Doctor Who Review: Before The Flood – 6 Ways The Water Rises And Falls
“Before the Flood” is uneven at best but brilliant individual scenes make this episode well worth watching.
WARNING! SPOILERS: This post contains spoilers and speculation for the Doctor Who series nine episode Before the Flood. Writer Toby Whitehouses follow up to Under the Lake is a bit of an enigma. On the surface it purports to be an old fashioned adventure featuring the Doctor squaring off with a man in a monster suit. But something sly and subversive is taking place between the lines of this thoughtful script. Underneath all the waving of hands and running around theres a subtle running commentary on issues of mortality and grief and the consequences of dealing with the reality of our short lives or choosing to deny that death waits for all of us. Unfortunately Before the Flood lacks the dramatic tension that made Under the Lake so much fun to watch. The Fisher King comes across as more a convenient invention to tie up loose ends than a true figure of horror. The character is simply not strong or interesting enough and the interaction between it and the Doctor falls flat. Before the Flood is uneven at best but while it is not entirely successful as a whole there are brilliant individual scenes that make this episode well worth watching. Lets talk about how Before the Flood rides the waves and then crashes into the surf.