance the grumpiness and smug intelligence with the eccentrity and not make him come across as purely unpleasant like in his first series. It's typical that he would find his way to the character just as he's about to leave.

The dynamic with a new companion helps, and Pearl Mackie lives up to the hype as Bill (maybe named after the first companion of the new series? The alarm clock setting off a montage of her daily life was also reminiscent of the beginning of "Rose.") Unlike the publicity which went predictably breathless over the introduction of a gay companion, Bill's lesbitarianism was introduced perfectly in the show itself, with no fuss, and her never-quite relationship with Stephanie Hyam's Heather the starting point for the story. I also like how down-to-earth she is. I liked Jenna Coleman but Clara's whole deal became about her being the Doctor's equal, which made her hard to identify with - and that's surely what the companion's there for. Bill reacting to the TARDIS by rationalising it bit by bit rather than just going straight for "it's bigger on the inside" seems to me a believable way that you might process the impossible.

Matt Lucas' Nardole is still very much a secondary companion so it'll be interesting to see if Moffat intends him to stay that way or has plans for him, possibly involving the arc that's being set up about the "something in the vault." And I liked the use of the Daleks as a background baddie - if this is a way of using an overused monster because of contractual obligation without basing yet another full story around them I'll be happy, although I'm not holding my breath that they won't get another full outing before the year's out.

As for the series preview, obviously it's the sighting of both Michelle Gomez and John Simm's versions of the Master that stands out. Has it ever been made explicit that Time Lords' interactions with each other have to follow their own timeline? If not then the Doctor could of course travel to the same time and place as an earlier incarnation of The Master, but I suspect we'll actually get a "The Two Masters" story, which given how many multi-Doctor stories we've had is probably actually an idea that's well overdue.