"In the Forest of the Night" begins with a young girl from Clara's school finding the Doctor in the middle of a forest. He's confused because he's meant to be in the middle of London and all he can see is trees. Well, that's because a forest has grown up overnight across the whole globe. In this episode we get to see more of Clara and Danny's students, and a different group than those we've seen before. They were adorable, as children are wont to be. And I liked that Clara called them "gifted and talented" when they were clearly not. I felt it was a good way for her to make them feel better about themselves, to remind them that they are special even if they're not incredibly super smart. She even brought up again the idea that things like fear can be a superpower. I also liked that she made a point about Danny loving his students and not leaving them for anything. I think it's one of his strong points: his compassion and caring for others.
In regards to the Danny/Clara/the Doctor debacle, it doesn't get resolved in this episode. Danny does discover that Clara is still traveling with the Doctor and asks her to be honest with him about her feelings on the whole situation. I understand that the relationship between Danny and the Doctor is strained and get why it's like that, but I love that Danny is trying to be reasonable. He just wants the truth, which he totally deserves. And I would love if they could get along with each other but that's not likely to happen any time soon. Side note, I really love how expressive the Doctor's face was in this episode. He got very up close and personal with people and his face was just brilliant.
Now, on to the 2 things I loved the most.
1. Clara forcing the Doctor to leave when they think there is no solution. Let me start by saying that I figured out before the Doctor that the trees would protect Earth from the solar flare. You saw them not catch on fire so that should be a big hint that they would survive a solar flare. I felt really smart getting that before them. However, it takes them a while to realize that and they are under the assumption that everyone on Earth is going to die. This is when Clara says that Danny would never leave the students behind. He wouldn't escape in the TARDIS if it meant the students would die, and they would never get over leaving their parents. And then Clara says she doesn't want to leave because she doesn't want to be the last of her kind. She tells the Doctor to leave and he says that Earth is his home too. I like that he's so attached to our little planet. Clara tells him that Earth and humanity want to save him, that he needs to leave and do something worthwhile with his life. She's finally giving him up and she's content with the decision. Of course, the Doctor realizes that the Earth will not be destroyed and comes back. We're not given any indication of where this leaves Danny and Clara or Clara and the Doctor. I guess that's something we'll have to learn next week.
2.Fairy tale. This episode was so very fairy tale in nature. The dark forest, the lost children, the wolves and tiger, the red coat. Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood were both mentioned in the episode. It just felt so much like a fairy tale and those are my favorite. So it definitely helped me like this episode a lot. They mention sticking to the path and losing the path, and leaving breadcrumbs and the possibility of gingerbread houses. It very much appealed to the child in me. And I love what the Doctor said about forests.
"The forest. It's in all the stories that kept you awake at night. The forest is mankind's nightmare."
Side note, I also loved that the music sounded very LOTR at several points. It was a nice touch to add to the mythical, fairy tale feel of everything.
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