Well, here we are, the 4th episode of this new Doctor Who series. Admittedly, this review is actually 2 days late instead of just “a” day late, but that’s kind of the running title for the spot, so I am sticking with it.
I don’t know about most of you, but I have really had some mixed feelings about this series so far. I didn’t particularly enjoy “Deep Breath,” I loved “Into the Dalek,” and I thought “The Robot of Sherwood” was just beyond silly. Because of this experience so far, I have decided to go into each week with zero expectations, that way I am not disappointed. I will say, despite my mixed reviews on each episode, I am enjoying the development of Capaldi’s Doctor. Each week reveals more about this latest regeneration.
I tried to have no expectations for this episode, until I saw this:
Written by Steven Moffat
That always grabs my attention, and heightens my expectations. Plus, it was an ominous one word title, not unlike “Blink,” which I still consider to be one of the best TV episodes ever written. I was on board at that point, which was good, because the whole meditating on top of the TARDIS thing was just a little weird, but that is becoming the norm for this Doctor.
The episode begins by posing the question: What if we are never alone, what if evolution had produced a creature that was the perfect hider, and it is always there, just listening? In those moments when we are talking to ourselves, what if we’re not? The whole opening as he is going through and creating this theory was very interesting, and led to a very interesting premise for the episode, that unfortunately, ended up being rather disappointing. Granted, it would have been strange to have yet another creature created by Moffat that had something to do with turning your back. First it was the Angels, if you turn your back or blink, you’re toast (BTW, Colin Baker has a great way to beat the angels he shared at Salt Lake Comic Con: Wink. Just alternate eyes as you are staring at them). Then it was the Silence, a species we totally forget when we turn our backs on them and can’t see them. Now there would be the Hiders? You can’t look at them or see them, but they are always there. This kind of creature seems to be Moffat’s thing. Except, the plot twist here was that he didn’t deliver.
Sure, Clara and the Doctor do go back in time and visit their new friend Rupert Pink (I don’t want to spoil his relationship to Danny, if you haven’t seen the episode yet), on the night that he has had a nightmare. Not just a nightmare, but THE Nightmare, that apparently everyone has had about stepping out of bed, and someone grabbing your ankle from underneath the bed. Yes, they go back and visit Rupert, and he is scared because he has heard some noises and believes there is something under his bed. Clara climbs under his bed and he joins her, and they see there is nothing there. And then the bed creaks and there is this on the bed:
We don’t get to see who or what is under the bedspread. The creature stays under the bedspread the whole time. Here the Doctor gives a great speech about fear being a super power. It really was good, and should be shared with anybody who is afraid. He then has the three of them turn their backs on the creature, who eventually just leaves. We never get to see the creature in the episode and no explanation is given.
The Doctor and Clara then go back to the scene of Clara’s dreadful date from earlier, and she tries to patch things up with Danny, but it does not work out, as the Doctor sends in some space man to get Clara back to the TARDIS. The space man is from 100 years in the future and is actually a time traveller who ended up at the end of time, when nothing is left. The Doctor believes here he will find the “ghosts” he has been looking for. He ends up opening the door to the ship they are on, and almost gets sucked out of it. The space man saves him, but he has been knocked unconscious. Clara tries to interface telepathically with the TARDIS (something she had done earlier), and they end up some place new. A farm. She observes a little boy who is very scared sleeping out in the barn, well not sleeping, but crying mostly. Two adults come out and they talk about why the boy is out there. Clara is hiding under the bed. As the two adults are talking the discuss how he will never make it to the academy to become a Time Lord, and we realize this little boy is the Doctor.
He begins to get out of bed, and Clara, for no apparent reason, reaches out and grabs his ankle, and then tells him it is all a dream, and he just needs to go back to bed. He does, and then she whispers in his ear about how it is ok to be afraid and that fear is a super power and a constant companion, and that fear can make one kind and gentle, not mean and uncaring. She even mentions that he will come back to this farm someday when he is very afraid, and we see the War Doctor coming to the farm with the moment, and we learn that the farm has some connection to the Doctor’s childhood.
This episode left us with some interesting questions. We thought that Clara’s role as the one who keeps saving the Doctor was finished since “The Name of the Doctor,” yet here she is again, meddling in his past. Will she continue to do this until the end of her run at Christmas? We also learn that the Doctor is afraid of the dark, which my 7-year-old thought was pretty cool, since he is also afraid of the dark. The last question we are left with is: What was that thing on the bed?
Overall, this was a watchable episode. I would say it is Moffat, but not Empty Child?Doctor Dances or Blink Moffat. It had quite a few holes, and you’re left wondering why it jumped as much as it did. It was almost like two episodes that they squeezed into one. Despite that, it was enjoyable. I f I gave rankings, it would be a 3 out of 5. Good enough to watch, but not a classic.
