Review of Can You Hear Me?
Warning: This review contains episode-specific spoilers and wild speculation about future episodes.

I’m not a fan of the horror genre, whether it be on screen or written, nor have I ever found Doctor Who particularly to fit that description.

I have to say, though, that whatever they’re doing this series—whether that’s the scripts, the effects, the scoring, or what—has been really effective in giving me that slightly alarming sense of foreboding that lets one know there’s something amiss. And I’ve even enjoyed it. But that chill factor is only the superficial layer dressing up the core of this story.

In one way, the episode is an example of the “visit home” type that has become more and more common over the years of modern Who. The Companions want to dip their toes back into their mundane lives, and the Doctor either gets embroiled in something odd happening where they are—often involving their families—or gets sidetracked on something completely different that turns out to be related. In this case, it’s the latter, and we end up with the convergence of four distinct threads stemming from the Doctor (random creatures in a mental hospital in 14th-century Aleppo) and each of her Companions (Ryan: “My mate’s been taken!” / Yaz: “There was a figure in our flat.” / Graham: “I keep seeing these images of planets like they’re being projected into my mind.”).

In another way, in my opinion, the episode hints at a larger series arc. Although there is eventually a clear reason for the Chagaska, the nightmare creatures of the opening, to be so enigmatic that even the TARDIS can’t identify them, it seems unlikely to me that such a thing happening more than once in a single series is coincidental.

When the Doctor first tries to scan the Chagaska, she examines the sonic’s readout and exclaims, “Nothing. Nothing at all.” Later the TARDIS insists that they don’t—have never and never will—exist. The light creatures of Spyfall were similarly unexplainable, from somewhere beyond this universe, and the immortals at the root of the trouble are apparently not of this plane.

It’s possible that none of these things are related, that they really are self-contained within their own episodes, and Chibnall’s name is on the credits just for his help with characterization and tweaking Companion arcs (and the Doctor’s nightmare involving the Master’s words about the Timeless Child). But I remain skeptical. I suspect we’ll look back on Can You Hear Me? later and remember it for more than just those super creepy fingers.

Perhaps most significantly, it feels to me like the foundation is being laid for the departure of one or more of the Companions. While it held the aforementioned hints at a larger arc, the nominal plot was all wrapped up 80% of the way through the episode, leaving ten minutes for Ryan’s mate Tibo to talk to someone about his depression, Yaz to remember “that day” (though I still don’t completely understand why it’s an anniversary worth marking with her sister), and Graham to discuss with the Doctor his fears of his cancer recurring.

Then Ryan and Yaz have a heart-to-heart about their future traveling with the Doctor. “How long is it going to last?” Ryan wonders. Yaz seems less concerned, but Ryan’s obviously struggling with the implications of continuing on. Much like Amy and Rory, he’s starting to think more seriously about life outside of the TARDIS.

So I think we’ve just witnessed the beginning of the end of “the fam.” And while I love all these Companions, and would personally love to see some adventures with just Yaz and the Doctor, I hold no illusions that any of them will continue much longer. I’m bracing myself for at least two, and possibly all three, of the fam to leave within the next three episodes.

Until then, I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed that they each get the exit they deserve and whatever long game Chibnall is playing turns out satisfying in the end.