Doctor Who season twelve, episode seven, “Can You Hear Me?” was a thrilling and insightful episode. The Official BBC Twitter account for Doctor Who had been teasing fans all week about facing our fears. The Doctor (played by Jodie Whittaker), her companions, and a new friend all had to face their fears and an even bigger threat than we imagined. Nightmares seemed to become reality, and the entire episode felt like a thriller movie. This post contains spoilers. Please do not read anymore if you have not seen the episode.
Jumping right into “Can You Hear Me?”
Personally, I like it when this show starts off cold. Meaning, there was no title sequence right away. We were given the story-line and villain theme before we saw the Doctor and the TARDIS. The introduction scene starts with someone unknown whispering, “Can you hear me?” Instant chills. We are in Syria in the 14th century, and a girl named Tahira (played by Aruhan Galieva) has stolen goods from a local merchant. She is told stealing is not okay by someone we assume is a friend, who is called Maryam (played by Sirine Saba). Tahira begins to talk about something terrifying that is coming. She urges Maryam to take precautions. However, Maryam doesn’t believe her. Instead, she tell Tahira that it’s all in her head. Tahira explains that when she sleeps, she sees them. She feels them coming. Moments later, there is chaos. It’s dark, and big claws wrap around Maryam’s face. Tahira tells her not to struggle because those things like it when people struggle…what is this thing?
After the title sequence, the Doctor lands the TARDIS back in modern-day Sheffield. Right day, right year…just 77 minutes late. Honestly, would it be the Doctor if she didn’t make the companions a tad late? Yaz (played by Mandip Gill), Ryan (played by Tosin Cole), and Graham (played by Bradley Walsh) step off the T.A.R.D.I.S. and head out to visit friends and family. The Doctor stays inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. and quickly starts to feel incredibly bored. Sure, she gets peace and quiet, but as previous companions have warned in past seasons, the Doctor should never be left alone for too long.
Doctor Who gets scary
As if the introduction scene in 14th century Syria wasn’t freaky enough, the lighting in the T.A.R.D.I.S. suddenly changes. It gets dark, a scary man wearing black robes and has tattoos all over his head appears out of black smoke and is gone just as fast. The Doctor has no idea who that was, how they got into the T.A.R.D.I.S, or what that strange energy was. So, she decides to track it down.
In the meantime, Yaz goes to see her sister who was very happy to see her. There must have been something going on within the family; Sonya (Yaz’s sister played by Bhavnisha Parmar) seems distressed. They allude to an anniversary of something, but it’s not clear what kind of anniversary. It feels somber and not like a celebration. Ryan visits his best friend Tibo (played by Buom Tihngang and first seen in “Spyfall Part One”). Tibo is less than thrilled to see his friend, but the fact that Ryan brought chips with him and was intent on spending time with him causes Tibo to changed his mind. I would let my friend come in, too, if they brought chips. When Ryan goes inside, he notices Tibo has a suspicious number of locks on his door and he locks the doors all of the way down to the floor. He is either hiding something, afraid of something…or both. Tibo reluctantly explains he has been having nightmares, and that the man in his nightmares has been haunting his home. This doesn’t surprise Ryan but it does worry Ryan. Ryan has been around the universe and has seen some crazy things. Ryan decides to stay the night to try and make sure Tibo is safe. Across town, Graham is visiting his friends, playing a card game, and is happy and optimistic. However, that doesn’t last long. While dealing cards Graham suddenly has a vision of a woman who is calling to him, asking for help. He can see planets and that this woman is in pain.
Back on the T.A.R.D.I.S., the Doctor has traced the mysterious energy back to Syria where we last saw Tahira. Except now, things are destroyed and everyone is gone. Everyone, except Tahira. Apparently, this is the oldest known mental health hospital in history. Looking back at the earlier conversation Tahira had with Maryam, we can understand why Maryam brushed off Tahira’s fears about something coming. The Doctor finds Tahira hiding in a room. Tahira is scared. She explains to the Doctor that “it” took everyone, and that “it” is still here. The scary monster creature is on the ceiling! It’s hard to describe what it was considering I closed my eyes when I saw it. It was scary. It looked like a werewolf type creature. The monster runs off leaving them unharmed. The Doctor uses her sonic to scan the area and get an idea of what that was, but the sonic can’t pick up the readings. It was…nothing? No readings. This is always a good sign (end sarcasm).
The nightmares are all connected
Yaz, back at her parents’ home, has fallen asleep on the couch. She’s dreaming. She sees Sonya standing in the middle of an empty street in the middle of nowhere. It is a lonely road surrounded by grassy fields. She turns around, and the SAME man that was in the TARDIS is in her dream.
Tibo is asleep in his room when Ryan hears someone else in the house. He goes into Tibo’s room, and the same scary man from the TARDIS and Yaz’s dream is standing there! This time, the man’s fingers come off, one goes into Tibo’s ear, and starts either taking something out or putting something into him. It was hard to tell in the moment. Then, Tibo was taken!
Graham, Yaz, and Ryan all call the Doctor at the same time to tell her what they saw. She takes Tahira with her in the TARDIS. First, she finds fur from the scary monster. When she uses the TARDIS to examine it, the TARDIS is, again, telling her it’s nothing. The fur literally doesn’t exist. How can that be? That creature was very real.
The Doctor finds the source of the nightmares
Back on the T.A.R.D.I.S. when Graham told the Doctor that he saw a woman in trouble and planets burning, she asks him if he knew where the planets were. In what is probably one of the funniest lines, in true Graham-like fashion, he begins to tell her that if she has a map of the universe, then he could pinpoint the location. Then, mid-sentence, he stops and says there is no way he could tell her. Good, ole Graham. The Doctor then attaches what seems to be a neurotransmitter to Graham’s head to tap into his mind. The T.A.R.D.I.S. automatically starts to head towards where they need to go.
The TARDIS team ends up in a faraway galaxy, somewhere in deep space on a space platform that happens to be right in front of the planets that Graham saw in his visions. The Doctor is able to zoom in an image of the planets, and she can see they’re colliding. However, there is an orb in between them. Zooming in further they can see the woman from Graham’s visions is trapped in the orb! This orb is a prison! They look around and see that the fingers from the scary man in Tibo’s room and Yaz’s dream are everywhere. These fingers are psychic transmitters that are transmitting something to the orb prison.
Of course, Tahira wanders off. She finds everyone that has been taken by the creature from the hospital as well as the people taken by the scary man. They are all being held captive in a dream-state. They are being held with their arms above their heads in what seems to be a futuristic type of handcuffs. They all have what looks like the scary man’s fingers attached to their ears. They’re transmitting something from the fingers. Tahira turns around, and there is the monster from the hospital! It growls at her from behind glass. The scary man speaks to her and tells her, “Your worst fears, my creativity.” Yaz, Graham, and Ryan come to her aide. They demand he release all of the people he has taken. Suddenly his fingers detach from his hands and attack Tahari and the Doctor’s friends.
We get a look into each of the companion’s fears
Yaz, Ryan, and Graham are now prisoners of the scary man, and they are in a sort of dream state. Yaz’s dream here is very similar to the one she had when she was on Earth. She is standing in the middle of a road with Sonya staring at her, and there is also a police officer there. Sonya tells her that no one is coming for her. Then, Sonya and the police officer are gone. Yaz is completely alone.
Next, Ryan is surrounded by fire. His friend, Tibo, looks old and grey. He tells Ryan he waited a lifetime for his friend to come home, and now Earth is burning. We also see the Dregs again! Is Ryan afraid he’s going to be gone so long that the world will die without him?
In Graham’s dream, he is in a hospital bed. His doctor turns around, and it’s GRACE, his wife and Ryan’s grandmother who died trying to save Earth from TimTzim-Sha in series eleven. Grace tells him that his cancer has returned, and this time it’s savage. He only has a few hours left to live. There is no way of changing that. Grace also demands to know why he didn’t save her. It’s heartbreaking to know that Graham has to live with both of those events haunting him, even though he seems to be good at coping and being optimistic.
Meanwhile the Doctor is talking to herself. She has been trying to figure out how to save the woman in the orb. She has just realized that the others are no longer around when she hears a voice say, “Hello Doctor,” and finally meets the man who has been causing all this trouble. He knows who the Doctor is and explains that his name is Zellin (played by Ian Gelder). The Doctor knows Zellin as a mythical name and thought to be a god. Zellin is an immortal, who has currently taken on human form to provoke fear from humans. He is taking the nightmares of humans and transmitting them into the orb. This is all a game for him.
Zellin gloats about what he’s been doing to the humans as the prison locks on the orb start to unlock. The Doctor boasts about she has figured out how to free the woman in the orb. She assumes that Zellin is responsible for her imprisonment. As it turns out, the woman the Doctor has freed is, in fact, Rakaya (played by Clare-Hope Ashitey), a second and even more powerful immortal! She is Zellin’s eternal counterpart. Rakaya explains in a beautifully animated sequence that she had been imprisoned by the inhabitants of those planets below for the wickedness her and Zellin had caused their planets. When she was captured, Zellin fled until he could find a way to rescue her. He had been watching the Doctor for a long time, and together with Rakaya, they devised a plan to use the Doctor’s intuition to draw her to them so that Rakaya could be freed.
Now they are more powerful and seek to continue their game by causing more nightmares and chaos for planet Earth. Yikes! They capture the Doctor and place her in a dream state, handcuffed and a finger transmitter in her ear. We get to see into her nightmare, but it doesn’t last as long as the others. She is able to wake herself up. But before that, we see her on what we assume is Gallifrey. We hear a voice (The Master maybe?) say, “It’s buried deep into our memory, in our identity, built on a lie of the Timeless child.” A young girl stands at the edge of a monument, her back to the Doctor. She is likely the Timeless Child that the Master mentioned in “Spyfall Part Two.” Possibly a young Ruth? She sees the same vision of past Gallifrey that she saw when the Master left her the message in the TARDIS. Everything she knows is a lie, and that is the fear haunting her.
The Doctor and her team defeat Zellin and Rakaya
When the Doctor snaps out of her nightmare, she is able to sonic herself free. She frees her friends and everyone else. The monster behind the glass reappears and growls at them and the Doctor explains why the creature didn’t attack Tahari at the hospital. The monster is her nightmare, Zellin she created it from her dreams, and as such, it can not attack her. The T.A.R.D.I.S. team tries to work out how to stop Zellin and Rakaya.
On Earth, Zellin and Rakaya devise their own plans on how to pass the rest of their eternity. They decide Earth is the perfect place to feed on people’s fears. Zellin begins his attack on humans by sending his finger transmitters to create nightmares and Rakaya begins to feast on them. They are interrupted by the growling of Tahari’s monster. They trace it to fourteenth-century Syria and transport themselves there.
There, they encounter The Doctor and her friends. Tahira can now control the terrifying monster from her dreams. She has faced her fears head-on and has made it work for her. What a wonderful reminder. We do not need to be ruled by our fears. The Doctor calls the immortals to her and tells them how strong humans really are. Humans have many struggles and fears, but they face them daily. Humans fight them and they prevail. Conquering fear is part of life, and it is a beautiful thing when we do.
The Doctor is able to use the orb that Rakaya was trapped in earlier to trap them. By controlling the fingers, she puts them in Zellin and Rakaya’s ears and imprisons them in the orb along with the creature from Tahira’s nightmare.
How the episode ends
Back in modern-day Sheffield, Ryan says goodbye to Tibo again. He convinces Tibo, before he leaves, to get help with his mental health. Tibo listens! He seeks out people to talk to about what he is struggling with.
There is a flashback sequence from three years ago. Yaz is on the same empty road as in her dream! She has packed bags and is sitting there. Waiting. The same policewoman that was in her dream earlier sits down with her and lets her know her family is worried. She tells Yaz that she cannot run away from her family or school issues. She promises to pay Yaz if things don’t get better, but then she also says Yaz has to pay her if things do. It was so nice to see a little bit of a backstory with Yaz. We didn’t know a whole lot about these companions from last season, so it was refreshing to get some perspective on Yaz. Now, back in the present day, Yaz holds up her end of the deal and looks up where the officer lived, and Yaz paid her. This was such a special moment.
Back in the TARDIS, Graham confides in the Doctor. He tells her how scared he is about his cancer coming back. He gets his check-ups, but he fears that there is always the possibility it will return. The Doctor listens. Then, she explains how socially awkward she is and lets him know she will think of something supportive to say later. This moment, seeing the fear in the usually optimistic Graham is a tear-jerker. It’s a vulnerable time when you express any sort of fear to anyone. And the Doctor just listening and being there for him was probably exactly what he needed.
Meanwhile, Ryan and Yaz are contemplating their lives with the Doctor. Ryan seems unsure of whether or not he can keep it up much longer. His fears of leaving the Earth behind for too long are evident. He worries about those they are leaving behind while they travel. (Does this mean one or more of them are leaving after this season?) The Doctor cuts in just as they are trying to decide what to do and says, “Frankenstein?!” This next adventure is going to be exciting for sure! Yaz and Ryan agree to go on one more adventure with the Doctor.
More thoughts on this Doctor Who episode
“Can You Hear Me?” definitely felt like a thriller movie. There was dark, scary lighting along with some jump-scares. Normally, scary movies are not something I enjoy watching, but this episode was very well done. Also, I love it when the Doctor takes down so-called “gods.”
The use of lighting in the TARDIS in this series has been spectacular. It is subtle but makes a big point. For instance, when the Doctor has been worried or nervous, the lighting gets dark and blue. When something bad is about to happen, the lights dim. In this case, the lights dim when Zellin appears in the T.A.R.D.I.S.
There was some homage to the Black Guardian in this episode. The Black Guardian (played by Valentine Dyall) first appeared in the 1979 episode “The Armageddon Factor” with the fourth Doctor (played by Tom Baker). It was said that the Black Guardian was the personification of entropy and chaos. I can see how this was connected with Zellin. Zellin thrived off of a species’ fear and ability to destroy one another.
Graham’s nightmare resonated with me the most. As a cancer survivor, this hit home. Having that fear of the cancer returning is always there, no matter how long you’ve been in remission.
The message of this episode was pro-mental health; we live our daily lives with fears always either in the back of or in front of our minds. When we choose to face them, head-on, we prevail and are that much stronger for it. We shouldn’t run away from or ignore the bad. There is always someone out there to help you. Get as little or as much help as you need. Even if you need someone to listen and not respond (like the Doctor did for Graham), then reach out. You are not alone.
Fan Reactions
Instagram user @101cosplaystosee says,
“I loved how she [the Doctor] warned him [Graham] she doesn’t know what to say but still wants to think up something better late than never…It definitely was good for Graham to tell someone and I wish the Doctor took from this the same way people did this episode that sometimes it helps to talk.”
https://twitter.com/X_EXO_SUHO/status/1226691832328982530
I loved all the references. The Guardians and their bird hats… The Toymaker… The Eternals… all fun! #doctorwho
— Karen Kalbacher (@1FuzzyMonster) February 10, 2020
My favorite moment from #DoctorWho tonight was 13 admitting she didn’t know what to say or how to respond Graham. Such an incredibly real moment!
I’m not ready for this season to be over. It’s been phenomenal.
— Jill 📚⚡️🏒🦄🔮👻📚 (@potterhockey) February 10, 2020
13: "Thanks for lending a helping hand"
Ryan: "Really?"
13: "couldn't help myself"
#DoctorWho— Shar (@raznochintsy) February 10, 2020
Doctor Who will return on Sunday, February 16 at 8 pm on BBCA.
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Interview With Dan Hadley Of Type 40: A Doctor Who Podcast
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