Doctor Who Series 8 Reviews - Listen (E4)

Listen had a lot of possibility. With reviews aplenty stating it the next Blink (2007) or the best of the series to date, it created mild expectations of goodness. Trailers were tense, it had good prospects with 'the monster under your bed'...this could be the story to remember this year. And following its airing, it was noteworthy...

...until the last five minutes.

If the episode was focused just on the silent monster, it could be great. When with that plot, it creates strong atmospheric moments, even allowing acceptance of the various Danny Pinks (I'll get back to that). You want to know what the monster is, in the same way as with 2008's Midnight, you want to pull away the blankets they hide behind...it worked. And yet, we are constantly drawn to the conventional child/future companion aspect repeatedly done by writer Steven Moffat.

Now, that isn't a major fault. Whilst the date scene lacked chemistry between Samuel Anderson and Jenna Coleman - a step back from meeting in Into the Dalek - they succeeded in giving character growth to Clara. They don't keep it a secret that Oswald and Pink are meant to be, like Amy and Rory Pond prior. Granted, it's been done to death, but nevertheless works.

Peter Capaldi is still great to watch and he succeeds in balancing the Doctor's emotions and actions. At times he created good laughs (including an unintentionally humourous moment in a scene paralleling 2010's Flesh and Stone). His opening monologue, trailer-bait aside, is legitimately interesting and visually enjoyable from an episode with average direction. Side characters and companions are good enough, but it is Capaldi who shines.

Listen would be a 6/10, due to how atmospheric and haunting it was, alongside Capaldi and Coleman. But an ending has the ability to ruin that (other examples include 2012's Power of Three).

So the episode concludes on Gallifrey where Clara comforts a child Doctor, and later concludes that he's just scared of the dark. And with that, I cry with disarray. All tension gone as Moffat rewrites canon once again, to the point of bringing down the far superior Day of the Doctor (2013) with it. Monster? Forgotten. Pinks? Sidelined. Simple pandering for kids to show that their hero is also suddenly afraid of the dark. It draws the episode to a screeching halt and drops viewers off there. Very disappointing conclusion.

And because of that conclusion, it leaves only a 4/10.