Can you believe we’re already at the point where we’re now staring down the barrel at Peter Capaldi’s first season finale of Doctor Who? “In the Forest of the Night” is your quintessential filler episode before the final pieces of the season-long puzzle fall together. Not to say it was completely forgettable – I quite enjoyed Maebh (Abigail Eames) and her interactions with The Doctor – but in a nutshell, the viewer got a lush run through a version of London overgrown with forestry, a bunch of schoolkids and another example as to why Clara and Danny aren’t the best teachers in the world.
Visually, it’s a great Who story and the plot line has strength too – trees popping up in order to save the Earth from an oncoming solar flare, a poke at how humankind is killing the environment, your usual. But the conclusion of the episode is underwhelming in comparison to the concept of the overall narrative and you’re left wondering why there wasn’t more time spent on explaining why Maebh’s sister Annabel disappeared in the first place. POOF! There she is behind a bush.
The Little Red Riding Hood and William Blake references are well played, the wolves and the tiger drive each home perfectly. The MVP of “In the Forest of the Night” has to be Eames though, the young actress owned each scene, especially the ones she shared with Capaldi. If it was just these two navigating their way through the episode, it would have been far more satisfactory. Maebh is a little girl who can hear things on different levels to other people and is more perceptive than people think (she’s believed to be traumatised since the disappearance of her sister). Similarly to Van Gogh in Vincent and the Doctor, the other characters in this episode write her off as having some kind of illness, frequently asking if she’s had her medication. While obviously, the former example is a result of its time, I thought having the only response to this the adults have for this child acting the way she does (giving her pills), is a great little point to have in the episode amongst everything else happening.
As for the other kids involved in “In the Forest of the Night”? Largely forgettable. It’s ironic that Danny lost Maebh, considering she’s probably the most interesting one out of the bunch. Speaking of Mr Pink and Miss Oswald, their relationship has gone from being quite an intriguing story, to being one which is rapidly becoming more and more bland. He’s uncovered the fact that Clara’s been lying to him about travelling with The Doctor and even then, it’s a resolution to a plot thread which is underwhelming. The biggest move these two made together in this episode was openly kissing each other in front of their students. I’m hoping this season final lets Samuel Anderson off the chain a bit more, I thought he held much potential in the earlier half of this season but he’s been relegated to the background since. Much like a certain boyfriend of an earlier season…
“In the Forest of the Night” probably marks one of the lowest points of what’s been a relatively strong debut season for Capaldi. The most exciting part is Missy’s reappearance at the end of the episode, which then leads straight into the sneak peek of the finale coming up next week. There are inklings that The Doctor can sense something isn’t quite right, such as when Maebh says she was ‘sent’ by ‘Miss’. I’m interested to see how he and Missy interact when they finally meet because I can imagine the chemistry between Michelle Gomez and Capaldi is going to be electric. As for this particular adventure, no new ground was covered and everything which had potential when first introduced, fizzled out near the end.
Things to look forward to in the Season 8 two-part finale: the return of Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Stewart and UNIT, Chris Addison having more screen time and what’s looking to be Evil Clara! Oh, and the Cybermen are back, who are always good fun.
Let’s forget this one happened, in the meantime.
Review Score: TWO AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE.
Doctor Who screens at 7:30pm Sundays on ABC1.
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