Who Review: Can You Hear Me?

In 14th century Aleppo, Syria, a young woman in a mental hospital tries to warn of impending doom. That night, the woman, Tahira, has an encounter with a vicious creature. She is the only one to survive the ensuing devastation. Meanwhile, back in present-day Sheffield, the Doctor drops her friends off at their respective homes for a quick break. During the night, Yaz and Ryan see the same strange man. Ryan sees the man’s fingers detach, one of which inserts itself into his friend Tibo’s ear just before Tibo and the man both vanish. Graham has a vision of a strange woman trapped in a container calling for help. Yaz, Ryan, and Graham all contact the Doctor. Responding to a signal, the Doctor drops in on Aleppo where she rescues Tahira from the creature before picking up Yaz, Ryan, and Graham. The Doctor needs to figure out where Tahira’s creature came from, where Ryan’s friend is, and how to rescue the trapped woman. And who is that strange man…?

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

The theme of this week’s Doctor Who is mental health, starting with the fact that Tahira is in a mental hospital, stealing from merchants to give her life some happiness. Then we have Yaz being taken back to a point in her life when she was suicidal. Ryan contemplates how long he can continue to travel around in time and space while life goes on without him. Then Graham has a nightmare where his dead wife tells him his cancer has returned.

It turns out that the imprisoned woman is actually in a special craft trapped between two planets. She is an immortal named Rakaya. Along with the strange man, who is another immortal named Zellin, she had been causing chaos on the two planets before the inhabitants figured out how to trap her. Zellin had been feeding her with human nightmares to help her keep her sanity (remember the theme?). The creature in Aleppo was actually a product of Tahira’s nightmares, which is why it didn’t kill her. The Doctor manages to trap Zellin, Rakaya, and the creature in the craft between the planets, send Tahira home, and all is well.

This story is really thin and could have been told in one episode of Classic Who (i.e., about 25 minutes). As it is, this story goes on for 50 tedious minutes. Not that mental health isn’t a serious subject worth handling, and the issues faced by the characters aren’t real issues people have. The problem is, this is Doctor Who, not EastEnders or Casualty. Traditionally, Doctor Who deals with subjects using subtlety and analogy–taking a this-world problem and placing it in an other-worldly context. This was a 50-minute public service message. And not a very entertaining one at that.

You don’t have to go back very far in Who history to find a story that deals with mental health in a way that is both powerful and entertaining. I am, of course, talking about “Vincent and the Doctor,” one of the best of Matt Smith’s stories. Compared to that, “Can You Hear Me?” was… well, it doesn’t compare. In “Vincent,” the Doctor and Amy do battle with an invisible monster that only Vincent van Gogh can see. During the story, Vincent has spells of depression. Amy hoped that defeating the monster would save Vincent. But, as the Doctor explains, it didn’t. He still committed suicide. But that doesn’t mean Amy didn’t have an impact on his life.

Toward the end of “Can You Hear Me?” Graham asks the Doctor for advice about his nightmare, that is, his fear that his cancer will return. Does the Doctor give a gentle, encouraging response, in the same way he spoke to Vincent and Amy? Or like the answer he gave to Victoria when she asked him if he missed his family (see “Tomb of the Cybermen”)? Or the many other times the Doctor reassured his companions when they felt defeated, dejected, and helpless? No. The Doctor excused herself from responding saying she’s “socially awkward” and therefore couldn’t think of the right thing to say. A response that is, for most socially awkward people, very patronizing and insulting. Even the most socially awkward person would express some kind of empathy or concern if someone close to them shared their deepest fear like Graham did. And the fact the Doctor has done so on numerous occasions gives the lie to her comment here.

To sum up, this was the worst episode of Doctor Who this season. It was dull, and it handled a serious topic just as clumsily as Chibbers has handled all his social justice messaging in previous stories. In fact, I think this story is in the running for all-time worst episode of Doctor Who. Even “Time and the Rani” has a more robust story, and chugs along at a decent pace. If you are at all intrigued to watch “Can You Hear Me?,” please don’t. Spend the time watching “Vincent and the Doctor” instead.

Did you see “Can You Hear Me?”? If so, what did you think? Share below!