ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
Oh well. Things had been picking up over the last couple of
stories, but this one struggles again. The central concept – London submerged
in Forest – is a good one but it just doesn’t go anywhere else after that.
There’s a lot of running around in the trees and a few bits with a tiger and
then it ends. Aside from a few really great visuals this is a bit on the dull
side.
Clara and Danny are taking a group of Coal Hill School kids
on a field trip. They wake up and find London submerged in a massive jungle.
One of the children, Maebh Arden (Abigail Eames), has latent telepathic
abilities that have been activated by the disappearance of her sister. She
reads Clara’s thoughts that she should try to find the Doctor and so Maebh runs
off into the Forest to find him. She finds him by the TARDIS at the overgrown
Trafalgar Square.
The Doctor meets up with Clara, Danny and the other children
and the Doctor suggests that a massive solar flare is due to hit the Earth and
could destroy it. As Maebh’s medication wears off she starts gesturing
strangely, the Doctor creates a field around Maebh which reveals tiny creatures
circling her. They speak through Maebh and say they grew the Forest to protect
the Earth as they had done “in the North and in the South”.
After initially getting it wrong, the Doctor then realises
that the North refers to the Tunguska Event and the South to the Curuçá
Impact, two occasions when the Earth could have been destroyed by things from
space and that the creatures had grown forests to protect then as they are now.
The solar flares hit the Earth which is protected by the
Forest which then dissipates. Humanity will forget but remember in their folk
memory. Maebh’s sister is revealed as the greenery recedes.
There’s some really nice stuff in this story, the poetic and
fairy tale like atmosphere is unusual and enjoyable, but the overall threat is
a bit weak. The imagery of London submerged in primeval forest is the thing
that sticks in the memory.
Aside from that this story is a bit flat. The tiger is a
threat briefly, as are the wolves, but they are dealt with easily and with the
‘monsters’ being creatures that are protecting the Earth the thing this story
really lacks is a menace to drive the story forward.
The return of Maebh’s sister is a bit twee too, although you
can see it coming a mile off. It feels like it is added in just to give the
story a conclusion that it doesn’t really need.
Maebh’s mother is an irritating figure, biking around the
Forest submerged London like she’s popping down to Waitrose for some hummous,
she is entirely unnecessary to the plot and just comes across as padding.
The acting is also a bit flat in this story, even from
Capaldi and Coleman who are usually exemplary, it almost feels like they know
this story is filling up space before the big conclusion to the season. The
focus on Clara and Danny is strong which continues the feel that she is about
to leave, but by this point you can’t help but notice Danny’s passive/aggressive
attitude to Clara and find yourself wanting her to kick him to the kerb. He
seems reasonably, then when you think about it, he’s asking her to give up
everything she’s loved and enjoyed just so she can be with him?
This is better than The Caretaker, but is still not a great
story or one which I would return to that often.
NEXT UP: DARK WATER / DEATH IN HEAVEN
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