C+Q - In the Forest of the Night (2014)
Apart from Time Heist, In the Forest of the Night is the Series 8 episode I was dreading the most. Frank Cottrell Boyce has a good reputation as a writer, but I was very concerned that the only thing we knew about the episode for a very long time was that it involved a cast almost entirely comprised of child actors. With rare exception, I can't remember liking a single child actor's performance beyond a sense of relief that they managed to say their lines in a way that was only slightly obnoxious. Now don't misunderstand me: I have no issue with the kids themselves. Child actors are clearly very passionate about what they do to start at that age and I'm sure they'll all blossom into the big-name stars of the future. The kids who acted in this episode have already achieved more in their childhoods than I could ever hope to achieve in my entire lifetime by being part of the production of Doctor Who. My problem is definitely not with them as people; I wish each and every one of them long and prosperous careers. My problem is that good drama should keep you on the edge of your seat, but not because you're hoping the actors can get through the scene without doing anything wrong. Even Daniel Radcliffe and the cast of Harry Potter, who are now some of the best actors of my generation, were shit in Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. In some scenes, you can actually see them mouthing along to eachother's lines! Now, I'd expect no less from kids who were just having a laugh on set. Good on them. But still, it doesn't make it any more comfortable for me to watch. At the very least, if you're going to have kids in a TV show aimed primary at kids, give them fully fleshed-out personalities and show a bit of respect for your target demographic instead of making them all dumb needy stereotypes. With the exception of Maebh Arden (who incidentally is one of the rare child characters and performances who actually stuck out to me as being great), the kids in this episode are all very one-note and obnoxious, which isn't a very good view to have of your main audience. Call me a scrooge if you like. I probably deserve it. But I've never been a fan of the casting of children as lead characters unless extra special care is taken to do it well.
But as I've said, the only child character who seemed to be fleshed out to any degree was Maebh, who is fantastic. One of my favourite moments of the episode is when she ends her message to the world about the trees with, "Oh, and Annabel Arden, please come home." It's such a small line but it's so believable. If that character ever got a chance to send a message to the whole world, that's something that uniquely they would think to say. Maebh said that at the end of her message because she has her own goals and her own desires outside the boundaries of her current situation. It's a really touching moment which makes the character of Maebh come to life, along with the capable performance of Abigail Eames. Credit where credit is due: she was great here. Unfortunately the rest of the kids really drag down the episode. I mean, who could forget such memorable characters as Anger Management boy or Overly Dramatic girl? Maybe I'm being too harsh. I mean at least those two have those brief descriptions while the other kids were just extras who happen to tag along. And yes, I know that Danny Pink, an adult character, can basically be boiled down to Serious Army man, but at least Danny's lack of development this series has been backed up by the extreme likeability and charm of Samuel Anderson who plays the part naturally and competently, whereas the kids (through no fault of their own) don't have that confidence yet with their acting. So with kids, you're kind of relying on the script to give them good material to work with. Why should I care about a poorly-written character, badly acted? And why do we need to have them around if they aren't important enough to have personalities?
Moving on to the good stuff, the direction of Sheree Folkson is superb, a particular highlight for me being the pre-titles sequence where Nelson's Column is revealed amongst the trees. The idea of nature retaking London makes for some fantastic imagery, and the idea of a natural threat (albeit a natural threat created by weird little supernatural alien firefly things) is a nice change of pace that adds to the helplessness. As the Doctor says, "I can fight monsters. I can't fight physics." Although, while I accept that Frank Cottrell Boyce was going for a childlike fairytale tone that relies on fantasy elements, Doctor Who is at its heart a sci-fi show, so I would've liked the threat to have been defined a bit better and Maebh's command over the weird little supernatural alien firefly things to have been explained. If she can just conjure her lost sister from the aether as she does at the end, why didn't she do this before? Also, to make a brief side note, it seems incredibly irresponsible to tell children who have mental health problems not to take their medication and to listen to voices they hear. I understand the Doctor's thought process and I know it probably wasn't intended to make a big statement, but still. You have to be extremely careful when dealing with issues like mental health in children's drama, and outright saying that all medication is a bad thing is not a good move.
Jeez, I said "moving on to the good stuff", and immediately got side-tracked with complaining again. Believe it not, I do actually like In the Forest of the Night. It's not the best that Series 8 has to offer, but it's a mostly harmless character study for Clara and the Doctor, showing once again how Clara is becoming more like the Doctor in her outlook, and conversely how the Doctor is softening and learning the error of his ways ("This is my world, too. I walk your earth, I breathe your air"). So, yeah. It's okay.
Next: Dark Water