History Recap / DoctorWhoS38E7CanYouHearMe

Written by Charlene James and Creator/ChrisChibnall. This episode first aired February 9, 2020.

-->'''The Doctor:''' "I've got plans crashing through my brain all the time. You want a plan? Come to me. Identifying which plan's going to work, that's the tricky bit."

-->'''Ryan:''' "Really?"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "Sorry, couldn't resist."

-->'''The Doctor:''' "Blundering. Top of my CV, alongside "plays well with others" and "excellent tap dancer in a crisis"."

* AllThereInTheScript: The name of Zellin's mate (Rakaya) is never spoken in dialogue and only given in the credits.
* AndIMustScream: Zellin and his partner end up in a prison designed for immortals with the creature they created from Tahira's nightmares.

* BaitAndSwitchComment: Zellin appears to be making a NotSoDifferentRemark to the Doctor, given that she's a virtually immortal being obessed with humans who doesn't pay attention to the mess she leaves behind, but concludes that [[UnderestimatingBadassery the Doctor is so much lesser]].

* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: When asked what she's going to be doing while her companions are checking up on stuff at home for a day, the Doctor says that she might be doing "Maintenance. Correspondence. Correspondence about maintenance."

* CassandraTruth: Tahira ''tries'' to tell the other people at the hospital in Aleppo there are monsters coming and they should warn everyone and lock themselves in their rooms for safety. Sadly, they seem to think she's delusional and just needs to rest.

* ColdHam: Zellin does not raise his voice, but he delivers his lines with such enthusiasm. He really is a hammy god enjoying his games.

** Tibo takes up vlogging at Ryan's request, recalling the way Ryan dealt with Grace's death in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]".
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall Yet again]], the Doctor and TARDIS cannot get any readings from attacking monsters. This time, though, there's an explanation.

* CynicismCatalyst: Seeing Tibo again makes Ryan realise he is not the same person he was before the Doctor, and he actively questions when his time in the TARDIS will end.

** Zellin creates a monster which he calls the Chagaska from the fear he extracts from Tahira's mind, only for Tahira to take control of her fear, and by extension the creature, and use it against him.

* EvilAllAlong: At first, it appears that the white-haired woman is sending a cry for help from the torture Zellin is inflicting. Then it turns out he's actually giving her the fears of humans which keeps her sane while imprisoned.

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Rakaya looks like a beautiful and innocent DamselInDistress with sleek platinum hair, but is an evil extradimensional goddess who feeds on nightmares. Her partner [[ObviouslyEvil looks far more sinister]]. This makes it easy for the Doctor and co. to [[FalseInnocenceTrick believe the ruse that Rakaya is Zellin's prisoner so they'll let her out]].
* FlashbackNightmare: Yaz’s nightmare is about when she tried to run away from home.

** Tahira is aware of the monsters that gather to attack the hospital when no one else is, and they don't attack and vanish her like they do the others. It turns out the Chagaskas were created from her nightmares, and after the Doctor helps her realize this she's able to control it.

* HatesBeingAlone: More from the Doctor, whose [[StepfordSmiler smile]] instantly vanishes as soon as the fam leaves, and she is so desperate to not have time to think that she decides to time travel to the next day. She spends a good chunk of the episode on her own and keeps forgetting that the others aren't with her and talking to herself, which implies that the only time she has spent any large chunk of time alone from them since regenerating has been to go to Gallifrey, she's so used to them being there.

* IBelieveThatYouBelieveIt: When Tahira insists that the monsters she's trying to warn everyone about are real, Maryam's response is "I understand they seem real to you."
* IHaveManyNames: Zellin claims to have had several names throughout his immortal existence, with "Zellin" being his oldest and preferred name.

* IndyPloy: Turns out the secret is coming up with the ''right'' plan (of course, she is an excellent tap dancer in a crisis).
-->'''The Doctor:''' I've got plans crashing through my brain all the time. You want a plan? Come to me. Identifying which plan's going to work, that's the tricky bit.

-->'''Ryan:''' ...Really?\\
'''The Doctor:''' Sorry, couldn't resist.

* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: The Doctor argues with the TARDIS after her readings show the Chagaska hair is not physically there.
* LivingDream: The Chagaska, a monster created by Zellin from Tahira's nightmares specifically for the purpose of tormenting her.
* MayDecemberRomance: Although they're probably around the same age due to being immortals, Zellin’s physical form appears to be an older man and Rakaya looks like a young woman.
* MediumBlending: The sequence explaining the history of Zellin and Rakaya is the series' first-ever animated segment outside the reconstructions.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The Doctor springs an alien goddess from a prison held in place between two planets, allowing her loose to feed on humanity's fears alongside Zellin.

* OrificeInvasion: Zellin establishes himself in the minds of his victims by detaching his fingers (which he instantly regrows) and sending them off to the victim's ears.

* SealedEvilInACan: Rakaya's true nature. At the end, she's re-sealed inside the can along with Zellin.
* SequelHook: The Doctor throws her companions into "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E8TheHauntingOfVillaDiodati The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]" at the end when she informs them that she's just had an idea to see ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' and that they're going to need a change of clothes.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Blundering. Top of my CV, alongside "plays well with others" and "excellent tap dancer in a crisis".

* VerySpecialEpisode: An episode with strong themes of mental health, that first aired in the same week as [[https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/get-involved/time-talk-day Time to Talk day]]. The credits sequence even includes the phone number for a mental health hotline in case anyone watching feels the need to reach out.
* WhatDoTheyFearEpisode: The companions are forced to have nightmares of their greatest fears thanks to Zellin.

* WithMyHandsTied: The Doctor somehow manages to knock her sonic out of her pocket [[GravityScrew upwards]] into her bound hands.
* YouWontFeelAThing: The Doctor wires Graham up to the TARDIS telepathic circuits and promises him that it won't hurt, then does a VerbalBackspace admitting that it probably will. Later after capturing the Doctor, Zellin says she won't feel a thing when the monitor platform burns up with everyone on it, only to admit that's not actually true.

In medieval Aleppo, kleptomaniac Tahira lives at a hospital, but carer Maryam won't listen to her warnings about creatures that come at night. And when the things do come, Maryam is the first one taken as Tahira tries to hide from the attackers. In 21st century Sheffield, the Doctor drops her companions off for a day at home, promising to meet tomorrow at lunchtime. But after Yaz, Graham and Ryan head out, the Doctor is pondering jumping straight ahead to the next day when the TARDIS briefly goes wonky and she hears a scream, as a sinister man in black appears behind her and smiles before disappearing without ever being noticed. Noting the scream came from medieval Aleppo, the Doctor decides she has time to investigate.

Yaz is late for lunch with her sister, and Sonya can apparently now cook. Ryan goes to visit his friend Tibo, but Tibo is acting a bit odd and has an unusual amount of locks on his door. Graham, playing poker with some of his friends, gets an abrupt telepathic communication from a woman who claims to be imprisoned and calls him by name. When the Doctor arrives at the hospital in the aftermath of the attack, she finds Tahira, who begs her to leave as one of the creatures remains. But the creature runs past the Doctor instead of taking her, and she can't get any readings off of the sonic. Ryan beats a downcast Tibo at a FIFA video game, but notices the kitchen is unusually dirty when he offers to make tea. Tibo doesn't want to talk about his problems, but eventually admits he's been having nightmares — nightmares with the recurring figure of a man who he feels is watching him. And not only that: he's seen the man in person, around town and even in his bedroom. Ryan reassures him that he believes the story, and Tibo asks him to stay for the night.

Yaz and Sonya eat, talking about how Sonya isn't cut out for customer service and the anniversary dinners they keep having. When they watch a movie, Yaz falls asleep as Sonya expected, but a phone rings and a voice is heard saying she didn't know who else to contact. In Tibo's flat, the man in black appears, detaching his fingers and sticking one up Tibo's ear. Ryan is awakened by a feeling and enters the room to see the man just as he regrows his fingers, demanding he stop whatever it is he's doing. Instead, the man disappears with Tibo. Yaz has a dream of standing on a road. She sees a policewoman standing behind her before being approached by a young girl, only to wake up in shock. Hearing sinister laughter, she turns to see the man in black standing there, disappearing in response to a demand for his identity.

In Aleppo, the Doctor asks Tahira about herself and determines that the creatures that attacked the hospital have made everyone else who was there disappear. Tahira explains that she's been on her own since her family died when she was seven, and she came to Aleppo and the hospital a few weeks ago, being let in because she wasn't doing too well. The Doctor receives phone calls from all of her companions asking for help, and promises to come. She triumphantly finds a hair left behind by one of the creatures before escorting Tahira into the TARDIS, saying she's about to have her mind blown. After picking up the fam, the Doctor analyzes the hair but is aggravated to be informed that the creatures don't exist anywhere in the TARDIS database, meaning they apparently ''never'' existed. When the companions explain what happened to them, Yaz and Ryan realize they saw the same man. The Doctor hooks Graham up to the telepathic circuits to determine what it is he saw in the message, and the TARDIS takes everyone to an extremely remote space observation platform in the far future. The platform is set up to observe two planets that are in the process of colliding, but being halted by an exceptional piece of engineering placed between them. An orb, inside of which is the woman who called for help.

Yaz and Ryan notice a rack of fingers in a corner of the room, and the Doctor deduces the existence of a quantum-coded lock that is holding the orb there. Tahira goes wandering and discovers a room where Maryam and Tibo have been imprisoned, unconscious. She's frightened when one of the creatures appears behind a glass wall, but the man in black appears, explaining that the creatures, called Chagaskas, are his own creation. Yaz, Ryan and Graham, having noticed Tahira was missing, burst in and demand the man leave her alone, but he just detaches more fingers and sends them at the group, trapping them in nightmares: Yaz is confronted by the policewoman and the girl, figures from her past and future. Ryan finds himself amidst flames, confronted by an angry Tibo who's been waiting his whole life for his return, and the shadows of the Dregs. Graham finds himself in a hospital room with Grace, told that he has hours to live before she asks him why he couldn't save her.

The Doctor sonics the technology to connect the TARDIS to the lock to open it, only then realizing that her companions are gone once again. Before she can do anything else, she's confronted by the man, who introduces himself as Zellin. The Doctor is skeptical, pointing out that that's the name of an ancient mythological god. Zellin doesn't disagree, revealing that he's an immortal on the same level as the Eternals and the Guardians, one who enjoys playing dark games with this dimension (games he suggests the Toymaker would approve of). He's seen the Doctor blundering about the universe, and he's discovered that humans have the most delightful nightmares. The Doctor triumphantly points out that she's unlocked the prison and will beat him by releasing his prisoner. But that's exactly what Zellin wanted: he used the Chagaskas and his attacks on humans to lure her in, needing someone from this dimension to open a prison from this dimension. The prisoner, the same kind of being as Zellin, is actually the more powerful of the two, he just rides in her slipstream. The Doctor is horrified to realize she may have unleashed something even worse upon the universe.

The Doctor retorts with her trademark PatrickStewartSpeech that she finds humans special and indomitable, able to refuse to be cowed by their own fears. The villains ignore her, and begin to set their plan to harvest all of humanity’s nightmares into motion. They teleport down to 21st century England as Zellin’s fingers detach and replicate themselves over and over, and tendrils of tentacle-shaped black clouds swirl from the bedrooms around them.

The two gods sense something is happening and materialize in 14th century Aleppo to find the Doctor, her fam, Tibo, Maryam and Tahira, and the tech powering Zellin's fingers. The two gods scoff, but the Doctor reveals she advised Tahira to conquer her fears, thereby gaining control of the Chagaska. The Doctor and Tahira set the Chagaska loose on Zellin and Rakaya, then the Doctor (after making the standard {{pun}}) sends Zellin's fingers after them, poofing them into Rakaya's prison, with the Chagaska screaming in their faces for all eternity. The Doctor and friends bid Maryam and Tahira farewell offscreen before traveling back to the present day.

Three years before they arrive, the girl from Yaz's nightmares is sitting on the roadside far out from Sheffield, when the policewoman approaches. A closeup reveals the girl to be Yaz herself. The policewoman asks her what she is doing by herself, telling her that her sister Sonya called in to ask for her whereabouts. Yaz admits she is bored with life in Sheffield, and hopeless that her parents don't understand. Yaz is considering running away or committing suicide. The policewoman admits she feels the same too, but she loves her job and her life too much to do so. The policewoman tells Yaz that the added years of experience helped her make the better choices in life she needed; Yaz has too many years ahead of her to throw away. The policewoman offers to take Yaz home, but first she bets Yaz that if both their lives improve before Yaz looks her up and visits her, Yaz has to pay her 50p; if both their lives get worse, the policewoman has to pay her £50. Yaz agrees to the bet and gets into the police car.

In the present day, Yaz seeks out the policewoman in her home and gives her the 50p; they reminisce for a while before Yaz goes to the TARDIS. Ryan gets the still-disbelieving Tibo to try opening up; Tibo eventually starts a blog and joins an active friend group of lonely men, where he is last heard joking about his frustrations with the self-checkout machine. Inside the TARDIS, Graham is confiding his survivor's guilt and his fear that the cancer will relapse to the Doctor, who is maintaining and repairing the TARDIS console. The Doctor can only admit she is socially awkward and troubled enough to state she cannot respond or help him. Ryan and Yaz reflect on the events of the episode; Ryan wonders how long he can lead a different life from his friends at home, and laments that even if he always returns, he will have aged differently from them; he expresses doubt that he can continue on the TARDIS for longer. Soon enough, the Doctor distracts the three by offering to take them to see Frankenstein, and the four set off on yet another adventure...

[[caption-width-right:350: [[Franchise/TheAddamsFamily This is creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky enough. At least it wasn't the whole hand. That'd be all together ooky]].]]

The one with the detachable fingers.

* YourWorstNightmare: Zellin torments people for their nightmares in order to harvest them. Tahira and Tibo have been particularly affected.