Moffat Era Rewatch: Notes on "Hide"

·      This is a wonderful episode, beautifully filmed, acted and written: Neil Cross is two from two for very good episodes that are highlights of this half season. It’s a shame he hasn’t come back. But the mood is beautifully sustained, the characters are well drawn, and the dialogue is spot on. There’s very little I don’t like about this episode.

·      While I think the resolution holds it back from being an outright classic, I don’t think it outright detracts from the story – “even the scary monsters can be good” is never a lesson I’m sorry to see Doctor Who teaching its younger audience, and it’s set up enough with the slowly emerging tension between the ghost story and the love story, and the moments the Doctor recognises in his flashback.

·      It’s also packed full of ideas, stand outs being “the Caliburn Ghast”, and the bubble universe running in parallel but much slower than our own, and all the concepts get room to breathe.

·      Also excellent is the way the episode makes use of a small guest cast to flesh out all its characters, and drawing interesting parallels between them, particularly the Doctor and Palmer. The scene of the Palmer discusses coming home and being haunted by war while the Doctor watches silently, hearing his own story recited back at him, is beautifully written.

·      There’s also a sense that this is a story built around the competition between types of stories, explicitly confirmed by the Doctor declaring that it isn’t a ghost story, as seems to be at the opening, but is instead a love story. In many ways this genre competition encapsulates the Moffat era, which many fans expected to be dark and scary (and in many ways it is), but is at its heart deeply optimistic and romantic.

·      The love story between Emma and the Professor is rather beautifully told: it manages to be clear, yet subtle, and a charming piece of character work.

·      Also striking is the scene where the Doctor tells Clara she is “the only mystery worth solving”, particularly when coupled with the Doctor’s struggle to recognise Clara’s fear, and his request that she offer a “cheat sheet” when she’s disturbed by witnessing the entire life cycle of Earth. It’s further development of the character aspects of the ongoing season arc, as the Doctor is still treating Clara as a mystery, and struggling to recognise her hopes and fears as a person. Here we get the most explicit critique of this behavior, as he is told point blank by Emma that she’s just an ordinary girl, and that that should be enough.

·      Once again, Neil Cross provides excellent material for Clara, with a further exploration of her fear, and the way she masks this, as well as hinting at the side of herself that she keeps hidden. The TARDIS suggests she holds herself in high esteem, and Clara ruthlessly demanding Emma and the TARDIS risk their lives to save the Doctor, are the start of the emergence of Clara’s more visible flaws.

·      Ultimately, what makes this episode work so well is the way it takes the theme of its title, and explores that theme in depth, in a multitude of ways. This is relevant to the episode ostensible nature as a ghost story: the heroes run and hide from the monsters, but it is most relevant to the emotional aspects of the story that run from the episode’s “love story” thread. Emma and the professor hide their feelings from one another, and deny themselves, the Doctor hides his motives from Clara, and Clara hides the darker aspects of her personality from herself and others. But keeping secrets is not healthy, and is a problem that can only be solved by opening up to the people who need to know what we’re hiding from them, something that will be incredibly relevant to this season’s conclusion and will continue to be significant throughout the rest of the Doctor and Clara’s time together.