I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it here again. I’m not a fan of the horror or horror-esque episodes of Doctor Who, even though I do enjoy one show by Toby Whithouse. I think the darker and supernatural elements worked better into those more adult aimed three seasons of Being Human; If you lose Russell Tovey, your show doesn’t have any more seasons to run. However, we’re sadly not back to talking about Tovey’s lovely appearance in “Voyage of the Damned,” we’ve got other and less important guest stars to talk about.

I’ve never been a fan of Little Britain or any of the Walliams and Lucas shows, and if I’m quite honest, I’ve never been a fan of David Walliams in the first place. Now call me obtuse if you must, but I think a good guest star is someone you can remember for being the character not the person under the make-up and costume. Examples of this are Astrid Peth played by Kylie, Sally Sparrow played by Carey Mulligan, Malcolm played by Lee Evans, the Abzorbaloff played by Peter Kay and Elton Pope played by Marc Warren, Rassilon played by Timothy Dalton, Kazran Sardick as played by Michael Gambon, and Dr. Black as played by Bill Nighy, to name a few.

Now, for my next trick, I’m going to point to “The God Complex” and say I can’t name a single character from it off the top of my head. It is a problem I have with most Toby Whithouse episodes if I think about it long enough. In fact, “Under The Lake” is the episode that I’ll awkwardly reference as, that one with the deaf woman. “School Reunion” is mostly remembered for Sarah Jane’s return and Anthony Head playing a headmaster. It was only several weeks ago, but don’t ask me the names of anyone from “The Vampires of Venice.” I only remember Annie and George from Being Human because I like Lenora Crichlow and Russell Tovey.

The thing about the episode is just the lack of characters I enjoy. That is, aside from Rita, the Muslim doctor that is smart enough to use her actual base knowledge to advance things along. See Clara, maybe if you were a teacher in something other than math, you might be worth something once in a while. The same can be said of Amy, but I do like Amy so I’ll give her a bit of a pass. I guess that’s the reward you get for not saying “let’s kill the kids so they aren’t orphans” in front of two orphans. No, I will never stop complaining about “In the Forest of the Night.”

Tangents aside, Rita is both someone I can relate to and someone I want to succeed, which is more than I can say for Walliams’ character. I should say, I think the alien species that Walliams’ character is from is one they should explore a little more. I think that’s a wonderful juxtaposition against the great big coward the series revolves around. However, I think there may just be too many characters in the mix to let the central theme breathe enough and get across what it is trying to do. There is a monster, but it isn’t purposefully scary for long enough.

The monster is a very prosthetic-heavy Doctor Who thing that works in the shadows well. However, once you see it up close, it looks a bit naff. Has anyone seen Cloverfield? The reason that works is just how little we see the Kaiju, and once you see it at length, it looks a bit crap and like cheap CGI. So when the creature (in this episode) is overexposed with lengthy shots of its body, it makes the dread of what it can be less concerning and almost pulls you out of it entirely. I’d in fact prefer to pin the reasons for being pulled out of the episode being multiples, as the plot lacks something making it stick.

The creature, a minotaur-like thing, is feeding on people trapped in an 80s hotel of nightmares: Think a kid-friendly version of The Shining by way of Nineteen Eighty Four‘s Room 101 in the Ministry of Love, as it is mostly set to unsettle before overexposure takes over. They aren’t always with the monster, and those who appear in the hotel are shown their deepest fears, such as the gambler’s ventriloquist dummy fear turning from “that’s creepy” to “that’s become unsettlingly familiar” in minutes. However, it is all a bit of a red-herring with the true thing the creature feeds on being their faith, not fear.

So why is Rita shown her dad and the implication is either fear of rejection or not living up to the stereotypically high standards of all Asian parents? Is it meant to be the fear that brings out the faith? The big hint that it isn’t fear comes from knowledge that Rory isn’t shown something he fears, instead he’s being shown the exit. Though we know he fears something, we saw this in the last episode. He fears not being with Amy and growing old with her, so… What? I’ve more questions trying to put it together than I did while trying to watch the episode, hoping David Walliams is the first one eaten. What does the Doctor fear if he’s forced to hear the Cloister Bells, which first appeared before he died in “Logopolis?”

“The God Complex” isn’t altogether a bad episode, it’s quite good while you are in the midst of the runaround, but it felt like just another episode to put Amy and Rory into danger. Ultimately it leads to their “departure” that as you can guess will be short-lived, kind of. The plot is rather paper-thin aside, which is covered over with the number of characters, almost none of which I either admire or loved to hate. Personally, I’d have enjoyed the camera to stay off the creature until the end, or at least obscure it enough to keep the mystique alive. It would have helped if the number of characters were shaved down a little.

Something else that might have helped, is somehow focusing more on the insanity and what fears characters have, letting that breath long enough to push towards a psychological horror instead of relying on sad clowns and fake weeping angels. However, ultimately the tone wobbles from scene to scene. One minute it is serious about fears and the next it puts the nerdy bloke in a room of young women. Pushing past his stereotype, he can’t be scared of being mauled by a bear, stabbed by a bloke in a hood that turned out to be his granny, or something rather more psychedelic, as the episode attempts several times over.

Either way, next time I’ll also be moaning about bland English comedians that I don’t enjoy as I fondle my T.A.R.D.I.S. Yes, it is another Garth Roberts episode and another episode with James Corden. See you next week folks!

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Doctor Who "The God Complex"

6.5

Score

6.5/10

Pros

• Amara Karan is a highlight as Rita.
• The Tivolians are a great idea.

Cons

• The creature is overexposed
• Paper-thin plot.