An Autist Reviews: Can You Hear Me? (NuWho Episode 12.7)

*This is an older review, it is not as detailed as my more modern reviews*

*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*

*This is a bare-bones/lite review made after only a single viewing. (Hence there not being any replay rating)*

The Doctor drops her companions off on Earth for a day/night of R&R and then pops off to investigate a mysterious signal the TARDIS received from ancient Aleppo. Meanwhile on Earth, Yaz has dinner with her sister, Graham plays cards, and Ryan visits an old friend. But all three companions get more than they bargained for when Ryan and Yaz are visited by a mysterious entity who causes nightmares, and Graham starts getting visions of a mysterious trapped entity begging for help.

The story of this is really solid and well-paced… to a point. The last roughly 10 minutes of this is seriously an annoying copout though. The story is really well-paced and has some really good, touching, and twisted moments but sadly it ends very quickly. This is another story that suffers from not being a two-parter when it CLEARLY needs to be and/or from the showrunner interfering when he shouldn't be. It also has some less-than-perfect dialogue and odd moments. Still, a marvelously fun watch with an interesting twist near the middle and some good storytelling.

The acting in this is nigh-perfect from everyone across the board. Occasionally there are less than perfect lines from all the actors but the vast majority are solid gold.

The music for this episode is lovely, providing some really nice themes to certain characters and heightening the action. The effects are really good except for the monster, but that gets far better after it’s first introduced, and by God are the smoke effects in this one fun as can be… if not slightly off at times. There is also a small animated section that provides some context and true creepiness. The costumes are good, but not perfect, with a few iffy details here and there. The Dregs make a small return, but the nightmare scenes are a little off. The few vocal tweaks they made were perfect and can I just say that the fingers are creepy as I’ll get out and still make me a little queasy.

So, why am I giving this a seven? I HATED the copout at the end. It ruined a perfectly good episode for me. Still, the references here and there to past Doctor Whose villains are a nice touch and the overall story really isn’t bad at all. The acting is pure gold all around, the sets are beautiful, the effects are on point, even the writing is very good… but I just can’t forgive those last few precious minutes and some of the less than perfect storytelling moments scattered about Yaz’s side arch.

Total - 7 (Fudged it a little...)

Plot - 8
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Story - 7
Writing - 8
Enjoyment - 8
Twists - 6

Acting - 9
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MCs - 9
SCs - 9
BGs - 9

Effects - 8
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Music - 8
Vocals - 10
Actions - 8
Costumes - 8

Replay - NR
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Re-Enjoyment - NR
New Details - NR

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