Girl, Deconstructed

Girl, Deconstructed is a very, very standard story about a ghost girl the Doctor must rescue. It really isn't anything exceptional in terms of creativity of story - it's all a pretty standard sci-fi affair, and even the relationship between our ghost girl Marnie and her father feels very typical for a story like this.

Where Girl, Deconstructed gets much, much stronger is in execution. It's a standard story, but done really well. Everyone is doing a good job acting. Jana Lee as a sort of one-off companion was a little boring, but she's a competent enough detective she didn't come across as a useless character, either. I love the scene where the Doctor is explaining the nature of the sci-fi monsters involved. The special effects and music just evoke this sweeping sense of scale as the Doctor is explaining these cosmic beings, and it does a great job at making us feel suddenly like we are in space, getting this explanation of something completely alien to our world.

This was a nice palette cleanser after Ravagers and in general is where I would recommend people start here when experiencing Eccleston's return. It is such a cleaner start to the character after so many years away and just works for the exact reasons Ravagers didn't - where that three part set was overbloated, told out of order, and unfocused, "Girl, Deconstructed" is far more on point and much more tightly written. Overall, I think this is a great way to get back into the character with such a nice and simple story.