Doctor Perseus Reviews: "Flatline" *SPOILERS* · 6:31am Oct 19th, 2014
In this week's episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor and Clara land in Bristol and quickly discover that something is wrong. The TARDIS is shrinking and strange creatures are moving through the walls and flattening objects and people. With the Doctor trapped in the TARDIS, Clara must work with a group of community service workers in order to face a threat from beyond our dimension...
This was one of my most anticipated episodes this season. This was because, like Listen, not a whole lot was known about the plot. I was also a fan of the idea of a Clara-centric episode featuring a shrinking TARDIS. And...I have to say that Flatline may very well tie with Listen for the spot of my favorite Series 8 episode.
The Doctor didn't get a whole lot to do in this episode...and yet he was still fantastic! He was a ton of fun in this episode from his funny dialogue to his little celebration dance to his epic "I am the Doctor" moment (which was a bit overdue). I've adored Capaldi's Doctor throughout Series 8 thus far but this episode is what lit the spark which has caused me to completely and utterly fall in love with his character. By this point, Capaldi has most definitely found the footing for his Doctor and I am eagerly anticipating what lies ahead in the era of the Twelfth Doctor!
While the Doctor was great, this was most definitely Clara's episode. Clara's had a lot of moments to shine this season and this may very well be her best episode yet. Seeing her take on the role of the Doctor was a delight and it was interesting to see Clara begin to understand how the Twelfth Doctor's thinking process works. Ever since the events of Kill the Moon, Clara's been very critical of the Twelfth Doctor's methods so it was nice to see her get an understanding of the dilemmas he has to face (such as coming to terms with the fact that sometimes not everyone can be saved). Clara handled the entire situation extremely well and her plan to make the creatures restore power to the TARDIS was pretty ingenious, albeit simple. Honestly, if this episode (and the entirety of Series 8, for that matter) won't make some of the Clara critics like her then I don't think anything will.
The supporting cast was also fantastic (something that I, unfortunately, haven't said that much this season). Rigsy was a likable sidekick for Clara and I liked how they incorporated his street art talent into the plot at the end. Christopher Fairbank did an excellent job playing a character I grew to love hating: Fenton. That man spent the whole episode brutally insulting Rigsy and criticizing Clara and, in the end, he ended up being one of the people to live. He lived while many, better people died. He even had the gall to degrade the lives of the other community workers. It annoys me that a scumbag like him got to survive while several good people had to die...and I respect the episode for doing that. In real life, sometimes bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. And, hey, Rigsy and the guy driving the train survived so at least some good people made it out okay. However...I wouldn't mind if we got a scene in the finale showing Fenton getting killed by a Cyberman. Also, that ending scene with Missy sent some chills down my spine. We're only two weeks away from finally getting a full appearance by Missy and I'm really interested in learning her secrets. And isn't it funny that she referred to Clara as "my Clara" (something the Eleventh Doctor did)? Hmm...
The monsters in this episode were spectacular and they didn't even get names in the end. The effects on them were great and all of the kill scenes were incredibly suspenseful. They even continued to remain intimidating when they gained three dimensions. Also, the special effects in this episode were absolutely fantastic. The only effect that threw me off a bit was that Capaldi's face in the shrunken TARDIS looked more like it was a screen rather than his face actually being there. But, aside from that, all of the effects were great. I also loved the bit with the Doctor pulling the shrunken TARDIS across the tracks with his hand and it was interesting to see the exterior of the TARDIS while it was in siege mode.
Overall, I found Flatline to be a stunning episode. Clara took on her leading role spectacularly, the Doctor was funny and got an awesome scene at the end, the supporting cast was excellent, the monsters were intimidating and creative, the effects were some of the best this show has given us, and the final scene added more intrigue for the fastly approaching 2-part series finale! Next week's episode is In the Forest of the Night!
Are you suggesting this Missy is the Eleventh Doctor?
Yeah that did look kind of off at times.
I really liked this episode as well for putting Clara in the Doctor's shoes and making her realize first hand why he does the things he does and acts the way he is. She did really shine in this episode.
You know what's funny.
Criticism of Twilicorn. Answer to that: Season 4.
Criticism of Clara Oswald. Answer to that: Series 8.
Actually in his speech at the end, the doctor named them TheBoneless
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Nah. I just found that to be a funny coincidence. However...it could potentially hint at Missy having a stronger connection to the Doctor than we think.
Yeah. The Doctor Who and MLP writers really know how to make things pay off later down the line.
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I can't believe I missed that.
Cool name though.
Is it just me or does the TARDIS in siege MODE look like the pandorica?
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Everyone's been saying that. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. Well, the Pandorica was made to keep the Doctor trapped and the TARDIS in siege mode kept the Doctor trapped so...I guess come up with your own conclusions then.
"Sorry about them. They're idiots."
"You'll have to excuse them. They're idiots."
One of those came from this episode. The other was from Rainbow Rocks. Coincidence...?
