Rate "Listen"

"When ghosts of past and future crowd into their lives, the Doctor and Clara are thrown into an adventure that takes them to the very end of the universe. What happens when the Doctor is alone? And what scares the grand old man of Time and Space? Listen!"

That is the official plot summary from the BBC, but we're more interested in hearing what our fellow Wrinklies thought of the fourth episode in Capaldi era.  Full of Sound and Fury?  Or just Signifying Nothing?  Let's hear from you!

Just a gentle reminder to any and all North American wrinklies that if you wander in here before transmission of the episode on this side of the Atlantic and you are likely to get spoilered, so peek in here at your own risk.

Two things we can takeaway from "Listen": first, it seems pretty clear that Clara and Rupert/Danny Pink are going to become an item, and Danny will become a companion. Second, this episode is proof that the Doctor must have a companion with him, if for no other reason than his sanity.

I quite liked this story. 5/5 from me.

Best things: the Doctor and Clara's dialogue. The insults, the lack of recognition that Clara is female. The Doctor's obsessive curiosity. The lack of certainty. Not just about the monster (and oh what a monster) but other things -

-the unconscious Doctor is brought back to the Tardis and something knocked him out. Was it debris? Was it a monster? Was it Orson Pink?

The tie back to Gallifrey and the barn...oh goodness, the Doctor went home to destroy Gallifrey. Effectively back to his childhood bedroom.

The awkward relationship between the all too clever Clara and Danny Pink that slowly leads them to overcome their fear of one another.

The bad: why does Clara need to be at the root of everything?

Interesting question, Dave. I think Clara "Impossible Girl" Oswald needs to be at the center of everything originating with the Doctor. I'll be interested to see how the dynamics change for "Time Heist," as the threat/focus appears to be external to the Doctor.

I have to say, I agree with you, Dave. The more I see of Capaldi's Doctor, particularly his interactions with Coleman, the more I want to see.

Patrick wrote:Interesting question, Dave.  I think Clara "Impossible Girl" Oswald needs to be at the center of everything originating with the Doctor.  

Outside of Jenna Coleman's impressive performances, and the interplay between her and Capaldi, why?

This is a theory, for which I am still gathering evidence, but I think Clara's role as the companion is going to become central to the narrative arc this season, in much the same way as it was to the build-up toward The Name Of The Doctor last season.  Consider that we never got an answer as to who it was that submitted the article to the newspaper in Deep Breath inviting The Impossible Girl to lunch.  This implies to me someone else knows Clara's importance in what is to come, too.

On the whole I found this to be self-indulgent Moffat claptrap. 2/5.