NuWho Review: Series 8 Episode 4 "Listen"

By: Steven Moffat

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

       Well they started things off with The Doctor writing on a chalkboard again. I really love the way that Peter Capaldi is tapping into The Doctor's inner professor, but I'm starting to wonder if the chalkboard thing is more of the series arc than the mysterious 'Missy' is. Hmmm.

           This episode was a glorious return-to-form. It felt friendly and homey because once again Moffat is doing what he does best and tapping into subconscious fears and childhood phobias. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but GOSH have I missed this Steven Moffat! Sometimes this episode felt like I was watching a Supernatural episode...and that is nothing but a compliment, considering the quality of the writing and the sheer tension that that show dishes out in droves. I have long waited for this level of excellence to return to what Moffat writes. It seems like ever since he became show-runner he has been to busy to really think his scripts through or to bother with anything but witty (sometimes continuity-ruining) banter and melodrama...but no more. If Listen is an indication, it looks like he is back and doing what he absolutely does best: turning nightmares into literal monsters.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- Clara and Danny's date is so adorkably awkward (until the argument and her exit, that is). Their exchanging teacher notes had me in a puddle of giggling goo. I was fully prepared to hate Danny. It felt like Moffat was trying to capture the lightning in a bottle that was Rory Williams a second time. But, to be honest, I think he's going to shape up to be his own, interesting character. I'm interested to see what they do with him.

- Though I do think they're stuffing the 'soldier with a tragic secret' bit down our throats a bit harsh. I know trauma and guilt affects people profoundly and for years, but I'm pretty sure that they're more likely to shut down and get quiet rather than to flinch and rant.

- The Doctor being mildly concerned about how Clara's date went but then nagging at her like she's his granddaughter/caregiver

- "What if the prickle on the back of your neck is simply the breath of something close behind you?" 

- Thank you, Moffat, for once again tapping into my personal freak-outs. I HATE waking up or walking into a room and realizing that it looks different than whenever I left it. If the furniture is moved about or there's a new picture or just the lighting is wrong, it bothers me to no end. And it just gets worse at night. So thank you, Mr. Moffat, for turning that obsessive tendency into something creepy and then tying it in with monsters under the bed. Gee. Thanks.

- If the TARDIS was tapping into Clara's entire timeline, from the moment she was born until her death, does that mean it also downloaded all of her alternate selves from when she jumped into The Doctor's timeline in The Name of The Doctor?

- Also, Capaldi's smile after he asks what's under the bed? Stuff of nightmares!

- The Doctor making fun of human brains (and NOT slobbering over how wonderful mankind can be) is always wonderful.

- We need to see more of Clara interacting with children. Jenna Coleman is really good with them and has lots of presence and on screen chemistry while working with them.


- I wonder if these monsters are somehow going to tie in to the emphasis in The Eleventh Hour to "In the corner of the eye"?

- That scene where they all stood with their backs to the mysterious creature as it came up behind them, evaluated them, and then abruptly left, made me chew my fingernails. Capaldi's magnificent performance merely made it all the more tense.

- "He took my bedspread." Gotta love that THAT is the kid's reaction to a monster breaking in and fleeing his room. It's also funny how Clara is giving him a pep talk and scolding The Doctor every time he tries to interrupt...not to mention how The Doctor then uses his 'dad skills' to put the kid to sleep in 30 seconds.

- Awww! Clara went back for Danny! It didn't exactly turn out like she expected it to, but it is sweet that she keeps trying to make sure that her normal life doesn't get shoved aside by her travels with The Doctor.

- And The Doctor awkwardly asking if maybe Orson Pink is a distant relative (or descendant) or Clara just made my night.

- The Last Planet where The Doctor found Orson kinda reminds me of a location you'd see on Firefly. That crashed ship looked suspiciously like the Serenity too. Hmmm. Intentional reference or just stock sci-fi props?

- "He's just been stranded for six months and he's just met a time traveler...of COURSE he's packing!"

- This episode reminds me a bit of Silence in the Library in that it's talking about some invisible killer and Midnight because of the knocking and the unnamed creatures that we never quite find out what they are and. The latter episode STILL scares the crap out of me and the scene in this episode where The Doctor gives Clara the 'reassuring explanation' and starts to name off all of the 'natural' or 'mechanical' reasons for all of the sounds they're hearing (but in a manner that really makes us think he's full of it) sends chills up my spine.

- The moment the cloister bell started going off, I started freaking out. Bad things happen whenever that bell tolls.

- This was the moment when my mind exploded. Two reasons. (1) It was The Doctor as a child and (2) CLARA'S ON GALLIFREY!

- Whenever The Doctor woke up after his bonk to the head, he quoted the 4th Doctor. "Sontarans perverting the course of history!" Huh. I guess people DON'T change all that much as they age...

- There wasn't much of a climax to this episode. At least not in the traditional sense with everything hitting the fan and exploding all at once. What we did have, though, was a perfectly-delivered, beautifully-written monologue from Jenna Coleman that tied this episode beautifully in with everything we've seen on the show in recent years (and made me feel a bit better about Clara as a character...which is always a good thing). 

         I take back what I said about Deep Breath. THIS is the best writing Moffat has done in years. Oh my gosh...it was amazing! It was scary and dark and touching and creepy and intricate and interesting and everything that we laud episodes such as The Empty Child or Blink for being. It also had a great message in that it tells us that we will always be afraid, whether it be fear of the unknown, fear of evil, or fear of something we ourselves create, but that we don't have to let that fear rule us. Instead, we can use it make ourselves stronger. Moffat haters, please don't skip this episode just on principle that it was written by him? Please? You'd be missing out on a great experience and this episode doesn't even contain any of the misogyny, plot-holes, or cheap melodrama that he has been guilty of in the past. It's just a great episode. Listen is a 5/5.

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