Doctor Who: Listen

SPOILERS ahead...

'Listen' is driven by two things: the Doctor's obsession with finding a monster that will literally take him to the end of the universe and back, and Clara's weird relationship with Danny Pink. It's also an episode about fear, the kind of fear that gave you nightmares as a kid. The nightmares about the monsters under your bed, the boogyman, that kind of stuff. It's a minimalist episode that is laser-focused on these three main characters and how (thanks to time travel) they impact each other's lives. If all of this is ringing a bell then you'd be right in saying that 'Listen' is basically a collection of Moffat's greatest hits:

- A monster that preys on a basic human fear? Check.
- Timey-wimey? Indeed.
- Lot's of moody/atmospheric settings? Lot's.
- Time travel severely impacting the lives of the protagonists? Ditto.
- An obsession with finding more about the Doctors past? Yep.
- Lot's of awkward relationship banter? Uh-huh
- Multiple versions of the same character? You guessed it.
- Any extended scenes involving children? YES.
- Twists? Revelations? They're all here.

Like it or hate 'Listen' is the ultimate Moffat episode, encapsulating in 45 minutes his take on Doctor Who. Even if he's been using the same recipe book for quite a while now he can bake a darn good cake and this episode was incredible in quite a few aspects. 

In every season of NuWho there's always a couple of episodes that stand out from the pack, ones that immediately make you want to jump out of your seat and clap. 'Listen' is one of these episodes. Like 'Blink' and 'Midnight' 'Listen' tries really hard to scare the crap out of you by exploiting your fear of the unknown, taking a common fear and questioning whether or not it has a tangible physical form. It's masterfully presented in the opening minutes as the Doctor speculates how one could discover a creature that's perfected the art of hiding. He correlates this idea with a recurring nightmare every human being has supposedly had about a monster under the bed. What if there was a monster underneath our bed, one that has perfected the art of hiding? The Doctor might just be going a bit mad after being alone for to long but then who wrote LISTEN on his chalk board? Did he just forget he wrote it or was it something else? It's pure psychological horror, freaking you out without an ounce of gore or violence. It's also an extremely juicy premise, and while playing with similar idea's (The Silence anyone?) it manages to reinvigorate itself by not actually showing the monster at all. That's right, this is one of the few Doctor Who episodes that has (supposedly) no monsters whatsoever in it. It's entirely up to you whether it's just a bunch of coincidences or there really is a monster under your bed! Do even need to explain why this is such a brilliant idea? 

Bad hair day?

Director Douglas Mackinnon recognises that a creak in the floorboards is far more terrifying than any slasher villain and he makes sure to milk every last drop he can out of the the Moffat cookbook. A lot of the work is done already with Capaldi's Scottish accent whispering creepy nursery rimes at the camera looking absolutely terrifying but Mackinnon still manages to bang all of the doors, rattle all of the pipes and crank the mood lighting up to 11. Add in Murray Golds soundtrack and you've got pure nightmare fuel on your hands. A silent figure under a red blanket is the first time I've been legitimately scared watching Doctor Who since 'Blink' (I was 11). Well done sir.

Not content with just being the 'scary' episode 'Listen' also provides an insight into both Danny and the Doctor's lives. There's a surprising amount of meat to chew at here, not least of all the Doctor's obsession with the supposed monsters under the bed. As I've said before Capaldi's performance is unnerving, we still don't know quite know which side of the bed his Doctor lies on. One minute he's giving these batsh*t crazy grins that would make Tom Baker blush and five minutes later he's dispensing jokes about finding Wally. When asked why he's going to such extreme lengths to find the truth, he simply states 'I have to know!' like he's got a mental disorder. And Matt Smith's Doctor would certainly not steal someone's cup of coffee, that's just plain cruel. His portrayal of an extremely flawed Doctor continues to be fascinating, where is this going? 

And then there's Danny, an ordinary bloke who's past and future is tied with Clara. Samuel Anderson is good at portraying an ordinary bloke but I'm still not sure where exactly we're heading with him. This episode strongly hints that both he and Clara will eventually hook up. In fact they pretty much confirm it, so...now what? If we know they're getting together and (eventually) having a kid then where do we go from here? Danny's past as a soldier must have something to do with something, right? There is an unsettling element of pre-determined destiny at play here as well. Thanks to a mishap with the TARDIS we end up visiting Danny as a child in the 1990's. It turn's out he's an orphan called Rupert (what, ANOTHER kid with no parents?) and Clara unintentionally inspires his later name and his career choice when Rupert names a toy soldier Dan. This is reinforced when, after the Doctor uses his telepathy to send Rupert to sleep, he reveals that he has wiped his memory of the events and left him only with a dream of being 'Dan the soldier man'. Clara also massively impacts the Doctors future later so no one seems to have any free will in this story, everything seems determined in advance thanks to time travel. That to me feels slightly disturbing and I'm wondering if this was intentional or not. Either way time travel can F*CK you up!

A lot of mood lighting going on here...

Despite Capaldi's manic eyes threatening to consume the audience this was Jenna Coleman's episode through and through. The Doctor's obsession fuels the scares and the plot forward but it's Clara who has to do the heavy lifting, and holy crap does she deliver. This is Coleman's best performance to date, once again demonstrating a variety of emotions that if nothing else just confirms how much growth the character's been given in the new era of the show, to the point where she's basically the main character now. Despite the age difference she challenges this Doctor a lot, becoming the voice of reason in an almost maternal way. In 'Listen' she's a parental figure for both the Doctor and Danny. The Doctor/companion dynamic this season is super interesting, and not just because of that twist...

Wow. Who could have seen that ending coming? While the specifics of how she got there are murky the reveal was fantastically handled and really put a cherry on top of this magnificent cake (yes, I'm continuing with the cake metaphors). It's also a really ballsy move, once again revealing an aspect to the Doctor's past that's barely been hinted at previously. When Moffat eventually leaves the show no one can say he hasn't left his mark, in the past year alone we've had a new regeneration cycle, an entire arc based around the title of the show, the major Time War conflict resolved AND a secret Doctor unearthed. Now add the Doctor as a child to this list! The reveal has gone down rather well with fans, it's the idea that Clara has single-handedly shaped the Doctor's life into what it is that ruffles up some feathers. In that one scene she instilled into the young Doctor his trait of being 'the soldier without a gun'. She's already fractured herself throughout his entire timeline and convinced him to think of another way to end the Time War, maybe this is a step too far? It definitely seems like too much power to bestow on any single companion, but for the purposes of this particular story it's too good of an idea not to include. Please though, we've seen enough of the Doctor's past for the time being, can we move on? We've discovered more about the Doctor these past few years than the other 48 years combined!

'Listen' is also ballsy enough for implying what drives the Doctor: his fear of the dark. Clara's speech about fear being a superpower was wonderful (although didn't she get that from the Doctor? PARADOX), I loved the way it dovetailed back into the 50th Anniversary with the barn. Why would the young Doctor go and hide there anyway? It looked like it was in the middle of nowhere! And that final shot of the toy soldier? Chills man, pure chills. It's hard to see how Moffat can top this. 

No matter how you look at it 'Listen' is an ambitious piece of work. It has an amazingly ballsy script, sleek direction that makes Doctor Who legitimately scary and an ending no one is going to forget anytime soon. For a standalone episode it's impact on the show as the whole will be felt for a long time to come. Bravo Moffat you smart ass: 9,5/10.

Positives:

+ It's scary as hell
+ Ending twist that reveals a lot about the Doctor's past
+ Brilliant performances from Capaldi and Coleman
+ Fantastic direction from Douglas Mackinnon 
+ Ballsy script from Steven Moffat
+ More insight into Danny's life
+ Ambiguous monster  

Negatives:

+ Clara is perhaps a little to proactive when it comes to shaping the Doctor's past
+ The story is a little fragmented

Overall Score: 9,5/10