Doctor Who put Steven Moffat back where he belongs

polygon.com:

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 Russel T. Davies’ 2005 revival of Doctor Who, a guy who would drop in every season for a standalone 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 Russel T. Davies steering the ship, and — surprise — Steven Moffat back as his ringer.

“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 landmine on an alien world and cannot move without setting it off.

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