Doctor Who – Can You Hear Me? Review

“Can You Hear Me?” is one of the most ambitious episodes of Series 12. It was an episode that saw The Doctor and pals go from 14^th Century Syria, modern-day Sheffield, and the furthest reaches of space.

The Doctor drops her companions in Sheffield and allows them to spend time with their friends and family. During her downtime The Doctor answers a distress call from Aleppo in 1380. Soon The Doctor, her Companions, and their friends suffer from nightmares, visions, and memories through the boundaries of space and time.

“Can You Hear Me?” is the Series 12’s version of “It Takes You Away,” an incredibly bold episode that used big sci-fi concepts but divisive amongst the fanbase.  The concept “Can You Hear Me?” allowed for some character drama and development, something that the Chibnall era has been lacking. This episode literally allowed the audience to see the nightmares and darkest thoughts of two of the companions. Graham fears that his cancer might come back and Yaz reflects on one of the darkest moments of her life.

This was the episode that needed to examine the companions especially Yaz who felt like she was tagging along with The Doctor, Graham, and Ryan. She has more to do in this Series like in “Nikola Telsa’s Night of Terror” where she helped citizens and finding the alien’s spaceship in “Praxeus.” “Can You Hear Me?” showed what made Yaz tick like her love for her family and what drove her to join the police force. Whilst Graham’s fears of his cancer coming back has been a running theme of the series like in “Spyfall Part 1” where he was getting a check-up.

However, Ryan didn’t get this treatment. Most of his character development has already been done. He has accepted Graham as his family. His character has nowhere else to go. The episode had to bring in a buddy for Ryan so he had something to do. Nor does it help that Tosin Cole was a charisma vacuum of an actor.

The Doctor’s personality was also shown a bit more in this episode. When she arrives in Aleppo talks about all the facts she knows and disappointed when she realises she’s alone. The Thirteenth Doctor was shown to be a bit of show up, but she was close to her companions and likes to travel with them. She even calls them her family. However, one of the most controversial moments in the episode was when Graham tries to talk to The Doctor about his cancer fears and all she can say is she’s socially awkward and should say something reassuring. It was like the writers left in some place holding dialogue and forgot to change it.

The story about a monster feeding off nightmares bares similarities to A Wrinkle in Time where a mysterious dark force causes misery across the universe. In “Can You Hear Me?” Zellin (Ian Gelder) was essentially the Bogeyman: he goes into people’s homes at the dead of night and gives them nightmares so he can create fuel. It was a great way to reinterpret a childhood fear.

The episode also had some great ideas involving the villains. There were all-powerful beings that were viewed as gods, so they used their power to cause pain and conflict. There was even an animated segment that showed the history of two planets the aliens made their playthings. I would have loved to have seen a whole episode based on this idea.

“Can You Hear Me?” showed what Doctor Who can be capable of, being able to mix big concepts and character development. The script used did need a bit of refining but overall it was a step in the right direction.