Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express
Episode 7: Kill the Moon
Episode 6: The Caretaker
Episode 5: Time Heist
Episode 4: Listen
Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood
Episode 2: Into the Dalek
Episode 1: Deep Breath
Summary:
The Doctor has done it again; he once again (by accident) brought Clara to the wrong location, this time to present day Bristol instead of present day London. And of course, trouble is right behind them. There seem to be a string of disappearances in the area, coupled with mysterious murals of these missing people appearing on the walls. And whatever is causing this mysterious phenomenon is also shrinking the TARDIS to the size of a toy...with The Doctor still inside it. As such, it is up to Clara to solve this mystery. But is she ready to take charge in defending the Earth from a foe that even The Doctor doesn't know of?
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Among the Doctor Who fandom, there are many debates, some of which include:
Is there truly a worst actor who ever played The Doctor?
Are the classic enemies of the show being overused? Does the show rely too much on special effects?
Does showrunner Steven Moffet deserve to be hunted down because of his work on the show?
Some are thought-provoking while others are outright silly. One question that I will be examining a little bit, since it plays into this recent episode, is the question of "Do the companions have too much focus over the Doctor in the show?"
Some of the female companions over the decades
I only briefly touched upon the companions in my review of "Deep Breath", so I'll go more in-depth here. The companions are the main constant element of the show besides The Doctor and the TARDIS. They were often The Doctor's friends throughout his travels and they served a multitude of roles, from being taught by The Doctor, to serving as his moral compass, or else just being there along for the ride. Usually though, the companions serve as the "audiences surrogate", the person that the general viewing audience can identify with. As seen in the picture above, the companions were mostly female humans, though there were male companions, and some companions that were even robots or aliens. Perhaps the most unique companion out of all of them is this guy, and he only appeared in the Doctor Who comics:
Frobisher, a shape-shifting, thieving penguin
Like the different incarnations of The Doctor, there are companions that are universally loved, generally hated, indifferent, or forgotten. The classic series from 1963-1989 have given us a multitude of companions, but they were not what you would really call the "focus" of the show. They were there to just be with the Doctor and grow as characters. The revived series from 2005- Present though has put the companions in a much larger light. Entire seasons or episodes would revolve around one companion, or define a large part of one aspect of The Doctor's life. It is a criticism that is not without merit, as it has become a major point where there are accusations of the companions hijacking the show and it becoming less about The Doctor himself.
It is one that I can't give a real opinion since I haven't seen a lot of previous seasons to judge. But the reason I bring up the subject here is because this episode puts Clara at the forefront of the action, and The Doctor not doing much except staying in the TARDIS and giving advice. It is Clara that leads the supporting cast of the episode, Clara that wields the Doctor's technological devices, Clara who passes herself off as the hero, and Clara who has to make the tough choices.
Does that mean the episode is bad? HECK NO. While I have yet to find an episode this season that is truly bad or awful, this is another one that can be chalked up to being one of the greatest of this season. A very strong story, good supporting cast, excellent acting from the two main leads, good story elements that tie-in to the overarching plot of this season, and a truly terrifying enemy of the episode; perhaps the best "new" foes introduced this season. This is the episode Flatline.
Forget the robot knights, Moon Spiders, Skovox Blitzer, the Teller, or the Foretold, THIS is truly nightmarish
The episode starts off with The Doctor intending to take Clara home after an adventure...and ending up at the wrong place. But it was still the correct time period, so hey its better than nothing. As shown in "Into the Dalek", there are times when The Doctor accidentally ends up in the wrong place or the wrong time period, and that can be attributed to just The Doctor messing up or the TARDIS acting faulty. The show's lore during the later years of the classic series will show that the TARDIS is extremely fickle, almost to the point that sometimes its as if the TARDIS chooses the destinations and not The Doctor. A good scene in the episode to keep that tradition alive. To make things worse, the TARDIS has shrunk down to the size of a toy and only Clara manages to get out of it, while The Doctor is stuck inside. A common joke of the TARDIS, for those who look at it for the first time, is to say that it's "bigger on the inside". And in this episode, it definitely is an apt description. We get a few humorous moments throughout the episode where The Doctor's face is seen in the TARDIS door, or The Doctor's hand reaching out the TARDIS.
With The Doctor stuck and shrunk in the TARDIS, Clara is in charge of investigating the source of the disturbance. She comes across a graffiti artist, Rigsy, doing community service by painting over some graffiti he made. Rigsy mentions about the disappearances of some people and Clara goes to the flat of one of these persons with his help. Along the way they come across what looks like a mural of the missing people. At the flat, the place is seemingly undisturbed and nothing is amiss. They investigate a cracked mural on the wal until the duo hear the screams of a policewoman in another room. They arrive just in time to see her being dragged into the floor and disappearing, along with a strange mural of a tree appearing on the wall.
While Clara and Rigsy are at a loss as to what happened, The Doctor observes the situation and deduces that these mysterious entities are from a two-dimensional plane. These unknown enemies actually travel through the flat surface of the wall and capture and kill unwary people. Yeah, that's right. Kill them. They don't hold them captive, they don't transfer their souls or anything like that, these folks are literally killed and dissected. And just to show how terrifying it is, the fancy mural that looks like a tree is actually that policewoman's nervous system cut out and displayed. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeesh...
To really make things bad, the room collapses from the inside out as the various furniture and the doorknobs are flattened and sucked into the walls; they are after Clara and Rigsy. All the while this is going on, Danny phones Clara to ask how she's doing. Danny hears the ruckus and immediately knows that something is not right. This leads to the Doctor discovering that Clara lied to him about travelling again, and he is not happy.
Clara and Rigsy meet up with Rigsy's boss, Fenton. To Rigsy's annoyance, Fenton is working to paint over the murals of the missing people. But with some additional clues and information now The Doctor discovers to his horror that the murals are actually the skin of the victims, being worn by the mysterious creatures. They come to life and travel by the walls to get more people. Clara, Rigsy and Fenton escape while one by one, Fenton's workers are taken and absorbed. Through a mishap, the TARDIS falls out of Clara's bag and is separated and accidentally crushed by a subway train. The TARDIS and the Doctor survive, but the power of the TARDIS is quickly running dry.
It is here, when Clara, Rigsy and Fenton are cornered, that we finally see the creatures come to life and learn how to traverse across three dimensions and escape from the walls:
Yikes.
Through a combination of Rigsy's artistic skills and the creatures' power to channel energy into making things shift dimensions, Clara gets the TARDIS working again and back to full size. Thus, with a murderous look on his face and after all the crap he went through, The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS and, using the information he has gathered, banishes the newly named "Boneless" back to their dimension.
They win the day, but it's bittersweet; many people have died, and The Doctor comments that the wrong people (Fenton, who throughout the episode acted like a jerky asshole) survived. Still, Rigsy parts with them on good terms, none the worse for wear, and The Doctor tells Clara that she did a good job under pressure. He says that Clara made an exceptional Doctor, but "goodness had nothing to do with it."
Elsewhere, Missy takes a look at an image of Clara, and gives a small laugh. She has chosen well...
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Final thoughts:
This episode, along with the previous Mummy on the Orient Express, were written by Jamie Mathieson, one of the new writers of this season. He seems to hit all the right notes because this and the previous "Mummy" had all of its elements work together. I really hope to see him in later seasons, and its sad that this is his second and last episode of Series 8. But his mark was made.
Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman performed their roles as The Doctor and Clara respectively well. Capaldi as always was excellent. Despite not seeing a lot of action because of being stuck in the TARDIS, whenever it cuts to him you can really see him shine. Jenna Coleman is at the forefront this episode, and she plays her role good. The supporting cast, the two who played Rigsy and Fenton, also did well.
The story of this episode was also solid, and the Boneless were the stuff of nightmares. They really acted like zombies, which, considering the month of October, is almost fitting. I can't help but feel that this month we've gotten a lot of threats that were Halloween related; the Boneless acted like zombies, there was the Mummy, and then Moon Spiders. If that was the intent of the season they sure did it well. I hope this isn't the last we've seen of the Boneless, because they are a great newly introduced enemy.
As for the overarching story, things are definitely coming to a head now that The Doctor and perhaps Danny are privy to Clara's lie. As we creep ever closer to the series finale, I can only hope that the payoff will be good. Missy also returns here, and the mystery of who she is builds with her being aware of Clara and having a connection to her. It deepens.
All in all, Flatline was a most excellent episode. It's a good done-in-one episode while at the same time having plot points and continuing the personalities and characters of The Doctor and Clara. The right combination of elements really hit bulls eye, and for me, this makes it one of the best episodes of Series 8.
My score: 5/5
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