While Doctor Who Series 12 has ratcheted up the adrenaline and the tension considerably over Series 11, there has been still a lack of any development for the companions. With the TARDIS already crowded with 3 companions, Yaz, Ryan and Graham have frequently been shunted aside for expansive guest casts.
This week's episode with warnings of a new threat attacking our gang's nightmare gave us a promise of some character development for the Doctor's trio of friends.
Did this week finally deliver on some much needed character development for the Doctor's fam? We'll take a look at that after the spoiler warning.
CAN YOU HEAR ME?
by Charlene James and Chris Chibnall
Hey, we've got a cold open again. Aleppo, Syria in the year 1380. A young woman named Tahira is a patient at a hospital for mental health, a rather progressive turn of events in medieval times it might seem. (The Doctor provides some helpful exposition later that Islamic physicians of the era had rather forward thinking ideas on the subject of mental health.) The hospital is under attack by a werewolf monkey thing that isn't as scary as it's meant to be.
Next the Doctor drops off the fam in Sheffield to play catch up with their lives.
Yaz has a meet up with her sister Sonya for dinner. It's the anniversary of something that's important between the two of them. While asleep in the apartment, Yaz is awakened by a tall, pale bald man, a sepulchral figure who vanishes.
Ryan goes to see an old mate name Tibo (who we met briefly in Skyfall Part 1) who's not hanging on so well. The tall pale man appears in Tibo's apartment and causes Tibo to vanish.
Graham hangs out with some friends to play cards. Then he gets a vision of a woman out among some burning planets, calling for help.
The Doctor has responded to a TARDIS alert to trouble in 1380 Syria where she saves Tahira from the werewolf monkey thing.
Yes, it's all connected. The Doctor brings the fam together along with guest Tahira and tracks all the ka-flooey going on to a construct way the hell out in the outer most outer edges of outer space where two planets are almost crashing into each other, separated by a bubble with a prisoner inside.
The tall pale man shows up, identifies himself as Zellin who is supposed to be some kind of god who feeds off of nightmares. The Doctor rescues the prisoner in the bubble which isn't a good idea.
Seems the woman is just like Zellin, an alleged god like being who loves to feed on nightmares. Earth seems ripe for the plucking so they're off to do that while the Doctor and the fam are strapped into some machinery that still exploring their nightmares.
Ryan sees the world on fire, his friend Libo in pain because he's not there.
Yaz keeps dreaming of being on a solitary road in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes there's a police woman there.
Graham dreams of being in a hospital bed while Grace tells him his cancer has returned.
The Doctor has another glimpse into the mystery of the Timeless Child, the voice of the Master taunting her.
Long story made short, the Doctor gets free and frees her friends, then stuff happens and both the nightmare gods get imprisoned along with the werewolf monkey thing.
A few codas.
At Ryan's urging, we see Libo in group therapy, seeking help with his depression.
We find out that Yaz's nightmare comes from 3 years prior when she ran away from home, pushed past her limits by constantly being bullied. A kindly policewoman takes time to talk to her, to understand her and help her. Which is, I guess, the motivation for Yaz to become a police officer.
And Graham confides in the Doctor about his fears about his cancer returning. Unfortunately, the Doctor is (in her words) "still socially awkward" and manages to put off coming up with a cogent response to Graham's concerns.
I am reminded of a previous Chris Chibnall script, The Power of Three for the 11th Doctor, half of a wonderful script with loads of wonderful character development and half of a mess of a script with a way over complicated bad guy to explain the sci-fi plot.
Likewise, Can You Hear Me? loses so much potential for character development for the Doctor and her fam at the expense of a over wrought villain with way too much exposition to tell us who they are and why we should care.
The things we wanted most to see get short shrift. I like the wrinkle that Ryan is feeling guilty for not being there for his friends and the exploration of Libo and his battle with depression is a worthwhile thread to follow. But given the loss of his mother and his grandmother, it seems that Ryan's nightmare might have centered around losing his father who he finally connected with in Resolution. Or connecting with Graham's fear, Ryan might have nightmares about Graham's cancer coming back and he would lose his grandfather and his last connection to Grace.
And Yaz? For crying out loud, what will it take to get more into Yasmin Kahn's story? OK, we find out she ran away from home three years ago in response to being bullied. But for what? For being Muslim? There is some speculation that Yaz is bi-sexual but nothing in the show has been said or done to hang that on. (Other than Yaz's mom who speculated if her daughter was dating either Ryan or the Doctor.)
So props to this episode giving us some time with the fam and a poke inside their psyches. But once again, we have another over complicated threat that takes time away from the stuff we really wanted to see.
Can You Hear Me? could've been great. Instead, it has to settle for "meh".
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