The Doctor takes Clara on one last adventure aboard a space train haunted by a mummy who's more of a vampire
With The TARDIS getting ever smaller on the outside, Clara must Doc up and investigate a case of killer graffiti
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The Doctor is doing his best to get Clara back to the exact right time and place whence he last plucked her because her boyfriend is famously flexible and there are definitely no fishy fibs being floated. But they find themselves in Bristol instead, so, right time and right place-ish, but the TARDIS is somewhat dimensionally challenged.
People have been going missing under strange circumstances, and something alien is certainly afoot. With the Doctor stuck in the TARDIS, and the trusty blue box gradually shrinking to handbag-size, Clara takes the reins and literally impersonates the Doctor.
With her own Watson by her side in the form of loveable local graffiti artist Rigsy, and with the Doctor in her ear, Clara must inspect the clues from every angle, and dimension. There are two sides to every story and Clara has her work cut out to get to the why of this axis of evil and find out where the real threat lies.
I really enjoyed this episode! The creatures, Rigsy, Clara pretending to be the Doctor, not to mention the Tiny Tardis is gleeful in its wonderful cuteness.
We even have a moment near the end where the Doctor actually says some kind things to Clara. He rescinds them directly after, of course, but it’s our first real wavering footstep in the direction of a Doctor who actually cares about more than his own boredom.
Is it just me, or does the Tardis under lockdown look a little like the Pandorica?
I enjoyed the Addams family tactic, and I also really enjoy Missy’s fondness over Clara, asserting that she chose Clara for the Doctor. Missy is a villain who is fun to have on screen.
I’ll give this one a 4.6 out of 5 adorable miniature Tardises.
OK, this isn’t as great as I remembered… But it’s still good…
Pros:
– The ideas in this episode are very fun and inventive!
– Rigsy is a strongly developed companion to… Clara?! I would love to see more of him. He’s in the next series by the way.
– The Doctor dancing in the Tardis is epic, wait, wrong point. The Doctor being trapped inside the Tardis and giving Clara a guide works much better than most people would expect.
Cons:
– The Second and Third Act are much more boring that I had remembered.
– The Doctor gets away with using his sonic to save the day in 10 seconds because Peter Capaldi is an amazing actor.
Overall:
– Great first half and concepts
– Bad resolution
– I’m gonna give “Flatline” 3.8 2D monsters that we know nothing about.
– See you next time for “In the Forest of the Shite”
Doctor Who seems to come up with its monsters by walking around a city and pointing at random stuff. What if statues were alive? What if graffiti was trying to eat you? What if streetlamps were nocturnal hunters that flicker when they make a fresh kill?
This could have been downright terrible in the hands of a less competent writer, but Mathieson has got the monster-of-the-week style absolutely nailed…which turns out to be a remake of Fear Her?
On the plus side, this gave Clara a much needed taste of her own medicine. It was starting to feel like The Clara Show.. If she’s going to hang around, she needs to see things from the Doctor’s perspective. We get a much needed climbdown in tension between her and the Doctor… and it’s almost enough to tip the episode over into “good” but…
…Oh my god, it’s a life-or-death moment! She’s fighting to survive! She’s got—….oh wait, her boyfriend calls. She’ll need to answer that. Right then and there because….you know….I guess Danny beats her if she doesn’t jump when he calls. Every heard of voicemail? What kind of relationship is that?
Defeating the Boneless was too easy. If the Doctor is doing some unexplained science in the Tardis that’s activated by the Sonic, it still counts as Sonic ex Machina (taking notes from Chibnall, Mathieson?).
Mathieson proves that he is centuries ahead of the rest of Who’s writers in terms of crafting well written, interesting and exciting episodes.
2.9
Bonus stuff
I always imagined that the Boneless were Timelords trying to escape the pocket universe.
That was a circulatory system on the wall… NOT a nervous system.
Such a shame the BBC turned down Mathiesons pitch for being the showrunner after Moffat.
The Doctors speech at the end, naming them the Boneless, fell flat too.
Hey guys! As a prefix to my actual review hopefully this makes it to you guys before recording and thank you so much for reading my last review and all the sweet comments. I really appreciate the follows and that you guys enjoyed my review and my cosplays! I’ve since posted a stay at home cosplay of my 11th Doctor, so I would love to hear what you guys think and if you have any suggestions to make it better! Oh and today is me and Alicias actual 2 year anniversary, but thank you again! And here is my review:
As for “Flatline”, how are you not going to enjoy Clara play acting as the Doctor, the over the top nature of it was absolutely fantastic. Was anyone else completely creeped out by the Boneless? Not as much as the giant wasp during Ten’s run, but still! Seeing the Tardis shrink and shrink was a lot of fun, especially with the door occasionally opening and seeing the Doctor peer out. I found the chase through the tunnels legitimately frightening and since I have no idea what’s coming I do buy Clara in danger at all times. The appearance of Missy at the end was an added treat, and overall this was a great watch! The creepy nature of the Boneless is generally not my favourites but it was a great ride keeping me at the edge of my seat, so I’ll give this a 4.0, thanks guys!
Again I’d appreciate a plug for my Grayson Grid Cosplay Instagram, have a great day and stay safe!!
– Robbie
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Summary: Unnerving and uncomfortable, and like the weird-ass Classic Who’ adventure Edge of Destruction, probably destined to be a cult classic rather than a fan favourite. This is Doctor Who for David Lynch fans.
Rating: 4.3/5 community service punks being sucked into 2D and horribly dissected. Yuk!