What will you cling to when you come face to face with your worst fear?
What They Say:
Episode 11: The God Complex
The TARDIS lands in what looks like an ordinary hotel. But the walls move, corridors twist and rooms vanish. There is a room for every visitor that contains their deepest, darkest fears. Fears that will kill them. What lies in the Doctor’s room? And when his turn comes, will he welcome death like all the rest?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
A glimpse of the hell that will await the Doctor and his companions is seen as an English police officer is opening doors in a rather shabby hotel corridor and is greeted by an assemblage of strange things in the room. She narrates while writing on here memo pad that each room is meant for a person as it contains a specific fear tailored just to him or her and that she is the last member of her group to survive. Her note taking is cut short when she finds her door which has her fear in it. Suddenly she starts saying “praise him” and her mood changes to one of bliss. She doesn’t even run when the large shadow with its thundering steps approaches-all she can say is “praise him.”
The Doctor and his companions find themselves in the hotel a short time after this as the TARDIS has, once again, landed in an area they had not intended. While Amy and Rory are nonplused the Doctor is as giddy as a young boy in a candy store as he knows they aren’t on Earth and is amazed by the craftsmanship making it look like real. Oddly among the décor are portraits hanging on the wall with the names of different beings as well as a small part under them which, when combined with the last portrait of the police officer from the beginning, gives the viewer a hint as to what is to come.
When the Doctor and his companions ring a bell in the reception they are beset upon by a pair of humans and an alien who are as uncertain about the Doctor and company as the Doctor and company are of these three new faces. The Doctor starts to try to figure out what is going on by asking what the three who have been there some time to fill him in. It turns out this strange hotel isn’t even remotely close to what it seems as the doors and windows are blocked, the corridors move and there are strange things in the room waiting for them.
When the Doctor tries to take everyone back to the TARDIS they find it is gone which leaves the Doctor in a position where he must solve this riddle on his own. Thing is almost everyone fears something, even the Doctor, and each has a room set for them. What will each of the group members find in their room and what is it that will lead them out of their fear- Will they find salvation or damnation in its wake?
The eleventh episode of the season decides to go the path of the mystery-monster-horror genera. In this attempt the story works as it sets a mood right from the beginning while leaving the audience waiting to see both what is at the heart of the mystery as well as what it is the cast fears-particularly the Doctor. For a bit over half of the episode it works really well in building the terror of the rooms as well as this unseen creature and then it adds in the bizarre actions that the different characters start to experience to deepen the horror.
Where the story kind of goes off track is when the episode rolls just past the halfway mark, events here take a sideways turn that bogs the pace down and muddles events a bit. What makes this even more problematic is somewhere along the line the ball was dropped in the audio production as some lines are delivered in a manner that is less than clear and solid which provides a stumbling block to helping convey the power of the scene. Fortunately for the episode and audience the climax is a very powerful one that will lead to some major changes as well as the Doctor having to confront something he has long known but buried off to the sides of his consciousness for his own reasons.
In Summary:
The God Complex is a return to the mysterious monster story telling that Doctor Who’s premise opens the door for. To an extent it works but the real value isn’t in the monster part at all and it really feels like a tale that would have benefited greatly from being half its length and a bit rewritten as what should be the primary focus gets lost in the carrying out of the story-and this distraction isn’t half as interesting as the real heart of events. If not for a bit in the middle this would have been one of the finer episodes in a season that already has some stellar episodes but it still comes in at well better than average.
Grade: B
