A boy living in on a council estate is afraid and has been told to put the things that scare him into the cupboard in his room. (Why are scary things always found in the cupboard or under the bed. What is it with bedrooms and terrifying stuff.) He wants his mother, Claire (Emma Cunniffe) to do the ritual with the lights, turning them off and on five times before she leaves. George (Jamie Dram) hears the lift and even that makes him afraid. He calls out for help, "Please save me from the monsters" over and over. This is relayed eons away to the Doctor (Matt Smith) in the TARDIS on his psychic paper. Just as Claire says George needs a doctor. The Doctor's doing something he's never done before, "making a housecall." Or that should be a (dolls) housecall! Sorry spoilers!
The TARDIS lands outside a rundown estate, Rory (Arthur Darvill) comments "we could get a bus somewhere like this." Meaning it's not historical or anything astronomical. They're answering a call for help from the scariest place in the universe, "a child's bedroom" utters the Doctor. Amy (Karen Gillan) can attest to that from season 5! An old woman, Mrs Rossiter (Leila Hoffmann) wheels her shopping trolley past. There's no crack in the wall this time, only cracked paint! They search for the child. George looks out the window and is spotted by the Doctor, who leaves Rory and Amy alone again, typically. Rory thinks they "should let the monsters gobble him up." They get into the lift and it freefalls. Mrs Rossiter is swallowed by the garbage bags outside. The estate did look like something you'd find in Brit soap Eastenders, which is what I thought and Rory makes a similar comment. Knew they were in a dollshouse though, that was apparent.
Alex (Daniel Mays) says they talked of getting help for George and sending him away. The Doctor mentions "pantaphobia" the fear of everything. Not pants, though pants could be included as everything. George hates clowns, Doctor: "Understandable." As do most people. Amy and Rory find there's no lift. Rory believes they're dead. "The lift fell and we're dead, we're dead again." Well considering the number of times Rory's been killed off and Amy in 5.12 The Pandorica Opens. He thinks the TARDIS has done some time "slippy thing and the Doctor is stuck in Eastenders-land back there." There's his Eastenders comment. (Well it would be, that soap is so dreary don't know how people watch it. No offence to avid fans.)
Amy notices the pan in the kitchen is made of wood and painted copper. Rory's got his little torch out again (as in 6.6). Time for Amy to open the bigger lamp! and she finds a huge glass eye in the drawer. The Doctor tries a Rubik's cube. He liked reading when he was George's age, a thousand years ago. Books like "The Three Little Sontarans," i.e. the Three Little Pigs, they won't be happy being called pigs. Ha. Also "The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes" what clothes, now shell maybe. Also "Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday." The Doctor and the Rubik's cubes, "...must be broken. Hate those things." They should tidy it away in the cupboard. How come he's no good with the Rubik's cube. Monsters go in the cupboard he adds.
The landlord Purcell, (Andy Tiernan) pays a visit demanding payment and George listens to him. The Doctor makes the toys move with the Sonic. He tells Alex "George's monsters are real." They shouldn't open the cupboard. Surprised Alex wasn't more shocked when he appeared to just accept it. Rory realizes there's no doorknob on the front door and Amy says the hands on the clock are painted. They hear children laughing. Alex calls the Doctor irresponsible and the Doctor refutes this. They need to stay away from the cupboard, it's bad. In a moment of crisis he makes tea again. He's missed something staring him in the face. He refuses to leave. "I'm not just a professional, I'm a Doctor" and he's come a long way to help. Whatever is in the cupboard has "amplified" the boy's fears, which travelled all the way through time and space and he does his flattering speech about all the nebula and oceans etc. He asks for Jammie Dodgers, no Custard Creams this time.
Rossiter's in the house too. Rory and Amy come across a giant wooden, peg doll, but it moves when they turn away. Children sing a rhyme. The Doctor looks at the photo album again but can't put his finger on what's bugging him. Purcell watches TV and and comments they're showing Bergerac a 30 year old TV show. (With John Nettles, years before he did Midsummer Murders. Hey we're still getting Bergerac too. So that was a topical comment.) He's taken through the floor. Cos George listened to his threats to Alex and is afraid of him, but curiously not the dog. See it's all about George. The Doctor realizes Claire isn't pregnant in the photos. Alex had forgotten Claire can't have children. So who is George? Through his heightened fear,George sends the Doctor and Alex through the cupboard.
Amy accuses Rory of panicking. Children sing the rhyme again. Amy: "I take it all back. Panic now." The Doctor thinks a perception filter is in operation, not another one, which made Alex forget. The Doctor looks into the mirror on the wall as in the Vampires of Venice episode. Amy has the idea they should open the door and push past them, but only Rory has the mop (like the Doctor had in 5.13 The Big Bang) and Amy is caught and turned into a doll, red hair 'n'all. Hey no bow tie comment this week. Alex and the Doctor end up in the dollshouse too and Alex notices the lights go on and off five times, like they do for George. The Doctor goes over what they know and concludes George is no ordinary boy. Funny bit where the Doctor and Alex do a double-take on the wooden doll behind them. Liked the giant scissors. The Doctor tries to use his Sonic on the doll, but it doesn't work on wood. Doctor: "I've got to invent a setting for wood. It's embarrassing." As in 5.8 when Rory dissed the Sonic and said it doesn't work on wood.
The Doctor realizes, finally, that George is a 'cuckoo in a nest'. He's a Tenza. There are millions of them adrift in space and they assimilate into what people want. A Tenza's function is to fit in and to be wanted. George isn't aware he's controlling everything that's happening. The Doctor pleads with George to end this, he's the only one who can and George steps into the cupboard. The dolls stop and then they go for George. He calls out to 'Dad' and Alex hugs him, he will never send him away. Making George overcome his fears of being rejected. The dolls become human again. The Doctor tells Alex that George will adapt perfectly now and he gives them kippers. (As in 5.1.)
The Doctor then says it's good to be together again "in the flesh." They can't decide where to go. Doctor: "Mind's gone blank." She was turned into a wooden dolly. Children sing the rhyme again, "tick tock goes the clock even for the Doctor..." As we're shown the Doctor's photo on the TARDIS' monitor from last episode with the date of his death: 22/04/2011 at 5.02pm at Lake Silencio.
This episode moved away from the arc of the Silence, finding Melody/River, until the end where we get the date again from the last episode and the rhyme, which means we're still forging ahead (or backwards) to the Doctor's demise. This was much a stand alone episode and was creepy in places, probably a few children and some adults hid behind the sofa again, as they now nurse a fear of wooden dolls and dollshouses. What was George doing with a dollshouse, it's not really a boy's toy, no wonder he was afraid of it. Also George was afraid of the sound of the lift which explains why the sound could be heard from the cupboard, but if the sound is in the cupboard, the lift wasn't, so why did Amy and Rory find themselves in the dollshouse. Didn't those dolls remind you of something from the French revolution, spooky.
The Doctor also asked for Jammie Dodgers and tea in Victory of the Daleks. Not too bad an episode, think most of the reviews I've come across people actually wanted blood, except for that diabolical, inaudible, unintelligent rhyme throughout, not even the subtitlers could subtitle (closed captions) it! Were we not meant to understand any of it, aside from the line at the end.
This episode was meant to have been shown earlier on as episode 6.4. Also writer Mark Gattis admitted in an interview in Radio Times of his fear of dolls and how the show had never done an episode with dolls. The Sonic not being able to work on wood was also mentioned in 6.3 The Curse of the Black Spot and by Donna in Silence in the Library. Snow White and the Seven keys to doomsday was a reference to the play Seven Keys to Doomsday from 1974, and the character of the Emperor Dalek.
Next week it's Rory's turn to choose.
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