Timey 2 wimey twitter commentary how to#

Thus, every episode needs to teach us how to watch it, asking us to buy into its narrative conceits. It may change storylines and focus from episode to episode, or even from season to season, but it still feels like The Wire.īut the same is not true for Doctor Who, which changes not just storylines but characters, settings, genres, tones, themes, and narrative rules nearly every week. What kind of show does that? A show like The Wire, for example, is very challenging, but once I'm in, I'm in. There's an initial adjustment period-in which the show teaches me how to watch it-but, after that, I know roughly what to expect, and I understand the rules. This is a show that essentially reinvents itself nearly every episode, requiring viewers to adjust their viewing style anew. Forget for a moment the fact that it completely reinvents itself-with an entirely new cast and crew-every few seasons.

There really is no other show on television quite like it.

So I acknowledge the inherent risk of hypocrisy, and I have no doubt that someone could (and will) argue against my 'best' episodes for exactly the same reasons that I hate my 'worst.' But that, too, is the nature of the game, and I think it speaks in particular to the precious and peculiar alchemy of Doctor Who. If you can't accept the rules of the game, you probably shouldn't play at all. Dismissing an episode of Doctor Who because its plot makes no sense, for example, is a little like complaining about bad things happening to nice people on Game of Thrones, or objecting to an episode of Deadwoodbecause there's just so much darn swearing in it. As I was writing my recent round-up of The 20 Worst Episodes of the Moffat Era, I was very conscious of the fact that many of the criticisms I made about my least favorite episodes could just as easily be applied to some of my most favorite episodes.

Timey 2 wimey twitter commentary