From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt@aol.com
Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews

THE GOD COMPLEX

1 episode. Approx. 48 minutes. Written by: Toby Whithouse. Directed
by: Nick Hurran. Produced by: Marcus Wilson.


THE PLOT

In the corridors of a hotel, as muzak blares over the speaker system,
a monster stalks the halls. The people trapped inside are not guests.
They are people from all across time and space, taken from their
ordinary lives to this structure - a place that is not on Earth, in
which the walls and corridors move. Inside this structure, there is a
room for everybody. Inside that room is the person's worst nightmare.
And once they have found their nightmare, they are ready: First to
"praise him," and then to become food for the beast.

Into this bright labyrinth come the Doctor, Amy, and Rory. They
quickly meet the "hotel's" current group of victims, who have been
wandering the corridors for two days. The Doctor is here now, though,
so there's no need for any of them to be afraid. He will unravel the
puzzle and defeat the monster, and then everyone can go home safely.
Nothing to worry about. After all, he's the Doctor.

"Praise him."


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: So what did he see in his room? Whatever it was, it and
Rita's words to him clearly are leading him to reassess his nature.
We've already seen a tendency toward self-loathing in this Doctor,
most recently when he proclaimed himself as not a good man. Here, that
is taken further. "I'm not a hero," he says. "I really am just a
madman in a box... It's time to see each other as we really are."

Amy: Has absolute faith in the Doctor to save them. She has a
compassionate scene early on with Gibbis (David Walliams), a cowardly
alien from the most invaded planet in the galaxy. It's a nice scene on
its own, but even stronger in hindsight, when you can recognize it as
foreshadowing. Amy's nightmare is of herself as a child, waiting for
the Doctor to come back for her. The first time the Doctor failed her
- which was also the first time they met.

Rory: Still the most grounded of the time travellers, and still the
most decent. His reaction to one death is to look at that person's
picture on the wall and muse to the Doctor about how much it must have
taken for that individual to overcome a stutter in their past. "Not
all victories are about saving the universe," he says quietly, a
statement that has to set the Doctor to thinking.


THOUGHTS

The God Complex is another visually superb episode. It probably wasn't
a particularly expensive one. The hotel sets are fairly standard, and
much of the running time occurs in one corridor and one staircase,
which are reused throughout. But these sets are wonderfully shot, with
director Nick Hurran employing an array of camera techniques from
tilted cameras to speeded-up motion to lend the proceedngs a vaguely
surreal atmosphere.

The production is matched by an excellent script, the best that Toby
Whithouse has yet written for the series. Whithouse's first episode,
School Reunion, became an instant fan favorite thanks in large part to
the return of Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) - but despite good
use of the characters, I personally felt that School Reunion had big
problems with its paper-thin story. His second episode, Vampires of
Venice, was an improvement on the plot level, but this script sees
Whithouse combining the elements just about perfectly. The character
material and the plot aren't competing for attention here; they're
feeding each other, the characterization of both regulars and guest
cast an inherent component of the story itself.
The regulars are superbly characterized. Whithouse also deserves
credit for creating some engaging guest characters. Amara Karan's Rita
is the only completely 3-dimensional creation here, but all of the
"monster fodder" manage to make an impression during their time on-
screen. The characters also each provide hints, which allow the Doctor
to piece it all together at the end - if a bit later than he'd have
liked.

Like the last couple of episodes, The God Complex indulges in emotion
at the end. Unlike the last two episodes, which I felt overegged the
sentiment, here it feels like just the right amount. The Doctor's
scene with Amy/Amelia in "her room" works for me in a way that "Old
Amy's" speech at the end of The Girl Who Waited didn't. For one thing,
the Doctor's speech is much shorter, saying only as much as is
necessary to achieve the goal. Also, instead of being used to wrap
things up neatly, the emotion on display here increases the mess. The
Doctor resolves the situation, but at a cost to himself.

The monster's final words to him hit home, for both Doctor and
audience. As does the episode's final shot, with the Doctor in his
TARDIS - increasingly isolated, increasingly disillusioned with
himself. It's an interesting place to leave a man who has usually been
defined by his confidence, and I'm eager to see where the show goes
from here.


Rating: 9/10.

--- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux NewsLink 1.92-mlp
 * Origin: http://groups.google.com (1:2320/105.97)
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Linux
 * Origin: telnet & http://cco.ath.cx - Dial-Up: 502-875-8938 (1:2320/105.1)