I was expecting this to be really bad but, honestly, it was good. I like the premise and how it handles what abused children feel when they have nobody to discuss the aftermath with. Really glad I didn't have to go without seeing it forever.

I feel like it also makes Army of Ghosts/Doomsday hurt a lot more than when it was just Love and Monsters as the previous episode. This episode is really important for Rose and Ten's dynamic because it shows how codependent they are on each other.

Plus: Kel from the council is actually the greatest character to ever grace British screens.

absolute cinema, i miss kel badly

bad, but they should still bring it back into iplayer.

I don’t totally get why this Episode is hated? Don’t get me wrong, it’s far from great or even good, but there are some great bits to it, and I’d argue at least this one didn’t totally waste its Potential, looking at you, Idiot’s Lantern.
I do really like the core idea of this Episode quite a lot, it’s ambitious and while the ambition can’t be done too well with its execution, it does offer some fun (but admittely) clunky moments. The Idea of a lonely girl getting possessed is one that is done fairly well, especially when get to see some moments with the Mother of the Child, she does a splendid job in my opinion.
The Child Actress from Chloe does an okay at best, a “meh” at worst job. I don’t want to be too harsh, because even great stuff does struggle with some lesser good child performances and that’s fine, at the end those are children after all! Not everybody can be the Kid from A.I (a Movie I recommend highly for anybody, who hasn’t seen it yet!)
The whole deal with her Drawings effecting the real world is done decently, it gets repetitive fairly quick, which is disappointing.
Ten and Rose are at their worst here, perhaps? I do go as far as saying that Tennant might deliver his very worst performance in the role of the Doctor here. Piper does a bit better, but her and Tennant combined just doesn’t work at all for me (how shocking!!! Me not liking TenRose?? Happens so rarely!!!)
I would comment on the angle about Chloe’s abusive father, but it’s been a while since I saw that Episode and I don’t feel qualify to comment on that at all.
Kel is one of the greatest Character in Fiction, so that gives that Episode a 10/10.

But on a serious note: One of the biggest mixed bags. There are good bits here and there. There are some great Ideas, but I feel like the execution just doesn’t work and dare I say it couldn’t, at least as a televised story. A Character such as Chloe is one hell of a task for any child actor, so I don’t blame the actress for giving a rather bad performance. Its ambition make it interesting, but also hinders it from being something really special. At least this one made me roll my eyes a lot less, last time I rewatched Series 2!
Also, I totally forget the whole Olympic Aspect of it until it got mentioned here, so I think that says enough about my opinion on those scenes.

📝4/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

FEAR HER, or THE TERROR OF A SNOTTY KID!

Doctor Who’s second series winds down a bit before the big two-part finale with Fear Her, written by Life on Mars writer Matthew Graham in his Doctor Who debut (he’ll be back in Series 6!).

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

• The TARDIS materialisation gag is actually decent—I can’t believe how no one has thought of it before!
• The general concept of a deeply emotional collective alien species, the Isolus, is a good one, so it’s a pity it’s so tightly knit with a trashy story like this one.
• It’s cool to see the Doctor do some good old tinkering inside the TARDIS. The Doctor’s third incarnation is showing a bit!

THE LOWLIGHTS:

• Knowing how 2012 looked and sounded, the version of the future we see here doesn’t feel very 2012 to me—where are the smartphones and tablets?
• Chloe is an annoying kid from her very first scene—and she is genuinely one of the worst characters in Who history. Abisola Agbaje's stilted acting doesn’t help her cause at all. And since she is a central character in this narrative, her very presence throughout the episode drags it out quite a lot.
• Setting the entire story on a street in suburban London is a good cost-saving measure but makes for one of the most forgettable settings of any Doctor Who story.
• Yeah, we’re back to the good old Smuggity Smug-Face Ten and Rose, and I can’t stand it!
• The Tenth Doctor isn’t a cat person.
• The pencil scribble creature is an even stupider idea than the Abzorbaloff in Love & Monsters, and the scary daddy monster drawing in the closet is almost as bad (New Who’s take on the Malus?).
• This episode handles similar themes as The Idiot’s Lantern—but the setting, characters, and symbolic storytelling are much weaker.
• Billie Piper is really unlikeable here, like more than usual. It’s either due to the material or the fact that she doesn’t quite know what to do with it, but I don’t vibe with her at all.
• The supporting cast is so forgettable and naff—even Nina Sosanya is completely hopeless, not to mention Abdul Salis.
• The idea of an abusive father leaving traces of trauma and horror in his children is an important message, but handled in such an insensitive way here that it feels sort of offensive.
• The whole Olympics angle with the Doctor carrying the Olympic torch and lighting the flame is so unnecessary. The entire final stretch of the episode is a bit too melodramatic for my tastes.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• This is yet another story in the category “Days of Future Past”—it was set in the future on its original air date but is now set in the past.
• The Doctor does a Klingon greeting—I always love a good Star Trek reference in Doctor Who.