Gamersledge Doctor Who Mid-Week Review: Listen

CapaldiMidWeekReviewTitle

Good Day and welcome to another Gamersledge Doctor Who Ep. Review.  This time, we are going to be taking a gander at “Listen” episode 4 of the Capaldi’s first season.

"Why do we talk to ourselves outloud...?"

“Why do we talk to ourselves out loud…?”

Let’s jump right in, shall we?  The episode begins with a question.  We see the doctor walking through the TARDIS, and he asks, Why is it that we find ourselves talking to ourselves out loud…if we know we are alone?  This becomes a kind of half-premise of the episode.  He also makes note that there are perfect predators, and perfect defenses, but what about perfect hiding?  He has come to believe that no one is ever really alone.

...9...10...here I come!

…9…10…here I come!

At the same time, elsewhere, we see the other story that is happening alongside this one.  The story of Danny Pink and Clara Oswald, I think the ship is Ponkwald, and if it isn’t, it should be.  Regardless, Ponkwald is out on a date, and it starts well, but as Clara’s mind and mouth move so quickly, she says something that hurts Danny’s feelings and it turns bad quick.  Clara goes home to find the Doctor waiting.  He (the doctor) decides that he is going to slave the TARDIS to Clara’s mind and timeline to find the point in which she has had the same dream that everyone has at some point in their life (a hand reaching from under the bed and grabbing your foot).

 

She sticks her fingers into the TARDIS’s telepathic circuits (a brain-like substance just under the console’s ‘wrapper’, and they are off.  She gets distracted by a phone call though, and the TARDIS ends up a little off course.  They end up in the 90’s at an orphanage, there to meet a young Rupert Pink.  As per usual, Clara figures it out before the doctor, and they begin to question the young lad about his dream.

Clara and a young Pink

Clara and a young Pink

There is a scene with a person under a bedspread that is very chilling, but I don’t feel the writers really used it, it almost seemed like a throw away scene after a bit.  I felt that it had the true potential to be a villain equal of the Silence or Weeping Angels, but I don’t feel it will remain on the docket.  Anyway, the doctor and the two humans assure whatever it is beneath the blanket that they won’t watch it leave, it can continue to hide, and then Clara reassures young Rupert with a play army of plastic soldiers around the floor, all commanded by…Dan the Soldier man.  The doctor scrambles the boys thoughts with a touch as they leave, making Rupert dream that he IS Dan the soldier man.  I believe this action is ironic as the boy Rupert becomes a soldier named Dan, and the Doctor was behind that change.

oooOOOOoooo...a bed-spread ghost

oooOOOOoooo…a bed-spread ghost

Clara intends to go back to the restaurant to apologize to the all grown up Rupert/Dan, but puts her foot in her mouth, and the whole thing starts over.  They are interrupted by a spacesuited figure, and she makes her way back to the TARDIS.  A Danny lookalike from the future tied to her timeline in some way is this mysterious figure.  Without spoiling some of what I feel are the best moments of the series so far, we see a connection to an older episode, a link to a possible future for Clara, and possibly a future bad guy in the form of the personification of fear.

This reminded me of the old Howie movie, Little Monsters.

This reminded me of the old Howie movie, Little Monsters.

All in all, I would give this episode a 7 out of 10, I am still not the biggest fan of how they have been writing this season, but I thought this episode had some really touching moments, and some interesting irony that I hope was written in on purpose.  The graphics weren’t too cheesy, and the chilling parts were pretty chilling.  Alonzy!

Make sure to hit us up in the comments, tell us what you thought, if you agree, but especially if you disagree!