BWW Recap: DOCTOR WHO Meets Coal Hill's New Caretaker

On this week's episode of DOCTOR WHO "The Caretaker," we find Clara's school life and her life with The Doctor colliding. Keep reading for all you need to know about this week's episode, but be warned, there are SPOILERS ahead!

The episode begins with Clara successfully balancing her life with The Doctor and life with Danny, kind of. Of course Clara assures herself saying, "I've got it all under control," that is until Coal Hill gets a new caretaker, The Doctor! (A.k.a. John Smith--which brought out way too many emotions for me).

Clara, obviously knowing something is up, asks The Doctor if the reason he is at the school is because there are aliens, and of course he doesn't give her an answer. Clara does have one question for him that he must answer: "Are the kids safe?" to which he responds, "No nobody is safe, but soon the answer will be yes." Later, a police officer goes into an abandoned building after hearing a noise and he is destroyed by presumably the alien creature The Doctor is hunting.

Back at Coal Hill, The Doctor is driving Clara crazy. Clara is upset with the Doctor because she believes he is endangering the school. He shows her the scanner he has to detect any alien activity in the area. He tells her that he is looking for a "Skovox Blitzer," one of the deadliest killing machines that have existed. He tells her it can take out the whole planet. The Doctor then shows Clara his "special watch" that allows him to be invisible. He tells her that the things he placed around the school are time mines that will allow him to trap the Skovox Blitzer and send it into a time vortex a billion years into the future. He tells Clara to go catch up with her boyfriend, but The Doctor thinks she's dating another teacher, Adrian, and not Danny.

Clara finds Danny, but he reschedules their date. Later that night, The Doctor sets his plan in motion, however, Danny stayed behind as well to find out what's going on with "The Caretaker," and is snooping about and deactivating the time mines that The Doctor placed around the school. The Skovox Blitzer is pursing The Doctor as planned, but the plan doesn't go as expected since Danny meddled with the time mines The Skovox Blitzer does end up getting sent through the time vortex, but Danny is almost killed in the process.

Clara comes in, and The Doctor explains that the vortex will open back up in three days due to all the time mines not being on. However, Danny is preoccupied with thinking that Clara is an alien. After unsuccessfully trying to pass all of this off as a school play, Clara shows Danny the TARDIS and tells him the truth. The Doctor asks Clara, "Why would you go out with a soldier?" she responds, "Because I love him!" which obviously was a shocking moment for Danny and The Doctor.

It's Parents Evening at Coal Hill, and of course the time vortex reopens and the Skovox Blitzer reappears as the evening is underway. Clara and Danny go with The Doctor to stop it once and for all. The Doctor tells Clara to be a decoy and lure the Skovox Blitzer to the TARDIS, and he tells Danny to leave them alone. Thankfully Danny doesn't listen to The Doctor, because with the combined effort of the three of them, they successfully shut off Skovox Blitzer and save the day!

The episode ends with the police officer who died earlier in the episode in "The Promised Land" (also known as "The Neversphere"), and we also catch a quick glimpse of Missy! (However, she seems a little annoyed and not her usual chipper self). Safe to say that the main story arch of this season will be the uncovering of the true identity of Missy and what "The Promised Land" really is.

"The Caretaker" was a pretty good episode; the Skovox Blitzer wasn't anything special, but it facilitated some great moments between The Doctor, Clara, and Danny. First, the big news of the episode: Danny knows about The Doctor now! Danny, usually awkward and unsure, also got to show a more confident and strong side of him in the episode. He was able to save the day at the end, and he held his own with The Doctor. I enjoyed watching Danny challenge The Doctor and I can't wait to see how their relationship grows and changes over the season.

Though Danny does seem to be handling Clara's relationship with the Doctor as well as he can, there does seem to be hints of upcoming tension. From his inability to understand the different way she loves The Doctor, to telling her "It's funny, you only really know what someone thinks of you when you know what lies they've told you," I sense there could be rocky times ahead for our favorite couple.

Coal Hill student Courtney Woods, definitely leaves a mark on the episode. From snooping around to The Doctor showing her the TARDIS and then taking her into space, Courtney had some great moments in this episode, and I don't doubt that this is just the beginning for her.

I also enjoyed the nods to past characters in this episode, like The Doctor talking about a fight he had with River (please pray she comes back in this season), to liking Adrian because he wears a bow-tie, it was a nice touch for us die hard fans. However, the mention of "John Smith," The Doctor's human alter-ego, definitely elicited a lot of emotions for me, because the Tenth Doctor is my all-time favorite, and "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" were heart-breaking episodes.

Next week finds The Doctor and Clara on the moon, and their relationship will be put to the test in, "Kill the Moon." Check back here for another recap, and please don't hesitate leave your comments below, or tweet me at @k8linmilligan! See you next week!

Photos Courtesy of BBC America

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