by Garrett Gilchrist » Sat Aug 23, 2014 3:31 am
Capaldi's Doctor finally gets to really define himself as an actor in episode 4, "Listen." Eccleston, Tennant and Smith got to do all sorts of actorly things in their first few episodes, but Capaldi's Doctor has been a more vague presence until this point. His first scene in episode 2 showed a strong, undeniable presence, and that's the Doctor we see throughout this episode. He has a lengthy monologue at the beginning, and is monologuing throughout in general, and we get a very good idea of who this Doctor is, at his best. An intense and serious presence, lacking the overt comedy of recent Doctors. He is easily distracted, vague about specifics and often disinterested, his mind already elsewhere. This is a bottle episode, with no major guest stars, and there's not much to it. In black and white rough cut form, the scene transitions are almost absurdly abrupt, cutting from one closeup to another. Any attempt to make this another "Blink" or "Midnight" fails entirely due to the lack of scope- the slight script is closer to "Fear Her." But this is also the meatiest stuff Capaldi and Coleman have gotten as performers this series so far. Moffat's writing fails when he's writing two human beings on a date. Writing real, believable human behavior, and the behavior of and relating to women especially, seems to be more and more of a problem for Moffat, who might actually be from another planet. The other man involved here is a trainwreck so far, in terms of writing. But he and Coleman speak well and I think they'd do very well with better scripts. At any rate, this episode is a great showcase for all three actors and should settle any doubts about this incarnation of Who -- if audiences are still watching at this point.