For a serious chunk of tonight ’s Doctor Who episode , I was wonder if it was a chip of a return to the people who claim the BBC ’s prison term - travel horror - comedy is too scary for little kids . After all , the episode seemed to be saying , over - protect children from what scares them can contrariwise have the opposite event , of shit them even more frightened . But then it seemed like the episode was going in several directions at once , and the message became less clear .
Spoilers ahead …
At first , the metaphor in “ Night Terrors ” appear unclouded enough — untried George is frightened of everything , so his parent put everything that scares George into the cupboard , where it ca n’t harm him . Except that presently the cupboard is full to break with things that frighten George , and he becomes more and more obsessed with weird rituals to keep himself safe . It ’s as though the instalment is saying that sometimes children need to face scary stuff , and that trying to keep them away from what scares them will only make it regretful . Of course , most kids are n’t quite as much of a nervous wreck as pitiful George .
George puts out a plea “ Please redeem me from the monsters , ” and somehow this is powerful enough to travel through time and quad , past a huge laundry inclination of planet and galaxies and things , to the TARDIS , where it pops up on the Doctor ’s psychic newspaper . The Doctor shows up and finally tracks down the rootage of the “ distress call , ” then like a shot go on to denote that George ’s monsters are real and the cupboard really is full of dreadful things . On the look of it , the Doctor is the spoilt tiddler counselor ever , since he ’s basically aggravate George ’s fears and confirming that George is right to be terrorise out of his wits . Unless you grease one’s palms that A ) the monsters are material , and must be vote down , and B ) the whole thing is a turn of a metaphor for children needing to be expose to scary stuff so that they can manage with it .
Of course , then the whole thing gets turn on its mind , because the cupboard is actually all right and it ’s George who ’s the monster , sort of . At times , “ Night Terrors ” threatens to become into a snatch of a do - over of “ venerate Her , ” crossed with that Twilight Zone about the little boy post everybody to the Cornfield . George sends the poor dotty old lady to the Cornfieldcupboard , and then Rory and Amy ( for making a truly imbecilic offhand remark ) , and then the apartment ’s obnoxious landlord , and finally the Doctor and Alex .
It ’s one of those episodes that does n’t really benefit from tight interrogation — like , for example , why is George sending everybody to the Cornfield on this particular night ? He racks up a jolly telling count of victims in just this one evening , and there ’s no sense that something in particular has caused George to storm up his reign of terror . Also , I ’m still a flake ill-defined on how this exotic metal money actually works , what with the desire to be a normal human kid in spitefulness of the good - omnipotent psychic tycoon . Is George going to develop up , grow old and go as a man without ever wither anybody else or turning them into a scary doll , now that he ’s gotten past his trauma ? Like I said , best not overthink this one .
It ’s not really a standout episode , by any means , except that Matt Smith ’s carrying into action really elevates it . He gets some amazing lines , and really makes the most of them . And his double enactment with Alex , played by Daniel Mays from Outcasts , is almost as full as his conjugation with James Corden in “ The Lodger ” and the coming “ Closing Time . ” Just the whole comic patronage of the Doctor essay to make tea leaf and Alex trying to stop him is weirdly hilarious , and yet the Doctor ’s compassion towards a frightened child also shines through really nicely . Smith is a amusing genius , and he ’s also terribly good at bromance .
The main weakness in the instalment , character - heady , is Amy and Rory , who feel less fleshed out than they have in a while — even before Amy gets turned into a dame , she seems a bit wooden . ( Sorry , could n’t resist . ) I recognize that this episode was originally snuff it to appear in the first half of the time of year , probably in the slot now occupied by the pirate episode , and it got locomote to the 2nd half for various reasons . But I was still sort of hoping that there would be one scene , perhaps one TARDIS scene added at the last minute , in which Amy and Rory in short discuss the fact that they wo n’t get to raise their girl in any meaningful good sense , and instead she ’s going to turn into a “ tailored sociopath ” for an undetermined point of time . One scene . It would have been nice . alternatively , Amy and Rory felt a mo shunt to the side in this one , sent to the Cornfield pretty early and then chased around by dolls . I did like Rory thinking they were all in again , given that they ’ve both died at least once by now .
But luckily , it look like next workweek ’s instalment is all about Amy and Rory , so mayhap we ’ll get a bit more development of their character in general . Plus nerveless robot . Fingers crossed !
And then in the end , the sequence flip us one more ( quite welcome ) curve ball . As ask , the Doctor announce that George has to face his fear . And George does — and it does n’t quite solve the problem , because it turn out the real problem is that George know his parents have thought about direct him aside . It ’s up to Alex to step up and promise that he will never let go of his son , in a very “ Yes , I am your mummy ” import . And then at last , the problem is puzzle out .
What get up this sequence above either “ reverence Her ” or the “ Cornfield ” sequence is the fact that it does have a real worked up resolution , in which the dad has to reaffirm his lovemaking and commitment to his Word , along with the boy overcoming his reverence . Also , the baby ’s plight is made the centrepiece of the report from the commencement , alternatively of the child being viewed as an opposer from the start . And George is never really a monster — we do n’t get a reveal where George transport the Doctor into the Cornfield and then starts cackling or looking evil . George is always just a scared small child . All in all , a moderately stout episode .
Dr. WhoOutcastsTelevisionThe Twilight ZoneTwilight Zone
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