June 10: "The God Complex"

Oh look, another episode with our heroes trapped in a structure while something malevolent stalks them.  After things like "The Curse of the Black Spot", "The Rebel Flesh" / "The Almost People", and everything after "Let's Kill Hitler" this is turning into quite the theme.  Was there something in the air in 2011 Cardiff?

"The God Complex" is more of the same, but this time we're stuck in a generic hotel that has no exits, while a giant nameless minotaur stalks the halls, looking for people to psychically feast upon.  Where this episode stands out is in its guest cast.  Everyone is perfectly chosen to provide a realistic (albeit slightly generic) cast of characters.  There's Daniel Pirrie as Joe in the room of ventriloquist dummies, Dimitri Leonidas as the somewhat nerdy Howie, David Walliams as the cowardly Gibbis, and Amara Karan as the self-assured Rita, who does seem to have a particular chemistry with Matt Smith.  She's clearly being set up as prime companion material, handling everything that's been going on reasonably well -- down to making tea.  "All hotels should have a well stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones," Rita says in response to the Doctor's question.  "I heard you talking when you arrived.  Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory, or mine."  "Which is?" the Doctor asks.  "This is Jahannam," she replies.  "You're a Muslim," the Doctor notes.  "Don't be frightened," Rita responds, with the air of someone who's had to deflect that fact more than once.  "Ha!  You think this is Hell," the Doctor says.  "The whole '80s hotel thing took me by surprise, though," Rita replies dryly.  And of course, the regulars are in fine form -- Arthur Darvill continues to shine as the slightly sardonic Rory ("Every time the Doctor gets pally with someone, I have this overwhelming urge to notify their next of kin"), while Karen Gillan is as strong as ever as Amy.  And Matt Smith continues to make the Doctor completely his own, offbeat and awkward and confident and generally amazing; watch his reaction to the minotaur and his efforts to talk to it, or to what he sees in his room ("Of course.  Who else?"²³⁵), if you don't believe me.

Rory recoils as the minotaur breaks free of the salon. ("The God
Complex") ©BBC

It's a good thing the cast is strong, because while the situation is suitably bizarre (and is aided by lots of lovely direction from Nick Hurran), and the idea of rooms that contain everyone's fears is an intriguing one, it's not quite engaging enough to sustain interest.  That means that "The God Complex" has to rely quite heavily on its players to make things work, rather than their simply adding to a strong script.  It's like Toby Whithouse decided he wanted something off-beat, but he couldn't quite get it to cohere the way he wanted it to.  Why else does the resolution steal so shamelessly from The Curse of Fenric's resolution?  (Albeit by pulling the punch such that the Doctor doesn't call Amy an "emotional cripple".)  The realization that the minotaur feeds off faith, rather than fear, is presumably meant to be clever, but it never quite feels justified in story terms.  (And what's with the idea that Rory is safe because he doesn't believe strongly in anything?  What, nothing?  Not even Amy?)

The fear idea is nice, and the direction really is lovely, but this story just never quite clicks.  There's another dig at the idea of the Doctor as hero, which would be OK if we hadn't just had the previous episode demonstrating that point rather more effectively.  And I'm still not quite sure what the actual message is meant to be.  Fear and faith are closely intertwined?  Not all monsters want to be evil?  Even things as dull as '80s hotels can be terrifying?  It's not clear.  The final scene almost makes up for all this (and if this had been Amy and Rory's final story, it would have been a fitting departure -- but alas, they don't get that neat an ending), but even that feels occasionally at a disconnect.  It's a good effort, and there's certainly a lot here that can entertain you, but "The God Complex" simply doesn't gel as well as it should have.







²³⁵ All we hear is the TARDIS's Cloister Bell, and we don't actually get to see what's inside.  At least not until "The Time of the Doctor", when we learn that what he saw was a Crack in Time.  Which seems like a strange thing to refer to as "who", but oh well.  (I still think it should have been the War Doctor.)