The God Complex is a pretty good episode that uses horror tropes in a fairly interesting way. There are a few awkward moments in it as well so it is not a perfect episode by any stretch. There is also a tonal shift towards the end that is necessary but creates a bit of a dissatisfying contrast with the rest of the episode.
Plot Summary
En route to another planet, the TARDIS accidentally materializes in a seedy 1980's style hotel. Investigating, they are confronted by three other people: Rita, a Muslim nurse, Howie, an internet conspiracy theorist, and Gibbis, a Tivolian city planner. A fourth person, Joe, a gambler, is tied up in a room with ventriloquist dummies and is talking about praising the one to set them free.
The Doctor pulls Joe along and the party looks for a way out. However, Joe's praising summons a creature and the TARDIS has disappeared. The group disperses into several hotel rooms. Both Howie and Rita are confronted by fears: Howie by girls laughing at his stutter and Rita by not living up to her father's high standards. The others end up in a room with the Weeping Angels but the Doctor realizes they aren't real. Joe is released from his bonds and he goes to the creature who kills him, leaving his body behind.
The Doctor assumes that the creature feeds on fear and when Howie begins to talk of praising him, the Doctor decides to set a trap. Howie speaks his praise over a loud speaker which lures the creature into the room. There the Doctor talks to it. He learns the creature is actually a prisoner and that the people are brought in to feed him. He wants it to stop, but can't due to base instinct. Meanwhile, Howie convinces Gibbis to set him free as Gibbis had been hoping the creature might leave them alone. Howie knocks Rory down and goes to the creature who kills him after going by the Doctor.
The Doctor finds the security cameras and looks to use them to get out. While there, he sees Rita walking the halls. He calls a room and she answers. She had began to praise and walked off to prevent harm from coming to the others. The Doctor pleads with her to come back but she just waits until the creature appears and the Doctor turns the cameras off.
After recovering Rita's body, the Doctor realizes that the creature is feeding on their faith. Fear and stress cause them to rely on their faith, creating a stronger energy field for the creature to feed on. Amy then begins to praise, having found her room earlier. Amy's faith is in the Doctor and when the group runs into a room to hide, they find a young Amelia waiting for the Doctor. The Doctor confronts Amy, explaining that he is not special, nor her focus and that it is time to let go of the childish dream of the "Raggidy Man." As her faith wanes, the creature collapses and the simulation fails.
The creature is a Minotaur, a relative of the Nimon who had set himself up as a god over a race who rebelled against him and imprisoned him. As the creature dies, it notes similarity between itself and the Doctor, speaking of how death would be welcome to them both. The Doctor drops Gibbis back on his planet and then leaves Rory and Amy at their home. He notes that he will drop by now and again but he wants them to move on, fearing that one or both will be killed eventually. He departs and the couple goes inside.
Analysis
The design of this episode is quite good and the people doing this one were clearly students both of classic Doctor Who as well as horror. The design of the hotel is not a blatant rip off of The Shining but it's impossible not to see the allusions to it especially in the hallway design. The ballroom with the bar also invokes it, although it's a little harder to notice until the cast actually ponies up to the bar.
I also enjoy the lack of omniscience of the Doctor. He, like anyone in that situation, assumes that fear is the goal. After all, fear is everywhere and the people are steadily consumed by their fear to the point of deeper faith. It makes logical sense that the Doctor would jump to the obvious wrong conclusion and then have to fix it later once they have more information. I always enjoy it when the Doctor has to learn but still is more capable than the rest.
I'm of mixed mind about Rita. I enjoyed the other characters quite a bit and Rita herself is an enjoyable character. However, in the wake of Islamic terrorism that has become a reality, Rita's backstory came across to me as a bit apologetic. Her first reaction when the Doctor confirms that she is Muslim is to make a joke about how she hopes he won't fear her. There is the reinforcing line about her being British and fixing things with a cup of tea, again trying a tad too hard about making her to be a normal person rather than some foreign demon (as is a common perception). She essentially displays no faults what-so-ever and that to smacks of trying a bit too hard to apologize for this character. The others all had pluses and minuses, but Rita is just all good, to the point that she sacrifices herself to prevent harm from coming to the others. I'm sure I'm bringing my own biases into this (I didn't know that Muslim is actually the second largest faith in the UK, excluding those of no faith) but I do wish Rita had been a bit more flawed.
The other big thing to note in this episode is how the resolution borrows from The Curse of Fenric. Obviously there is a reference to The Horns of Nimon, but the fact that the Doctor has to remove Amy's faith in him is a direct steal of how the Seventh Doctor had to break Ace's faith to allow the Ancient Haemovore to attack Fenric. The Eleventh Doctor was much nicer in that he only had to persuade Amy to let go of her old faith rather than mentally break her as the Seventh Doctor to Ace, but the principle is the same. If that wasn't enough, Amy's room number is seven. That might just be a coincidence, but it made for a bit of a callback to me. I understand and it made sense within the context of the episode, but I never care for it that much when plot points are recycled. Not a significant complaint, but it does toggle the brain a bit.
Finally, there is the tone shift at the end. I understand that the Minotaur was not intended to be an evil villain and they wanted to draw parallels between it and the Doctor. However, the required shift in tone is just so jarring when the previous thirty minutes have been immersed in near full horror mode. You even have the monster banging on the door as you try to find the solution and then as Amy's belief in the Doctor evaporates, it becomes somber reflection, both on the tragedy of the Minotaur and about the Doctor's life. There is ominous foreshadowing to what will eventually become of Rory and Amy in Series Seven, although that's better left to The Power of Three. While recognizing that it is necessary for completing the story and setting up events for both Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song, it just doesn't flow properly in my opinion. Maybe if there had been a bit more of this theme in the earlier portion rather than the straight horror it wouldn't have seemed so jarring, but I'm still not sure. It just felt odd.
My complaints aside, this was still a good episode and it's good and proper scary up until the end. Even with that, I would easily recommend it again to someone looking for a bit of entertainment. Not quite as good as the preceding story but definitely an enjoyable one worth watching on multiple occasions.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment