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YMMV / Doctor Who S37 E1 "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"

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  • Accidental Innuendo:
    • The Doctor is reminded she needs a new outfit when Yaz says, "You need to get out of those clothes."
    • The Doctor, who has been a man for all known previous incarnations, remarks that it's "been a long time since [she's] shopped for women's clothing", leaving open the question of whether he was shopping for himself on the previous occasions.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: The two dislikes on Ryan's video about his nan might not be people on the internet being mean, but rather it could be the equivalent of reacting with the sad face on Facebook—an expression of displeasure at the situation rather than disliking what Ryan said. This is especially likely if those two dislikes came from people of Grace's age, who tend to have less experience with the nuance of likes and dislikes.
  • Ass Pull: After leaving us wondering for months how the Doctor would get out of falling high above the Earth... she doesn't. She simply hits a train at full speed, and then casually gets up without much protest. Granted, this was still the first fifteen hours after her regeneration, so there is precedent of her being able to survive such things, though the bluntness of the Cliffhanger Copout is underwhelming.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: In a Freeze-Frame Bonus, one can carefully notice that Ryan's heartfelt video commemorating his deceased grandmother that he posted on YouTube got two dislikes.
  • Epileptic Trees: Some people interpreted the Doctor's mention that it's been a long time since she bought women's clothing as an indication that the Doctor has had a previous female incarnation before Thirteen, pointing out a moment from Fourth Doctor serial "The Brain of Morbius", which could be interpreted as meaning this, and think the line may be foreshadowing an unknown incarnation of the Doctor that has yet to be revealed. Which does happen, but the Doctor doesn't remember being her.
  • Memetic Bystander: The man who throws salad at Tzim-Sha has become very popular within the fandom, being dubbed "Salad Man".
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • The "Tim Shaw?" joke has spawned a lot of jokes from Australian fans in connection to radio presenter and former Demtel spokesperson Tim Shaw — especially appropriate considering the episode brought up the Doctor's hatred of knives. The ABC show Whovians has turned this into a Running Gag by editing Shaw's face into a screenshot Once an Episode. Shaw himself has commented on it, and he appeared in the season finale of Whovians (corresponding to the episode where Tzim-Sha returned) to announce the winner of a competition in his signature style.
    • Graham's enthusiastic thumbs up and "you're doing it mate!" to Ryan practicing on his bike has become a common gag to use whenever tense scenes come up in the show.
  • Narm: American viewers will be left giggling over the design of Tzim-Sha's transport capsule, given that its shape bears an uncanny resemblance to a Hershey's kiss. Everyone else just sees a fig or onion given a dramatic sting with each appearance.
  • Shocking Moments: The last shot of the episode, where the Doctor and her companions are teleported into deep space without spacesuits.
  • So Okay, It's Average: This seems to be the consensus view on the episode based on professional reviews, as well as Metacritic and IMDb user reviewsnote . Most reviewers have good things to say about the actors — especially Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor — and were at least able to reserve judgement on the show's new direction if they weren't enthusiastic about it outright, but the plot is generally seen as a generic Monster of the Week story with not much originality. Of course, a lot of them also pointed out that this isn't exactly unusual for a Doctor's first episode, where the focus naturally has to be on introducing them and/or the new companions.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some fans swore off the show due to the female Doctor, unfavourably comparing it to Ghostbusters (2016). At least one person even went so far as to photoshop positive review headlines to make them look negative.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Many were upset at Grace's death, saying that, even with the crew understandably not wanting to squeeze five people into the TARDIS, she could have served quite well as the era's equivalent of Jackie Tyler or Wilfred Mott. Instead, she's, at worst, a case of Collateral Angst and, at best, a case of Mentor Occupational Hazard depending on how her death continues or not to affect Graham and Ryan.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Downplayed, seeing it was never really a plot in the first place, but Earth being used as a battleground between alien factions does sound like a good idea.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The Doctor chastising Karl for trying to kill Tzim-Sha by pushing off the crane, after Tzim-Sha just tried to murder him, makes her come off as a sanctimonious hypocrite.
  • Win Back the Crowd: For those fans who felt the show was starting to grow stale under Steven Moffat, this episode really helped bring them back around. Not only did the premiere received great popular enthusiasm about the show's new direction, but also high viewing figures — 10 million!

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