Under the Lake review
WARNING! This post, as ever,
contains spoilers about the latest episode so if you haven’t yet had the chance
to watch it, don’t read on until you have seen it.
This week, there are a few talking
points from the episode that I want to explore.
Firstly, I feel as though it
would be impossible to discuss this episode without mentioning one word –
ghosts. This feels like quite an interesting change for Doctor Who as it doesn’t
really emphasise the concept of aliens and space as much as we are used to
seeing. It changes and challenges the conventional idea of what the show is
about and in a sense diverts the main theme from alien to human. Although we
are used to seeing humanoid creatures in the show, the ghosts are a more
powerful human manifestation than some of what we have seen before. This increase
in the human side of the monster does however follow a pattern which is
traditional throughout the show’s history. In the past, we have seen the show
make monsters out of the fears of spiders (Raccnos), the fear of robots
(Cybermen) and of course the fear of statues (Weeping Angels). Looking at how
this is dealt with in Under The Lake, we see that it uses the idea of ghost
stories we are all told as children, where they are the souls of the dead who
have returned, but they only come out at night, when it is dark and we are most
scared. This theme of playing on childhood phobias somehow gives this episode a
creepier, more human and more real feel than some of the episodes of the past. I
think that this is a wonderful concept and is one of the reasons why I enjoyed
this episode.
Also adding to the reality of
episode 3 was the concept of the underwater base. Rather than show us a near
future where the human race has conquered space and has begun to spread its
wings and its empire across the universe, the writer chose to make it about a time
that is in fact not that different to the one we are living in now. Again, does
this deviation from the space stations and alien worlds make everything so much
scarier than is conventional in the Whoniverse? Is the increase in reality and
closeness to the world we know a way of making this feel like a more believable
episode? In a way, the submarine base also shows us that in fact there are
things to be scared of in our world that we haven’t yet explored. Do we really know
what lies beneath the surface of our lakes and oceans? Is there terrifying life
down there that we haven’t discovered yet? Maybe so, and it scares me to think
about it.
Now it is time to look into the
cliff-hanger and some of the questions that the end of the episode has left us
with. So, Clara and two of the crew are trapped in the base which is being
flooded by the ghosts, which now include that of the Doctor himself! In the
next episode, titled “Before the Flood”, the Doctor will be going back in time
to try to find out what happened in the village before it was submerged and
ultimately to find out how and why the ghosts exist. So, as I always do, I am
going to include a list of questions about the end of the episode.
Who (or what) are the ghosts?
Who (or what) created the ghosts?
How were the ghosts created?
What happened in the village
before it was flooded and did it lead to the creation of the ghosts?
Why is the Doctor now a ghost
haunting the underwater base?
What happened to the Doctor?
This was a brilliant episode and
the first one I’ve ever watched with a group of other Whovians around me. It
was a high-pace, thrilling kind of episode and really contained a lot of action
without overkilling it. I also believe that this story was right to be spread
across two episodes rather than trying to cram everything into one spell of 50
minutes, which is one of the reasons that I wasn’t a huge fan of series 8. All in
all, a great episode which has left me wanting more and I cannot wait to see if
next week lives up to my expectations.
Rating for Under the Lake
8/10
So, those are my thoughts on “Under
the Lake”. As always, let me know your thoughts on this episode and what you
expect from episode 4. You can do this by leaving a comment below or by
following me on all of the social media links at the bottom of this post and
messaging me. My next post will be up on Friday and should (hopefully) be a
post on my first week of placement year, so be sure to keep up with me for news
on that. Until then, keep following, keep smiling and above all, keep believing.
TRENT
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