Doctor-less stories can be either a series high or a series
low, and tend to be a universal opinion. Take 2006 and their double attempt
with Love and Monsters and Fear Her, both critically panned
stories which usually fall under the worst episodes lists. A year later, Blink comes along and blows up as
rejoice comes from all angles. Such successes were repeated with each series
(with the exception of Series 7, which didn’t feature this type of story) and
often praised as being the highlight of their respective series, giving Flatline all the more to beat, and as
such it isn’t as much of a Doctor-lite tale as previous stories. For starters, Peter Capaldi is in a good proportion
of the story, and plays a deus-ex-machina of sorts when the plot requires a new
device. Secondly, his presence never leaves, as he’s carried about in Clara’s
handbag for a good percentage of the episode. But nevertheless, it’s promoted
as a Doctor-free story and Clara takes front seat in this Jamie Mathieson story (his second after last week’s Mummy on the Orient Express). But how
does it hold up?
On the subject of Fear
Her, this isn’t the first time 2D images have come to life for the sake of
a villain, with the infamously terrible story featured people being trapped on
paper, including David Tennant’s
Doctor, whilst 2010’s The Time of Angels
introduced the idea that that which holds an image of an Weeping Angel
becomes itself an Angel – a matter which troubled Amy Pond – to full effect.
Here though, it’s the holder of the image which is the threat, as the unnamed
species creepily maimed their targets and later used their image, something
which is used to great success. They’re certainly creepy, and filled with spooks
and ingenuity. Many critics have been complaining about the usage of CGI in
this story for the creatures, but in actuality it’s done to great effect. The
scene with the policewoman (Jessica Hayles)
was a better version of a similar scene in 2011’s Night Terrors, and later chase scenes give off the incomplete look without
too much effort put into it. As one time villains go, these are exemplary.
For this story, Jenna
Coleman’s Clara takes the lead and she is very enjoyable in this position.
She relies on playing the Doctor for the situation, and fits the large shoes
with ease. She is incredibly reliable to the Doctor in the situation, and in
the end her actions are only a way for the Doctor to pop out and stop the
monsters, but her actions towards him and her allies do well in moving the
story forward, and with that she gets good comments from me. As for Peter Capaldi, his role in a 5” TARDIS
was far better than it had any right to be, with previous shrinking TARDISes
with Planet of Giants and Logopolis being hit-and-miss. It’s
something which tends to be left for kids shows and family films like Honey I Shrunk the Kids, so an
on-screen return to this formulaic plot could easily fall flat. But here, it
somewhat worked, and thanks to CGI shots such as the Doctor flinging his hand
about outside the doors work to great effect. He does play a simple explanation
device in the story, and it’s not fully explained why the TARDIS shrinks, but
it’s nice to be given a bit of a breather - although an explanation for his sudden
change in hairstyle remains a mystery.
Jamie Mathieson initially
unimpressed with his first story earlier on this season, but here he’s found
the right target in terms of storytelling and scripting. Flatline was scary when it needed to be and funny at other moments.
The supporting cast are a little lacking in personality traits bar Joivan Wade as Rigsy, who fitted the required
companion role well for this story with his own reasoning behind helping out. Flatline is an improvement on many of
the stories faced this series, and as such deserves a 8/10.
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