NuWho Review: Series 8 Episode 9 "Flatline"

By: Jamie Matheison

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

        This episode was like...like everything that Fear Her SHOULD have been. Never before has the 'smudge' tool on photoshop been so terrifying.

       I think part of the reason I've always hated Fear Her so much (aside from the irritating presence of Rose) was because it just felt like a massive blunder and a waste of a great idea. The idea of being controlled/sucked into a drawing on a paper like a type of two-dimensional voodoo doll should have been creepy. And, here, that idea is refined and re-woven to give us a pretty cracking good episode.

    One thing that has been interesting this series has been Clara's relationship with The Doctor. Because of her insistence on keeping up her job and home life and his radical personality swing towards Old Grump, their relationship has been tumultuous and rocky. Which is nothing but a good thing, character-wise. It has, however, made it so that they work well as a team but often quarrel. And in this episode Clara is given a chance to step into The Doctor's shoes because he is trapped in his TARDIS. She has to take control of the situation and use what she has observed and learned on her travels with The Doctor to keep her cool and work things out, something that both reminds us of the difficulties of The Doctor's normal job and helps Clara to understand him a little bit better.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- "These readings are very 'ish-y'."

- I feel like I've seen a shrunken TARDIS somewhere before...maybe in Classic Who. Seth? Can you remember?

- Why did that community service worker follow Clara and start spewing forth information about his aunty or gran (can't remember which)? Normally whenever I see people acting strangely I just let them go about their business, not offer up stories from my personal life. That just felt weird and almost put me on the wrong foot with that character.

- "I'm, um, I'm The Doctor!" "Don't you dare!" Hahahaha!

- "I love a good locked-room mystery."

- The Doctor being a sulky child while Clara usurps his usual position and scolds him is just precious.

- Ugh. Why did they have that awkward and strange phone-call to Danny? At least he didn't assume the worst...but what exactly was the purpose?

- The 2D creatures sounded a little bit like recordings of humpback whales whenever they were talking.

- Green Shirt Guy#3 had the most epic death scene EVER whenever he was grabbed by a giant, stone hand and dragged backwards through the tunnel, shrieking all the way. I know it was supposed to be scary or something, but I was practically sobbing with laughter the longer it went on.

- I appreciate the Addams Family reference...it was one of the most strangely adorable TARDIS scenes ever. Reminded me of a mutated, blue-shelled snail.

- That dimensional box-thingy that the TARDIS eventually turns into looks like a mini Pandorica.

- Rule #1 is 'use your enemies' power against them'? I thought it was 'The Doctor lies'.

- "Clara, my Clara. I HAVE chosen well." Okay, Missy. Are we ever going to find out what's up with you? Or is it just your job to lurk in postscripts and spew vaguely cryptic sentences every once and a while?

        All in all this episode was good fun, had a few legitimately tense scenes, and did wonders for furthering the great character development Clara has been given this series. I really think that it will hold up to multiple future re-watches as well and, if I may say so, was something that I enjoyed even more than Listen. It felt fresh and new and also capitalized beautifully on the before-untapped potential of Fear Her (I can't believe I just said that...) Flatline is a 4/5.




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