Doctor Who: Hide

I was really looking forward to 'Hide'. The marketing behind this episode hyped it up to be a genuinely creepy haunted house tale with writer Neil Cross helming the script. Cross's previous episode 'The Rings Of Akhenaten' has proven to be real marmite among fans but I personally thought his episode was the one of the best yet, managing to really stand out from the pack. That, coupled with some really intriguing photo's being posted online beforehand depicting the Doctor at various points in time made me think that this episode was more than just your average ghost story. And what do you know? I was right! But it wasn't exactly the scare-fest that was promised. What we got instead was a fairly atmospheric tale that tells more of a love story than a ghost story.

In this episode Clara and the Doctor arrive at the haunted Caliburn House, set alone on a desolate moor. Within its walls, ghost-hunting professor Alec Palmer and gifted empathic psychic Emma Grayling are searching for the fabled Witch of the Well, a ghost which has appeared throughout the history of the house. Once the Doctor starts investigating though, not everything is as it seems... 

Neil Cross starts his story out by setting up some spooky goings-on but quickly establishes that there's something more science-fictiony in play, which should be expected because having something entirely supernatural and left unexplained is hardly DW's forte. But still, it would have been nice to get a few more spooky scenes because Jamie Payne's direction is really effective in the first few minutes when he's handling the scares. As I said the atmosphere is incredibly well handled throughout the episode as well, there's lots of dark stormy nights and frantic chases through smoke-filled woods to contend with. 

'Oh, you thought this would be a scary episode, didn't you?'

As far as the plot goes it starts out fairly simple but it quickly accelerates into something more original (and totally welcome), a bit like 'The Rings Of Akhaten'. And while I kind of saw the twist in the middle coming (as I said, the ghost HAS to be alien orientated or at least futuristic) the bit before that was startlingly good, where in the span of two minutes the Doctor travels to several moments in Earth's timeline. Once again I LOVE the constant popping back and forth between different time-zones in the show, it gives the adventure more scale. I also liked the way Clara questioned the Doctor's perception of her, wondering if she was considered a ghost to him or not. That coupled with Emma's slightly out of left field remark about the Doctor having 'a sliver of ice in his heart' adds another shade of grey to the Doctor's already infinitely complex character. Tension escalates in the final third with a really atmospheric chase through a pocket dimension and an effective use of really creepy monster design. Cross appears to be a fan of making you think that one thing is the villain but revealing the threat to be something else in the last act. It's a good trick, and one that keeps things interesting but I don't want it to get too overused. It also pulls the trick of making you think that everything is over but doling out one last little revelation before the credits role which I'm still debating whether that was a good move or not because it completely undermines any established threat or tension in repeat viewings. But then again, it does change your perception of the episode so...yay? Overall though it was another solid script with a few inventive idea's sprinkled in to keep things interesting. 

Once again the leads do excellent jobs, but Matt Smith was perhaps a bit too wacky this time, almost like he was doing an impression of his character. Thankfully this excess of the Doctor being a bit too much of a wacky genius largely dissipated when the scenery changed from the haunted house to the woods, so perhaps new writer Neil Cross was just getting adjusted to writing the character (chronologically this was his first script before 'The Rings Of Akhenaten', which had some fantastic moments with the Doctor in it). One of the things that Matt Smith is great at is really layering his performance, and he often switches from wacky to deeply serious in a heartbeat (I'm personally appalled when someone says his Doctor acts far too silly, as they're clearly not paying enough attention) but seeing him in full on 'zany' mode whipping his sonic screwdriver out (no sexual pun intended) and making funny quips ALL the time doesn't do justice to Matt or the character. But as I said he mellows out a bit more in the last half so it ultimately wasn't a serious issue I had with the episode.

These small snippets were the best part of the episode.

Clara continues to be genuinely likeable companion, and while she doesn't get much in the way of character building or an arc this time she at least gets a lot to do, for example her conversation with Emma (Clara calls whiskey the "11th most disgusting drink ever invented") coupled with her humorous exchange with the TARDIS's holographic version of herself was handled well by JLC. And her piloting of the TARDIS, while debatable (but technically she was piloting because she was the cause of the TARDIS de-materialising so yeah, it counts) was a nice touch as well. By the way I love the idea that the only real reason the Doctor is taking Clara with him is so he can uncover the mystery surrounding her, as if she is simply an enigma for him to solve and not because she makes for a good companion. This is the same thing that happened with Amy in Series 5, where the Doctor said the reason why he came back for her was because there was a lot of unknowns surrounding her and the crack in her wall. But the difference between Series 5 and Series 7 is that this time that mystery (which was more of a background element in Series 5) is now at the forefront of the story, and so much of Clara's character is based off this mystery to the point where the audience watching the episode also views her as an enigma rather than a person in her own right, just like the Doctor. It almost feels like we're biding time, waiting for this whole multiple Clara's thing to figure itself out so we can actually get on with developing her as a character and advancing the series arc. But for now at least she remains likeable, and JLC is really charismatic in the role so it isn't to much of an issue, yet.

The supporting cast this episode was once again strong, Dougray Scott's Professor Palmer and Jessica Raine's empathic psychic Emma are a good match for the episode (and with each other as it turns out). While I am getting a bit sick of romantic subplots (especially since we KNOW that they're going to get together at the end but perhaps I'm missing the point), especially in NuWho when the resolution to literally every plot is 'love and/or emotion wins the day with the help of the sonic screwdriver' but at least these characters are defined enough to make you want them to get together. Professor Palmer is probably the most interesting of the two though, his talk with the Doctor about the effect the Second World War had on him may have been a tad cliche but it was still effective thanks to Scott's performance. 

So another good episode then. Hide is full of atmosphere and a lot of good, isolated moments that I wasn't quite expecting. It also had a solid supporting cast (although one character really is just a plot device and barely gets any lines in the entire episode) and the leads remained compelling. Nothing as spectacular as 'The Rings Of Akhenaten' but Neil Cross continues to impress with his scripts, as he simply 'gets' Doctor Who. I hope he comes back next season because I can't wait to see what he'll do next time. 7.5/10.

Positives:

+ REALLY great atmosphere
+ Supporting cast is again great
+ Lot's of transdimensional/timeline hopping
+ Enough twists and turns to keep it interesting

Negatives:

- The Doctor is a bit too wacky at the beginning
- The final twist kinda ruins any tension on repeat viewings
- Once character is merely a plot device again
- Slightly disappointed that it wasn't very scary

Talk about nightmare fuel....