Well after the horrific waste of time that was Witchfinders I’m glad this episode was at least enjoyable, but it did leave me thinking, Doctor Who hasn’t actually scared me this season.

It Takes You Away is set in Norway and follows a young girl who is blind and whose father has been taken away by a monster. It turns out however that he wasn’t and instead travelled to an alternate universe through a mirror and had set up the monster noises around the house to stop his daughter from wandering away.

In this alternate universe his dead wife is still alive and that’s why he’s there. But him being there, and the Doctor and her companions, causes the universe to start imploding on itself and they must leave and say goodbye to their passed loved ones forever or else that universe and ours will end. They also bring Grace back and this is finally the time where Graham is able to say goodbye properly and move on.

It was a good episode. It felt quite long and there was a lot going on but it wasn’t boring in any way. The weird gollum type monster we meet in Wookey Hole as I will now call it was probably the highlight as the rest was just kind of meh. His death was certainly the most shocking part of the episode, well apart from the frog, but that was just strange.

But seeing his death sparked a thought in me which was: I haven’t been scared by this season’s Doctor Who. We’ve had comedy and heartwarming moments and yes some evil monsters but nothing that was actually terrifying and made me hide. Thinking back to the weeping angels and the vashta nerada, those episodes were horrifying and even watching it now as an adult still terrifies me. Maybe this season has gone down the more educational and family-friendly route but I do miss being terrified and excited for a new monster.

While this episode was good it was a bit lacking and didn’t really tug on my heartstrings the way I think the writers were hoping it would. I’m tired of seeing non-scary monsters being used for comic relief or to continue the story. Give me some good old scares like the old days and match it with the comedy and humour etc. that we’re currently seeing. Then I think this Doctor Who will finally sit proudly at the top of my list.

What did you think of It Takes You Away?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding