Warning: There are minor spoiler in the review.
In this week's episode, the trees and nature have taken over the planet and the Doctor had to figure out why and who is behind it. The Doctor and Clara realize one of the girls in Danny's group of kids, whom were spending the night in a museum, may have the answers they need.
Meanwhile, a government group is planning on doing controlled burns in order to clear paths. However, the trees aren't burning. The Doctor finds that a solar flare is coming to Earth and may wipe out the planet. A student named Maive seems to have some connection to all of this. A collective being that's inhabited earth for quite some time reveals itself. The Doctor realizes the trees are like a shield for the humans from the solar flares. After the trees protect the Earth, they all disappear.
Conceptually, the episode was a hit. There were a few twists and turns to really keep this episode really interesting, and the idea of the Earth protecting itself and its inhabitants is incredibly cool. The execution for this episode wasn't bad, but there were a few moments that may put viewers off, but overall, this was an incredibly fun, one-off episode.
I hated the handheld camera in the opening in the TARDIS. I hated the camera work on a lot of this episode as well. Lots of panning around objects, like rotoscoping. Trying to make certain scenes more impactful, but all it did was take the viewer out of the scene. Maybe the decades off static camera work from the pre-2005 series have sullied me to what a Doctor Who episode should and shouldn't be. I appreciate new directors and cinematographers trying new things, but it just didn't work out here.
The overall episode really did have a great tone. It was pretty serious, for an episode that comes off as a tad silly at face value. If there were too many joke-moments in this episode, it really would have killed the entire episode, so the fact this was taken a bit more serious makes this work as a whole a bit better.
When the tree-being starts talking through Maive, it is really hard to make out what it's saying. It's a pivotal point in the show and a ton of info is revealed, but it's so hard to hear it. This was a huge letdown.
Samuel Anderson, who plays Danny Pink, does a fantastic job in this episode. He feels right in the moment, while other actors feel like their reading lines. Believe it or not, he and Peter Capaldi really carry this episode. They're doing exactly what they should be doing: making the audience believe. While many fans don't seem to be taking well to Danny Pink's character, I highly suggest giving him another shot. Anderson is great as this character, and the character, overall, adds so much to the show.
"In the Forest of the Night" doesn't really add anything to the season and it's a one-off episode, but it was enjoyable. Personally, I'm tired of the one-and-done episodes and really crave something with a bit of meat on it. This series, storywise, has been extremely disappointing as it doesn't give viewers a large scope story to grasp onto. Sure, these smaller pieces are fun, but series 8 is following a formula a lot of American television shows have been following for years: nothing matters. That's just my rant though. Again, conceptually, I loved everything about this episode, but there were way too many problematic moments to ignore. This episode just becomes "ok" at that point.
Question of the week: would wolves, who have been held in captivity for quite possibly all of their lives, go back to hunting, and start hunting humans, as soon as they were freed, even though the recognize humans as the ones to feed them on a daily basis?