A Minotaur who stalks the corridors of a nondescript hotel, seemingly feeding on the fears of the visitors whose worst nightmares lie behind a door somewhere.....yep I'm in.
I've craved a bit of base-under-siege action and I suppose, in the current climate, this is the nearest we get to just that. The creepy hotel is one of those ideas that seems so right for Doctor Who that it's a wonder it hasn't been done before.
The key to any claustrophobic Doctor Who drama is a small cast of decent one-off characters - and to a varying degree Toby Whithouse's The God Complex gives us that - especially with Rita and Gibbis. The latter played pretty well by David Walliams, easing any fears of an over the top Little Britain performance that this reviewer held.
As the show wears on we begin to realise that the God Complex is less about the Minotaur's 'praise him' brainwashing of his victims and much more about the Doctor's pressure to save everyone from every situation he finds himself in. Matt Smith continues to add a weary depth to the Timelord as he heads towards his death at Lake Silencio and is strong again here.
The revelation that the monster feeds on faith rather than fear strayed a little down the 'emotional resolution' line once again (see my review of Night Terrors) and was perhaps a little disappointing. Still it's good that the minotaur didn't turn about to be a generic villain.
The Doctor then drops his companions off at their dream marital home (the one they're in when they get the blue envelope?) and bids them farewell (althought they will surely be back in a couple of weeks?)
The Doctor's sad but subtle realisation that he can't always win gives this episode a strong theme and the minotaur, hotel setting and strong guest characters meant this was a much more satisfying outing than the past two weeks for me.
7.5/10
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