Who Reviews Fear Her by S.F. Cambridge

“Fear. Loneliness. They're the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to conquer or destroy. There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive... wormhole refractors... You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold”.

Set during the 2012 London Olympics, this episode is very much a dive into the importance of people, of friendships, love, community, sacrifice and hope, all linked together (Much like the rings on the Olympic flag) to highlight the basic needs of human kind and any other species that happens to be out there. Maybe this episode was written to coincide with the games as it features quite prominently throughout with the final scenes showing how the Olympic torch, a beacon of love and hope, was used to launch the tiny alien spaceship back into space giving it love and hope on the way.

Chloe Webber is a 12-year-old girl possessed by an alien known as Isolus. A creature estranged by accident from it’s billions of brothers and sisters, who sought out a lonely child to play with until it could find its way home. The creature knew Chloe was lonely and had felt her pain and isolation that the years of abuse from her now deceased father had caused her and it wanted to help her by giving her as many friends as it could. This was done by way of drawings Chloe made of the children she saw playing in the street, that some how captured them onto the paper and held them prisoner in an ionic cell.

The Doctor and Rose arrive just as another 2 children had been taken, taking the numbers to 3 within that same week. The residents had no idea who or what was taking their children except for Chloe’s mother who had an idea that Chloe was probably to blame as she had become more withdrawn since her father’s death a year before.

The Doctor and Rose try to help Chloe and her mother but are stopped in their attempts by the Isolus who threatens to unleash a particularly scary drawing of Chloe’s father it has drawn in her wardrobe which promises to “Get her!” causing her to have the same nightmares she used to have when he was alive, if they don’t leave Chloe alone and let them play together because they are lonely.

The drawings keep complaining that they want to go home and so the Isolus takes this to mean that they are lonely too and need more friends so with Chloe’s help, they draw all the people attending the Olympic games as they watch it on T.V and everyone in the stadium disappears.

Through some form of Gallifreyan hypnosis, The Doctor discovers that the Isolus tiny spaceship was thrown off course by a solar flare from the sun and it crashed on Earth, it is later found buried in the fresh hot tarmac that had recently been laid in the street by a council worker who then gives it to Rose for her to throw into the Olympic flame, giving it a power boost which sends it back home. The Isolus says goodbye to Chloe and all the people they have taken reappear and are safe and happy.

The drawing of Chloe’s father is still in the wardrobe and feeding off of her fears and escapes from her room to find her. As she becomes more scared, it grows in strength until The Doctor tells her that her fear is keeping it alive, so she and her mum sing the kookaburra song which usually calms Chloe down and her dad fades away and is gone for good.

The Doctor points out, the Isolus wasn’t looking to harm anyone, nor to scare anyone, it was scared and lonely just like Chloe and at the time they both needed a friend.

I think for me this episode is one of the few where the alien is not a direct threat to the world nor wants to be but a frightened child who acts out of fear and loneliness like a lot of children do. The episode also touches upon emotional and mental child abuse and highlights the importance of not only getting help, but that everyone needs a hand to hold when things get tough. The Doctor amplifies this by taking Rose’s hand and telling her that a storm is coming.

It also touches upon The Doctor’s past as he accidentally lets it slip that he used to be a father, giving Rose something to think about as she often struggles with the fact that he never reveals much of himself to her and carries the burden of a lot of secrets that she cannot help him with.