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Doctor Who S8E10 ‘In the Forest of the Night’ review

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My favorite moments in Doctor Who are when the Doctor discovers the hidden “secret” to a conundrum or a villain, and swoops in to save the day. And likewise, the episodes that I tend to like the least are the ones where the Doctor appears ineffective, or even worse, helpless. And as intrigued as I was by the premise for this past week’s In the Forest of the Night, I couldn’t help but feel a bit underwhelmed by the conclusion.

The episode opens with the entire world suddenly being enveloped with a forest of trees overnight. The Doctor, currently traveling alone, learns this fact when he encounters a Maebh, a young girl lost alone in the woods. As we soon discover, Maebh is part of an overnight class field trip being led by Clara and Danny. And once The Doctor and his companion are able to meet up (with an classroom of kids in tow), it is up to them to discover the cause of this sudden reforestation and what they need to do about it.

Doctor Who has done the “precocious child with special powers” routine before, but the central mystery of the episode is engaging enough to make the plot still feel relatively fresh. Ultimately, the episode does less to showcase the Doctor or Clara’s particular skills, but instead, further advances the complicated… affection triangle between Clara, Danny, and The Doctor.

Ultimately, my biggest issue with the episode was simply the lack of dramatic tension of the central storyline. As it turns out, <Spoiler Alert>, the trees were grown to create an oxygen shield to protect the earth from an incoming solar flare. But what that means is that really, the Doctor didn’t have to do anything to protect the earth, except to just let the aliens that grow the trees do their business. And sure, hacking the worldwide cellular network and having the children deliver a message not to harm the trees was “technically” what the Doctor did to save the planet, it just doesn’t nearly feel as impactful as many of The Doctor’s other exploits.

This season, like all Doctor Who’s episodes, certainly has had its ups and downs. And though this latest offering is by no means the nadir of the season, I view it more as a filler to the upcoming finale episodes that I am sure will answer the overarching questions of Capaldi’s first season.


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