Could not sleep, early blogpost... Enjoy.
And we are back
in sort of scary episode mode, and to be honest it was a very good episode. Perhaps
not as chilling as some of the others but the lack of jump scares alone made it
worth it and there was a fresh spin on things. Heck even Clara was likeable this
time around. It was also fun to see the Doctor taking a backseat and having to
rely on others, a welcome development in his case.
So the
story as we know it: The episode opens with a man losing a dimension. Rather jarring
I would say. With that mystery afoot we cut to the Doctor and Clara who is still…
Well… cheating on Danny as much as one can do in a platonic relationship with a
Time-Lord. That is to say she is lying
about going on adventures through time and space by getting back to the very
moment she disappeared so that Danny does not notice that she is gone. The
Doctor being an unwitting pawn driven by his desire to have a relationship with
Clara, no matter the kind. Any way they
set down a bit rough and find them self with a kiddy sized TARDIS.
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| Now that would be a awesome playhouse |
Something is
leeching the dimensional energy in the area. The Doctor sends Clara out to do
some recon while he researches what in a small blue box could have gone wrong
as this is not one of the TARDIS usual hijinks. Clara comes back to a pocket
sized TARDIS with the Doctor trapped inside and have to pick up the mantle of
the Doctor. So with the Doctor in her bag she sets out to find out what is
wrong, the Doctor following everything from a small bug in her head. Now in
good order she soon picks up a companion in the form of a graffiti artist doing
community service. Turns out a lot of people have disappeared and the only
thing left behind are some weird art. So after some confusion and psychic paper
the trio have figured out that they are dealing with two-dimensional beings and
before you know it Clara is leading a band of penal workers trying to solve the
mystery without getting killed at the same time. The TARDIS get pushed down a
shaft and end up on the train tracks, even after some hands-on solution form
the Doctor he has to activate something called the “siege mode” in order to
survive, turning the TARDIS in the cube form Hellraiser and making it impervious
to harm but also shutting the Doctor in with no way out. Left to her own Clara
figures out a way to re-power the TARDIS that had been drained by the 2-D
creatures as they upgraded them self to 3-D and in one last desperate attempt
to give the Doctor a chance to live she tricks the beings to pump their dimension
altering powers in to a fake door and by extension the TARDIS. Once free the
Doctor says one last prayer for both his own soul and the beings outside before
he banish them back to their own dimension and potentially kill them in the
process. The episode ends with Clara demanding that the Doctor admit she was a
good doctor, his answer is a rather chilling one…. You where an exceptional
doctor… Goodness had nothing to do with it.
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| Is that a Doctor in your pocket or are you just happy to see me. |
So as I said
this episode is very much a suspense episode, not an outright horror episode
but rather one playing with a low frequency tension that keep you on the edge of your seat, even
if you know that things will in fact work out to the best. It was also nice to
see Clara take a more pro-active role and actually doing things rather than
being a pawn of the universe that she so often ends up as. The insight on to
what it is to be the Doctor also seems to be a bit sobering for her even if her
success quickly goes to her head and I am sure that there will be no end of her
bringing this fact up. The Doctor as I said was for the most part relegated to
the sofa, following the action from afar so to speak until he had to activate
the latest in silly TARDIS gimmicks, after that it was pretty much just a slow
death for him.
Poor Danny
on the other hand was just being cheated on and had no relevance outside that
fact but I sense a fairly big conflict coming up there. Or at least I hope
there is because in all honesty I usually call the Doctor an arse but in this
specific case Clara is a as big if not bigger arse and stunningly selfish. I´d
say that the Doctor being a lot less of an arse was refreshing as his behavior as
of late is gruff and quirky-hostile far beyond what is needed or motivated.
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| It is indeed adorable |
So if I am
going to look at a theme for this episode I’d say it is very much perspective,
both in the very literal way and the switching of roles between the Doctor and
Clara. Both having to reevaluate what they know about each other and what their
respective roles means. Again we see some nice character development in Clara
during the episode only to have it wiped out in the last couple of minutes
bringing us back to status quo for the next episode. I hope it will have some
relevance beyond another thing for Clara to be smug over. The Doctor showing
remorse in the face of an enemy is nice to see as he have come off a lot like a man with almost
Cyberman like detachment to the planet he has taken upon himself to protect.
Now it is
worth noting again that this season have been literally submerged in small nods
to earlier seasons, I think I brought it up in my E01 review but it is worth
mentioning again as it is a fun read to try and find them all.
This is it
for this time, take care and be safe.
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