Doctor Who Review: Can You Hear Me?

The vibe gets weird and the themes get personal with this latest episode of Series 12.

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[spacepenguins]

The monster looked like the thing in temple run

[liamheneghan]

"Turning things around starts with a single step in the right direction"
What a beautiful quote! I'm definitely stealing it ❤

[dominicwalsh]

The 50p experience was clearly Yaz's inspiration for her career.

[nomatophobia]

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT SCENE WHEN THE NIGHTMARE GODDESS THING WAS TALKING ABOUT THEIR HISTORY AND THERE WERE ILLUSTRATIONS ON SCREEN??? I LOVED THAT. SECOND FAVORITE PART. (First is when you realize why yaz is a cop :') )

[johnnydee]

I was really touched by this episode, I thought it was executed beautifully.
As someone who is now 48, but has struggled with mental illnesses all my adult life on and off. I was also warmed by your words Nathaniel. I am not as brave as you and my personal struggles with my sexuality and, coming from a very fundamentalist Christian family, I have hidden that side of my life. Episodes of Dr. Who that show a world where men can love eachother without being detested for it brings me hope, that I too could find such a love one day.
We have come a long way since I was a teen-ager, but some people refuse to enter the 21st century, and that's a great shame.
As a man reaching 50, who has lived a lie and believed my own lie, which is the worst thing you can do; I'm pleased to see how the world is becoming more accepting for our younger generation, I just wish I could go back and live my life as who I am.
I don't know why, but the show last night, and your review and emotional comments, made me want to tell you the truth.
Now that the council of geeks knows it, maybe I'll be brave enough to tell someone else, other than my therapist!
It was a Powerful episode, delivered well, when it could have come across in the wrong manner.
Thanks for hearing me. A thousand thanks.

[spacepenguins]

The marketing for this series hasn’t been amazing considering the current trailers are saying
“ 1 more episode till the explosive finale”
Kinda putting the next episode down as filler until the good stuff

[TheNerdestOfOne]

I liked the celestial toymaker refrence

[mattcoles]

As someone who's had depression for about 10 years, this episode spoke directly to me, I loved it so much, I cried. Definitely one of my personal favourite episodes of Doctor Who of all time.

[brianahicks]

“She wants to be alone and she also wants the company”

I’ve never considered the doctor particularly relatable... the relatability aspect of the show always belonged to the companions (for me). She’s become the most relatable iteration of the doctor over the course of this season.
She IS sweet and bubbly and loves her friends. But she’s also got a lot of emotional baggage and feels alienated. I get it. I love it.

[theshadowdirector]

Does anyone else agree with me on this? That the Chibnall-era of Doctor Who is at its best and most confident when its taking itself seriously playing into the Drama?

[theplebeian]

Can we talk about that awesome animated sequence? That bit was awesome!

[martinmorles]

This episode really highlighted why I love the companions of this era, cause finally their ordinary people dealing with emotional dilemmas instead of been plot devises while dealing with the implications of traveling with the doctor probably since Amy and Rory

[aleatoriac]

My favorite part was Graham attempting to talk to the Doctor about his very Human limitations. The Doctor was *utterly alien* there.
Very much like the 4th, the 6th - mysterious, abrasive, has emotions, but they're not Human emotions at all. The Doctor regenerates, lives through things that would drive Humans insane, and the Human characters are really all they have for each other. Graham, Yaz and Ryan were all talking about ephemeral things toward the end of the story. The Doctor has lived so long now, there's no real frame of reference, beyond the memory of a Human shell she "fakes" for her Human friends.

It's not that she's mad, or evil, or unsympathetic - or lacks empathy. She simply can't fit into a finite Human life, even if she may be able to understand Human fears, it may be that she finds them a bit silly at this point.


Would be great if they lean into this. I doubt they will, but I like seeing that kind of stuff.

[statusblackout]

I think your review made me cry more than the episode and boy did I blub at that. Just seeing the impact it clearly had on you really came across.

I agreed with all your points on this episode, absolutely incredible and I haven't stopped thinking about it since last night. I was most pleased we have finally gotten Yaz back story and I really hope we get to keep her moving into next series.

Again, fantastic review as always ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[qqqqqqqqqqqq]

Decent episode but a little overstuffed, it felt like they dealt with the immortals too easily and too quickly, I think the stuff in Syria may have been a bit superfluous.

What this episode has done for me is really showing why 3 companions are necessary- while it is seldom that all three are necessary for the plot and structure of episodes; this episode really shows why they are needed narratively and gives an insight into the Doctor. She needs her fam.

[UomodAltriTempi]

Despite all the detestation it received from a big portion of the community, I really loved that final exchange between Graham and the Doctor because it's an accurate rappresentation of what actually mental health care assistants do in real life: *not remarking the issue* .

This is something the average person usually finds to be counterintuitive, but it's a subject well known in the field that avoiding consolation support it's the most effective solution to take in order to help an individual who is experiencing selfesteem and security problems: that's because in doing so (I'm referring to consolation support) you are actually *_giving too much weight and unnecessary gravitas to an issue_* that is troubling the indigent; you're not helping him/her getting over it doing so...you're *remarking the problem* .

The solution is *not comforting, but **_listening_* : just *_listening_* .
After that, when the person has let out all those words of struggle and concerning, you change the subject interrupting that flux of gravitas: basically, you metaphorically _cauterize the psychological injury after all the "bloodly pain" has been flowed away_ ; you leave the healing process to the patient's mind on a unconsciously way...you let the person dealing with it in his/her own terms, with the acceptance and eventually overcoming of the condition.
*You offer a distraction through which the person can process his/her own condition* in a much more relaxed and distant way.

*_Comforting_** does more harm than good* : it remarks the problem to the subject's mind, keeping open the psychological injury which will take much longer to mend. As I said, it's a counterintuitive concept: I'm well aware about that.
And that's exactly what the Doctor did with Graham: she let the words of fear going way, just listening without pandering the situation; and then, she changed the subject releiving Graham from the tension and giving him a moment of brief happiness and hilarity.

Considering the subtext of the episode, I bet this particular scene was one of the contribution of an external show advisor related to the field of mental health care assistance..!

[RobbnCO]

"she wants to be alone yet she wants company" ... sounds just like me ...

[choatixtherobot]

In my opinion, this episode would have worked well in Series 11 - it does a lot to establish the characters with their greatest fears, but it's extremely late for that.

[danellewilbraham]

The Doctor basically says what we already know - she’s not always good in the moment when complex human emotions are at the forefront. But instead of “oh yeah, Mickey’s plastic and may be dead, oops, I didn’t even think of that” or “sorry for the loss of your loved one/pet, oops, wrong notecard” there’s an air of disappointment in herself, for someone so clever who has spent hundreds of years traveling with humans to still struggle with these interactions. Also cracked me up getting so wrapped up in problem solving and not even noticing that the companions are gone and no one is listening - very Doctor. And arguing with the TARDIS! 😂

[Lil-Dragon]

Enjoyed it and makes me want to know more about Yaz's risky tendencies. Graham's nightmare pulled at my heart and I am sure this'll be a well remembered episode for it's ways with discussing mental health and issues people conceal for the sake of looking tough.