Doctor Who Recap -- 09/13

In tonight's episode "Listen," the Doctor is talking to himself while alone in the Tardis when he poses a question: What if you're never alone? What if there's a lifeform that has adapted itself to be completely invisible and can never be seen? "What would such a creature want?" Suddenly, he notices a message on his chalkboard: "Listen."

Meanwhile, Clara is on a date with Danny Pink who first appeared two weeks ago in "Into the Dalek." Due to his insecurities, it goes badly and Clara returns home to find the Doctor and Tardis in her bedroom. He reveals to her that everyone has the same nightmare of a mysterious something lurking under the bed and links her to the Tardis in order to go back to the exact moment in time where she had that dream. However, she gets distracted thinking of her awful date, and they end up at a children's home in Gloucester. The Doctor tells her to wait in the Tardis while he has a look around because meeting yourself in the past is dangerous. She goes to do that but gets sidetracked when she meets Danny as a kid (but at this point his name is Rupert). She goes to his room and they hang out under the bed. Without warning, someone lays down on it. They get out from under it and see a mysterious, childlike figure hiding under the bedspread. The Doctor comes in and gives a speech about how fear is a superpower, before instructing them to turn away from the figure. He makes Rupert promise not to look at it, whereupon the figure leaves.

Afterwards, Clara goes back to try and fix her date. She fails and Danny leaves anyway. She returns to the Tardis and finds a man in a space suit which she assumes is the Doctor playing a joke. But when he removes his helmet, we find it's Danny! Not quite; it's actually Orson Pink from 500 years in the future. He's the first human time traveler, but he accidentally got sent to the end of the universe where the Doctor has just found him. The Doctor agrees to take him home, but lies and says the Tardis needs one night to recharge. In actuality, he wants to meet the invisible entities that he believes inhabit the universe at the end of time. He waits in Orson's space/time ship, and when the main door opens, explosive decompression occurs and he nearly gets sucked out. Fortunately, Orson saves him. Unfortunately, those same entities are now apparently trying to break into the Tardis. Clara attempts to pilot it out of there and they end up at a barn where a mysterious boy is hiding out. Clara discovers he's actually the Doctor as a child, and he's scared of everything. She hides underneath his bed and then gives him the same speech he gave Rupert. "Fear is a superpower," she tells him. "Fear makes companions of us all." Inspired, he goes onto become the Doctor, and Clara realizes she's the source of his belief in invisible entities. She explains this to him, and then they take Orson home. Finally, she seeks out Danny and they make up.

I really liked tonight's episode. It was exciting to see Clara as the source of the Doctor's strength and fears, and I'm interested in finding out what happens next. I think "Listen" is a cut above last week's "Robot of Sherwood" and I hope they can keep the show going at this quality.