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.
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