Doctor Who: Listen

[neadods]

There were plot holes you could drive a tanker through, but still. HO. LY. SHIT. Moffat knows how to fuck minds. And how to make the average terrifying.

Comments

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

He's not bad at knitting, either--or at least at picking up stitches you may not realize have been dropped.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

-or at least at picking up stitches you may not realize have been dropped

That's a good way of putting it.

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed last week's ep, and in general am enjoying Capaldi, but this one was completely unconvincing for me.

1: surely the first thing Clara would have done, when she saw the bedspread-covered shape, would be to pull the cover off? It was certainly my first reaction, and I kept waiting for her to do it. So everything in that kid's room from then on just didn't work for me.

2: although I did quite like the idea of the child-Doctor scene, Moffat can't even seem to remember his own continuity. Girl in the Fireplace, when there's something under Reinette's bed? The Doctor's right down there checking it out and dealing with it. No hint of any childhood trauma or fear there.

3: and if it's the end of the universe, where's the light coming from?

Still, I'm liking Clara a LOT this year, and Twelve is definitely watchable.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

surely the first thing Clara would have done, when she saw the bedspread-covered shape, would be to pull the cover off?

That is the biggest of the plot holes, which I thoroughly admit exist. The Doctor is SO desperate to know what the thing is, and he's not the one charging in and pulling off the blanket? What? He needs an engraved invitation?

Moffat can't even seem to remember his own continuity

That has troubled me since the weeping angels started slowly moving in their second outing... although, to be honest, Fireplace is not a favorite and I'd forgotten that scene.

and if it's the end of the universe, where's the light coming from?

*That* I didn't have a problem with. Dead suns going nova, I assumed.

[cedara]

>> surely the first thing Clara would have done, when she saw the bedspread-covered
shape, would be to pull the cover off? <<

> That is the biggest of the plot holes, which I thoroughly admit exist. The Doctor is SO desperate to know what the thing is, and he's not the one charging in and pulling off the blanket? What? He needs an engraved invitation? <

That was my first thought too. At second glance, Twelve seems to be the kind of no-touchy guy and he was immersed into his own fear-of-the-dark childhood trauma to think of the logical course of action.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

When everyone watching is asking the same question, I think it's a major flaw in the script. I wish Moffat had put in just one line as to why nobody grabbed that blanket!

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

…Because the whole episode is about *fear*?

Sure, yes, if we look at it from the usual DW "let's charge in and figure out what the monsters are" perspective, then the usual thing to do is to pull off the blanket. But the point is that they're *scared* - scared that it might actually be something other than a child under a blanket, and to pull off the blanket is to know for sure. The episode is quite a lot about walking right up to the edge of your fears, and not being able to go all the way - so Danny and Clara make it to that date, but then they both put up walls and misunderstand each other (better to end it now, when it doesn't hurt), until the very end of the episode when Clara actually *faces* her fear, after telling the Doctor and herself that it's okay to be afraid, and goes to see Danny even after their disastrous date. Little Rupert doesn't actually *look* under the bed, even though he's scared something's there - because to look is to know for sure, and that's a relief if there's nothing after all - but what if there *is* something there?

I mean, secondarily, the Doctor also seems to think that it's some kind of creature that will be dangerous if looked at (the whole "everybody turn their backs" thing), so it makes sense to me that he wouldn't want to pull the blanket off until he had more information about what the creature was. But I think it also fits in thematically, too.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's not that they didn't didn't, it's that they never explained why they didn't do anything so obvious. I'd like to have had just one or two lines along the lines of "Pull the blanket off." "I'm too scared of what I'll find."

Everything that might have been the ...whatever... got a line of explanation - oh, it's a kid. Oh, it's air escaping. Or something. There was room for one more line or two.

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

No, I get that - fair enough!