S12.E07: Can You Hear Me?

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Location: Aleppo, Syria/Sheffield, UK, Earth Date: 1380, 2020 Enemy: Chagaskas From ancient Syria to present day Sheffield, and out into the wilds of space, something is stalking the Doctor and infecting people’s nightmares.

Airing Sunday, February 9, 2020.

[DanaK]

Next time trailers

 

 

Guest cast:

Rakaya - Clare-Hope Ashitey

Tibo - Buom Tihngan 

Written by Charlene James and Chris Chibnall

Directed by Emma Sullivan

Edited February 3, 2020 by DanaK

[elle]

Now this one seems like the 'very scary' episode rather than the third one.  That promo is creepy!

[DanaK]

22 hours ago, elle said:

Now this one seems like the 'very scary' episode rather than the third one.  That promo is creepy!

Jodie has hinted there will be at least one episode that is basically psychologically scary as opposed to physically scary (like Orphan 55). This is probably one of them

Some promo pics

I guess another promo pic

 

[DanaK]

Even more promo pics

 

What appears to be all the images released at this point https://cultbox.co.uk/news/doctor-who-can-you-hear-me-new-images

Edited February 5, 2020 by DanaK

[DanaK]

Sneak peek clip

 

[Llywela]

Okay, that was weird. And after a season and a half, I am ready to admit: I really don't like the way this Doctor's dialogue and speech patterns are written. I am beyond tired of this modern reinvention of the Doctor as 'socially awkward' - like, that might work for one, as the individual character quirk of a particular regeneration, but we've had a whole string of them now, that isn't a one-off quirk, that's a deeply ingrained and consistent interpretation of the character. They used to always be so different from one another. It is high time to let the Doctor actually be different again.

But on the other hand - actual character work for the companions! Meaningful conversations about what they are doing with the Doctor and their worries about the future. Valuable backstory insight. All the sort of stuff we've been wanting all this time!

Also, nice little Easter egg references to the Guardians and the Toymaker, I see what you did there, Mr Chibnall.

[John Potts]

Well that was... different. The villains were genuinely creepy, their plots made sense and their defeat was logical (at least in terms of Who-lore). But fair play on the Producers for making the metaphor absolutely literal at the end where they pretty much turn to the audience and say "Talk about it!" And I loved that the Doctor's response to Graham was so... human.

Also, nice callbacks to OldWho with both the Eternals and the Guardians (last seen in Enlightenment, I think?). Do love it when writers mine the rich past for ideas.

[Llywela]

8 minutes ago, John Potts said:

Well that was... different. The villains were genuinely creepy, their plots made sense and their defeat was logical (at least in terms of Who-lore). But fair play on the Producers for making the metaphor absolutely literal at the end where they pretty much turn to the audience and say "Talk about it!"

Pretty well timed, too, with the Time to Talk mental health campaign just this week.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Llywela

[Joe Hellandback]

1. I actually like that we see the gang occasionally pop back to touch base with their loved ones, you always assumed they did. 

2. Yes, historical Muslim medics were great, we get it, cultures other than white, male, Christianity have value, you don't need to bash us over the head with it. 

3. Nice that for once the oh so clever doc is totally fooled by the bad guys. Although it seems daft that this eternal god like figure needed her help?

4. Why do the powerful and immortal always have to turn out to be evil? Can't they be nice for once? 

5. Okay, like the idea of the Dr and the gang going back to the original party where Frankenstein was created? Could this be where we encounter the 'lone Cyberman' who certainly has a Frankenstein like quality to him? 

7/10

[PWHCHCH]

Wow that was boring. Couldn’t wait for it to end. 
easily one of the worst episodes of NewWho for me. 
 

it’s obviously going to be a very divisive episode as I see others on twitter claiming it’s one of the best ever. 


Also, add me to the list of people who is sick of the Doctor being written as perpetually socially awkward. 

[Joe Hellandback]

58 minutes ago, GSManiac said:

Wow that was boring. Couldn’t wait for it to end. 
easily one of the worst episodes of NewWho for me. 
 

it’s obviously going to be a very divisive episode as I see others on twitter claiming it’s one of the best ever. 


Also, add me to the list of people who is sick of the Doctor being written as perpetually socially awkward. 

Yeah, it was lacklustre, I seriously was tempted to watch my recording of Top Gear instead.

[Sakura12]

I liked this one. I liked getting to see the companions react to being away from home so often and how it effects their friends and family. They don't really explore that too often. Although I'm hoping that means that they want to stay home at the end of season so we can get some new people. 

I don't really see the Doctor has being socially awkward, more as a thousand year old being that is not human. That's why I liked the companions picking up on the fact that they are always moving. I feel that this Doctor after what she learned is just running away instead of dealing with what she learned. I like that personality trait of the Doctor. I felt the Moffat era made the Doctor to God-like and I hated that. I like that Doctor is a little more grounded now. 

[Rhetorica]

Well, that was a let down...

[truther]

I thought it was sooo much better than last week.  It was a good story, coherent, clean, without any glaring WTF moments or plot holes.  (I still can't get over how they just let that kid get kiled by birds on the beach and then never showed the slightest interest in his whereabouts.)  The music was perfect, the scenes with the companions really fleshed their personalities out for once, and the "prison break" twist was great.  Loved the 50p thing.  

Although I agree with @Llywela about the socially-awkward nonsense, my only real gripe was with the strangely quick and easy way the Doctor sent those two immortals back into that prison.  That was too easy by half.  

[DanaK]

I really liked this and it was pretty creepy. I was in to it right from the start unlike last week. I didn’t understand all the references to other beings but I guess I can get a Who history lesson from others. We got a cold open and a Timeless Child reference

The resolution seemed a little too quick and easy but it gave ending time to moments with the team. I can understand Ryan’s angst about losing touch with his friends, but he can easily choose to stop traveling with the Doctor; he’s not conscripted. It was really good to see his friend getting help. Graham’s worry makes total sense and it was good to see (and Grace!). I guess Yaz’s thing was running away 3 years ago and the cop bringing her back and probably inspiring her to become a cop. But none of that seems nightmarish except I guess she ran away because she was really unhappy and couldn’t talk about it

It looked good and the music was really good. I found it pretty interesting and enjoyable

I ended up dodging spoilers yesterday, but got spoiled that there would be an animated sequence, which looked good. I ended up muting all my Twitter Who related accounts I follow yesterday and stayed away from Who forums, which seemed to work pretty well and allowed me to keep reading my regular Twitter timeline without hitting potential spoilers

 

It seems more than a few people are interpreting Yaz’s thing as a plan to run away and perhaps kill herself. That’s more serious than I thought 

Edited February 10, 2020 by DanaK

[John Potts]

10 minutes ago, DanaK said:

It seems more than a few people are interpreting Yaz’s thing as a plan to run away and perhaps kill herself. That’s more serious than I thought 

That was how I took it.

[CatWarmer]

I basically enjoyed it as a fairly traditional kind of Doctor Who episode.  Up until the moment when the mom left the little boy at bedtime and he started looking around the room..... I immediately pictured Mike and Sulley coming through the closet door.   Monsters Inc.!  And nightmares instead of screams being a source of energy.  So that was a bit distracting.

The idea of gods playing with humans for their own benefit and amusement goes back to classic times.

What was the animated sequence?

[phalange]

I read about there being an animated sequence and I really like how it was incorporated. Good twist with the woman in Graham’s vision actually being one of the bad guys. Immortal gods feeding on nightmares is an interesting premise. 

Seems like Ryan is questioning whether or not he wants to keep traveling with the Doctor. 

[DanaK]

1 hour ago, CatWarmer said:

What was the animated sequence?

I think it was narrated by the female "god" and basically explained how these gods toyed with mortals and caused a lot of destruction throughout the universe until some people came up with a plan to trap one of them with the two planets

From what I've read, the only other animation in a Who episode was in "Fear Her" (Series 2?) where the drawings moved. All other animation has been after the fact I think

Edited February 10, 2020 by DanaK

[Keely]

The ending ruined what could have been a pretty good episode for me. Talk about it! Clocked in at just under 10 minutes screen time. That is a lot of screen time that could have been devoted to the actual story, fleshing it out, building the tension, more on the gods, getting them back into the prison. Instead, we got another PSA. While it is an important subject, it felt very shoehorned to me and only just connected to the overall plot. If I squint. 

I don't mind the socially awkward part. While this is a fanwank, to my mind, the Doctor uses it as part of the/her human vernacular. We understand socially awkward. It's a lot easier to point to that reason than trying to explain all the little differences that mark her as alien, including but not limited too emotions and how they manifest and are handled.

 

 

[AudienceofOne]

Did they reference The Celestial Toymaker? 

Wow, that's an old story. Chibnall continues his Classic Who crusade. Regardless of how you feel about it, it is certainly endlessly interesting. 

[bybrandy]

5 hours ago, DanaK said:

It seems more than a few people are interpreting Yaz’s thing as a plan to run away and perhaps kill herself. That’s more serious than I thought 

That was my interpretation.   

I like Ryan struggling with what he's missing at home.  I like Ryan so I'm not anxious for him to go, but I like that it is a struggle for a young man to be missing the real life part of his life even while the life he's living is so much bigger than anything he has planned before.

 

[AnimeMania]

I don't think The Doctor came up with the solution too quickly, The Doctor just used the solution that thousands of minds over hundreds of years on two planets devised. She was just a little more thorough by trapping both deities.

The Doctor has some talented hips, that sonic screwdriver flew through the air and into hands like a guided missile. The Doctor relies on her sonic screwdriver way too much.

[Llywela]

7 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

I don't really see the Doctor has being socially awkward, more as a thousand year old being that is not human. 

The Doctor has always been a very old and experienced alien, but that never stopped them understanding and being able to deal with human emotions before.

I mean, she actually said out loud, "I'm too socially awkward to deal with this," when Graham confided his deepest, darkest fears to her. That isn't the Doctor I grew up with. This Doctor has from the start been very deliberately and consciously written as not just a ltitle bit socially awkward, but extremely so. Which might be okay as a one-off quirk if the two Doctors immediately before her hadn't also been written in much the same way, so much so that Clara used actual flash cards to coach Twelve into being able to interact with humans. This has been consistent characterisation for three regenerations now...which flies in the face of the 10(+) regenerations beforehand, during which the Doctor had no trouble interacting with humans and human emotions whatsoever. Heck, as far back as his very first on-screen adventure, when he was at his proudest, most arrogant worst, just hours after abducting a pair of humans in a moment of panic and pique, he still managed to rustle up a few words of comfort when he saw that they were scared. The Second Doctor was still extremely young and relatively inexperienced compared with his present day counterparts, and his general persona was mild-mannered and bumbling, but when Victoria came to him in the middle of the night, unable to sleep for grief over her recently murdered father, he came up with a truly beautiful speech about learning to live with the loss of loved ones. Compare that with the Doctor we saw last night. There is no comparison.

It is hard to reconcile the warmth and wisdom of those Doctors with the Doctor of today, who stands there listening while one of her closest friends confides his deepest, darkest fears - and not an unreasonable fear either, but one rooted in his traumatic medical history and closely entwined with grief over his dead wife - and then just brushes it off as something she is too socially awkward to handle. "I'm just going to go fiddle with that machine over there as if you never said anything, and if you're really lucky I might think of something comforting to say later." That just isn't the Doctor, to me, and I hate that the character keeps being written this way, that a whole new generation of fans is growing up believing that this is who the Doctor is. It was a really sour note to end the episode - and felt very out of place in an episode structured around encouraging people to talk about their problems.

The main source of this change, of course, is that the Doctors of old were primarily written as father-figures to their companions, whereas the Doctors of the modern era are written as their weird and wacky best friend, which is a pretty fundamental shift in approach to the character.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Llywela

[DanaK]

@Llywela I have to disagree some. Graham really just wanted the Doctor to listen to him express his fears, which she did. As with most people, she really didn’t know how best to respond, so instead of mouthing some platitudes, she honestly told him she wasn’t sure what to say. I think Graham got what he wanted, for someone to just listen. I do think she could have responded by saying she appreciated that he confided in her even if she didn’t know what else to say

Edited February 10, 2020 by DanaK

[John Potts]

4 hours ago, Llywela said:

It is hard to reconcile the warmth and wisdom of those Doctors with the Doctor of today, who stands there listening while one of her closest friends confides his deepest, darkest fears - and not an unreasonable fear either, but one rooted in his traumatic medical history and closely entwined with grief over his dead wife - and then just brushes it off as something she is too socially awkward to handle.

I'm with DanaK here. The fact that somebody is just prepared to listen is sometimes enough. After all, there is no real answer she can give there: his fears are perfectly real and (personally speaking) I'd rather somebody admits they don't have any answers than go, "You need to do..."

I really liked the way Yaz's nightmare was portrayed, because it looks like she'd let down her sister and got in trouble with the law. In fact, we see they were both on her side - but as the villain said, "You take your pain and turn it inward," which is very true.

Suffice to say, this really spoke to me. But enough of my issues!

[Sakura12]

The Doctor can talk about loss, she has lost many friends and loved ones. She doesn't experience death and disease the way humans do. If she had said anything it would be empty platitudes. And for me those don't make me feel better. She had a true reaction and Graham understood that. I also think he just wanted to tell someone and get it off his chest. 

I liked her reaction, it said she heard him, she understood he was afraid and nothing she would've or could've said would magically erase his fears. I would not want someone to give me a grand speech about something they really know nothing about. 

[FormerMod-a1]

You can say something without it being empty platitudes. That's quite the false dichotomy there.  "I'm so sorry you're going through this" "Thanks for sharing, let me know if you need anything" "That sounds like a lot to carry/go-thru" and a million other things.  Even just literally reaching out with a quick touch on the arm or hand.  

[Sakura12]

They are empty to me because they are go to sayings that anyone can say to you. Those are things you are supposed to say and if everyone says it how meaningful is it.

They are just words you say and the person dealing with something is supposed to accept with a thank you. This is my personal opinion, I'm not saying that others can't find those sayings helpful. They just don't make me feel any better or lessen any worries I had. 

 

[DanaK]

I think it's important to say that scene between the Doctor and Graham can resonate with different people in different ways, given how many people have voiced or have a particular fear and how others have received it and responded. There's probably no one right way to react or respond and I can see how varied people have reacted to that scene on here and elsewhere. So I don't want to say people are necessarily wrong if they don't like it even if I disagree. I do think it helps in this particular case, at least for me, to see the different views people have, especially given a lot of people go through this type of situation or have other health issues or worries on their mind and how to share and how to respond. Which is probably a good thing the episode was partly about mental health and getting help

Edited February 10, 2020 by DanaK

[Llywela]

32 minutes ago, DanaK said:

I think it's important to say that scene between the Doctor and Graham can resonate with different people in different ways, given how many people have voiced or have a particular fear and how others have received it and responded. There's probably no one right way to react or respond and I can see how varied people have reacted to that scene on here and elsewhere. So I don't want to say people are necessarily wrong if they don't like it even if I disagree. I do think it helps in this particular case, at least for me, to see the different views people have, especially given a lot of people go through this type of situation or have other health issues or worries on their mind and how to share and how to respond. Which is probably a good thing the episode was partly about mental health and getting help

I agree with this. That exchange did not work for me, personally, not even a little bit - but a big part of the reason I feel that way is tied up with the long history of the character and the fundamental shift in characterisation we've seen recent years, so I'm aware I'm bringing a lot of baggage to the scene. For me, that exchange brought to a head a lot of issues I have with the way this Doctor and her immediate predecessors have been written, in general. If others took what they needed from it, then I guess it did its job for them. To me, though, it felt all wrong for the Doctor.

Oh heck, but now I'm having flashbacks of...was it the Tenth Doctor who once cured someone of cancer just by handing them a pill he happened to have lying around in the TARDIS? This show has had a lot of inconsistent writing over the years, there's no denying that!

[FormerMod-a1]

4 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

You can say something without it being empty platitudes. That's quite the false dichotomy there.  "I'm so sorry you're going through this" "Thanks for sharing, let me know if you need anything" "That sounds like a lot to carry/go-thru" and a million other things.  Even just literally reaching out with a quick touch on the arm or hand.  

 

3 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

They are empty to me because they are go to sayings that anyone can say to you. Those are things you are supposed to say and if everyone says it how meaningful is it.

No, not everyone says them.  And for those that do, they are words of sympathy, said because they sympathize, yet know they can't do anything to help.  They acknowledge that the other person has been heard and understood.   It is one thing to say those words don't comfort you, which is understandable, but I disagree with calling them "platitudes".  They are nowhere near close to things like "This, too, shall pass" or "Keep a stiff upper lip" or "It's not so bad" or "I'm sure the cancer won't come back" or "Don't worry about it" and so on.  Those are empty platitudes.  (And even those are often said because people don't know what to say, so I can give them a break, even if I am internally rolling my eyes.)  

[Eulipian 5k]

The TARDIS was translating Arabic spoken and translated what the fam said into Arabic. This doesn't mean that they knew Arabic. It’s the same with the Doctor. She may have spent 2000 years on earth but she’s not human. The Doctor doesn’t know human love or even how we cry. Her answer to Graham was honest. Many times I’ve been thru a situation and later realized “l could’ve said this or that“ much better. Too often the off the top of my head answer is the worst. 

I've read posters saying the companions don’t approach the Doctor individually to talk - that’s poor writing. Now that, and more has happened, they don’t like the conversation, wth?

Great confusing, disturbian, ominous episode of Doctor Who.

[futurechemist]

I generally like "thinking" scifi over "action" scifi.  However I don't like navel-gazing.  It's fine if the plot centers around discussions of ethics, but there still needs to be a plot.  So I've been in the minority that has really disliked popular episodes like "Listen" and now "Can You Hear Me".  Watching the companions have aimless conversations with people, while cathartic to the characters, just didn't hold my interest.

When the villains were dispatched with 10 minutes left, I was sure it was a fakeout, that Zellin had them trapped in another level of the nightmare.  It was kind of disappointing that the 2 immortals were dispatched so quickly and that the epilogue was so sluggish.

I think Yaz's nightmare would have made more impact on me if the situation was clearer from the get go.  Did she have another sister that died?  Did she accidentally kill a girl early on in her police career?  What are the celebrating/acknowledging the anniversary of?

And I agree that the Doctor came across as callous with Graham.  To me, there's a major difference between saying "I don't know what to say" and "I'm socially awkward so I'm going to walk away now".  The first acknowledges the complexity of the emotions, the second trivializes them.

[DanaK]

I'm actually surprised I liked this episode, as I normally don't particularly like "trippy" episodes. But it mostly worked for me as a look into the psyche of the companions and little bit into what's bothering the Doctor

[tennisgurl]

This was an interesting episode, and I really liked getting to see more of the fam outside of the Tardis a bit and seeing how traveling with the Doctor is affecting them, as well as getting into their backstories a bit more. I especially liked the backstory for Yaz, I definitely interpreted it as her possibly running away to hurt herself, and her talk with the officer really pulled all the threads together. Sometimes you just need someone to talk to, and listening can make all  the difference. It even ties into the girl in medieval Syria, where no one listened to her warnings and ended up getting taken by the monsters, and the Doctor struggling to open up to her companions about what has been upsetting her. 

I suspected the twist a bit with the white haired woman when the finger less immortal seemed super chill about the Doctor letting her go, but it was still a nice twist. I also liked the cartoon backstory, and some references to other immortal beings in the mythos, even a reference to the Celestial Toymaker! We are heading way back into the archives this season, and I love it. The ending was a bit abrupt, with these two godlike beings being pretty easy to defeat, but it was all stuff that was already set up so I dont mind too much, and the episode was more focused on the emotional stuff than the alien stuff. 

I sort of forgot that Graham had cancer, poor guy. I wonder if that will come up again, if it comes back and he has to go to some other world for help. I thought their talk, while a bit awkward, was what Graham really wanted, and was consistent with what the whole episode is about, that sometimes people just want to feel heard, and less lonely. Its not shameful to be struggling with insecurity or fear, and sometimes people just want to be heard. Maybe they cant fix the problem, you can at least listen, and help them feel a little less alone. I also liked Ryan questioning his life after leaving the Tardis, it must be hard feeling so distant from your own life. Also like them questioning their post-companion life, and they dont even know whats happened to most of the former companions! In Classic Who most companions just ended up going back to their lives or staying in some random time or place they liked or stayed to hook up with someone, but in Modern Who, companion exists are often a bit more...dramatic. 

[DanaK]

I've seen some people say this episode, particularly the look at the companions' feelings and fears, should have been in Series 11. Maybe that makes sense for Yaz's backstory near the end of Series 11, but I think Ryan's concerns about missing his life with his friends probably did fit well in Series 12 because of the amount of time that has gone by and the increasing uncertainty and fear that his regular life was passing him by. The problem for Ryan is he doesn't even have a regular job as far as we know so he's stuck in neutral in his own life while he helps the Doctor save the universe. Like all companions who leave (on their own two feet) and go back to a normal life again, it is likely a heck of an adjustment

At the end we see Yaz give that coin to the policewoman to show that things did get better, but I'm not sure she's totally at ease with her life with the Doctor as she seems to want more, and I'm not sure she really wants to go back to her regular life as a young police officer in Yorkshire. She seems like a very restless person who wants more all at once, though that's pretty common with young people

[libgirl2]

28 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I sort of forgot that Graham had cancer, poor guy. I wonder if that will come up again, if it comes back and he has to go to some other world for help. I thought their talk, while a bit awkward, was what Graham really wanted, and was consistent with what the whole episode is about, that sometimes people just want to feel heard, and less lonely. Its not shameful to be struggling with insecurity or fear, and sometimes people just want to be heard. Maybe they cant fix the problem, you can at least listen, and help them feel a little less alone. I also liked Ryan questioning his life after leaving the Tardis, it must be hard feeling so distant from your own life. Also like them questioning their post-companion life, and they dont even know whats happened to most of the former companions! In Classic Who most companions just ended up going back to their lives or staying in some random time or place they liked or stayed to hook up with someone, but in Modern Who, companion exists are often a bit more...dramatic. 

I think the first this was addressed was with Sarah Jane in School Reunion. He just left her and took off and her life was never quite the same. Prior to that everyone just kind of went back to normal. 

[angora]

7 hours ago, Llywela said:

Oh heck, but now I'm having flashbacks of...was it the Tenth Doctor who once cured someone of cancer just by handing them a pill he happened to have lying around in the TARDIS? This show has had a lot of inconsistent writing over the years, there's no denying that!

I'm coming up with Eleven, in The Almost People. He's has a handy-dandy solution lying around the TARDIS that can dissolve the blood clot in a character's brain. (Which, if you want to talk inconsistency, that of course happens three episodes after a pirate's son has typhoid and the ONLY thing they can do is have the pirate and his son stay forever on an alien spaceship where the medical siren can keep him stabilized. Oh, Who....)

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

I think the first this was addressed was with Sarah Jane in School Reunion. He just left her and took off and her life was never quite the same. Prior to that everyone just kind of went back to normal. 

I wrote a blog post about that episode once, about how that storyline couldn't have worked with any other classic-series companion. Because other than the few who died, every other pre-Rose companion left on their own terms, either going back home or choosing to stay somewhere else (technically, the Doctor chose to leave Susan, but it was because he saw that she was falling in love and she'd break her own heart for the sake of staying with the Doctor.) Rose saw Sarah Jane as a sign of the future, "you just leave us behind!", but Sarah Jane is the only time that happened. Throughout the rest of classic Who, the Doctor isn't the one who does the leaving.

But hey, how 'bout the topic? I was kind of mixed on this episode. I liked getting more into the companions' inner lives and feelings. Even though some of what we were getting was new information (we knew from The Witchfinders that Yaz was bullied in school, but we hadn't known how bad it got,) all the nightmares made sense for their characters. I too am wondering if they're laying seeds for one or more of them to exit soon, particularly Ryan, and I liked the touch that Ryan's nightmare combined leaving his friend behind and the Earth being destroyed in his absence, bringing in a flash of the Orphan 55 creatures.

I liked a lot of the creepy/trippy aspects, I liked the Aleppo parts, and the background on the two immortal nightmare-eaters was interesting (and I loved the classic references!) But throughout it all, I felt like not everything QUITE came together in a way that felt really satisfying. I'm not even sure what or why it is. I think to me, it felt more like a number of intriguing pieces rather than a cohesive whole, like there was this slight resistance keeping the different aspects of it from interlocking.

[Eulipian 5k]

Episode 5 used Human Nature/Family of Blood as a template. Is The God Complex the template for this one? (It even had a young Muslim woman who impressed the Doctor). I wonder how they weigh call backs to Classic Who vs stories from Nu Who.

The Doctor has a thing for breaking combinations and not knowing how she’s being used. I was expecting Peter Capaldi’s voice to say “This isn’t a prison break, it’s a reunion!”

[DanaK]

Besides the Classic Who references, I liked there were callbacks to episodes this season, when Sonya asked Yaz where she had been sent (for her secondments I presume). Yaz said Madagascar and Hong Kong (Praxeus), California (Spyfall), and Gloucester (Fugitive of the Judoon). Sonya then mentioned they had a thing in Gloucester and their dad was going on about it, something to do with the Russians

It was nice to see a different side to Sonya this season, showing us she wasn’t just the whiny brat we were introduced to and who didn’t quite get along with Yaz. Of course, she had trouble holding down a job so she’s clearly not all nice and put together

[Lantern7]

Interesting episode. The (human) companions have to face issues and their fears in their lives as they travel with the Doctor. The Doctor has to deal with two assholes with the power of gods. And she looks to distract her "fam" from their problems with another adventure.

Back when I got into Doctor Who, I sought out old stories from the library. I vaguely remember Enlightenment, and I don't remember the Eternals. That might be due to Marvel doing a movie based on beings with that name. Or maybe I looked at Zellin and Rakaya and figured we were looking at new (unfeathered) versions of the Black and White Guardians. Also: "boat race," "new stick of celery," "poor Turlough gazing at Black Guardian's cube like it had porn playing on it."

I didn't have problems with it the way some fans might. Maybe it's a sign that I'm not hardcore when my "COME ON!" moment is a cuffed Doctor managing to get her Sonic Screwdriver into her hand. Imaginary monsters, planets seeming not to collide with each other, detour to 14th Century Syria . . . and we learn that Yaz had issues before S11 (or it became more obvious), Graham is still having issues dealing with Grace's death and his own remission (and I REALLY don't want the Doctor to cure him), and Ryan sees the consequences of his travels, as his friend slides into mental health issues that Zellin didn't create (but did exacerbate). Tibo joining a support group made for a good ending, though . . . it didn't feel like Chibnall was pawning him away from Ryan.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Lantern7

[darkestboy]

This should've been a far better episode than it was and alas it was not.

It's nice that Yasmin finally has a backstory and it's a good one, but again, it feels a little too late in the day.

Ryan's friend, again it was good but we barely knew the guy either.

Absolutely hated the way the Doctor dismissed Graham's cancer fears. I know she's an alien but that scene really annoyed me to no end.

The main plot with the two gods was just dull beyond belief. 6/10

[AnimeMania]

11 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I didn't have problems with it the way some fans might. Maybe it's a sign that I'm not hardcore when my "COME ON!" moment is a cuffed Doctor managing to get her Sonic Screwdriver into her hand.

That move would have made "Sharika" bow down.

[Bruinsfan]

I enjoyed it, but maybe not quite as much as the previous two episodes. Good work with the companions and their assorted issues, it was nice to see a look into their lives apart from adventures in the TARDIS. It was interesting to see acknowledgement in NuWho that the universe has beings that operate on a higher level than the Time Lords—that was something absent from all the episodes dealing with the Time War, and the last three Doctors have been acting as if they're the ultimate remaining authority.

[Set Them Free]

I think the interaction between the Doctor and Graham at the end was less about the Doctor being socially awkward, and more about the Doctor trying to maintain a wall between herself and her companions.  She wants them around so that she has someone to talk to, but she does not want to get too close to them.  She is not confiding in them, or involving them in her central mystery.

I think even taking the time to try to find the words to comfort Graham would have her taking the first step down a path she is actively avoiding.  Saying that she is “socially awkward” was the easiest off-ramp.

[DoctorAtomic]

I have lots of plans. Identifying which ones will work is the tricky bit.
That's one of the most Doctor lines.

I also like Thirteen's 'ew' when she yanked the finger out of her ear.

On 2/9/2020 at 1:44 PM, Joe Hellandback said:

1. I actually like that we see the gang occasionally pop back to touch base with their loved ones, you always assumed they did. 

Emphasis on occasionally though. It got to be a little much with Clara for me. I do think this is one of the better features of NuWho, but used correctly.

I mean, yeah, the hip-sonic shimmy was a bit much, but the Doctor isn't much one for otherworldly being messing around with earth.

On 2/10/2020 at 2:42 PM, DanaK said:

I'm not sure she really wants to go back to her regular life as a young police officer in Yorkshire. She seems like a very restless person who wants more all at once, though that's pretty common with young people

UNIT.

10 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

That move would have made "Sharika" bow down.

That would have been a great Doctor quip. Shakira taught it to her one time on an unnamed adventure.

[Chyromaniac]

In an episode about why it’s necessary and needed to talk about one’s mental health, I see absolutely no problem with the Doctor explaining to Graham that she’s “socially awkward” and needs a minute to come up with something reassuring to say.  To me, that’s just her being honest about her emotions- the same as Graham telling her about his fears.  And he seems to take it in stride- i feel like he knows that she will be there for him, it just takes a minute to figure out how to help.  (Granted, she still needs to be more open about her other concerns- the Timeless Child, Gallifrey, etc- but that’s for another show).  To paraphrase what she says earlier, she can have lots of reassuring words - picking the ones that will work is the tricky part.  Apparently the word she settled on was “Frankenstein”- so we’ll have to see how gothic horror works as therapy next time...

[Monners]

I think I've got dementia!! When Chibnall writes the episodes, I don't understand them