11.40: Hide
In which Doctor Who is afraid.
Broadcast: April 2013
Watched: January 2022
“Every lonely monster needs a companion.” Alternatively: “For the love of god, stop screaming.”
Atmospheric and beautifully shot. The plot’s a bit messy, and it clearly wasn’t quite what Moffat wanted because he made it again the next year, but nonetheless, it’s the first one this half-season that doesn’t feel undercooked.
Absolutely loads of great moments. The way Alec seems to decide the Doctor is a bore but trustworthy because he’s military intelligence (does the psychic paper say “UNIT”?). The spooky bit where the Doctor turns pictures taken millennia apart into animation. Clara freaking out about the possibility her own body is out there (”We’re all ghosts to you”), which, though I’m only realising it now, sort of links to the end of the season. “There’s no need to actually hold my hand.” Oh, and the TARDIS not liking Clara – the bit where it shows her an image of herself because she’s the person she most esteems is hilarious.
It does feel a bit messy in places. Jumping into the TARDIS at the 19 minute mark feels like a cheat, like they’re mixing genres. There’s also a lot of duplication. It’s feels kind of weird both that there are two ghosts, the one you can see and the one you feel, as well as two rescue plans, and it turns out both are necessary (Clara gets TARDIS to work, just as Emma decides she’s strong enough to try again, then the TARDIS uses the wormhole to escape). Also, Jessica Raine is a bit underwhelming actually? Maybe this is why her career seems to have stalled.
But these are nitpicks, really, it’s great. Which makes me wonder why, the following year, Moffat decided to have another go at the same outline (some ghost hunting finds a human lost in early time travel experiments, and it turns out they are related to another cast member).
Other thoughts:
Only arc references this week: the TARDIS disliking like Clara, the Doctor asking Emma who Clara is, Emma responding by telling Clara “don't trust that weirdo”.
An exchange I really liked: “She's not what I thought she’d be.” “What did you think she'd be?” “Fun.”
An exchange I didn’t especially like but noted because it’s so brilliantly Brief Encounter: “We lie about who we are. What we've done.” “And how we feel?”
Love the twist that the well in “the witch in the well” is a wormhole.
I’m not sure how significant Hila being descended from Alec and Emma actually is? If she’s from centuries in the future then most people will be descended from Alec and Emma, probably.
Because cosmology in Doctor Who isn't messy enough, Neil Cross invents the pocket universe.
The Chibnall era nicks the regulars banging on the door while something spooky happens in a storm in Villa. Also, Clare from Flux is extremely reminiscent of Emma.
One thing I remember thinking at the time was this one must have been a particularly interesting one to film with the actual flames given how clumsy both Smith and Coleman reputedly are, but the finished product is indeed beautifully shot
Having rewatched this only last weekend (and loved it) I had a few observations too.
Tonally, it's actually quite similar to Image of the Fendahl isn't it? A bit more substance though, as Fendahl is all striking imagery but a bit empty in places.
Coleman and Smith have brilliant chemistry in this, but it did seem funny how that this may be the one episode where we get the Clara that Moffat *thinks* he's writing, not the one we usually got. And in an episode he didn't even write. Most of the time, we're told this and that about her but not really shown it, which is rather unlike him and much more Chibnall territory.
Speaking of which, a good 90% of this is ripped off completely for Flux's Village Of The Angels, and I didn't even realise it til this weekend. It's really quite bad how blatant it is. Claire being Emma is just the tip of the iceberg. The cliff edges, the setting, even the grading.
Pocket universes though - wasn't The Doctor's Wife the series before set on one?