Warning: This recap spoils everything! You've been warned!
The episode opens up with a man on the phone saying he's figured everything out. He says they're everywhere. Something attacks him and he falls to the ground. On the wall, it looks like the man is trapped.
Clara and the Doctor are on the TARDIS. Clara mentions Danny has no problem with Clara traveling. The Doctor is going to drop her off but they notice the door to the TARDIS is very small. The Doctor steps out and the TARDIS is extremely small.
Elsewhere, a man makes a community service chap paint over some graffiti.
On the TARDIS, the Doctor is trying to figure everything out and he says that this all can't be good. Clara walks home and walks through a tunnel, past the community service chap. The tunnel is filled with the drawings of people. The chap says people have gone missing. Clara walks back to the TARDIS, and it's extremely small. The Doctor can't get out. He says something is leeching the exterior dimensions. Clara picks up the TARDIS and she heads off after the Doctor gives her the sonic screwdriver and psychic paper. Clara walks off and sees the community service chap again. They head to a missing person's apartment to find clues. The community service chap, Ricksie?, is about the leave and The Doctor tells him to get Ricksie back. Clara shows Ricksie the Doctor and they continue their search.
Clara and Ricksie head off to another missing person apartment. The Doctor tells Clara he thinks the missing people are in the walls and gives her a sledgehammer. An officer answers the phone and tells the person on the other end MI5 (Clara) is there. She leaves the room to talk and something ominous is happening. Something starts to suck her into the floor. Clara and Ricksie arrive but it's too late. The Doctor sees what looks like a nervous system on the wall. He thinks whoever is doing this is trying to understand three dimensions. Objects in the room start going flat and getting sucked into the wall. Ricksie and Clara jump on a swinging chair. Danny calls and Clara and Ricksie escape. He's worried. She says they're fine.
Ricksie heads to the tunnel and sees that other community service people are trying to paint over the pictures of people and the Doctor says it's the missing people. Clara tries to stop them but fails. Then one of the community service gents gets pulled into the wall. Everyone runs. The Doctor thinks that all of this is a big misunderstanding. The Doctor says the TARDIS can't translate because their idea of language is as weird as their two dimensional living space. Clara uses the sonic screwdriver on a speaker to talk to them. They start repeating numbers to the group. One of them is 25, one of the employees in the group. Moments later, he's sucked into the walls.
The group runs into the tunnels to escape. The Doctor creates a machine that can restore three dimensions to things sucked into the walls. Clara tries it but it does not work. They start leaching from the TARDIS again, and one of the crew gets grabbed by a hand. The Doctor fixes the 2Dis, the machine he made. They run but the creatures are 3d now and coming after them. The head community service guy grabs Clara's bag and the TARDIS falls out onto a train line. If it takes another hit, it's done. The Doctor uses his hand through the door to move the TARDIS to safety.
The Doctor had to put the TARDIS into siege mode which means there's no way in or out. Ricksie and Clara use a train to ram into some blockage on the tracks. Clara rigs it so neither of them have to die while doing this. They jump out, the train gets sucked into the wall. Clara finds a small, bizarre box and she grabs it. She thinks it's the TARDIS. Clara, Ricksie, the conductor, and the mean old community service guy escape. Clara comes up with an idea to give the TARDIS power. Ricksie has to do some graffiti on a large sheet of paper.
The life support is failing inside the TARDIS but they've set up their plan. The Doctor says Clara made a fine doctor on this adventure. The monsters start trying to turn a door that Ricksie painted into three dimensions, which is impossible because the door never existed. The Doctor has the TARDIS recharge from this power. The TARDIS recharges and the Doctor comes out and tells them they are not welcome and sends them back to their own dimension.
The group safety returns and everyone says their goodbyes. Clara wants recognition from the Doctor. The Doctor explains that goodness had nothing to do with it.
A woman stares into an iPad at Clara and says "Clara. My Clara. I have chosen well."
Clara really holds her own in this adventure, consider the Doctor is not as involved as usual. The character has really evolved for the better this series and this solo adventure is actually a lot of fun. She comes a long way here, and it flat-out, she was written incredibly well, which is something that has been a little rough this series.
While last week's episode was probably the coolest of the series thus far, "Flatline" ended up being a ton of fun. Sure, there were quite a few times where the CGI looked a little silly and cheesy, like the train, but there's a lot of moments where that style worked, especially with the creatures, who had this "photoshop for beginners" look to them. Sure, that sounds insulting, but it's one of the cooler things about the episode. They had this spooky crudeness to them, and conceptually, it was pretty awesome creature.
As always, Peter Capaldi, even though he wasn't the focus of the episode, is just an amazing Doctor. He's done a wonderful job with the role and gives the Doctor a whole new edge. He really unleashes at the end of the episode, and it's a really cool moment, even though the character feels less forgiving than he was in the past.
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