We see this makeshift TARDIS again, in Day of the Moon, but we don’t learn how it got to Aickman Road. This is one of the rare direct sequel episodes that modern Doctor Who has done, with the Doctor meeting up some time later with Craig, Sophie (well, she doesn’t actually see the Doctor again), and their new baby son Alfie, aka Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All… not to mention a conspiracy involving the Cybermen.
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It isn’t even tied up in Series 6’s follow up, Closing Time, also penned by Roberts. Except for a spider-like spaceship and the reveal of a perception filter, the mystery of the apartment above Craig’s flat mostly remains a mystery. Who or what was trying to build a TARDIS and why exactly they were trying to find someone to pilot it for them is never satisfactorily explained. With two quick bonking of heads, we get to see what Craig sees (and at the time, it was a fan’s dream!): flashes of all of the past Doctors except for the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amy Pond floating out of the TARDIS from earlier in the series and the rewound events of the beginning of the episode.Īlso (spoilers, sweetie!), the mystery plot of the spooky apartment upstairs turns out to involve someone apparently trying to build their own TARDIS.Īnd it is this plot that turns out to be the main weakness of The Lodger. So, the Doctor gives him what could only be described as a Time Lord Informational Transference… Headbutt. In one scene, the Doctor decides that it would just be easier to show Craig what is actually going on than try to explain it. The things that he is usually so good at, like solving the mystery of the upstairs apartment and bringing Amy and the TARDIS back to reality, take a back seat to learning to be an everyday human person.Īs an episode, The Lodger does have some pretty cool moments that are significant in Doctor Who lore.
He is kind, sweet, and his usual genius self, but he is also socially awkward and blissfully unaware of some of the basics of a day-to-day human life… often to hilarious effect. But what I love about The Lodger is just how much what happens - even though the Doctor is good at almost everything - develops the Doctor’s character. Much like Friends or Coupling or any other sitcom, The Lodger relies on these, um, comedic situations to fill out most of the episode. And it turns out that the Doctor is pretty darn good at daily life, as he seems to effortlessly master (no pun intended) everything from cooking dinner to playing football, to taking long showers, to working the phones in Craig’s office. He also gets to play matchmaker between Craig and Craig’s best pal Sophie (the pleasant Daisy Haggard), both of whom secretly love each other but can’t quite express their feelings. While living with Craig, the Doctor finally gets to experience a day-to-day human life, as Amy tells him to watch telly, play football, and go down the pub, just like any other normal bloke would do. To investigate the very mysterious goings-on in the apartment above. Have a home base while Amy (Karen Gillan, who appears only in a few scenes) tries to keep a strangely-acting TARDIS from crashing somewhere out in space-time and 2.
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Showing up at Craig’s doorstep with a bag full of money, the Time Lord takes up lodging with Craig in order to: 1. His previous roomie conveniently, and suddenly, inherited a large sum of money from a distant relative (wink wink) and went on permanent holiday. Loveable nice guy Craig Owens (James Corden, yes, that James Corden) needs a roommate. Coming between the instant-classic heartbreaking drama of Vincent and the Doctor and the timey-wimey spectacular adventure of the two-part series finale, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, The Lodger is a delightful “calm between the storms” of a sitcom episode. The show is famous for its changing lead actors, showrunners, and even budgets, but what about genres? To stay fresh and timely, we all know that Doctor Who can change genres from series to series, or even episode to episode. Not bad for an story where the Doctor gains most of his information by talking to a cat, the companion(s) barely appear, and the main mystery just sort of fizzles out…
And even though it just turned 10 years old, it still remains one of my all-time favourite Doctor Who episodes. Written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Catherine Morshead, The Lodger is a mostly lighthearted romp of an episode.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a bit weird?”
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