Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: S05E11 – The Lodger

In the eleventh episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who, the Doctor becomes separated by Amy, who is stuck in the TARDIS, and is forced to go undercover as a human being while he tries to discover who lives in the flat above his new flatmate, Craig Owens.

I’ve been waiting for an episode in series five that was much more silly than the others, and I dearly hoped that “The Vampires of Venice” was not that episode. With “The Lodger,” writer Gareth Roberts (WHO HAS PENNED SOME RATHER FANTASTIC EPISODES, I MIGHT ADD) not only gives us one of the funniest episodes of the show’s run, but he manages to show us a side of the Doctor we’d not seen before, especially by forcing him to try and live in disguise.

The set-up for this episode is really rapid, but things do settle down right after this. The Doctor is pushed out of the TARDIS and Amy is trapped inside as it is impossible to land. We’re shown flat 79B, with that creepy person who lures people inside with some sort of hallucination representing the one thing that would cause them to walk up the stairs to that room. But all of that is nowhere near as important as Craig Owens.

Beautiful Craig Owens. What a rich, layered, and fantastic character he is. This script is not bad in any way, but James Corden is about as perfect of an actor as there could be for the role. We meet him at the same time as Sophie, his best friend, and it’s pretty obvious that he has the world’s biggest crush on her. I wasn’t too excited about how obvious this plot point was, but it proved to be a crucial focus of the entire episode. And not in a way that was irritating, either!

Of course, the great reveal in the cold open was that Craig’s advertisement for a new flatmate is answered rather quickly. By the Doctor. Who wants to be Craig’s new flatmate. FOR REAL.

It’s magical. PURE MAGIC. Hogwarts is jealous of this shit. Watching the Doctor interact so flawlessly with Craig is one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever seen. The Doctor is an intensely knowledgeable being, but here we get to see him out of his element in a way that’s not destructive or frightening. He spends a lot of times with humans, but it’s a reminder that he’s not actually a human, either. In this situation, it’s the details that count. The Doctor knows humanity in a grand, sweeping gesture sort of way. But does he know how to make a good omelette? (Ok, wait, he does. How does he know that????)

Despite that I felt that Craig and The Doctor’s dialogue could have fit virtually any incarnation of The Doctor, Matt Smith makes this role unmistakably his. Of all the Doctors I’ve seen, he’s the most whimsical of the bunch. With the severity of the situation in the TARDIS threatening to send Amy spiraling into the Time Vortex, the Doctor seems to gravitate towards keeping his sense of humor to keep himself grounded. I didn’t expect him to also have the ability to stay in contact with Amy either, as these companion-lite episodes are usually missing the companion far more than in this episode. Still, after the harrowing last two episodes, full of so much sadness and grief, it was really pleasant to get this story right before the series finale. (OH GOD I AM SO CLOSE)

I also don’t think I expected to see Matt Smith stumbled out of the shower half naked, either. He’s really pale, isn’t he? As Craig began to walk up the stairs to 79B, I didn’t actually believe he’d go inside, but part of me wanted him to. Because…WHAT THE FUCK IS IN THERE. Were people dying upstairs? Why could the entity change its appearance? Fearing the worst about whatever was in the flat above him, the Doctor rushes out of his flat, clad only in a towel, his sonic screwdriver in hand. But the man upstairs rejected Craig’s help and the Doctor is actually holding Craig’s toothbrush. Which is just the best thing of all time, really. I might just start pretending my toothbrush is a sonic screwdriver, but that’s just sad.

ON TO SOPHIE. I like her quite a bit, and I totally understand why Craig is smitten with her, and the Doctor sees how unbearably obvious it is that they both like each other when he meets her. In a towel. Holding Craig’s toothbrush. Seriously, I love you, Matt Smith. And let’s just talk about Matt Smith, who must have a history with football. When Craig finds out he needs another player for his local league, the Doctor offers himself up, despite believing that football is the game with sticks. Sticks. Seriously. And to everyone’s surprise (mine included), THE DOCTOR IS RATHER BRILLIANT AT FOOTBALL. Actually, he is FRIGHTENINGLY GOOD. Aside from the joy of watching Matt Smith play football, this scene also sows the seeds for another important point: The Doctor cannot be human. Over the course of “The Ledger,” the Doctor really does try his best to fit in, but the football scene is evidence to how oblivious of a Time Lord he is. Craig is absolutely crushed that the Doctor is so good at the sport and that Sophie seems so genuinely interested in him. I was worried that this episode would end with Sophie declaring her love for the Doctor and that would just be icky and gross, but Gareth Roberts proves me wrong.

If anything, I believe this story is about the Doctor bringing out the best in other people. Sure, he’s entirely oblivious to the effect he can have on people, and I think football and “date” scenes exemplify that. Craig feels that the Doctor is competing with him, telling Sophie about orangutans and her future as a way to impress her, when in actuality, the Doctor is just doing what he does. He’s trying to instill inspiration in Sophie. That being said…I have to say that Craig was justifiably angry at the Doctor for taking over his job. Only a little bit. I do understand that after touching the rot and becoming sick, the Doctor was honestly doing what he could to help Craig out. He was trying to be a friend! But I can imagine how invasive it felt for Craig to show up to work and learn that the Doctor not only gave his presentation, but has now gotten rid of his biggest client. (And that being said, watching the Doctor work on a telephone is PURE JOY. It was like the heavens opened up and announced, “YES, THERE IS A GOD, AND HE IS CALLED MATT SMITH.”)

But all of this had to come crashing down, as the Doctor was having a harder time hiding his “other” life from Craig. (And Amy’s position in the TARDIS was getting all the more perilous.) When Craig finally discovered the scanner dish in the Doctor’s room, that was enough for him. I’m glad that the Doctor didn’t think to keep up his charade beyond this; he knew it was time for them to move forward to confront the being in the flat upstairs. I know that I am a very new fan to Doctor Who, but I still really enjoy when the newer series shows bits and pieces of the original eight Doctors, and that scene where the Doctor shares his memories is really well done. (Well…did he have to headbutt Craig? Ow.)

And really, the main plot of this story surely isn’t the best point of the episode, but that’s 100% ok. This show is all about the interaction between the Doctor and Craig. That’s why the big reveal about flat 79B is so fantastic: the plot doesn’t really matter, since it’s just the vehicle for the stunning character development, and yet IT IS STILL AWESOME. I mean, I would have never guessed it in a million years. THERE IS NO SECOND FLOOR. THE WHOLE THING IS A PERCEPTION FILTER. That is bloody BRILLIANT. As I’ve said before, I like when mysteries are unexplained in the end, and Gareth Robert’s script doesn’t tell us who the spaceship belongs to or where it comes from. We never find out. In the end, is it really necessary? This is about the experience, and this experience ends in a gloriously cheesy (but entirely necessary way): with Sophie and Craig realizing they both don’t actually want to leave because they are in love with each other. (I don’t even want to bother with the science of this all. It’s too much for me.)

Sure, this episode goes out on a sweetly positive note. Craig and Sophie are in love! The Doctor gets Amy back! All is well! And while I do love when Doctor Who gets bleak, I also think this show has room to be hopefully optimistic. If so, this is exactly the way to do it.

THOUGHTS

• I TOTALLY SPOTTED THE VAN GOGH ADVERTISEMENT ON THE FRIDGE.
• Have we ever heard the Doctor state his number of regenerations before this?
• “No, I’ll fix it, I’m good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No, I’m the Doctor, don’t call me the Rotmeister.”
• “Hello, I’m Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue, please state the nature of your emergency.”
• “Six billion people? Watching you two work, I’m starting to wonder where they all come from.”
• “Don’t spend it all on sweets. Unless you like sweets. I like sweets.”
• “Oh, I will. I’ll shout… if that happens. Something like… I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS!”
• THAT GODDAMN CRACK. OH GOD, PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS PLEASE