Holistic Review: Doctor Who does The X-Files and yields its most terrifying episode ever.
My reaction upon first watching Blink: that was awesome. I miss the days when Doctor Who used to scare me as a child. I also miss the days when I used to get a real fright out of watching The X-Files or any of those other suspenseful shows; these days, it doesn't seem to happen very often. In fact, the last time I can remember watching something that scared me to the point of being paranoid afterward was probably The Blair Witch Project — Gray had gotten his hands on an advance early edit, and showed it to me in his parents' living room, late at night, when the house was empty, under a strict edict of "no talking allowed", so we wouldn't defuse the tension with laughter. So that would've been around May 1999. And that was only the terror of the unknown, or the imagined; you never even got to see anything scary. In TV terms, nothing jumps out at me as having been quite that frightening recently, except possibly Hush from Buffy, which did make me jump a couple of times. I guess TV shows just aren't as scary as they used to be. And with the new series being so overtly aimed at children, I figured it was a lost cause to hope for actual spine-chills. I figured new Doctor Who wasn't going to get any scarier than, say, the clockwork androids — a momentary fright on seeing the monster, perhaps an uncomfortable spine-tingle as they prepare to do something really horrific, but no actual tension. Nothing to make you jump and scream. People always cite The Empty Child as being the other really scary story, but I've never gotten that vibe from it — pretty creepy at times, yeah, but terrifying? Not in the slightest. So Doctor Who just can't do "scary" for adults any more, right? Wrong. And oh my goodness, I am so happy to be able to say that. I've been waiting for an episode just like this. And I don't know how on earth the poor children could take it.
When Outpost Gallifrey gave no more plot description than "a Doctor Who horror story", I decided on two things. First, a horror story titled "Blink" had to be pretty scary. And second... if they weren't giving away much information, then I wanted to try and remain as spoiler-free as possible. After all, it was fun with Fear Her last year. As it turns out, I really made the right decision, because the less you know about this story going into it, the better. I think my sum total of knowledge was: (a) it was a horror story (Outpost Gallifrey); (b) it was a Doctor-lite episode like Love & Monsters (source unknown!); (c) it involved a grainy video image of the Doctor (the trailer after The Lazarus Experiment, plus the process of elimination); and (d) the statue of an angel was somehow involved (where did I see this? At any rate, I forgot about it completely, thank goodness). And when Sally walked into that house, I had no clue what was waiting for her... just as it should have been. I actually gave in and watched this a lot earlier than usual, since I'll be travelling this weekend for my mother's birthday and otherwise I'd have ended up needing to watch and review Blink and Utopia next week simultaneously, which I really don't like to do. So in the end, instead of watching Blink on a sunny summer evening around 6 pm with a bunch of friends, I watched it late at night, in my apartment, alone, with all the lights out. Best decision I've made yet this year.
Blink (what an awesome title, too — very X-Files indeed) manages to be creepy right from its very first scene, with a woman clambering over an atmospheric old wrought-iron fence on what appears to be a dark rainy night. From that point forward, the tension just ramps up bit by bit. At first it's startling little moments, then you start to get scared for the characters, then you start to get creeped out, and then...
First things first: the Weeping Angels. I am full of awe for Steven Moffat, because angel statues are not scary. I mean, they're the opposite of scary, they're tranquil and spiritual and reassuring! But will I look at them now? Or, more to the point — will I turn my back on one now? I don't think so! The first time through, I thought, well, they're creepy... anything that moves when you're not looking at it is creepy. But then when one of them took Kathy, and instead of killing her horribly, it just transported her back in time, I thought, aww! What a cop-out, that's not scary at all. I mean, sure, she has to live her life away from her family and friends, but... that's not scary, that's just tragic. So for a while, I thought the angels were going to be a bit disappointing. But then the Doctor explained that the reason they send you to the past is so that they can feast on the temporal energy from the days that you would have lived in the future, and that made them both cooler and more malevolent. Still not scary, but also not nice. And I must admit that, even though I wasn't terrified of them (yet), it was still really creepy to watch them move between cuts. I was definitely getting shivers each time one would uncover its eyes or reach out a stony hand, the best example being when Sally finds the key, and the angel behind her has its eyes open while she's kneeling, but when she stands up and moves away, suddenly its eyes are covered again, all in the same shot. That really freaked me out, because I expected her to turn around and notice it was looking at her.
However, all thoughts of the angels being kinda wimpy was dashed during that incredibly tense scene at the house. The music starts us off by getting really scary as the Doctor is warning Sally that she mustn't ever blink (and didn't it feel like you were listening to that message for the first time, and really understanding how terrifying the situation was?). And then Sally and Larry both realize that they've taken their eyes off the statue, and they look up — and, for me, three things happened. One: the music leapt out at me, which primed me to jump. Two: the angel was right there. And three: suddenly I also noticed that it had a face full of ENORMOUS FANGS! It made me seriously shiver, and go "eep!", and clutch my shaking hands to my wide-eyed face. (I'm grinning just writing this, it was so awesome!) Then Sally reminds us that there are three more statues moving around upstairs... and there's a fantastic slow zoom in to Larry's face as he tries so hard not to blink (along with the rest of us)... and then you know he can't take it any more, and he glances back quickly, and when he looks forward again — THE ANGEL IS RIGHT IN HIS FACE WITH HORRIBLE HORRIBLE FANGS!!! I about screamed and jumped out of my chair. Ohh, I love this episode! And then we get the terrifying sequence in the cellar, as the light starts blinking out, and with every flash of light, we see that the creatures are moving closer and closer, their horrible taloned hands reaching out to grab Sally and Larry, and it didn't matter whether the angels killed them or sent them back in time — my heart was beating a mile a minute! Even their attacking the TARDIS was really creepy, because of the way the angels would shift position in between each blink of the light.
I am so having nightmares about pointy-toothed claw-fingered stone angels tonight.
So, for me — shock value aside — Blink was even scarier the second time around, because then I knew exactly what those angels could do, and I was half-expecting them to jump out at Sally every second she was alone with them. Even though I knew they weren't going to do any such thing! I can't quite believe that a story like this can get scarier with subsequent rewatchings, but there you have it. And while I may not have jumped out of my seat at the really scary moments the second time through, I still had a definite and lingering giant chill down my spine every time something scary happened.
Carey Mulligan is absolutely fantastic. I adored her in Bleak House, although I'm not sure I'd have recognized her here, despite that same lovely smile. I love that Sally has such a quirky personality — she loves old things, she only owns 17 DVDs, she relishes feeling sad but she's still a happy person, and she's an amateur photographer, which comes in really handy for explaining how the Doctor knows what to write on the wall and where to write it. I love how confident she's grown by the end, and how much she delights in finally getting to meet the Doctor. Her calm, collected delivery of "Okay. Listen." is great, as she prepares to effectively save the Doctor's life with what she's about to tell him. The moment when she finally holds hands with Larry is really touching and sweet. It's a great performance from start to finish, and I'm so glad they snagged her to play the role. Any chance of a return appearance? She seems to have really struck a chord with fans, who are clamoring to get her in the TARDIS whenever Freema decides to leave, and I have to say, she would make a pretty awesome companion. And having her official début in this story would be akin to Amber Benson first appearing as Tara in Hush... not a bad way to start. As Larry, Finlay Robertson really won me over. At first I just wasn't sure I was going to like him, but by the time he and Sally were working side-by-side in the old house, I really warmed to him. His DVD-geek personality was really appealing, and not at all relatable, oh no. And he really delivers during the scary scenes — his petrified cry of "oh God!" as he tries not to blink had me sweating. I love the fact that he grows close enough to Sally during, and presumably after, their experience that he wants to have a relationship with her. And who can blame him? They seem like a great match. The other character that I really adored was Michael Obiora's Billy, who was just thoroughly engaging, and hilarious. Billy and Sally have immediate chemistry, and a surprisingly sweet relationship when Sally meets up with his older self. I love that she offers to stay with him during his final hours. (And, was Moffat on some kind of wordplay kick when he was naming these people? Sally, Billy, Larry... Kathy only just escapes, with Ben — not Benny — and most definitely Banto being the real outliers.)
I noticed, as Sally was retrieving the key, that the angels had amazingly lifelike hands. And it turns out that, yes indeedy, they were played by real people. That's just astonishing to me — the makeup is so good, the costumes are so fantastic, and how could they stand there stock-still like that for so many takes? Especially when they have to point at things? They must have hired some real professionals for those parts, I tell you what. (Of course, it turns out that they froze the actors digitally after the fact... how dumb am I?) Nice effect, too, when Sally pulls the key out of one of the angels' grip, and a little shower of grey dust comes out along with it.
There are some plot holes, unfortunately... the good thing is, they're so easy to overlook because I just find this episode astounding. But basically, the angels are inconsistent. The Doctor says that they can move incredibly fast, and we see this happen when the angels across from the police station fly over to land on the police station the moment that Sally blinks. So, if they can move that far that fast — why is it that the one attacking Larry only moves a couple of feet when he turns his head, and still doesn't quite manage to touch him in time before he looks back? (Is it just trying to freak him out within an inch of his life? And mine?) Or the ones that try to attack Sally without ever quite getting her? And it doesn't seem possible that you could always look at every single angel. For example, when Sally's on the second floor with three of them ranged around the room, she turns her back to at least one angel almost the entire time that she's up there. So why don't they spring to life and snag her? (Gosh, I re-read that wrong just now.) And why does the one that's trying to grab her just stop when she runs away? She's not looking at it, so it ought to be able to get her. Then, of course, there's the one that sneaks up behind Kathy a bit at a time, when the only person that's looking at it is us! That does seem to be the prevailing theory, actually — that the angels are bound even when only the audience is looking at them — and in a way that really appeals to me. (It also explains why, for example, the angels freeze when the light bulb flickers, even after Sally and Larry have already gone into the TARDIS.) To tackle another problem, as the Fear Factor kids pointed out, there's at least one giant mirror in the house. Why not use it as a shield to keep the angels looking at their reflection? Or maybe that doesn't work because it has to be an actual live being looking at them? Some acknowledgment of that might have been nice, particularly since the mirror gets at least one lingering close-up at the very moment when Larry is desperately trying not to blink. And couldn't Larry have grabbed the door and slammed it shut when he left the room?
However, for a plot such as this, I'm sure a few little holes are unavoidable. There are probably others I just haven't thought of yet, because it's so complex. If I hadn't already kowtowed at the feet of Steven Moffat (and left him offerings of fruits and various meats and some virgins, in utter gratitude) for writing such a scary episode, I probably would have done it for the plot. It's just so cool and well-done! And I love that we get a nice long climax to the story — this isn't one of those "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" (ow, no pun intended) climactic monster attacks — we have to suffer through the angels' malevolent advances for about six straight minutes of petrified terror. I must also commend Moffat for his ability to effectively balance terror and humor — this, people, is what I mean when I talk about an episode being "fun" (or the lack of same)... it's got really great lines that crack me up, fun lively performances, a storyline that keeps you guessing and still manages to be rewatchable, and a great monster. This one fires on all cylinders.
And, oh, the temporal machinations of the plot are so cool. So, if I can puzzle this all out correctly, the Angels have for some reason been living in the abandoned house for at least two years. In that time, they've been time-sending visitors in order to feast on their future timelines. The Doctor and Martha arrive on the grounds and get scooped up by the angels and sent back to 1969. At some point thereafter — surely at least a couple of days, unless someone phoned in a tip to the police earlier — the constabulary arrive and take the TARDIS back to their station. (How did the angels miss the TARDIS when it was so close? Where did they get the key from — the Doctor's pockets? And if so, why didn't they use it while the TARDIS was still in the vicinity? And why didn't the angels follow the police after they took the TARDIS?) Sally visits and catches the angels' attention, but doesn't really attract their ire until she steals the key from them. Following her to recover the key, they find the TARDIS, and take it back to the house cellar. Meanwhile, in our non-linear time stream, the Doctor encounters future-Sally and picks up her folder containing her DVD list, the transcript and the photos of the house. The Doctor apparently puts them in his dimensionally-transcendental pockets and keeps them at all times, and thus has them when they go back to 1969. After being trapped, he goes to the house in the photos and writes the message on the wall, which will later be papered over (either he does that himself, or someone else wants to cover up the paint job he defaced). He then finds some antiquated 1969 recording equipment, and with Martha's help, makes a recording (in color) of the dialogue on the transcript. When Billy is sent back in time, the Doctor gives him the videotape and the list of DVDs, and asks him to ensure that the contents of the tape (which apparently also includes software that causes the DVDs to be recognized as authorized TARDIS control discs) are included as Easter eggs on each DVD from the list, in thirty years' time. (Presumably Sally only likes films that were produced at the studio Billy ends up working for.) Billy does so, Larry later copies down a list of all the DVDs that the Doctor appears on, gives it to Sally, Billy uses her cell phone number to make sure she looks at the list, and that's the end of that. Larry and Sally return to the old house with the key, enter and activate the TARDIS, which goes back in time to fetch the Doctor and Martha. (They must leave the key somewhere inside, as surely Sally wouldn't have left it in the lock with the angels right there, but neither she nor Larry appears to be holding it inside the TARDIS.) It's just too bad the Doctor doesn't carry around a TARDIS recall circuit, as that would have solved the entire problem, although if that were the case, he'd probably have about 65% fewer adventures.
Hettie MacDonald really must come back to work for Doctor Who again; her directing was absolutely a big factor in the scariness of this tale. She did a brilliant job the whole way through... there are so many gorgeous shots that it would be impossible to list them all. My favorite part is possibly the slow zoom toward Larry as he stares, terrified, at the angel standing right in front of him. And it's time for me to praise Murray Gold again. His score isn't a "wow!" one, but oh boy, is it ever effective in establishing and maintaining that scary atmosphere. I love the shrieking violin or whatever it is that accompanies each shot of a creepy angel, and of course I've already said that the music accompanying the Doctor's video at the end really ramped my tension up. My grandmother's trick was that when she was watching something scary on TV, it was always accompanied by scary music that would get worse and worse the closer something bad was to happening, so: she just muted the volume. And it really works. Without the music to let you know to be scared (or to really make you jump), you can watch just about anything and be perfectly fine. So, I do not underestimate Murray Gold's contributions here. I think he's just made up for The Runaway Bride.
Minor points:
Larry: "Okay. Not sure, but really really hoping..." (he indicates below his waist) "Pants?"
Kathy: "What did you come here for, anyway?"
Sally: "I love old things. They make me feel sad."
Kathy: "What's good about sad?"
Sally: "It's happy, for deep people."
Sally: "1902. You told him you were eighteen, you lying cow!"
Larry: "Hang on. We've met, haven't we?"
Sally: "It'll come to you."
Larry: (beat; his eyes widen and he hurriedly covers his crotch with the bowl he's holding) "Oh my god!"
Sally: "There it is..."
Sally: "And..."
Larry: "And, and what?"
Sally: "She loves you."
Larry: "She what?"
Sally: "She said to say, she just sort of mentioned it, she loves you. Now that's nice, isn't it?"
Larry: "Is she ill?"
Sally: "No! No."
Larry: "Am I ill?"
Sally: "No."
Larry: "Is this a trick?"
Sally: "No! She loves you."
Larry: "You have to go looking for them, follow a bunch of clues on the menu screen."
Doctor: (recording unpauses) "Complicated."
Billy: "This isn't a real one. The phone is just a dummy, and the windows are the wrong size."
Billy: "But that's not the big question. See, you're missing the big question."
Sally: "Okay, what's the big question?"
Billy: "Will you have a drink with me?"
Sally: "I'm sorry?"
Billy: "Drink? You? Me?" (checks watch) "Now?"
Sally: "Aren't you on duty, Detective Inspector Shipton?"
Billy: "Nope. Knocked off before I left. Told 'em I had a family crisis."
Sally: "Why?"
Billy: "Because life is short and you are hot. Drink?"
Sally: "No."
Billy: "Ever?"
Sally: "Maybe."
Billy: "Phone number?"
Sally: "Moving kinda fast, DI Shipton!"
Billy: "Billy. I'm off duty."
Sally: "Aren't you just." (she pulls out a pad and a pen)
Billy: "Is that your phone number?"
Sally: "Just my phone number. Not a promise, not a guarantee, not an IOU. Just a phone number."
Billy: "And that's Sally -"
Sally: "Sally Shipton." (eyes widen) "Sparrow! Sally Sparrow." (Billy grins widely as they both start to laugh.) "Okay, going now, don't look at me." (she flees for the door)
Billy: "I'll phone you!"
Sally: "Don't look at me."
Billy: "Phone you tomorrow."
Sally: "Don't look at me!"
Billy: "Might even phone you tonight!"
Sally: "Don't look at me!" (she exits)
Billy: "Definitely gonna phone you, gorgeous girl."
Sally: (from outside) "You definitely better!"
Martha: "Oh, the moon landing's brilliant! We went four times."
Doctor: "You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract, they live off potential energy."
Doctor: "This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes 'ding' when there's stuff. Also it can boil an egg at thirty paces. Whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens."
Old Billy: "I often thought about looking for you before tonight. But apparently it would have torn a hole in the fabric of space and time, and destroyed two-thirds of the universe. Also, ah, I'd lost my hair."
Sally: "I'm clever, and I'm listening, and don't patronize me, because people have died and I'm not happy. Tell me."
Doctor: "It's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff."
Sally: "Okay, let me get my head round this. You're reading aloud from a transcript of a conversation you're still having?"
Doctor: (fluttering hands) "Ehh, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey..."
Doctor: "Aaaand that's it, I'm afraid, there's no more from you on the transcript. That's the last I've got. I don't know what stopped you talking, but I can guess. They're coming, the angels are coming for you. But listen, your life could depend on this. Don't blink, don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck."
Sally: "You're not looking at the statue."
Larry: "Neither are you."
Larry: "Who blinks? I'm too scared to blink."
Larry: "Why's it pointing at the..." (the lightbulb flickers) "...light?"
Sally: (frantic) "Look at them, quick, look at them!"
Larry: "I don't think we need to..."
Sally: "It's me! Oh, for god's sake, it was me all along, you got it all from me!"
Sally: "Okay. No worries. On you go. See you around someday!"
Please, please, more like this!!! My feeling of utter elation at the end of the episode — and the fact that I kept glancing over my shoulder afterward — has left me with no doubt that Blink is my favorite episode of the new series so far. And it's unquestionably the scariest episode of Doctor Who ever. (I think, actually, it even beats 99% of The X-Files.) Sorry, Earthshock part one, you just lost the crown. Blink has everything — horror, comedy, romance and emotion. I'm going to be raving about this one for a long time to come. With my eyes wide open.
