Doctor Who S12E07 – Review – Can You Hear Me?

The Doctor and her companions are off to more adventures and the last one takes from Aleppo in the 1300s to an alien prison in deep space where two worlds are colliding, it doesn’t get more sci-fi than this…does it?
The episode’s villain is a thought-to-be-godlike alien, Zellin, who uses people’s nightmares to control them. At first, it is super creepy as he somehow discards his fingers and uses those to control his victims and induce those nightmares. Fans of Doctor Who are, of course, no strangers to gross and creepy stuff, but this was just uncomfortable to watch. He manages to successfully release his partner from the prison, one would think this would have made things a lot harder for the Doctor and her companions to overcome but the result is rather anti-climatic.
Whilst story-wise it fell short, this episode does bring some character depth and development for the companions. We learn more about Yaz, about how three years before she was struggling and ran away from home, a police officer finds her, helps her and seems to inspire her to join the police. We also see the relationship between Ryan and his friend Tibo, who appears to be going through depression. Finally, we see Graham fearing that his cancer may return.
Throughout the different series, all companions reach a point where they start reflecting on how traveling with the Doctor Who has changed their lives and the lives of those around them. Sure, they could return just a few minutes after they left (perks of time travel) but as Ryan points out, even though their loved ones may have not changed, all these travels do change them. Is this the end of the line for this companion team? Only time will tell but it should be interesting to see how this realization will change the companions going forward.

Score: 6/10

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