Looks like we're going to get another bonkers episode.
Spoilers Can You Hear Me? grade and discussion thread
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
Looks like we're going to get another bonkers episode.
Something in people's dreams......again? Could it be the Master......again?
Ah, Mental Health Awareness Week ep.
Good on 'em. Not bad but might have preferred a more clever solution to the threat than "sic an alien werewolf on them and play on their own fears", like having the humans fight back in their dreams.
Good on 'em. Not bad but might have preferred a more clever solution to the threat than "sic an alien werewolf on them and play on their own fears", like having the humans fight back in their dreams.
I really loved this episode. Not quite as bonkers as I thought it would be or even as much as I would've wanted with the idea of two immortals walking through people's nightmares, but it's still a great episode. The resolution came off a bit too easy but I don't mind too much because it allowed the episode to take the time for the three companions to reflect on their nightmares and what it means to continue traveling with The Doctor. In fact, I was actually a little surprised that the episode immediately explored the nightmare Yaz experienced, thinking it would be just hints of something bigger that would be explored later on in the series.
My only real complaint is that I wish Ian Gelder and especially Clare-Hope Ashitey had more to work with then stand around looking menacing.
My only real complaint is that I wish Ian Gelder and especially Clare-Hope Ashitey had more to work with then stand around looking menacing.
Yes, I loved that those name drops! It doesn't mean we'll see them pop up anytime soon (same for the Autons last week) but it was cool to hear about them again. Speaking of name drops, before we learned who he really was, I wondered if Zellin was The Dream Lord in an another form.
Last edited:
Pretty solid episode. Yes, not the first episode to involve using people’s dreams, but nonetheless an effective chiller with strong guest performances.
I’m certainly getting the feeling that Ryan isn’t long for the TARDIS.
I’m certainly getting the feeling that Ryan isn’t long for the TARDIS.
I'm not sure any of the team are long for the TARDIS, but they may be setting that up for a "doubt in the Doctor" moment in the finale. I'm glad they didn't have the Doctor unburden herself about Gallifrey - much as she needs to talk about it, she's not selfish enough to "top" Graham's cancer fears with a "my people are dead" moment.
OK Doctor Who tonight - felt a bit disjointed, and solved rather easily, but had good and bad moments - and confusing, with Ryan's friend, who was he anyway - and a lovely set for the monitoring station. The Doctor expositing to herself was excruciating, though, feeling like another primary school lecture. Overall,feltlike mostly setup, and Graham is till the best. So, middling for this era so far.
We saw him earlier this season on the basketball court in the opening of "Skyfall, Part One."
I liked that a lot. I liked that it gave all the companions time to reflect and think and have conversations about their feelings and their worries and their place in the universe. It took already established elements for all of them and built on them logically, and threaded in a bit of the season's arc with the Timeless Child reference (we still don't know what it is, but we do know it scares the Doctor) and the idea of the world being destroyed (intriguing cameo from the Orphan 55 mutants).
So we know that Ryan's fear is leaving people behind and not being there for them (understandable, given the situation with his father). We know that Graham's fear is the cancer returning (lovely to see Grace again). We know that Yaz ran away from home at one point, worried that she was trapped in an unfulfilling life. But we don't yet know what instigated Yaz's crisis, and what was the "anniversary" she and Sonja were commemorating?
.
So we know that Ryan's fear is leaving people behind and not being there for them (understandable, given the situation with his father). We know that Graham's fear is the cancer returning (lovely to see Grace again). We know that Yaz ran away from home at one point, worried that she was trapped in an unfulfilling life. But we don't yet know what instigated Yaz's crisis, and what was the "anniversary" she and Sonja were commemorating?
.
Last edited:
Was the mental hospital in Aleppo the same set as Pompeii? Or am I too imagining things?
Interesting take on mental health issues, and I especially liked the Doctor listening so keenly to Graham and then admitting that she didn't have a clue what to say. That. Listening is still important when you feel outside your comfort zone and don't know how to respond.
Interesting take on mental health issues, and I especially liked the Doctor listening so keenly to Graham and then admitting that she didn't have a clue what to say. That. Listening is still important when you feel outside your comfort zone and don't know how to respond.
My guess would be they made a promise to celebrate Yaz coming home - Yaz was worried about Sonja thinking she was late (i.e. possibly left for good again).
Ah, that's true, we still know what they were commemorating and I expected it to be tied with Yaz's nightmare. Hell, it still could be and it was left unexplained (for now).
And yeah, I forgot to mention that it was wonderful to see Grace again. My heart broke for Graham during that scene.
No, I don't think so. It was similarly rustic but I don't think it's the same set. Remember, that was twelve years ago.
Yeesss. I really loved that. The Doctor could've done one of her classic goofy brush-offs, but instead was more restrained and honest in the moment.
I don't know...that seems unlikely. It felt like it was something deeper.
I was very worried at first that the dream of the police officer and the empty road (and the vision of Sonja disappearing) might be hinting that Yaz had another sibling who was killed on that road, possibly while Yaz was present. But I think that would have been a bit bleak for Who. The specifics of the incident that led to Yaz running off are probably darker than we heard about though.
When did their Gran die? Might it be her anniversary?
Mine too
I realised that after I'd thought it. But the shape of the room seemed terribly similar. Like when you have a stage set and the entrances are always up and down right and left, never from the front. No matter how you dress it, the shape is the same. That sort of feel.No, I don't think so. It was similarly rustic but I don't think it's the same set. Remember, that was twelve years ago.
He must have made an impression...
That was my initial impression as well. Even though that's where the story went thankfully, I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought that.
Yeah, that might be it.
Or I just paid attention.
Weird - I know I cast my vote when I came to post a comment, but the vote disappeared...
That was my initial impression as well. Even though that's where the story went thankfully, I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought that.
Yeah, that might be it.
Or I just paid attention.
Oh, I paid attention.
I think this was my favorite episode of the Chibnall era. It really let things breathe for the companions, and I also enjoyed how front-loading all the frenetic wackiness into the first act let them tease a lot of Doctor Who concepts (seriously, for a minute, it looked like it'd be another "five-part serial squeezed into one hour" story, except all five parts happening concurrently, before it distilled down very effectively with the companions calling the Doctor for help simultaniously), before tying them into the ultimate plot of the episode, and that that plot was mostly character-based rather than based on a ham-fisted edutainment concept (I guess it was, a little, but since the edutainment concept was mental health, it's kind of definitionally character-based, and avoids the big sin of the Chibnall-era, a sense of fatalism in the storytelling since the Doctor isn't real and can't actually stop global warming, plastic waste, nuclear proliferation, runaway capitalism, and so on).
The retrospective elements and companions taking stock remind me a lot of "The God Complex," and I do hope this is setting up an option for them to "retire" from the TARDIS willingly, without having to be forced out, which has ended up being the case for essentially all of the new series companions (possible exception of Martha, depending on how you view her deciding to kick the Doctor to the curb, and potential exception for Clara, since she was going to have stepped back to return to normal life willingly before Coleman decided to stick around for another season at the last minute, but big not-exception for Amy and Rory, who had one foot out of the TARDIS three or four times before they finally had to be pushed out permanently).
The retrospective elements and companions taking stock remind me a lot of "The God Complex," and I do hope this is setting up an option for them to "retire" from the TARDIS willingly, without having to be forced out, which has ended up being the case for essentially all of the new series companions (possible exception of Martha, depending on how you view her deciding to kick the Doctor to the curb, and potential exception for Clara, since she was going to have stepped back to return to normal life willingly before Coleman decided to stick around for another season at the last minute, but big not-exception for Amy and Rory, who had one foot out of the TARDIS three or four times before they finally had to be pushed out permanently).
Similar threads
- Poll
