Review - Fear Her

The Doctor and Rose pop off to the 2012 London Olympics and deal with a couple of  in the lower budget offering, Fear Her.

Season 2, Episode 11 - Fear Her

This episode was apparently written as a lighter episode for kids and as such it didn't get much praise from older viewers. I'm not really sure why, as I quite liked it. Maybe it was the lack of flashy effects or gribbly monsters. For me, neither of those really matter, and their absence forces a reliance on writing.

Consequently the pacing of this episode was spot on, with The Doctor and Rose teasing out clues well and key events happening at a nice rate. From the cold open the scene is immediately set. It's 2012, kids are going missing, and there's a creepy little girl involved. When The Doctor and Rose show up we get nice subtle hints about the temperature and stalling cars which is vital later on. The Doctor points out the evidence of ionic energy being used, and seems to fairly quickly know approximately what is happening, if not why and by whom.

The interplay between The Doctor and Rose is really good in this episode. There's no real hint of sexual tension, and the whole thing plays out as more a master and apprentice type relationship as The Doctor sort of teaches Rose more about his world. I feel like this dynamic gets missed a lot, with The Doctor just pulling the companions along and getting them to do menial tasks with no explanation whilst he shows everyone how clever he is. Here we see Rose picking up on hints and being an active part of the investigation phase of the story. Then Rose has to deal with one of the lowest budget monsters of New Who, The Scribble of Doooooom!

Not at all scary. 

Of course in an unfortunate little bit of Deus Ex Screwdriver, The Doctor is somehow able to "kill" the scribble by waving the Sonic at it. At least he had to take it back to the TARDIS to analyse it. According to some other episodes, he should have been able to determine what it was made of with a little swish and flick.

The scribble leads them (thanks to Rose's insight) to Chloe Webber and her terrified mum Trish. There is strong implication Chloe was abused by her father, and this has clearly had some impact on her. Despite her Trish's assurance she is a "good girl' she has nightmares, and these nightmares are soon to become all too real.

Actually scary.

The Doctor soon finds out that Chloe is possessed by an Isolus, a creature he is familiar enough with to give us a full run-down on and get to the root of the problem. As The Doctor and Rose investigate, there's maybe a bit too much "telling" rather than "showing" particularly during the interrogation of the Isolus, but that's probably a result of the low-budget nature of the episode, as well as the difficulty of "showing" much of the information conveyed here.

Regardless of that, the story plays out well, and action resumes with The Doctor making some kind of doohicky (notice again, it's something the Sonic couldn't do). This gives some time for The Doctor and Rose to discuss the nature of the Isolus as a scared little kid. I liked the little "I was a dad once" reference there too, and Rose's reaction. Ultimately The Doctor's efforts are all for naught as Chloe and the Isolus vanish him, leaving Rose to figure out a solution on her own. Quite a refreshing change.

For all the talk of the Isolus needing and loving Chloe, and the implication these feelings were reciprocated, it seemed pretty quick to dump the kid once it could go home to it's family. This seemed a little off to me. Like some kind of fair-weather friendship. Its departure releases all of Chloe's drawings back to life, including the evil dad picture. And I've got to say, that looming shadow at the top of the stairs was scarier than many of the full-blown monsters of recent years. Perhaps it speaks to that child within that fears such half-seen and yet all-too-real terrors.

Scary as balls!

After everything is wrapped up, we get some nice foreshadowing of Rose's imminent departure. It's a little clumsy, but it plays nicely into the way the next episode opens.

All up, this is a fairly solid outing, even if it does have a slightly saccharine ending with the love-powered space pod and all.

7/10

Can we fix it?

There's not a great deal wrong here but I'd make a couple of tweaks. The departure of the Isolus needs some work and to do that I'd tweak the story in a few places.

Firstly, we would learn from Trish that not only was Chloe's dad abusive, but as a true bully he seemed to enjoy the fear he created. He lost interest in bullying his wife when she began standing up to him, but when Chloe came along, he found he could get more fear out of Trish when he threatened and hurt Chloe. She'd tried to leave. It didn't go well.

We also learn that Chloe isn't such a "good kid", but is in fact moody and resentful. Her behaviour in the episode isn't far removed from the every day, although since the Isolus' arrival, she has become more introverted and detached from reality, as she spends time sharing the Isolus' fantasies. More is made of her nightmares too. These are what drives her to draw her dad. Perhaps the wall around the drawing also shows damage, as though Chloe has been hitting the image. 

Next, when the Isolus leaves it wants to take Chloe with it by transplanting her into a fabricated reality. At this point Chloe feels alone and as though her mother failed her. The Isolus is offering a safe and fun life. After a heartfelt speech from Trish, the Isolus, having recently been separated from its family tells Chloe she should stay.

Whilst The Doctor is running with the Torch, Chloe argues with Trish. She wanted to go with the Isolus. The Isolus can keep bad things away. Keep her safe. At this point Chloe's heightened emotional state allows the drawing of her dad to fully break through. As the shadow appears Chloe goes catatonic with fear. Trish also shrinks away, as Rose is trapped outside, unable to help. Looking at Chloe and with her words fresh in her mind, Trish stands up to the phantom dad, showing Chloe she will always protect her.

I feel this would not only make a bit more sense in that the Isolus and Chloe's relationship isn't simply dissolved at a whim, but it's slightly more empowering to have Chloe's and her mum finally stand up to the dad and send him packing.