Despite the Jules Verne-y title, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was actually more of an Alien type affair, much like the earlier episode Cold War, albeit in a place much cooler than a Russian submarine (sorry about the terrible pun... again). Long have we been teased about the swimming pool and the library and we finally got to see them in all their wonderful eccentricity though the swimming pool was glimpsed but briefly. The production design team worked a treat with the TARDIS sets, giving off a real sense of enormity with just a small budget. Clara's run through the corridors and discovering everything was easily the most fun part of the episode.
The episode built the tension well through the use of the creepy, smouldering zombie things and succeeded for a large part where the Ice Warrior did not. Through the simple technique of blurring their appearances, or only showing glimpses of them, they become a really quite creepy foes with added juddery movement that I found unsettling. Of course, the eventual truth of who they actually are dampened the matter somewhat though the fate of the Van Baalen brothers was most satisfying. Quite what they were doing there other than as a plot device for a fake countdown, I'm not entirely sure.
For this episode belonged, as most of them tend to do, to the central partnership of Clara and the Doctor. Jenna-Louise Coleman has now settled into the role so completely that it feels like she's been there forever. Her scene where she is forced to defend herself and yell at the Doctor was emotional stuff and proved that she is just as capable of the drama as she is dropping a one-liner. I've been a Matt Smith advocate from the moment his casting was announced (based solely on his performance in under-seen, underrated drama Party Animals - also starring Andrew Buchan of Broadchurch), but he really has excelled as everyone's favourite Gallifreyan. Capable of being young and giddy whilst at the same time feeling every bit of the Doctor's 900 years, he's proven himself to be a solid centre at the heart of the TARDIS.
And so we get to the ending. Now Doctor Who, as we have observed on many occasion (especially this series), has always had an issue wrapping everything up with a neat bow. The first two acts are generally great build-ups to what always seems to be a momentous finale. And then the third act amounts to five minutes of concluding before a brief epilogue that just feels unsatisfactory. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was one such episode in which a nice handy 'big friendly' reset button to restore normality and give each of our principle players a nice happy-ish ending. Time is rewritten and the events of the previous forty minutes happened only for the audience and the Doctor.
Now I have a problem with such endings in a variety of contexts because it nearly always means that any character development that took place outside of the main character no longer happened. I find that incredibly frustrating, especially with a character like Clara who is currently vying with Rory for the title of Favourite Companion in the new Who. This episode gave her a chance to strike out on her own and to learn things about herself and her past, before it all gets erased and we're back where the episode started.
Clara found it within herself to stand up to the Doctor and get out of him the truth that he had been hiding whilst realising that he is definitely the scariest thing that had ever happened to her.
It was great to see one of the more recent companions actually realise this and not just gaze at the Doctor in a bubble of admiration like Rose and Martha used to. Here was someone who openly declared the Doctor saved her and learned that she was a very special kind of mystery, one which is yet to be solved, only to have that moment taken away from her again. Of course, I am not writing this with the benefit of knowing the future (sadly all of my attempts at psychic ability have so far failed) and Clara may actually remember these events or come to remember them in the future. By declaring that she felt safe with the Doctor when pressed at the end of the episode certainly hints strongly that she cannot recall these important events.
It's a shame I disliked the ending so much because up until the last few scenes, it could have been a cracker of an episode, full of tension and impressive visuals. Especially the library, that looked fantastic. However, the final scenes left a bitter taste. Next week sees a return to Victorian London with Jenny and Madam Vestra returning along with Strax. It also boasts what is surely to be the most awesome mother-daughter team to grace the screens in a long while with Dame Diana Rigg appearing alongside Rachel Stirling. Find out what Jen thinks next week.
- Becky
You can read Jen's review of previous episode Hide here.
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