Doctor Who Series 8 Episode 4 - Listen - Review

Starring: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Samuel Anderson & Remi Gooding

Written By: Steven Moffat

Directed By: Douglas Mackinnon

 

Let's face it, in every long-running franchise, there are episodes or films that we consider to be underrated or overrated. Doctor Who is no exception. Personally, I would argue stories like The Sensorites, The Awakening and 42 are overlooked gems, while stories like The Talons Of Weng-Chiang and Resurrection Of The Daleks are perhaps held in too high regard. Listen seems to fall into the latter category, as while everyone seems to be acclaiming it, I have my doubts as to whether this episode is as good as many would make out.

 

What if we're never really alone? What if evolution perfected a creature whose sole intention was to hide from sight? How would you know it even existed, or if it were standing right behind you? What if these creatures only showed themselves to the very old or young, or the mad, or anyone who wouldn't be believed? What if the Doctor has never been travelling alone? It's these questions that will send the Doctor and Clara across time and space, in a bid to find out what lurks underneath the bed...

 

Now despite what I said in my introduction, don't get the impression that I didn't like Listen. If you ask me, it's overrated but it's still a solid story, and it has good intentions and strong messages at its heart. The idea that fear is a superpower – and the speech that the Doctor gives about fear is an absolutely brilliant moment. I could also see what the episode was going for with its ambiguous nature and the fact that we don't really get a definite answer to many of the questions that get asked. However, while some of the ideas in Listen may be original, the way they're executed on screen is anything but. For example, the haunted and creepy children's home setting has been done before and done better in Day Of The Moon, and the end of the universe setting has again been done before and done better in both Utopia and Hide. Even the episode's obsession with a creature capable of “perfect” camouflage is something that Steven Moffat has explored before, particularly with the Silence. There's nothing necessarily wrong with going back and exploring past ideas, but there is a problem when we seem to be praising it for being so original.

 

Still, there are a lot of things to like here. The strongest aspect of this episode is easily the post-production work on show. Listen is undeniably creepy to watch, and it looks brilliant thanks to some very atmospheric direction from Douglas Mackinnon. In his previous work on the show, Douglas Mackinnon has directed some of the bigger and larger-scale stories such as The Power Of Three and The Sontaran Stratagem & The Poison Sky, but here his directing style is noticeably different. One of the simplest but most effective scares of the episode takes place while Clara and Rupert are under the bed, and without any change to the camera angle, we see the mattress dip as something above sits on it. The episode's helped further by some great sound editing, with the use of music being noticeably muted and sound effects such as heavy breathing being heightened. Add to this some stellar editing, particularly during Clara and Danny's date, and this could be the best-looking episode of Series 8 so far.

 

Performance-wise, nobody lets the side down. Both Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman continue to impress, particularly Peter Capaldi, who manages to balance scenes that are intimidating, as well as the more comedic moments. It's testament to Peter Capaldi's range as an actor that he can pull off shouting moments such as “TARDIS, now! Do as you are told!”, as well as the “Why do you need three mirrors?” scene – a scene which got a big laugh from me. Jenna Coleman also got her chance to shine in the scenes she shared with Remi Gooding, which managed to be both sweet and scary at the same time. It's also worth mentioning that Remi Gooding really impressed as Rupert Pink, and while the character wasn't the most essential, his was still a very solid performance.

 

While both Jenna Coleman and Samuel Anderson gave it their all as Clara and Danny, they were unfortunately let down by the script. With the two characters going on their first date, I'd have hoped that we'd get to see their relationship develop and get to learn more about Danny. (Spoiler Warning!) While the two did reach new ground and share their first kiss at the end of the episode, the dialogue during the date felt painful to watch. I get that it was intended to be awkward, but there's still a line between awkward and bad. While attempts were made at developing Danny's character, they instead had the opposite effect, and ended up taking away from his character. Seeing the Doctor and Clara visit Danny as a child and influence his life wasn't a good move. Why? Because once again it's the same plot tropes being recycled – it's been done before with both Amy and Clara, and on a third time, it has become noticeable.

 

Clara didn't fare much better than Danny this week. While she continues to be vastly superior to her Series 7 counterpart, here things were taken too far, and although I'd never imagined I'd be writing it this time last year, she was overpowered in this episode. (Spoiler Warning!) At the end of the episode, it's revealed that Clara was the one under the Doctor's bed, after she inadvertently ended up travelling back to Gallifrey when the Doctor was a child. Having Clara be the one to influence the Doctor's decision to leave Gallifrey and travel the universe just overpowers her as a companion too far, not to mention that her repeating the Doctor's speech about fear devalues that same speech when going back on repeat viewings. Yes, the Doctor's companion plays a vital role, but again there's a line between being important and being overpowered.

 

I'm aware that it may sound like I didn't find Listen any good, but honestly I did. Maybe it's because the episode has been overly praised by many fans that I feel compelled to point out what seem to be the glaring errors here. Listen is almost the epitome of what Doctor Who seems to be changing into – trying too annoyingly hard to be clever, neglecting the characters in favour of overly-complex and not always coherent storylines, and overly recycling elements from previous stories, but not to the same high standard. But that being said, there are still great things to be found in Listen, such as strong performances from all the cast, excellent production values, some well-intended themes and messages and the occasional stand-out moment of dialogue, particularly those from the Doctor.

 

 

Listen



7/10