Story: Hell Bent
Written By: Steven Moffat
Length: 60 Minutes
Year: 2015
In some wyas I really love the finale to this brilliant season, and in some ways I really don't. I think this episode starts off brilliantly, with the Doctor returning to Gallifrey and facing off with his people and Rassilon...it was a story that the show has sort of been building to since Eccleston first said that his people and planet were destroyed in a war. There has been a building of the mythos and what the return to Gallifrey could mean for years...and then quickly the Doctor just banishes Rassilon and moves on to trying to resurrect Clara. And it is kind of a bummer.
See it felt to me as if the Doctor had the same break down time and after time for billions of years while trapped in his confession in "Heaven Sent," and the conclusion he came to time and time again was that he had to pick himself up, move on from Clara's death and face the inevitable. He had to return to Gallifrey and deal with this Hybrid business. But with the Doctor playing a man obsessed with bringing his friend back from the dead, it diminishes what I thought happened in the previous episode a bit (though that episode remains brilliant no matter what came after), and it diminishes the lovely final scene Clara nad hte Doctor shared at the end of "Face the Raven."
Moffat has long written dialogue and stories in which he declares that "the Doctor hates endings." I think Moff is the one who hates endings here. He dragged Amy and Rory out longer than they needed to be, which hurt Series 7's flow greatly...and he has had at least THREE great endings for Clara now. She could've left at the end of Series 8 with that sombre downbeat ending. That could've been a brilliant way to go out. She could've gone out at Christmas when she has one last adventure with the Doctor. She could've just stayed dead after "Face the Raven". But here he goes again. He drags her back out and derails what started off as a really interesting episode that had all the makings of moving forward with new ideas and storylines that the series has yet to explore.
What happened to Rassilon and the Master after their big blowout fight at the end of "The End of Time," how did Gallifrey rebuild itself and it's society in the aftermath of the Time War and being placed into a Pocket Universe. How did Gallifrey escape the Pocket universe? How does the Doctor deal with his own conflicted feelings about the Time War, his people and his return to a planet he has long to return to but has almost always had a shaky relationship with? There were a ton of avenues the show could've taken to set the show up for it's future, and instead of really doing any of that it is all glossed over and focuses on looking backward. Clara's story was done! It was done at the end of Series 8, and she returned at Christmas...then for a whole other series. This series has actually been terrific and I didn't mind Clara as much as I wished beforehand that she wasn't returning. She was great this year and it's been fun, but returning her to life, now seemingly immortal with no consequences for her risky behavior...and by the way wasn't it set up that two immortals traveling together would be a dangerous combo -but somehow Clara and Ashildr gallivanting in a TARDIS they barely know how to operate is not dangerous but a fun happy ending? And I really don't get why the Doctor has to have his memory wiped if he realizes he has gone too far. Can't they all just accept it and take Clara back to her death? I actually would've applauded that route, because it would've given the power of the ending of "Face the Raven" back.
I honestly didn't hate this episode, but it kind of let me down after such a great series. To name things I actually loved here, almost everything on Gallifrey before Clara returns is great stuff. It looks cool, it brought up all sorts of cool things I was hoping to get explored (though they really didn't explore much of it sadly), and it felt like a unique new avenue for the show (the new series hasn't had a full-on Gallifrey visit episode and it is a whole new beast since we saw it in the classic series). I also loved that the TARDIS the Doctor steals in the episode has a modernized version of the original Console Room. It didn't look cheap, but it looked almost exactly like the TARDIS console room looked when William Hartnell had the keys. Great fan service there! I liked seeing the Sisterhood of Karn even if they were pointless to the episode. And I liked the idea of Ashildr/Me being involved.
I just wish the Hybrid stuff didn't feel like an afterthought. The conclusion of what it was or may be didn't feel earned. The Gallifrey stuff was sadly glossed over in favor of giving yet another dragged out ending to a character who had been given a proper goodbye already. Too bad, it was a stellar season and this had a lot of potential. Maybe next year we will get some answers on Gallifrey. Or Moffat will just gloss over it like some of his other long running mystery and threads.
NEXT TIME: Series 9 Recap
Written By: Steven Moffat
Length: 60 Minutes
Year: 2015
In some wyas I really love the finale to this brilliant season, and in some ways I really don't. I think this episode starts off brilliantly, with the Doctor returning to Gallifrey and facing off with his people and Rassilon...it was a story that the show has sort of been building to since Eccleston first said that his people and planet were destroyed in a war. There has been a building of the mythos and what the return to Gallifrey could mean for years...and then quickly the Doctor just banishes Rassilon and moves on to trying to resurrect Clara. And it is kind of a bummer.
Moffat has long written dialogue and stories in which he declares that "the Doctor hates endings." I think Moff is the one who hates endings here. He dragged Amy and Rory out longer than they needed to be, which hurt Series 7's flow greatly...and he has had at least THREE great endings for Clara now. She could've left at the end of Series 8 with that sombre downbeat ending. That could've been a brilliant way to go out. She could've gone out at Christmas when she has one last adventure with the Doctor. She could've just stayed dead after "Face the Raven". But here he goes again. He drags her back out and derails what started off as a really interesting episode that had all the makings of moving forward with new ideas and storylines that the series has yet to explore.
What happened to Rassilon and the Master after their big blowout fight at the end of "The End of Time," how did Gallifrey rebuild itself and it's society in the aftermath of the Time War and being placed into a Pocket Universe. How did Gallifrey escape the Pocket universe? How does the Doctor deal with his own conflicted feelings about the Time War, his people and his return to a planet he has long to return to but has almost always had a shaky relationship with? There were a ton of avenues the show could've taken to set the show up for it's future, and instead of really doing any of that it is all glossed over and focuses on looking backward. Clara's story was done! It was done at the end of Series 8, and she returned at Christmas...then for a whole other series. This series has actually been terrific and I didn't mind Clara as much as I wished beforehand that she wasn't returning. She was great this year and it's been fun, but returning her to life, now seemingly immortal with no consequences for her risky behavior...and by the way wasn't it set up that two immortals traveling together would be a dangerous combo -but somehow Clara and Ashildr gallivanting in a TARDIS they barely know how to operate is not dangerous but a fun happy ending? And I really don't get why the Doctor has to have his memory wiped if he realizes he has gone too far. Can't they all just accept it and take Clara back to her death? I actually would've applauded that route, because it would've given the power of the ending of "Face the Raven" back.
I honestly didn't hate this episode, but it kind of let me down after such a great series. To name things I actually loved here, almost everything on Gallifrey before Clara returns is great stuff. It looks cool, it brought up all sorts of cool things I was hoping to get explored (though they really didn't explore much of it sadly), and it felt like a unique new avenue for the show (the new series hasn't had a full-on Gallifrey visit episode and it is a whole new beast since we saw it in the classic series). I also loved that the TARDIS the Doctor steals in the episode has a modernized version of the original Console Room. It didn't look cheap, but it looked almost exactly like the TARDIS console room looked when William Hartnell had the keys. Great fan service there! I liked seeing the Sisterhood of Karn even if they were pointless to the episode. And I liked the idea of Ashildr/Me being involved.
I just wish the Hybrid stuff didn't feel like an afterthought. The conclusion of what it was or may be didn't feel earned. The Gallifrey stuff was sadly glossed over in favor of giving yet another dragged out ending to a character who had been given a proper goodbye already. Too bad, it was a stellar season and this had a lot of potential. Maybe next year we will get some answers on Gallifrey. Or Moffat will just gloss over it like some of his other long running mystery and threads.
NEXT TIME: Series 9 Recap
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