Doctor Who Review: Flatline

Season: 8 / Episode: 9 This week’s Doctor Who episode was a solid one; the plot, drama and comedic elements were all pretty typical, but the constantly changing and evolving dynamic between Clara and the Doctor continues to really push this season forward. But first, let’s discuss the plot. I have to admit that as I was watching the first few minutes of the episodes, I wasn’t particularly drawn in. We see this pre-credit setup a lot in “Doctor Who”: Some random person is in trouble, with some mysterious creature or monster in the background, and just as they try to call for help or come to some realization about the creature or whatever it happens to be, they are snatched up, killed, changed, etc. I mean, I can’t blame the writers; it’s also something you see in countless horror movies. But at some point, it gets old. Fortunately, the originality of the shrinking Tardis made up for that. Plus, we just know that as soon as the Doctor gets back into the Tardis, he’s going to be trapped, meaning he’s not going to be the head honcho in the episode. The idea of 2D creatures is pretty interesting—a bit hard to wrap my three-dimensional brain around, but still fun, especially because at first thought, a two-dimensional antagonist may not seem that threatening, like being attacked by a drawing (although if you recall, drawings can be pretty threatening too, as we’ve learned from the “Fear Her” episode and that one “Spongebob Squarepants” episode about the evil doodle … but I digress)…