After the big reveal last week on who Missy really was, the Doctor continued one of his biggest fights ever in the second part of the series 8 finale of Doctor Who and as always, beware of spoilers.
I have come to expect so much from each series finale of the show and after everything that went down last week, I was dying to find out how (mostly when) The Master regenerated to a female incarnation, how she came to get in control of the Cybermen and more. There were so many questions and while a lot of them got answers, there were still way too many questions left unanswered at the end of the finale. Missy does reveal her master plan which was to get the Doctor an army of Cybermen that were created through dead people and “Cyberpollen” that got resurrected as Cybermen. With that army, he would be able to decide the fate of the universe whenever they would be attacked by villains such as the Daleks.
I can’t do anything else, but praise Michelle Gomez for her remarkable performance as the female version of The Master. She brought so much intensity, complexity and most of all insanity in a whole new way without decreasing the effect that John Simm had when he was the Master. There was a little bit of silliness to her, but that wasn’t a huge problem because that was mostly humorous to me. She and Capaldi had such a strong and intriguing interaction that I really hope we will see Missy sooner rather than later. For anyone that thinks that The Master/Missy is really gone after she got disintegrated by Brigadier Stewart in Cybermen form (which was a very nice nod): dead is not always dead when it comes to Doctor Who.
The biggest issue I have was that Moffat never really explained how and when The Master regenerated into a female form, when she came to Earth and started this big plan. I appreciate though the reveal that Missy was behind of bringing the Doctor and Clara together to begin with, a plot point that I had completely forgotten about since it has been a while since I watched series 7. But I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give us the exposition about what happened to The Master after “The End of Time” because you figured that after such a long time of not having the Master around that Moffat would make sure to address what happened between then and now.
One of the things that confused so many viewers in the trailer for the finale was the tease of Clara Oswald never having existed and what do they do? Clara pretends once again that she is the Doctor in order to not get killed by that Cybermen which lead to Jenna Coleman getting first billing in the opening credits along with a shot of her eyes instead of Capaldi’s. I may or may not have chuckled when it happened, but it was annoying as a viewer to see that all it really was, was Clara just pretending and that there was in fact no twist. I guess all I can say is shame on me for getting fooled by a trailer. I was really heartbroken by how they wrapped up Danny’s arc in the series as he came back as a Cybermen that still had his emotions active and wished to get them deleted because of the pain.
Seeing Clara having to fulfill that wish with tears in her eyes was a strong element of the episode and after the Doctor gives him the control of the Cybermen army to Danny, he sacrifices himself along with the army to burn the Cyberpollen clouds and saving the day. They share one last moment at the end of the episode when Danny visits Clara at her home from the other side. With the power of Missy’s control bracelet, he uses that last trip to bring the boy he accidentally killed, back to the living world with the request that Clara will do whatever she can do find a home for him. It’s sad that Danny is no longer going to be part of the series and that he and Clara didn’t get that happy ending that I was expecting.
One of the last things that I struggled with as well was the final moment between Clara and the Doctor. The Doctor lies to her that he did find Gallifrey with those coordinates that Missy gave him in while Clara lies to him that she and Danny are back together as he was able to come back. Lies, lies and lies: that has been such a big part of their relationship this season. With the rumors that Coleman would be exiting the series either in the finale or the upcoming Christmas special, if those rumors are true, I hope this wasn’t her final appearance. If it was, it would be one of the most underwhelming exits in the revived series’ history, similar to how Martha Jones (one of my favorite companions) left the show. It has yet to be fully confirmed if Coleman will be back for the Christmas Special (yet to be titled), but if they are in fact concluding Clara’s story this year, I hope she will be in the special to get a proper send off.
I want to put an emphasis on the fact that I think this was a very powerful finale to what has been a very complex season. But this finale did have more flaws, with certain plot holes that I was OK with while some – including Missy’s background – I really wanted some explanations to. To look at series 8 as a whole: Capaldi, Moffat and his writing team did succeed in getting the 12th Doctor to full circle after struggling so much after his regeneration. There have been some episodes that weren’t as strong as others. I have had a lot of mixed reactions to the way that the relationship between Clara and the Doctor has progressed since the premiere. To summarize my thoughts about the 8th series as a whole: wibbly wobbly timely wimley.
We have no idea what is in store for series 9 that is basically a go and will probably start production early 2015. However, we did get the best tease ever for the Christmas Special as the awesome Nick Frost showed up in the TARDIS as none other than Santa Claus, asking the Doctor what he would want for Christmas. Frost is one talented actor and casting him as Santa Claus on the show is just pure genius. December 25 can’t get here any faster and hopefully, we will get a proper send off for Clara as well as an epic adventure with the Doctor and Santa Claus.
Doctor Who will air their Christmas Special with Nick Frost guest starring as Santa Claus on December 25 on BBC America.
Photo via BBC America
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I’ve got to admit, I’m a bit puzzled why it matters so much to you when The Master/Missy regenerated as female, and when she began the Netherland project. Given time travel, the continuity between time travelers has always been a bit muzzy. I think River Song, with her ongoing diary/scheduler and her clear origin stories by way of Amy and Rory and “Mel” is as close as we ever got. Generally it’s a bit more difficult to say “when” the Master regenerated into any particular new mode. He simply shows up, and he’s whatever he turned into in his own time-arc.
Similarly, as the Doctor points out: She’s a Time Lord, and almost certainly has a Tardis. She’s been doing the Netherworld for as long as humanity has been dreaming of an afterlife. Thounds of years–maybe even hundreds of thousands.
We don’t know where it all fits in the arc, though: we don’t know if this Missy came before or after any other incarnation, really….and on the whole, we never have. Becoming female isn’t “special” as near as I can tell. It’s just one of the options.