When you combine the Olympics and Doctor Who, you often get a bad mix, whether it be a full episode
like 2006’s Fear Her or the 2012 child-written
minisode Good as Gold. But Frank Cottrell Boyce, the writer of the
2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, has managed to surpass the Olympic curse to
write a better-than-expected story out of a bizarre premise and a track record
of bad child actors.
The story? Everyone wakes up to find the world covered in
trees which can’t be harmed by the likes of flamethrowers. Yep, sounds
absolutely stupid and rather far-fetched even for a show without logic. But
when done here, it works really well. Thanks to Boyce’s writing and the performances, it plays out as a story worth
watching whilst leaving plenty of growth for the relationship between Clara and
Danny (Jenna Coleman and Samuel Anderson respectively). It does
attempt to add some form of antagonist to the mix with wild animals in a nice
little sequence, but the threat is all too brief and dealt with within minutes
and with no further fear from them. Aside from that, it’s a nice breather
between last week’s fast-paced escapades and next week’s grand two-part finale,
and as a story it fits the spot well without dipping in quality.
Someone who really pushes the story is Peter Capaldi, who is an incredibly strong presence and really
shines as the Doctor. His jibs to Clara about her appearance or about Danny are
few and far from one another, his treatment of the Coal Hill School children
was a breath of fresh air against his constant angst towards them across this
past series – especially when it came to the treatment of Maebh – and there
appeared to be genuine concern in regards to the situation. Whilst arguably out
of character for this incarnation, there is still some of the classic Twelfth
Doctor in there, but rightfully underplayed to allow proper storytelling to
follow through. Jenna Coleman is
also a fun watch, as she attempts to juggle the role of carer for the Doctor
and the school children and being faithful to Danny. Her final sacrifice is
also a lovely scene akin to her taking control in Flatline the previous week. As for Danny, he still fits the Rory
Williams mould of over-protective boyfriend who’s wary of the Doctor and his shenanigans,
but a bit of new material comes out as he takes precedence over the kids’
safety and being the voice of Clara’s conscience.
As I mentioned in my reviews of Kill the Moon and The Caretaker, children have a tendency to be of poor quality in terms of
acting chops, and have been since 2011’s The
Almost People. Courtney was an annoyance in part but did show some
improvement over that stereotype, but In
the Forest of the Night is a huge step forward for them thanks to a lack of
poor performances. Abigail Eames as
main child Maebh, whilst looking a bit too young to be in Year 8, was a good
enough lead, and it’s nice that the issue of mental health (the voices in her
head) was touched upon. Granted, it was done rather softly and the actual subject
matter similar to a specialty of Marvel’s Groot of Guardians of the Galaxy fame. There is a minor subplot regarding
Maebh’s family, in which her mum searches for her and her sister has been
missing for approximately a year (hence the voices in her head), and the scenes
involving her mum could be cut out, but it wasn’t a major factor for the story,
and only really played a part with its conclusion. The three other notable
school children – that is, those with a good proportion of dialogue – were good
enough, albeit with singular character traits of inquisitive or bully. They add
small details to the story, but they aren’t unnerving.
In the Forest of the
Night has received a lot of dislike by fan consensus with little
explanation. For this fan, it was an enjoyable episode with many twists and
turns. The acting was impressive for all angles, the writing – whilst not as
humourous or high calibre as previous weeks – was strong enough to carry the
story, but the threat was too small and insignificant to be needed for the
episode. It may have been a story that felt like it was in three parts, but
altogether it was a fun watch. 7/10.
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