VidyutGore

David Tennant and Billie Piper own this show and their characters in an extraordinary manner, taking the willing viewer through a gamut of paces and emotions. Tennant convinces as young and romantic as well as hard and timeless and everything in between effortlessly. His physical interpretation of the role is extraordinary and consistent, providing a whole new visual layer to understand the Doctor and possibly setting an impossible benchmark for anyone to follow. While every episode can't be considered a 10, his performance easily keeps the viewers hooked through any and every writing. Billie Piper's feelings for the Doctor can be uncomfortably committed to being with him at times, but they do ring true over time and in other episodes where she returns. The energy their affection, love and sadness evoke is infectious and we are laughing and crying with them. Just perfect.

Incoherent ramble that fails to provide a consistent narrative. The writing is truly horrible and of the type "You are feeling XYZ" "Yes I am XYZ" or "Tell me your sinister plan." "This is my evil plan that will defeat you." It is unrealistic, immature and paralyzes the actors by rendering physical actions to mind-numbingly boring dialogue. There is a stingy and ill-advised attempt at setting up a Doctor-companion romance which manifests as Yaz developing the superpower to be angry with the Doctor - something other companions have done freely always. She proceeds to give occasional lectures to the Doctor for being remote which smell faintly of the worst of powerless women asking why the husband won't come home on time, why he won't talk to them... only the Doctor is a woman. The rest is the same. The relationship seems to have gone from polite strangers to cynical couple and bypassed romance altogether. The series seems to have forgotten what a romance is like altogether. What it looks like, what it feels like, that it is supposed to be a period of joy and enjoyment of each other... unless they have forgotten their genre and are going for some social justice version of a dark romance with damaged characters that enriches no one, but reflects reality well. Notably, there is no chemistry between the alleged lovers. Zero. This includes interviews where Yaz's body language is similar to that in the show - she looks up to Jodie rather than sees her as an equal a colleague off the sets or lover or crush on the show. For all the show's claims to diversity, the bosy language screams hierarchy with the white woman holding all the power. And this is not the Doctor - mothers of companions have memorably slapped the Doctor. Companions have lost their temper at him. The hierarchy is a development of this Doctor - worth mentioning, because it arrived on a halo of social justice. The companions have never been this powerless before the will of the Doctor. Gone is the time when the companions made demands and forced the Doctor to comply. Romance or not, it gave them power as equals and and provided necessary counterbalance to the Doctor. In the absence of that, the Doctor becomes surreal and flawless. Unable to acknowledge mistakes or have flaws. Makes one think of Martha with longing who left the Doctor when it was clear he wouldn't return her feelings. Not like the show serves as an entertaining escape in any case. Might as well deliver a dose of the worst moods from cynical social commentary. After three seasons the alleged couple still hasn't managed to get there, leaving the only options left as failure or bury the gays.