IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT - A Review

One of the biggest complaints about Matt Smith's tenure as the Doctor was that he was the "fairy tale" Doctor - a little too whimsical, a little too wave-your-sonic-screwdriver-to-fix-things-like-a-magic-wand....in short, it was a bit too simplified in tone.
It's that tone that, in my opinion, completely sinks In the Forest of the Night.

Now to be fair, the episode is shot and directed very well - several of the shots really help connote a mood, but on the writing end....this really didn't work.

In all fairness - the writer has written primiarily children's books, and so it has some of that quality to it. The writing works as if Who were a show geared primarily towards children rather than a family - hence the wacky gang of kids, the slightly loopy humor, the lack of conflict....

But where the episode fails is in....well, it's trying to be a let's-end-the-season's-strands-before-the-finale episode, and it doesn't work. It's pretty much an episode where things happen.....and the Doctor and Clara are relegated to observers. There's a real lack of tension and drama, and it falls flat.

(I'm sure this episode will have its defenders - after all, I didn't like fan favorite Mummy on the Orient Express - to which I say, "Whatever. If you want to see a 'there' there, that's fine. I'll pass on this one." Plus, any episode that has such an awkward Little Red Riding Hood reference - yes, it's there - really isn't trying hard enough)

Quite easily the biggest disappointment, because it didn't seem to try. But looking forward to next week's Dark Water and Death in Heaven after that.