I like this intro though! Capaldi talking out loud to himself is a very good way of showing how the Doctor lives inside his own head.
LISTEN!
Obviously this date isn't going well, but I love her dress. It's gorgeous!
This is hilarious. 'I thought I'd hide in the bedroom in case you brought him home' shows just how out of touch the Doctor is. And this is why I love this older doctor. I've never been a fan of the romantic element between the Doctor and his companions. I think it's so much funnier when there's no sexual chemistry.
They're probably at the date's childhood right? something he'll have mentioned during dinner.
Breaking into kid's homes and stealing coffee. That's just how Capaldi rolls.
Oh I was right! It's his childhood.
My housemate's just come in and I kept everyone up last night when I came in drunk at 3am. I'm sorry!
This is pretty spooky! I do like the creepier episodes of Doctor Who. When they do things like this that play on our natural fears.
Something on the bed, and Capaldi is a great doctor. He's building up a sense of confidence in young Danny by talking of fear as a superpower, which is very cute.
Don't look Clara! Oh that's nice though- helping him with his toy soldiers. Ha! Dan the soldier man! What a great moment.
Ooh, good direction! I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle with that close up.
Aww she's going back to her failed date!
Oh dear, Clara. You let his real name slip! Poor Rupert/Danny. And now she's ruining it again, but who's this deep-sea-diver! Doctor! Whut r u doin?? Why are you such a bad wing man?
Wait. This isn't going to be the doctor is it?
Oh, damn it. It's Danny.
Or not...? Orson Pink! What a name!
The last man at the edge of time. What is he scared of? What's out there?
Is Clara going to flirt with Rupert's descendant? That would be weird.
He's got Dan the soldier man!
Ohh, a family story about a great grandparent to do with time travel? Have we just seen Clara's future?
A lot of ghosts indeed!
They're doing the rational explanation for spooky noises! We've all done that.
BANG BANG BANG
No! Don't open the door!
This is scary!
He's such a dad. DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!
Great, now he's in trouble! Silly Doctor.
Clara's flying the TARDIS on her own now. That's a bit neat!
Where are they? This looks like a barn?
That's probably not Rupert is it? It's the doctor as a child!!!
Ooh! A nice touch. Clara's the source of the Doctor's nightmares and also of his courage when he returns to the barn years later to banish the Time Lords from existence.
I like this background of the Doctor. It's a good way of building the relationship between Clara and the doctor as equals.
Wait, so she gives away the army soldier toy? Is that going to show up again later?
FINAL THOUGHTS
I think this episode is a great return for the spookier element of Doctor Who. I always found Matt Smith's doctor a little too naive for the more serious side of things but Peter Capaldi's Doctor has a great face for spooky lighting and the idea that there's something haunting us that we can't see.
Having said that, this one did leave some unanswered questions. The final message of this episode was that it's ok to be afraid of the dark, and of nothing, yet there was something on the bed in the children's home. There was something trying to get into Orson Pink's base when they unlocked the door. The end of the episode negates the rest of it unless it's revisited later.
Having said that, it's nice to see there's some heart in this episode. Clara comforting a young Doctor in his childhood evens the difference between them a little, which is a good thing!
I have a good feeling about Capaldi, and I hope he's on my telly for a long time yet!