NuWho Review: Series 3 Episode 10 "Blink"

By: Steven Moffat

**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.


            The image of an angel becomes itself an angel; so you all had better not blink while you're reading this review, if you know what I mean, because if not...

          Blink by Steven Moffat is often lauded as the perfect Doctor Who episode. It leans heavily on the 'fiction' side of 'sci-fi' and has both a fairytale feel to it and a sense of foreboding that permeates every moment of the episode. It is also scary. Really, really, really scary. Scary to the point that you DO NOT want to watch it at night. Especially if you're alone in the house. With the lights out. It has great characters, great suspense, and a tight story that gave us the classic Whovian phrase "...wibbly wobbly, timey wimey..."

        So what's the story? Well a girl named Sally Sparrow is taking pictures in an old house whenever she discovers a garden decorated with stone angels and a message written, to her, underneath the wallpaper. From there on out it's just a story of time jumps, lost loves, and good old-fashioned creepiness. Steven Moffat at his best: making everyday objects terrifying. It takes the concept of a 'Doctor-lite' episode (usually the weakest link of a series) and turns it into something glorious. The story of Sparrow and Nightingale and their quest to return the TARDIS to The Doctor is one that every Whovian remembers. This is also the episode that, many times, is recommended to prospective viewers as it showcases the best elements of the show.

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- The concept of the Weeping Angels is, in and of itself, an ingenious one. Everyone has, at some point in their life, turned their back on a statue or a doll and immediately felt extremely uncomfortable - almost like someone is watching. It's just human imagination and paranoia coming to the forefront. Here Moffat has capitalized on that very childlike fear and turned it into a literal threat. There really are statues (un-killable statues) that can get you whenever you look away. Whenever you blink, they're waiting. That's scary stuff because it doesn't just tell you to be scared - it gets you thinking and scares you on a psychological level.

- It also helps that Sally Sparrow, our leading girl of the story, is genuinely likable. Generally stories like this tend to have lead female characters who fit into the stereotypical 'strong woman' tropes (and I am NOT going to expound again on those here) and, as a result, they end up being rather insufferable. Not Sally Sparrow! No. She is smart and capable and funny and extremely real. I think that's what makes the story work so well. If your characters are off it doesn't matter how fun your story is...characters are key.

- Alas, poor Kathy Nightingale.

- The scene where she meets Larry again after losing Kathy never fails to make me laugh, despite the reason she's at the shop to begin with. It's just so awkward and funny and classically Moffat at his best. Without the witty banter things would be very gloomy in this episode indeed.

- One thing you'll notice about this episode as you watch it is the direction. After you've watched Supernatural for a while, or if you're someone who enjoys a lot of horror films, you'll notice that there are certain types of shots and framing techniques that are used in a horror episode/film to heighten the suspense. The entire episode looks difference because of the direction. This is no exception. There are lots of long, drawn-out shots (Stanley Kubrick shots) that, the longer they go on, the more they get you on the edge of your seat biting your nails and anxiously scanning the screen for that little thing that they must be wanting you to see. It just heightens the experience and makes you feel like you're really in that situation. There's also a lot of jump scares (especially towards the climax) and lots of fast, intense editing as well. I have yet to watch this episode and come out on the other side with my heart-rate steady.

- Another reason I think the Weeping Angels work so well is that they are genuinely beautiful. Like the Gelth from The Unquiet Dead or the Clockwork Men from The Girl in the Fireplace, these statues of angels are genuinely beautiful to look at. Until they attack you and feed off of your time energy, that is.

- I love the way Moffat wove in the story of the Easter Eggs throughout the tale. Not only is it an interesting mystery, but it's also quite scary that the Weeping Angels got the drop on THE DOCTOR!

- Still. Much as I love the Weeping Angels...to a point all I can think of is this...

- Okay. So I'm not actually scared by this episode. It's intense and has some great visuals, but I don't think it's actually TERRIFYING or anything like that. I do, however, always get caught up in the story and emotions and, like I said earlier, the climax in the basement never fails to leave my heart pounding. But in a good way.

- The story of Billy and Sally is also quite sweet and sad. In some ways it reminds me of the famous opening to UP. It's the same type of short, minimal-screen-time romance that manages to leave you both sad and believing that it actually was a thing. Even in that short time, they both feel like fully fleshed-out characters and their chemistry is extremely believable.

- That just makes it hurt all the worse whenever he goes into that car park and is surrounded by the patiently waiting angels.

- I know of very few people who did not shed a tear during the scene where the older Billy says goodbye to Sally for the last time.

- Of course the strange death of Billy only makes Sally all the more determined to figure out what is going on. This whole episode is built like a fantasy-horror/detective drama hybrid. With wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff on the side.

- I feel kind of bad for Martha, having to work to support The Doctor in the 60's would not have been easy. Not just because she's black, but because she's a woman too and things still weren't peachy-keen fine back then. She must have gotten super disgusted with him and his devices that fry an egg at twenty-paces. Why does Martha always draw the short end of the stick? Is it because she isn't 'perfect' like Rose or because she doesn't have quite as much of a backbone towards The Doctor as Donna did?

- It was funny until it wasn't anymore... 

- This is when a concept is introduced or joked about and is hilarious until the story and the concept take a sudden dark, tragic, or scary turn. The Angels Have The Phonebox sounds hilarious and strange, until you realize what it means.

- And, of course, that leads into the 'Don't Blink' speech. That speech is so famous that even people who don't watch the show and have only heard of it can quote most of it verbatim. And with good reason. Few moments in Doctor Who are more subconsciously unsettling as the moment when The Doctor realizes that there's nothing more on the transcript and that means that Sally and Larry must have run into winged trouble. *shivers*

- Up until this point the episode has had a very tense atmosphere with lots of mystery and lots of slow build-up, allowing characters to organically progress and events to logically unfold. But with the ending of the speech the story throws things into full throttle and charges on ahead towards the finish line without once letting back on the pedal.

- It's just really, really dark and intense. Sally and Larry are running away from the angels. They can't blink, they can't turn their backs, and they are basically hemmed in on all sides by an indeterminate number of foes. The only way out is down into the cellar...and even once they get down there and find the TARDIS they are not safe.

- Then whenever they finally make it inside the TARDIS and slam the doors, they discover that the DVDs Billy left for them and Larry has been investigating are actually a kind of special key for the TARDIS, giving it one flight back to pick up The Doctor. Then the TARDIS starts rocking and you realize that the angels are tired of waiting and are just going to break in from the outside.


- The sight of the angels clawing at the TARDIS will forever haunt me.

- And whenever the TARDIS starts to de-materialize from around Larry and Sally? One of the scariest, most heart-breaking moments from the show ever because it makes you wonder...has The Doctor betrayed them? He's leaving them behind inside the circle of these monsters. What's going on?

- The way they cling to each other as they wait for their approaching fates only serves to drive the point home.

- The resolution to the episode might seem a little bit too easy whenever you really start nitpicking at it, but while you're caught up in the moment it is ingenious and logical enough that it feels like a breath of fresh air over your face, waking you from the nightmare. Masterfully played, Moffat!

            But wait...the scare-festival isn't quite over yet! No. Now Moffat has to take the fear of statues out of the Whoniverse and firmly ground it in the real world. Thanks for that, sir, thanks for that...

         This is the episode that DEFINED Moffat's reputations as the scare-master of Doctor Who. This is the episode that left many a Whovian unable to decorate their homes with angels around Christmas. This is the episode that left us looking askew at many of the statues in our home town. This is the episode that made us afraid to blink. This is the episode that showed us just how GOOD a show Doctor Who can be whenever everything is done right. Blink is a 5/5.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?