God and the Doctor: Doctor Who - 'The God Complex' Review

Yes, I know it's not a pun. But it is from a poem by Robert Owens:

God and the Doctor we alike adore
But only when in danger, not before;
The danger o'er, both are alike requited,
God is forgotten, and the Doctor slighted.

Before we proceed any further with our space-time revelry, let me just acknowledge how remiss I have been with this blog lately. My excuse is twofold: firstly, I am trying to be a proper adult, which is exciting and boring by turns and leaves very little time for over-analysing the adventures of a 900-year-old Gallifreyan. Secondly, I'm going to blame some of this on the series itself. Whilst none of the episodes of the second half have yet been bad (per se), I find myself somewhat lacking in momentum to review them. Whereas at the beginning of the series, there were compelling mysteries to be unravelled, now I'm not so sure that there's a twist coming that's big enough to justify all this grandiose kerfuffling - if it's coming at all.

Mais, je divague. What did I think of The God Complex? Quite a lot, as it happens. It continued the series vogue for 'grown-up sci-fi', which I think we must now accept as the norm. I'm thrilled but the question must be asked: are the kiddies still following all this pseudo-philosophical angsting? Well, probably. Children are both very discerning and very accepting about their television/books/films - much like the rest of us, in fact.

Coming from the pen of Toby "Being Human" Whithouse, I had high(ish) hopes (let's say Empire State Building, not Hubble Telescope). His previous episodes have been crowd-pleasers, namely Tennant-and-Rose outing 'School Reunion' and last year's 'The Vampires of Venice'. Like in his signature show, Being Human, his Who episodes have veered between silly, homely, tea-based humour and Epic-Dark-Heart-End-of-Days-Fundamental-Statement-About-the-Human-Condition things. 'School Reunion' was a very touching reintroduction to Old Who legend Sarah-Jane Smith and set us up for the tearful impending departure of Billie Piper, while 'The Vampires of Venice' was a silly, light-hearted romp from beginning to end involving Matt Smith delivering a line about buxom fish, so that was alright with me. Imagine, then, my (pleasant) surprise on settling down to watch this classy, sweet, poignant episode that certainly stands amongst the better episodes of a patchy season.

Yes, there was a certain amount of silliness. Why set it in a kitsch, tacky eighties hotel? Because it's kitsch, tacky and eighties. Why have a very fake-looking minotaur as the baddie? Because, oh, I dunno, it lives in a labyrinth or something, which is mythology, which is kind of religion, and we needed an allegory for faith. Why have David Walliams swathed in prosthetics borrowed from the Star Trek make-up department? Because...look, just because, okay? Stop asking stupid questions. It's a show about an alien in a blue box. And David Walliams was quite funny anyway (let's call it the Corden factor: making previously irritating comedians surprisingly palatable in the reflected aura of Matt Smith's greatness).

But silliness is forgivable - indeed, it is part of the show's great tradition. There's been a distinct lack of silliness lately, actually, and it's really bringing the mood down. In some ways, Toby Whithouse was the perfect person to write an episode for this point in the series run: with storm clouds gathering and Moffat's pen poised for an incomprehensible barnstormer of a series finale (we hope), Whithouse's signature mix of goofy wit and portentous sweeping statements about Love or Loss or Fear or Whatever was exactly what the Doctor ordered (there's your pun). I just sort of wish this had been the penultimate episode. No, there was nothing really bad about this episode except some minor nitpicks (not sure about the flickering typefaces during the possessions, or the heavy-handed social commentary surrounding Doomed Rita's faith), so thumbs up from me.

What we had was a nicely complex exploration of faith: no outright condemnations of it, nothing along the lines of Russell T Davies' staunchly atheist Whoniverse, but a thoughtful, funny and occasionally poignant episode with a distinctly Douglas Adams-style humanity to it.