Doctor Who: Season 8 - Flatline (Episode 9)

Hello Dreamers!

 

I'm on time this time... Yay! (Fitting as this is the time travel show...)

 

Summary:

In this episode, the Doctor on the way to drop Clara back off at home, he miscalculates by a bit and the TARDIS lands in the wrong place... again. Anyway, the TARDIS has shrunk to about the size of a large trashcan. The Doctor in the hopes of "protecting" Clara, sends her off to explore while he fiddles with gizmos and gadgets trying to fix their size issue. While exploring, Clara meets Rigsy, a teenage boy doing community service for doing graffiti. Rigsy shows Clara a tunnel where recently missing people have been painted on the walls as a memorial. Clara returns to the Doctor, to find that the TARDIS has shrunk small enough to fit in her purse. The Doctor can no longer fit through the TARDIS door but when considering the TARDIS's new size predicament and the mysterious disappearance of all the people painted in the tunnel, he naturally assumes something alien is occurring. He hands his effects (the screwdriver and his psychic paper) to Clara who proceeds to take charge. Clara returns to Rigsy and together (with the Doctor in Clara's purse) work to figure out what's going on. By the end, Clara experiences what it's like to be the Doctor.

 

Overall Quality:

Another good episode from good ol BBC. The effects were pretty good, and... I was finally happy with the characters... ish. (Keep reading)

 

Acting:

Jemma Coleman was fantastic. Love her work. Peter Capaldi is (as ever) growing on us even more. And Samuel Anderson continues to annoy me by his annoying flatness. Which is fitting for an episode called Flatline.

 

Content Advisory:

Nothing applicable.

 

The Rant Bit:

The episode concept was pretty good. Flatline dealt with the idea of two dimensions... it was pretty cool.

 

Clara pretending to be the Doctor was brilliant. THIS is the Clara we know and love. THIS is the Clara that takes charge when she needs to.

 

Danny was... never mind. I don't want to talk about him. I'm containing all of my issues with him till I review the Christmas Special.

 

The thing about this episode... This season really likes it's theme of lying. And I don't. Lying is... twisted. And Clara keeps lying. She just keeps lying. No matter what happens, she doesn't stop lying. She never lied when Eleven was around. I can't think of a single instance. Of course, usually she's lying to Danny which... I don't really care if she lies to Danny, he's annoying and I just don't care. So... it's not a big deal. After all....

 

 

It's almost like we're waiting for Clara to get used to these aspects of the Doctor. Things that (as viewers of the show) we're all very familiar with. The Doctor lies. It's not always pretty. He doesn't like himself. In fact, one could even go as far to say he hates himself. People don't always like him either. But the Doctor is the Doctor. And he saves a lot of people. And he means well. And he wants to help. That is the Doctor. The Doctor might lie, and he might get some people killed and when it's all over, he might not even cry, but the Doctor is the only one who was willing to stand up for the job.

 

IDK, I'm just trying to get comfortable with the character changes that have occurred through Clara since Twelve took over. (I don't remember dealing with the feeling that Rose had changed when Ten took the place of Nine...)

 

Did anybody else ship Rigsra?

 

 

 

 4 Fandom Points. Tell me what you think!

 

 

 

 

~ Aloisa Quintal

 

The Doctor: "No! Twodis! It's called the twodis! *sighs* Why do I even bother?"