DOCTOR WHO “Listen” Review

What do you think of the new Doctor? Does this episode strengthen or weaken that view? Read on to find out.

The official description from BBC:

What scares the Doctor? Ghosts of the past and future crowd into the lives of the Doctor and Clara: a terrified caretaker in a children’s home, the last man standing in the universe and a little boy who doesn’t want to join the army. Listen!

“Listen.” Reminding me very much of the, “Don’t Blink,” line from the classic David Tennant episode “Blink,” this two syllable word has had me excited for some time, with the episode description, and 10 second trailer making it the Series Eight episode I was most anticipating. But did it live up to my high expectations? Unfortunately not, as though “Robot of Sherwood” got slated for it’s plot, I feel this has been the worst episode of the series so far. By miles.

As you may have noticed over my reviews, Peter Capaldi has really won me over with his performance as the Twelfth Doctor, with the mixture of humour and sternness really appealing to me. It is however good old Clara Oswald that stood out most in this episode, with Jenna Coleman‘s performance being the backbone of the episode. We are also re-introduced to the Dany Pink (Samuel Anderson) character, with the budding romance between him and Clara getting off the ground. Despite this I didn’t feel anything regarding Danny in this episode, with his teased “future self” feeling a little redundant.

Now “Listen” isn’t completely terrible, and I could probably think of a reasonable sized list of episode that are worse, but the cons did outweigh the pros for me. What I did really enjoy about the episode was the suspense, with Steven Moffat giving a script that was grippingly thrilling, and almost scary at times. I also really enjoyed the nursery rhymes from the Doctor, with the poeticness, and deliberate performance from Capaldi giving a tense atmosphere. Despite all this I did feel this episode took a long time to get to the point, and though the final revelation perked me up, it seemed to drag more than sore.

Doctor Who: “Listen” has proven a real disappointment for me, as though there are some moments I enjoyed, it seemed to drag to the finish line. Not recommended.