Doctor Who has had a really strong ninth season, and the stories have been really great in doing a lot of things. Nearly all of the episodes were fantastic and “Heaven Sent” was easily one of the best episodes the show has had since returning in 2005. Peter Capaldi was awesome in the previous season, but they really unleashed him this year and he blew me away with multiple great performances. The show handled Clara’s departure really well and offered an extremely fair sendoff for the character. Everything about the ninth season led me to believe that the finale would be phenomenal, and I won’t lie, I finished this last episode up feeling pretty neutral.
The show’s opening third was pretty awesome as we watched the Doctor’s return to Gallifrey. I loved all of the mixed emotions there were towards the character; some people saw him as a hero, some feared him and pretty much everyone saw him as a legend. The Time Lords are worried about a prophecy regarding the Hybrid, which is supposedly half Time Lord and half Dalek, and the Doctor knows who or what it is and looks like. Gallifrey looked awesome as usual and I loved that the Doctor was finally back on his home planet, the scenery in these scenes was really well done and looked stunning. All of the costume, set and special effects this season have been very high quality and the show really just has looked great.
The point where this episode went wrong, in my (and I assume lots of others) opinion, was when they decided to revive Clara. In “Face The Raven,” Clara’s death was handled extremely well and for her being a companion I wasn’t too fond of, I actually did feel sad when they wrapped up her story. I had a feeling they would work her back into the show’s final episode or two, but deep down I really wanted them to just stick with what happened and let the rest of the season show us how the Doctor would get over losing her. Bringing her back in this episode was definitely nice for a little bit, but I was pretty excited to hear that it wouldn’t be something permanent. Unfortunately, not even that was true, and it really spoiled everything that the season had been building to.
The episode was originally built around the Doctor and the Hybrid. Whether the hybrid was the Doctor, or Ashildr, or something else, it was a great focus and brought a new mystery to the table. I really expected something great to be focused around that plot and not have them cheaply skate around this grand prophecy to give us a second overly emotional good bye between the Doctor and Clara. In the end, it was the Doctor who was the hybrid, but the prophecy really didn’t matter at all and I felt as though Steve Moffat played us all. Yes, the Doctor was standing in the ruins of Gallifrey during the episode and he technically killed billions of Time Lords (himself in “Heaven Sent”), but it was all just so he could get Clara back. I don’t understand the writer’s obsession with Clara, because I have always thought of her as an alright companion, but nothing more.
I was okay with the idea that the Doctor needed to rid his mind of Clara and forget her, and again, the way the episode was structured was definitely charming. The Doctor and Clara have had a fun relationship, but I really would have preferred that they had kept her dead by the end of “Hell Bent.” That’s probably my biggest problem, is the idea that the writers shoehorned in a way to open up the possibility for a spin off with Ashildr and Clara. Just let her go. Since last season, there was a major build up to the idea that Gallifrey was back and unfrozen, but now that the Doctor finally got there, it was no epic standoff or confrontation between him and his home planet. The flaws with this episode is that it tosses the meaning of a lot of events in the season out of the window, which bugs me a lot. They don’t ever truly clarify who the actual hybrid was, Clara’s death feels a lot less meaningful and even Ashildr’s character felt meaningless for the episode.
In the end, “Hell Bent” just felt like another ode to Clara before they truly had to say goodbye to her character and Jenna Coleman. Peter Capaldi continues to grow into one of my favorite Doctors and this season gave him some of the best stories that really allowed him to thrive as the character. Everything this season seemed like a huge build to the Doctor finally getting back to Gallifrey and in the end he was there and gone again in a flash. I definitely loved all of the tributes and callbacks they threw into this finale on Gallifrey, but it just wasn’t as epic as I had expected it to be. The episode was still solid and very well done; it just caught me off guard. However, I’m extremely excited to see the Christmas special and eventually discover who the new companion is!
Other thoughts:
- “You all cramp my style, look at your hats.”
- “We’re on Gallifrey, death is Time Lord for man flu.”
- The new sonic screwdriver looks really cool! Can’t wait to see it a little more up close and eventually buy one to add to my collection!
- I’m pretty exited to see Capaldi and Kingston together in this Christmas special. I think they will be a ton of fun together and their personalities will play off one another nicely.
[Photo via BBC America]
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