Doctor Who Can You Hear Me? Review – It isn’t another werewolf episode!

Posted on 10 February 2020
By Dana Andersen
  • Share:

As we inch closer to the finale for this season, a monster of the week episode is just what we needed. ‘Can You Hear Me?’ more than provided.

Beginning in Aleppo, with a werewolf, things soon move along as The Doctor drops the companions home, and leaves ready for her own adventure.

Being so used to having her companions around, The Doctor comedically talks to herself, until finding new short-term companion, Tahira.

Of course it’s not long before the companions are back. Yaz and Ryan with complaints of a bald man, Graham due to being psychically contacted.

The bald man turns out to be Zellin, a god-like creature, who used The Doctors instincts to help free Rakaya.

Zellin is similar to characters we’ve seen in the past. ‘The Eternals’ and God-like creatures were approached by the 4th and 5th Doctors, a fun Easter egg for long term whovians.

Following Rakaya’s release is a beautiful animation, explaining how she had been trapped.

It’s rare to have an animation sequence in Doctor Who, but it fitted the episode, and almost looked like it could have been from Classic Who.

With a black background, white stars twinkling, and brightly coloured planets, this trippy sequence was a new treat, and helps make this episode memorable.

Can You Hear Me? has a Classic Who feel anyway. Zellin’s fingers flying towards the screen, ready to suck out nightmares to feed Rakaya while she’s trapped, has all the cheesiness Doctor Who has always had, while still bringing a shocking amount of terror for the audience.

As the story rounds up with Tahir having faced her fears, she’s now able to control the werewolf seen at the start of the episode.

Zellin and Rakaya are trapped, with the nightmarish werewolf and each other, right where Rakaya started.

Outside of the obvious monster threat, this episode takes on the task of approaching mental health.

Graham is still, understandably, concerned his cancer may return. Speaking to The Doctor about it isn’t much good though, she’s still socially awkward.

Seeing three years into Yaz’s past, when she was bullied in school, and decided to run away, gives her more depth, and presents her as a much more relatable character.

Ryan’s friend experiencing depression shows us that Doctor Who is aware it’s audience is less and less made up of children.

Ryan is also the first of the companions to raise the question of how long they can really travel with The Doctor, and still return to their lives.

Nightmares, gods, mental health, and a dodgy CGI werewolf? Sounds like the recipe for a good episode of Doctor Who!

Author