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While they would never admit it, every race in the galaxy is scared of The Doctor. But what scares The Doctor? As the wiry man with the old-young face stared at the solitary word on the blackboard, he could feel the fear creeping up behind him. 'Why will it never leave me alone?'
Spoilers up to the end of series 8 episode 4 of ‘Doctor Who’ follow…
More than any Doctor Who story of the recent era, 'Listen' is an episode that loses a lot in a recap or a retelling. On first watching the episode, the viewer is handed all the typical tropes of a standard Doctor Who 'monster' story. The unique skills are set; a sense of mystery is mixed with equal parts wonder and panic; and the expectation is that a three-act structure will kick in and viewers will see the bad thing happen, will see the bad things growing in scale, and finally the Doctor will appear defeated before pulling a jelly baby out of his pocket to solve everything.
Not this week.
'Listen' does starts that way, but the rules change very rapidly. A story that was marked up as being the 'scary monsters under the bed' story turns out to be something more than that. It examines the role of the monster not in Doctor Who the series, but the role of the monster on The Doctor. It places The Doctor into a crucible of his own making on a quest for enlightenment. And it answers the questions posed over the previous weeks to The Doctor's sense of identity and place in the universe.
Show-runner Steven Moffat has traditionally taken the challenging series openers and closers to write. It has been some time since he took a standalone episode in the middle of the run. Fan expectations were high, given the impact that episodes such as 'Blink' have had. Given the revelations of the episode, especially the last five minutes of 'Listen', those expectations were met, and arguably from the online feedback has been exceeded.
From a production point of view, this is the budget episode. With a monster that is not visible, an abundance of practical effects, fewer CGI effects shots than you would expect, and a notable reuse of props, the money saved in this episode will be shared out over the other episodes. Doctor Who is not the only show to manage its budget in this way, but the skill that this has been achieved in this episode means that the 'cheap' episode looks far from it.
Classic cinematic techniques are used to build the tension, to fashion a dramatic and dynamic point of view of the story, and to create the monster in the mind of the viewers.
Back in the world of The Doctor, the question is not about the art direction, but the nature of the monster. There is no doubt that there is a monster in 'Listen', but the question is if the monster is a physical entity, or a mental construct of The Doctor.
And this is the skill of 'Listen' for me. This is a story that can be viewed multiple times, with the viewer taking a different viewpoint on the central question of the monster. Continued examination from different angles reveal more of the story. I've no doubt that as the story of Danny Pink and Clara Oswlad continues to open up during the series, more layers will be revealed in 'Listen'. The arc for Mr Pink is not yet in focus, and I've no doubt I'll be able to return to that in the weeks to come. But this week, the prism is on The Doctor.
The real monsters that haunt us are not physical, but mental. They are present in all of us, and the question is not how to kill them (because how do you kill an idea?), the question is how you recognise them, bargain with them, and them how to dampen them and carry on living.
Since his regeneration, The Doctor has been questioning what kind of Timelord he is, what his purpose is, and trying to answer his internal monologue. That's typified by questions of esteem such as "am I good man?", but before that can be addresses, Capaldi's Doctor must build up from the lower levels of his mind and body.
He rapidly had his physiological needs served through his companion, Clara. He sought safety in a redesigned TARDIS, and he rebuilt his morality through the Daleks. Now he has addressed the security of his mind by learning to control fear, another constant companion he can add to the above triumvirate.
And while he's not a hugging Doctor, there's a cheeky smile on his face as Clara embraces him after embracing her role as a teacher to the younger Doctor ("never cruel or cowardly", which for long-time Doctor Who fans means just as much to them as it does to The Doctor). His self-esteem is returning.
The Doctor has been rebuilt. He is faster, cleverer, and stronger. He has faced his fears, and it has brought The Doctor back to the universe. It may have been portrayed as being out of a nice linear order (in a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey way), but the point here is not to create a line of facts about the life of a legend. It's about sculpting that legend from raw materials, no matter where (or when) they are. It is about taking a personal weakness, and using that to make you a better man.
The Doctor has remembered to listen to himself... and that will make him a good man.
Next Week...
...It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say.
