Doctor Who - "The God Complex"

Season 6, Episode 11

We’ve all been down this road at least once before

“You never know what’s going to be in your room until you see it.

Then you realize it never could have been anything else.”

-Lucy Hayword

 “I took you in because I’m vain, because I wanted to be adored.”

-The Doctor

Ah yes. The “something plays off everyone’s specific fear” episode. It’s quite a well-worn trope in the science-fiction genre. (Hell, Buffy the Vampire Slayer did two of ‘em, the first season’s “Nightmares” and the fourth’s “Fear, Itself”.) As a sci-fi, Doctor Who has stolen creatively borrowed many tropes over the years, so it’s not like I should be so surprised that the show went for such an easy storyline. And while, like many DW episode, this was another case of everything-is-not-as-it-seems-itis, I still ended this episode feeling fairly disappointed.

For starters, this episode should not exist here as it does, especially as the end of a three-week stretch of standalone episodes all meant to unnerve the audience in varying ways. “Night Terrors”, which aired two weeks ago, was meant to air in the first half of this season as episode four, but was pushed back so that the first block could have a larger variety of stories. (Didn’t quite get that result in the back half, did they?) The germ for “The God Complex” – about the trio being locked in a hotel with moving walls- came from Toby Whithouse last season, but was kept out of it, again in an attempt to avoid repetition. (Again, do you see the irony in this?) I don’t begrudge the show for making a scheduling mistake because they were trying to avoid one in the first place, but that doesn’t stop this creeper triple-feature from being at bit tiresome.

But let’s move past that, and past the trite premise, and get to the meat of the episode, the idea of a monster that feeds not on fear, but on human (and I guess alien?) faith. This idea I like; the concept of a monster/alien using faith, the one thing that tends to get people through tough times, as the way to end their lives has a certain kind of delicious irony to it that I think the episode could have delved into more. And yet the show didn’t, because it was already trying to juggle too many other things, and a lot of the episode suffered for it.

But I don’t mean to knock all the time we spent before with everyone just running around. “Everyone just running around” is a criticism that’s been lobbed at the show in the past, especially in the classic series, and while it’s a fair judgment to make, it must also be noted that the show can (and often does) get a lot of mileage out of having everyone just running around, and this was one of those times. The idea of a place with shifting halls and doors, while yet another sci-fi trope, is an inherently interesting one, and director Nick Hurran used a wide array of camera tricks and angles that added a real sense of place to the surroundings. Given how busy the episode was, it might have been tempting to cut some of those mood-setting pieces, but I’m glad Hurran kept them in. The stable, sure sense of space helped to carry the episode during its more flailing bits.

The ending is yet was the other bit that I should have like, yet I found it wanting in context – though I’m not entirely sure if I should blame the showmakers for this one. The idea of the Doctor as some sort of life-ruining bastard is an interesting one, and it’s been one of the things I most enjoy about Eleven, and Matt Smith’s performance, as it lets the Doctor be both fun and scary without making him seem manic. And it’s these connections to the season-long arc – the element at which Stephen Moffat far outpaces Russell T. Davies – that are perhaps the strongest of tonight’s episode, and I enjoyed seeing once again how the Doctor has inadvertently endangered and possibly ruined Amy and Rory’s lives.

But here’s the thing. While each individual piece of this emotional ride – the Doctor’s admission that he destroys lives, seeing that Amy’s faith in the Doctor and fear that he leave her behind are two sides of the same coin, the final goodbye where he gave them a house and car – were or could have been moving individually. But as I watched it on BBC America, there was a poorly-placed commercial break that left the last five minutes (where the Doctor drops the pair off), that the emotional momentum of what had come before had been ruined, and the goodbyes didn’t hurt as much as they were supposed to.

Of course, the emotion is also dulled for me because I don’t believe that this is the last will see of them. Though next week’s episode will once again pair the Doctor up with Craig from last season’s “The Lodger” (and words can’t describe how much I am looking forward to that), I can’t exactly buy that there wouldn’t have been more fanfare to their departure. But even if this is the last we see of them, I applaud Whithouse for writing an understated yet powerful goodbye, and curse BBC America for ruining those final moments.

Next Week: The Lodger 2: Electric Boogaloo

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

The Doctor’s room number was 11, which has obvious symbolism. Was there any sort of symbolism in Amy’s room number being 7? Is there something I’m missing?

So the Weeping Angels made an appearance. Of course they did. And I must say, I wasn’t all surprised that they proved not to be any real danger. That’s another staple of these kinds of episodes: the danger from the past that turns out to be impotent.

Gibbis was played by David Walliams, one-half of the Little Britain duo. I don’t know what you should do with that, but there you go.

“She’s threatening me with a chair leg!”

“Did you say ‘It’s okay, we’re nice’?”

“Big day if you’re a fan of walls.”

“Things? Hellooo. What kind of things? I’m a fan of things, ask anyone, they’ll tell you.”

“Keep telling yourself that. It’s a CIA thing, nothing more.”

“You are a medical doctor, your don’t just have a degree in cheese making or something.” “No…well, yes, both actually.”

“All I want to do is be conquered and oppressed. Is that too much to ask?”

“Cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a box of kittens, but whatever you do, don’t give into the fear.”

“How’s it going?” “Don’t talk to the clown!”

“I’m literally a elephant’s toenail from getting us out of here.”