Doctor Who put Steven Moffat back where he belongs

You could probably consider it a law, like gravity: Any popular entertainment fortunate enough to amass a fandom will eventually find said fandom at odds with at least some of its creative team. Star Trek probably invented it (what the hell, it’s invented every other modern pop culture quirk), but most every fanbase has experienced it. In the realm of the 21st-century Doctor Who fandom specifically, this nexus of passion and ire is centered around writer Steven Moffat.

Mostly known at the time for the BBC sitcom Coupling, Moffat very quickly began to establish a reputation as one of the most exciting writers working under then-showrunner Russell T. Davies’ 2005 revival of Doctor Who, a guy who would drop in every season for a stand-alone episode or two-parter that reliably brought the house down. When Moffat took over as Who showrunner in series 5, at the start of Matt Smith’s tenure as the Eleventh Doctor, it didn’t seem like there was a better pick.

The grass is always greener, though, and while the man responsible for two-thirds of the SuperWhoLock era of internet fandom had amassed a zealous following, he had a rockier go of it as the man in charge. Moffat fell out of favor as audiences tired of his recklessly plotty vision and smug voice, and Doctor Who entered a fallow period — only to be brought to vibrant life by Davies once again. And so an old dynamic re-asserts itself, 20 years later, with Russell T. Davies steering the ship, and — surprise — Steven Moffat back as his ringer.

Image: Disney Plus

“Boom,” the third episode (fourth if you count the Christmas special, which Disney Plus does) of the Davies 2.0 era of Doctor Who is such a return to form for Moffat that it is genuinely astounding. With the exception of a brief prologue, “Boom” is a bottle episode in the truest sense of the word, taking place on one set and revolving around a very simple problem: The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) has stepped on a sci-fi land mine on an alien world and cannot move without setting it off.

What makes “Boom” such a gripping hour of television is the way that it takes its premise and adds layer after layer of thematic and dramatic tension, loading its dilemma with nigh-unbearable levels of stress. The planet the Doctor and companion Ruby Sunday are visiting? It’s embroiled in a never-ending war. The soldiers are Anglican Marines, a faction of religious soldiers Who fans will remember from Moffat’s tenure as showrunner. They will never stop fighting, even if they don’t know why, and there’s definitely reason to doubt why. A girl’s father goes missing, and she thinks the Doctor knows where — whoops, now that’s a life imperiled, because she doesn’t realize the Doctor’s predicament. Making matters even worse is a small fleet of AI-piloted robots designed by an arms manufacturer to keep the battle running smoothly and profitably.

In “Boom,” Moffat’s long-established tics — showy, caustic dialogue and an inclination toward sentiment — are once again strengths. Like a lot of the best Who writers, Moffat understands that the Doctor feels most special not when he’s merely being smart, but when he’s communicating; when he’s talking his way out of trouble by showing empathy, not just by being clever. In Moffat’s worst moments of excess, this results in a Doctor that is self-satisfied at being the cleverest in the room, arrogant in his own intellect. At his best, though, in the hands of a talented, emotive actor like Ncuti Gatwa? It’s remarkable theater, as a man desperately tries to connect with people who have no reason to listen to him, who have been conditioned against everything he might have to say.

And, of course, there’s a bit of classic Moffat devilishness to the affair, a joke and a dare in the episode’s very premise: an alien who can travel to all of time and space, stuck in one spot. Will we still watch?