"Praise him"
The Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves trapped in what seems to be an old hotel. Along with a few other people who are also trapped they discover that each room holds a fear for each person and it's only a matter of time before they are driven to open the door of their own room where their greatest terror awaits. Meanwhile a Minotaur-like alien is stalking the corridors waiting for the right moment to take each survivor as the fear becomes all to much for them.
I've never really liked this one all that much but it does have some moments that really stand out as excellent. The first of these being the character of Gibbis as played by David Walliams. Gibbis is from a race of aliens who are the most conquered in the universe due to their nature of simply allowing people to invade their world and oppress them. He even mentions near the start of the story that he works in town planning and his most recent job has been to organise the planting of trees along the roads so that advancing armies can march in the shade "which will be nice for them". It's hilarious. But what makes this character even better is that, as the Doctor discovers, this cowardice is not just a funny character trait but it's also quite sly. Gibbis isn't the nice character you would expect him to be and he would sell out any of the others to save his own skin.
The Doctor soon discovered that the creature is not feeding off fear but from peoples's faith and the fears in the bedroom have been designed to force people to fall back on their core beliefs. At the conclusion of the story we find ourselves in Amy's room where she comes face to face with her younger self who is till waiting at the window for the Doctor to return. It is Amy's faith in the Doctor which is making the creature come for her and the only way to save her is to break that faith. This is another one of my favourite moments as the Doctor seems to come clean with her that he brought along because he was vain and wanted to be adored "I'm not a hero. I really am just a mad man in a box, and it's time we saw each other as we really are." It's actually a repeat of an idea from The Curse Of Fenric and I'm not sure which one is more successfully executed. I think the scene in The God Complex are more emotional but the similar scenes in Fenric feel more believeable. I could really imagine the seventh Doctor using Ace as opposed to the eleventh Doctor using Amy.
By the end of the episode, the Doctor has decided that enough is enough and he can't carry on risking Amy and Rory's lives. As such he takes them back home and carries on his travels alone. It's a bit odd because I knew they weren't leaving but it makes for a nice little twist I suppose.
"Praise him"
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