Doctor Who season 11 premiere recap: ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’

She’s here, ladies and gentleman–our first female Doctor Who. And she is glorious.

Doctor Who premiered season 11 this week and a global simulcast allowed fans in the U.K. and USA to watch the highly-anticipated premiere together at the same time. It was quite the whirlwind adventure to lay our eyes on the first female Doctor finally making an appearance.

Last summer, BBC announced that Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch) would be taking over as the Doctor making her the first female to do so and she absolutely did not disappoint. Jodie wasn’t the only new addition this season as a new showrunner, Chris Chibnall, has also taken over from Steven Moffatt thus beginning a new era in the world of Doctor Who.

The episode began with a YouTube video of a young man named Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) who is boasting about a woman whom we can deduce is the Doctor. We also meet his grandma and her husband along the way and the adorable relationship they share. Ryan’s struggles with a disorder called dyspraxia that renders him unable to coordinate properly.

Throughout the episode we see him trying to ride a bike but failing to do so properly each time. But it’s his frustration with being unsuccessful over and over again that eventually thrusts the episode forward. After falling off his bike once again, he throws his bike down a hill and stumbles across an odd looking object.

Credit: BBC America

We then meet Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) as she grows increasingly frustrated with her job as a police officer that spends her days writing up parking tickets. She is sent over to assist Ryan when he places a call, and the two realize they know each other from when they were kids. A freak accident with a technological tangle of wires breaks out on the train that Ryan’s grandma and her husband are on and while Yasmin and Ryan head over to help, we meet Carl.

During the multiple characters being introduced, the most important one comes crashing through the roof of the train–our new Doctor Who. Jodie Whittaker’s entrance is epic and exciting and everything we hoped it would be. And guess what? She’s absolutely hilarious and a combination of everything amazing between the previous Doctors–David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi.

As the group tries to figure out the mystery of the object Ryan found, the Doctor has one very important thing to work on–making a new sonic screwdriver. She’s pretty nifty and clever in making this happen with an assortment of various objects.

Through the help of her new friends, the group finds the episode’s villain, Tzim-Sha or as the Doctor refers to it–“Tim Shaw”. He’s out searching for a human trophy and has a particular affinity for collecting teeth.

Throughout the course of the episode, the Doctor struggles to remember who she is and what her name is. This is thanks to the regeneration process but luckily by the end, she remembers and is in full Doctor mode.

Seeing a group of people come together and befriend each other is a welcome change from the single companion of past seasons, and they all brought down “Tim Shaw” together. Another exciting element of the Doctor Who premiere? This doctor is quite optimistic despite the pain and trauma of the doctors before her. She’s fun, confident, and has a curiosity about her that draws us in like never before.

The episode ends on an interesting cliffhanger as the Doctor tries to locate her TARDIS and while trying to beam herself to it takes everyone along with her as they find themselves suspended in outer space. This season is going to be pretty darn epic, isn’t it?

Doctor Who airs every Sunday on BBC America at 8 PM EST!