In short:  Fan-bloody-tastic.

Well that’s three in a row for me.  Three stories that have taken what has been an underwhelming season and given it a little bit more meat.  Of course, this does actually happen nearly every year.  The Seasons start light and fluffy, collapse in a stinking pile of poo about midway and then there’s this sudden resurgence, like everyone in Cardiff woke up and said, “hey, this shows meant to be marvellous, isn’t it?” 

And marvellous is exactly how I’d describe Midnight..

Midnight is obviously RTD’s attempt to do a Moffat.  Something a bit quirky, a bit experimental, but also very scary. 

That said, in doing the Moffat (that should be a dance) RTD also plays to all his writerly strengths.  His use of emotion, his use of tone, his use of character.  It’s arguable, but I don’t think plot’s ever been RTDs thing – although Tooth and Claw takes a stab at it and mostly succeeds.  For the most part RTD is a mood writer, giving priority to the emotional core of a scene over plot logic and coherence.  And I don’t mind that one bit.  It’s probably why I’m the only person in the entire Universe (Sean Williams you may want to look away NOW) who loves the bit where the Doctor turns into an angel in Last of the TimeLords and vanquishes the Master.  Not because of the religious iconography, but because it’s a culmination of RTD’s emotional themes for the season.  Whether writing sonnets, or being stuck in an endless traffic jam, or living in shanty houses and shacks during the depression, Season 3 is all about being human.  Which is why when the Doctor turns into an angel as a result of the thoughts and prayers and hopes of humantiy, it has thematic resonance for me, or in less wanky terms, I might have shed a tear. 

As inventive as Midnight is, it’s really all about humanity as well.  In fact all of RTD’s pet themes come to the fore in tis episode.  Humanity as petty and small minded.  Humanity as ambitious and daring.  Humanity as courageous and brave.  And it’s really what makes this episode work, because for one of the few times in 4 years RTD expertly marries together his story and plot with his themes.  It helps that the plot is very, very simple.  But then, that’s a good thing with an RTD story.  It means that he gets in less trouble when he’s trying to explain stuff.

But putting aside the story, the plot, the scary bits (though I found it more tense than scary) and the genius of having a New Who story set in one set for 25 or so minutes, what really stands out about Midnight is Lesley Sharp’s acting.  She is superb.  Probably the best performance by a guest actor since New Who started.  Apparently, Lesley was desperate to play a role in Who.  And because RTD can be cruel – and also because he obviously rates her as an actor (she’s great in Second Coming) – he gives her one of the toughest roles the show has ever had in its 45 year history.  And she pulls it off brilliantly.  It’s not just the mimicry, though that would have been bloody hard, it’s also the other parts of the her performance.  It’s the wide eyed stare and the nervous tics and the way she gradually changes and grows in confidence as the episode goes on.

David, probably inspired by Lesley’s performance, also brings out the big guns for this episode.  The look on his face when he’s been taken over is amazing: a mixture of fear, hopelessness and trying desperately to fight the force inside his head.  The bit where he tries to cling on to the seat with his shoe is chilling.

Some people don’t like the ending because it seemed to imply that the mob was right all along.  Personally I think the ending makes the episode.  The woman who first comes up with the idea of killing Sky, is the one who also is bold enough to sacrifice herself.  It’s an interesting reversal, because throwing Sky off the truck is an act of desperation, a complete contrast to the calculating looking on her face when she first suggests the idea.  It also harks back to RTD’s human theme.  Showing humans to be both blinded by bigotry and brave all in the same person. 

But the only reason the ending occurs the way it does is because the Doctor’s normal trick of making everyone trust him is totally neutered by the mob mentality.  If maybe the Doctor had had a chance to communicate with the alien, things might have ended differently.  And this is an episode where the Doctor has genuinely lost, where he can’t get out of the situation with his sonic screwdriver, or the press of a red button, or by threatening aliens and asking them to look him up.  It effects the Doctor so much, this total loss of control, that he refuses to allow Donna to joke about it at the end.

Oh wow… I could write so much more about this episode.  Most of it would be pretentious bullshit (unlike the less pretentious bullshit above) but shit, Midnight really has layers.  It also shows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how brilliant a writer RTD actually is.  Personally, for me, Love and Monsters is the story that really showcases RTD’s talent as a great TV writer.  But because it’s so odd and so different and has a talking paving slab at the end… oh and a blow job joke, it’s been dismissed by fandom as garbage.  And that’s OK, each to his own.  The genius of Midnight is that it can show off how clever RTD is without alienating most of the Who audience.  It’s nearly the perfect RTD episode.  

In many ways, this is the last proper Who story by RTD.  The next three weeks and the specials will all be event TV and so nothing as subtle and layered and as clever as Midnight.  In fact I expect the next three episodes to be indulgent, over the top and filled with plot holes that would make a grown fan weep.  But that’s OK, because I’m glad that before he left us for Mr Moffat, RTD showed everyone how truly brilliant he is.  Could I gush anymore?  Probably not.

So for me, Midnight is a 10/10.