Doctor Who 8x04

[such_heights]

+ Wow, what an episode. I spent a lot of it either clutching a cushion with fear or wincing sympathetically, but by the end I felt like I'd been told the most wonderful bedtime story. A really haunting, beautiful episode. And I tell you what, it has been taking me a little while to fully warm up to the Twelfth Doctor, but this episode absolutely sold him to me.

+ I can see a lot of iconic shots here that will no doubt appear in many vids - the Doctor meditating on top of the TARDIS and then going beneath the sea just for starters.

+ I was put in mind of last season's 'Hide' in a big way - something lurking in the shadows but no real threat, and a pioneering time traveller who turns out to be a descendent of the people investigating.

+ I loved the concept of Orson - only meant to go to next week but ends up at the end of the universe, even further ahead than we saw in 'Utopia'. I'm very glad he got to go home, and I'm glad it was left ambiguous as to whether Clara was an actual relation or just an old friend/girlfriend of his great-grandfather's.

+ Wee kid Rupert was adorbs, and both the Doctor and Clara are so wonderful to watch with kids. The trio of Rupert, Danny and Orson and fascinating really, quite significant past, present and future for a character we don't know too well yet. I'm looking forward to seeing how he fits into the larger story of this season, as well as things go with Clara. They're both so awkward and kind of prickly but also really cute. I'm on board. And it's very different from either Rose and Mickey or Amy and Rory, which I'm enjoying.

+ And then the end, gosh. The double whammy of the Doctor as a kid and being in that barn from the anniversary episode. Much feels, wow! A lovely mirror to Eleven telling baby Amelia a story at the end of s5, with Clara being a story in his head. Fear can make you kind, and fear makes companions of us all, because why not quote an episode from 50 years ago just to punch everyone in the gut a little bit more.

+ <333

Comments

[elisi]

My 8 year old flailed SO HARD when she worked out that it was bb!Doctor (and that it was THE SAME BARN) that I think I only caught about 50% of what Clara was saying (retwatched later to catch it all). But it certainly worked for the target audience! <3

[juniperphoenix]

My girlfriend and I have been tossing around the idea that the kid was actually the Master. I think it's unlikely to turn out that way (not least because of this post by owlboy that points out foreshadowing about the Doctor's childhood in past Moffat episodes), but it would be so much fun if it did! Especially if it turns out that Missy is the Master and is also the woman who arranged for the Doctor and Clara to meet each other.

[selenay]

I had to watch this episode twice, and loved it even more the second time. Particularly the ambiguity of the end - yes, a lot of the fear is the Doctor's childhood dream (created by Clara), but there was definitely something under the bedspread and something knocking on the door. Wasn't there?

That whole scene in the barn, and the call back to the 50th anniversary, was so beautifully done. Clara's speech was exactly right. I love all the ties into previous ideas and developing themes that were started in previous episodes, even 50th years ago! It's a lovely thought that some of these episodes are conversations with other episodes, in a sense.

Clara and Danny make me very happy :-) I love their prickly odd relationship. I'm starting to feel really invested in them, which I didn't expect. When Danny eventually ends up learning about time travel and the Doctor, I anticipate it being fascinating to watch. The ambiguity of Clara's role in Orson's life also worked really well for me.

It felt like this was an episode that opened up a dozen questions and left us to think about them, instead of tying everything up in a neat bow. That's something I really like.