"Death in Heaven" - Doctor Who Reaction!!

[@nzrockboi]

The next episode is the start of where every episode until Peter Capaldi's end I just fell head over heels madly in love with the show and every episode from here was like poetry that made sense of my own life and I still see the Twelfth Doctor as quintessential and I have no idea who those other twelve fellows are loitering in the foyer oh they must be the butlers

[@triem23]

Lots to say about this one. It's a mixed bag of an episode. Lots of fun and excitement in the moment - the first half of the episode is strong, with an insane incarnation of the Master, the amazing action sequence with the plane, and the chilling death of Osgood (but which one, the human or the Zygon?). Then it kinda falls apart at the climax. Don't think TOO hard about the plot. Moffat seems to write clever-clever setup, write himself into a corner, then pull the most minimal stuff right from his butt to wrap up (see "The Time of the Doctor")... Ok, all season I've said I had things to say about the Danny/Clara relationship, but it had to wait for the end of the season. Here we go. Sadly, I just don't feel much about Danny in the end. He's got his guilt over the little boy, and that's supposed to inform his motivations, but it ends up making him sad. Danny doesn't want Clara travelling with the Doctor? Well, what better way to assuage guilt over the death of a child than, say, travelling space and time with the Doctor and saving innocents every week? As it is, he's trying to be controlling ("don't travel with the Doctor") while she's deceitful ("I'm TOTALLY not travelling with the Doctor."). It's a completely toxic relationship. Orson Pink in the future was just a huge ass fake out? I mean, didn't that episode imply, if not state, he was a descendent of Danny and Clara? Does... Orson Pink not exist anymore? That's a bad paradox from a fixed point. Why does Danny make a rousing speech to emotionless Cybermen? There's no plot logic to it. That's the writer giving the departing actor one last good scene. We're supposed to believe Missy hooked the Doctor and Clara up two seasons ago? Wasn't the point of Clara her time loop existence as the Impossible Girl all coming from her jumping into the Doctor's timestream, fragmenting, and influencing all his incarnations? Including being a childhood fear? But... Missy put them together? These are contradictory origins and illustrate my above point of Moffat pulling things from his butt when he realizes he doesn't actually have a good way to resolve what he's set up. "I brought you together because one day she would lead you to Hell." WHAT? So this implies Missy set up Danny and Clara (which would explain the toxic relationship - Missy hypnotized Danny into dating Clara!) then... Ran Danny over, I guess? It really doesn't make sense. I do like Danny's ultimate closure - restoring the life of the child he killed. Don't think about the plot logic, just revel in the thematic closure and Danny, at the very end, being a "good man." It took the entire season for me to like Danny Pink for one minute. Speaking of "Good Men," the Doctor has been wondering if he is a good man all season. At the end he decides he's an idiot with a box and a screwdriver who helps people. So, not exactly a great moment of self-realization. "Day of the Doctor" already did this, and better, with Clara, War, 10, and 11 in the "what was the promise?" scene. The Doctor and Danny... We never do get a reason why this Doctor doesn't like soldiers - especially with his reactions to the painting of the Brig and the Cyber-Brig. Right, this Doctor doesn't like soldiers so Moffat can drive some interpersonal tension into the episodes. As you two observed in the commentary it's to work with thematic points while ignoring plot logic. The issue is the themes can fall apart without plot logic. Like you two I've never been able to decide if Cyber-Brig is a wonderful tribute or utter desecration. It does become a cheap "Kate's not dead," and we know from how any times Moffat revived Amy and Rory that Moffat doesn't like killing off characters. He can kill Osgood - there's a spare. He can kill Danny - Danny was created to be killed off. Kate? Nah. Can't kill her. Heck, let's have Cyber-Brig be the last Cyberman, because, reasons. The Cybermen in this episode are wasted, aren't they? Other than the attack on the plane they don't really do anything (the Clara/Cyberman "I'm the Doctor" is there to... Um... Kill some time because this story doesn't need Clara until the climax in the graveyard. Again, do not think about the Cyberpollen. Where did the metals come from to form shells in graves? Moffat's butt. Missy creating Cybermen to offer as an army to the Doctor? Wow, all these centuries and Missy doesn't understand the Doctor at all. It's interesting in the moment. Don't think on it. Ok, I've bashed this episode more than intended. Let's come around to some good points. Moffat does punch some good emotional buttons here. Osgood's death is upsetting (and not reversed). Kate's shocking (if reversed). Danny, despite being a character I never warmed to, does have a great redemption moment with bringing back the boy he killed. That's some damn good closure. The last scene (before credits) where the Doctor and Clara lie to each other and say they'll be fine is nuanced. With season 7b I complained Clara was a plot device, not a character - well season 8 was good for her development. Rachel Talalay is one of the best directors working today, and any time she does Doctor Who she wrings out every emotional moment she can, stages thrilling action, chooses incredible camera angles, edits with pace, and makes the show look much more expensive than it was. She makes problematic scripts watchable and entertaining (despite all above complaint, in the watching, this IS a gripping episode, and it's only in afterthought all the "this makes no SENSE" comes out), and good scripts utterly magical. Capaldi is, for my money, the best actor to ever portray the Doctor. He's utterly compelling. Jenna Coleman is fantastic. She's got so much appeal, even when Clara is plot device, not character, she holds your attention. Her chemistry with both Matt Smith and Capaldi is among the best ever (no pairing beats the magic of Liz Sladen and Tom Baker, but there's a six-way tie for that #2 spot, and Jenna is one of them). Michelle Gomez is a force of nature. At the risk of spoilers (which I do avoid here), she goes on to become the best incarnation of the Master since Delgado. She might beat Delgado. "Goes on?" C'mon, how many times has the Master been "killed," only to return? Until the show gives us an onscreen death with a corpse, which is then cremated , personally, by the Doctor, they aren't dead. Even then, any future writer can bring them back with a hand wave. Missy's arc is probably the most interesting take on the character yet! But here, we stop. We can't discuss that yet. On to season 9 (after Christmas). Season 9 has some really good material in it, including one of those strong contenders for "Best Episode Ever." One of you knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about, and I expect two 10's when the time is right. On Capaldi being "the opposite" of Smith. This is common, isn't it? 1 - stuffy and upright. 2 - cosmic clown. 3 - dashing man working with the authorities. 4 - anarchic bohemian with a broad personality. 5 - quiet and humble. 6 - the loudest, brashest Doctor. 7 - the melancholic manipulator hiding behind humor. 8 - the romantic. Warrior - the man who makes the hard choices. 9 - the PTSD Doctor. 10 - outwardly the most enthused and personable (and the only version arrogant enough to regenerate into himself), but hiding the pain which causes him to crack in the end. 11 - the awkward introvert, and the old man in the young body... All basically neat opposite of their prior incarnation. I felt for years regeneration went a bit like this: nearing death the Doctor reviews their life, judges themself, and subconsciously decides to become radically different. Think of it as "THAT didn't work - next time I should be THIS!" (Which explains why incarnations so rarely get along. The future version is facing a personality they rejected, the past version a stranger and reminder of mortality...) I'm old. I've had this theory since the 1980's. Well, Moffat agrees - it's hinted at in "Night of the Doctor," and made explicit in Deep Breath. When the Doctor regenerates they become what they think they need to be at the time to avoid the mistakes of the dying incarnation. Of course Smith's Doctor - the old man on his last life in the young body - gets a new regeneration cycle, which leads us to... 12 - the young man in the old body. Now, we're one season in, so I can't finish this analysis, but this season the Doctor is, metaphorically, a teenager. He's sullen, prone to mood swings, questioning himself and his place in the world, pretending not to care while caring deeply. This Doctor in this season is basically a "13 year old" or so, just hitting puberty. If you keep that thought buried in the back of your brain you'll see over the rest of the run how this plays out. I'll return to it at the end of season 9 with my opinion on how the character has evolved. Outro.

[@cutthr0atjake]

I'm glad they didn't bring "the woman in the shop" up more frequently. If they had, it would've felt more like being beaten over the head with it.