Having said a long and emotional farewell to Clara at the end of last season only to have her return immediately in the next episode, it came as no surprise to anyone that following her death a few episodes ago, that the Doctor would saunter into that Nevada diner tonight to find her behind the counter polishing glasses and being surprisingly perky for a cadaver. Now I’m not expecting Doctor Who to have the death count of a Tarantino movie with companions being offed left right and centre, but it would make a nice change if a character Steven Moffat threatened with leaving or death would occasionally leave or die.
Another criticism I have of this episode (there is some praise coming up, I promise) is that after the build-up to last week’s dramatic cliffhanger this episode opens very slowly, losing all that carefully ramped up tension and momentum. A clever unexpected change of pace or an error of judgement? I’ll leave you to answer that…
The trailers and preview clip for Hell Bent teased a dramatic showdown on Gallifrey between the Doctor and the Time Lords. While this showdown did happen, for me it wasn’t nearly dramatic enough (although Donald Sumpter did seem to be in full panto mode at times). One thing I dislike about Nu-Who is the way the Doctor has become a legendary god-like figure who can scare his enemies into submission by whispering a few words into someone’s ear or telling them who he is. This is how the showdown in tonight’s season finale was played out. The President’s guards considered the Doctor to be a war hero, in fact the General, last seen in The Day of the Doctor, tells the President he thinks that the Doctor won the Time War single-handed. All this awe and knee-bending meant that instead of a proper showdown everyone just thought the Doctor was marvellous and abandoned the President, who was then promptly banished along with the whole High Council, with the Doctor claiming the presidency, effectively taking over his home planet. If only he could have done this during episode one of The Trial of a Time Lord, it would have saved us all a lot of time and trouble.
The one aspect of this episode that bothers me the most is the Doctor behaving out of character, in a way we have never really seen before, or for a very long time. He uses violence and guns and at one point casually kills his ally the General for no other reason than he wants to make a quick getaway. This leads to what is arguably the most controversial moment in the episode, if not the entire history of the series for some fans, the white male Time Lord General’s regeneration into a black female Time Lady. These fans are still disgruntled by Moffat’s decision to regenerate the Master into Missy (no matter how terrific Michelle Gomez is – and she is), so to them this is nothing more than Steven Moffat sticking two fingers up to them. In the context of the story shooting the General seems completely unnecessary; not only is it out of character for the Doctor, it just seems a convenient way for Moffat to change the character’s gender and colour for no other reason than he can. If it was done to put the cat among the pigeons – mission accomplished.
One person who comes out of this episode, in fact this entire season, with flying colours is Peter Capaldi. Whether the scripts are great or not so great he gives an award-winning performance week in and week out. If Capaldi doesn’t win an award for his work this series, there is no justice. His Doctor has been less hard-edged this year, more likeable and quite simply more fun. He still does angry beautifully but it’s tempered by his softer moments, which have been poignant and perfectly judged.
Anyway back to tonight’s finale… in conclusion Steven Moffat teased us with a Doctor versus the Time Lords blockbuster then threw us all a total curve ball, which for the most part worked. Did it have it’s flaws? Of course. Did it have it’s moments? Hell yeah!
It was wonderful to see Capaldi on top form as per, wonderful to see the Time Lords and Gallifrey back, wonderful to see Ohila (Clare Higgins) getting some of the best lines and wonderful to see the 60’s console room again. The most wonderful thing about it was that it was a fitting send-off for Jenna Coleman and her new travelling companion, Ashildr. The final scene with the two TARDISes criss-crossing each other on their respective travels was a truly great moment to end what is arguably Steven Moffat’s most exciting and most controversial season finale to date.
Then there are the trailers for this year’s Christmas Special. Cue internet meltdown…
Written by Polly Golightly
ABOUT POLLY GOLIGHTLY: Polly is a graduate of the University of Life, a light social drinker, occasional smoker, a committed church-goer and Brownie pack leader for many years. Unfortunately due to a misunderstanding Polly is currently on remand in HM Prison Holloway awaiting trial for pension book fraud. Polly is confident of being found innocent after which she plans to resume her career as a professional kickboxer.