History Recap / DoctorWhoS37E9ItTakesYouAway

This episode first aired on December 2, 2018. Written by Ed Hime. Guest-stars Ellie Wallwork and Kevin Eldon.

-->'''Yaz:''' "So why did you make the bear traps?"\\
'''Erik:''' "Because there are bears?"

* JerkassHasAPoint: Ryan's first instinct, based on his own past, is that Hanne's father has deliberately run off instead of being taken by a monster. He's quickly scolded for being rude, but it turns out that he's partly correct; Erik has run off to a parallel world where a version of his wife exists, and the monster is just a recording he set up to keep Hanne in the house until he gets back.

The Doctor and her friends land on the edge of a fjord in northern UsefulNotes/{{Norway}}, where the only sign of life is a cottage that doesn't have smoke coming from the chimney despite it being winter. Upon arriving at the cottage, the Doctor and company find that the cottage has been boarded up and Ryan spots someone inside. Entering, they find signs of life, with shoes scattered around the entryway and candy wrappers on the kitchen table. Searching upstairs, Ryan and Graham find a girl hiding in a wardrobe. A sandwich Graham has been carrying in case he gets hungry proves to be the ticket to persuade her to come out. Downstairs, the girl asks how they got in, and the Doctor says they were in the area and asks what the girl is afraid of. She explains that her father went missing four days ago, taken by a monster living in the woods. The fact that the girl, Hanne, is blind only makes her situation harder.

As everyone looks around outside, loud roars are heard, which Hanne explains is the creature coming, as it hunts at this time every day. Searching the shed, Ryan and Yaz find bear traps, but the loud roars of the creature prompt everyone back to the cabin in a rush. Graham, sent upstairs to look out the window for signs of the creature, is distracted when he discovers the mirror at the other end of the room, Hanne's father's bedroom, isn't reflecting him. Ryan and the Doctor come up to see it too, and the Doctor, after taking a peek, deduces that the mirror is a portal of some kind. Hanne wants to come through to look for her father, Erik, but the Doctor won't let her, telling her to stay with Ryan while she, Graham, and Yaz investigate. Hanne isn't happy, disliking Ryan for his automatic assumption that her father ran off instead of having been abducted. The Doctor writes a message to Ryan on the wall, suggesting that he assume Erik is dead, but says aloud that it's a map of the house's vulnerable points. On the other side of the portal, the Doctor and company discover a dark, maze-like space, which turns out to be an antizone, a space between the two halves of the portal, created only at points where time and space is in serious danger.

The Doctor, Graham and Yaz meet a mysterious figure in the antizone, who introduces himself as Ribbons and has the only light source. He offers to show them the path Erik took in exchange for the sonic screwdriver, and the Doctor insists on payment after delivery. Ribbons eventually tries to double-cross them, having cut the string the Doctor was using to mark their path, but gets eaten by the dangerous flesh-moths inhabiting the area. Fleeing, the Doctor, Graham, and Yaz discover the other end of the portal, and through it, a mirror-reversed version of the cabin. Downstairs, they find Erik, who's living with a mysteriously alive version of his late wife, Trine. And there's another new arrival: the late Grace O'Brien. Back in the normal reality, Ryan discovers that the monster roars are being played by a set of speakers outside, but Hanne, already suspecting that he's lying about something and distrusting him, knocks him out by slamming a door in his face, takes the key to her father's bedroom and heads through the portal herself.

Talking the situation out with Yaz, the Doctor realizes that the reality they are in is a Solitract, a sentient universe that was exiled from the main universe because the universe couldn't hold together otherwise. She also realizes that the whole situation is a trap and that they have to get Graham and Erik out of there. Graham, talking with Grace, is initially skeptical that she's really her, but starts to believe otherwise after a long enough talk. However, the Doctor arrives and insists they have to leave. Ryan, after coming to, eventually catches up to Hanne in the antizone, and they head to the other side of the portal. However, they attract the attention of the flesh-moths. Hanne makes it through, but Ryan is left behind to hide. In the Solitract, Hanne immediately realizes that this version of Trine isn't her mother, and Graham finally realizes that Grace isn't really Grace, as she doesn't care about Ryan's safety. Eventually, the Doctor persuades the Solitract to send everyone out except her, and the humans flee back to the normal universe. The Solitract, taking the form of a frog with Grace's voice, talks to the Doctor in a WhiteVoidRoom. However, the reality is still collapsing because of the Doctor's presence, and the Doctor persuades the Solitract to send her back as well by explaining that friends try to help each other.

When everyone is back in the normal reality, Erik and Hanne decide to return to Oslo instead of their lonely cabin. The Doctor and her friends head back to the TARDIS to travel on, and Ryan, for the first time, calls Graham "Granddad".

* AlternateUniverse: Lampshaded by Yaz, who initially assumes they've crossed into a parallel universe where Erik's wife and Grace are still alive. Turns out they are in The Solitract, a sentient universe that has been separated from the main universe since it was created and become the subject of Time Lord bedtime stories.

-->'''Yaz:''' So why did you make the bear traps?\\
'''Erik:''' Because there are bears?

* BittersweetEnding: All the humans and the Doctor are returned to the main universe; Erik and Hanne will start over in Oslo and Graham and Ryan's relationship is stronger for the experience. The Solitract must be alone forever, but the Doctor will always remember it, and it her, so it won't be ''truly'' lonely.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E4ArachnidsInTheUK Once again]] Team TARDIS open a cupboard with trepidation, only to find it ''doesn't hold'' something nasty or dangerous.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten The Rings of Ahkaten]]", the climax had the Eleventh Doctor offer his memories to the parasite planet in hopes of appeasing it since no one else around has as many memories as he does. Here, the Thirteenth Doctor offers to stay with the Solitract because just having her, with all of her experiences, around will give it much more to work with than Erik would (which helps Erik realize his "wife" is an illusion). In both cases, the Doctor's solution doesn't work out, but there's an alternative — the Eleventh Doctor's memories can't compare to the ''infinite'' memories-that-never-were that Clara's leaf offers the parasite, and Thirteen can't stay with the Solitract after all because both universes will collapse, but she can promise to remember it as a friend and vice versa, which it accepts as enough.
** Pointed out by the AV Club review: As in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]", a companion of the Doctor is tempted to stay in a false reality in which a deceased loved one is still alive. The main difference is that the Solitract doesn't intend to harm Graham, whereas the Dream Crab was slowly killing Clara Oswald.

*** Graham has started carrying a sandwich with him at all times, since they don't often stop to eat.

* CosmicFlaw: The Solitract and the universe cannot coexist; when the Universe was forming it ejected the Solitract from itself so it could finish doing that and the Solitract has to be convinced to be alone again because the presence of matter from the universe is destabilizing it. The Antizone exists spontaneously as a buffer because the two cannot be in any kind of direct contact.

* DontGoInTheWoods: ''Invoked''. The monster heard roaring in the forest surrounding the cabin is really just a speaker set up by Erik to keep Hanne from, well, going in the woods.

* ForgotAboutHerPowers: When the Solitract asks the Doctor to describe the universe to it, she says there isn't enough time. The Doctor is ''psychic'' and should have been able to transmit her thoughts and memories to the Solitract without words (although the fact that she's interacting with a sentient ''universe'', rather than another person, may have something to do with this, and the Doctor's telepathic abilities always seem to be a chancy thing that only exists when the story needs them to).

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Ultimately the Solitract's motivation; it's lonely because it can't be a part of the universe.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Ryan's first instinct, based on his own past, is that Hanne's father has deliberately run off instead of being taken by a monster. He's quickly scolded for being rude, but it turns out that he's partly correct; Erik has run off to a parallel world where a version of his wife exists, and the monster is just a recording he set up to keep Hanne in the house.

* MadnessMantra: Hanne repeats the phrase "it takes you away" when she's scared of the creature.

* MissingReflection: When the portal is active, it doesn't reflect anyone standing in front of it. Graham approaches the mirror mystified after noticing this. When Ryan comes up and sees it, he suggests that they would know if they were vampires.

* NonMaliciousMonster: The Solitract only wants to have company. It's too bad [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt this threatens the universe's existence]]. Likewise the flesh moths, which are just animals.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Though Grace seemingly has all the memories of the original (she only seems to know as much as Graham himself), she reveals herself as a fake when she tries to talk Graham out of helping Ryan. The real Grace would make that her first priority.

* SeenItAll: Invoked by the Doctor to convince the Solitract to TakeMeInstead. If she wants a friend, why not someone who's seen the entire universe she's pining after?

* TitleDrop: When Hanne is hiding under the table, all she can say is "It takes you away."

* YourEyesCanDeceiveYou: Hanne can tell instantly that Trine isn't her real mother, unlike her father who is unwilling to give up the illusion.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Pun}} Who's]] Feeling Froggy?]]

The one where a frog [[Franchise/StarWars force pushes]] the Doctor.