Rate 8x12: Death In Heaven

[Guy Gardener]

No.

This is disrespectful of Nicholas Courtney, but it was the thought foremost on my mind when I became away of that Cyberman's secret identity...

"Where's his gut?"

 

[Mage]

I don't understand what people don't get about the farewell between Clara and the Doctor. They both realized the other one was lying, but also both realized the other one needed to. To have a reason to stop traveling together. Clara can't do it anymore emotionally, but she can't hurt her friend. The Doctor sees that Clara is hurting, but is to scared of being alone and leave as well. This was what they both could use a reason to split up really.
And that last line of the Doctor..... 'Why do people hug?' They would both see the truth in eachothers eyes.

Sure, there was some bad stuff in this episode. But nothing's perfect. Not even the best episodes of your favorite show. Looking at this as a complete season, hits and misses all around, but the biggest thing I got out of it was a great Doctor, played by a great actor.

 

[JRoss]

So is The Master's TARDIS still on Earth? Who gets it?

Also what about the piece of the Matrix, etc... did the Doctor go back and retrieve it?

That's what my wife and I were saying. That is probably the only interesting story to come out of this entire arc.

 

[tomalak301]

I don't understand what people don't get about the farewell between Clara and the Doctor. They both realized the other one was lying, but also both realized the other one needed to. To have a reason to stop traveling together. Clara can't do it anymore emotionally, but she can't hurt her friend. The Doctor sees that Clara is hurting, but is to scared of being alone and leave as well. This was what they both could use a reason to split up really.
And that last line of the Doctor..... 'Why do people hug?' They would both see the truth in eachothers eyes.

Sure, there was some bad stuff in this episode. But nothing's perfect. Not even the best episodes of your favorite show. Looking at this as a complete season, hits and misses all around, but the biggest thing I got out of it was a great Doctor, played by a great actor.

I liked the goodbye scene because it felt very in character for both of them this season. My issue though is that Clara explaination was so weak I wonder if it really hurt her development in the long run. We go from the impossible girl following the Doctors time stream to the two of them being "set up" by an outside force. I really wish that explaination would have been better.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Clara was supposed to condition him into obeying a mistress?

Um? Didn't Amy already do that?

 

[Gov Kodos]

Clara was supposed to condition him into obeying a mistress?

Um? Didn't Amy already do that?

That was Rose, Amy just took advantage of the ground work.

 

[ihno]

I found it entertaining.

I'm glad that I normally skip the previews at the end of the episodes and don't engage in speculations etc. pp. Moffat seems to play with that to boost the interest. "Clara Oswald never existed" - unfortunately there is only little behind it, which is common with Moffat's smaller or bigger story arcs.

I love the new Missy-Master. She's just great and I hope she'll be back.
I disliked the "fan service" with the Brigadier. Is it really a hommage to an old character to put him in the nethersphere and become a cyberman in the end? I can read fanfiction for things like this.

The picture/painting of him was hillarious though.

There was no explanation how the Master came back. I guess this is because it has something to do with Gallifrey. Hopefully they won't wait till the end of season 9 before they come back to that topic. After all the Gallifrey-fuzz at the 50th anniversary I thought this story arc would go a little faster...

As for the christmas special: Well, I don't hope for someting good.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Did they really replace The Doctor's face with Clara's face in the titles, or am I hallucinating again? Half of the episode I had doubts in my mind she could really be the Doctor. I would like the idea – I think I might even have suggested it here with a new companion – but she wasn't written in the right way for such a twist, I think.

And Santa should be a time lord, or at least have a TARDIS, how else could he bring that many presents in one night. Did Missy regenerate into Santa Claus? Although I guess the Brig teleported her... Hm... Maybe Santa is just her companion, she's Rudolph.

How did the boy came back? Missy was using the bracelet to go inside the matrix data slice throughout this season, and now suddenly one of the dead minds inside could come out with it? Weird.

 

[Sparky]

A lot of the things I'm seeing here I don't really consider to be a problem. How did Missy escape Gallifrey? Don't care, the Master escapes. Why did Missy pair up Clara and the Doctor? A mystery to hopefully be solved another day. (If it's not then I will be retroactively pissed.) Why does the Doctor have a face from Capaldi's characters from previous episodes and spinoff series? I don't really give a flying fudge about that. I honestly hope it's never answered just to keep the whiny bitches crying about it. How did Missy escape the guards and kill Osgood? Simple, she was never trapped in the first place. Her teleport never used buttons or some kind of physical access to a device, so it must have been controlled by her thoughts. Not to mention in her close-ups you could see the guards wobbling like they were in a trance...mind control is her speciality. In the last episode she jumped from the inside of the building to sitting down and waiting for the Doctor to catch up. How did he not notice this? In this episode she clearly teleported from one spot to another to grab Osgood. She then teleported out of the plane without using a device btw. When she is "shot" by CyberBrig, there are a couple of possibilities, one she saw the CyberBrig and teleported away just in time, or the teleport has a proximity sensor that would get her out of danger in case of a bullet or energy weapon fired at her.

All that being said, this episode was almost complete shite. It felt like it was edited by someone putting together a clip trailer of unconnected shots that were forced to try and be a semblance of a narrative. This is quite possibly the most disjointed episode of Doctor Who that I have ever seen. It's not the worst episode that I've seen, but as for right now, it is by far the most disappointing. There is a gem of an episode somewhere in here. The performances were great, the overall ideas were sound. The execution was way off though.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Clara was supposed to condition him into obeying a mistress?

Um? Didn't Amy already do that?

That was Rose, Amy just took advantage of the ground work.

Remember how pathetic Rose was in The Christmas Invasion trying to convince the Sycorax that she was if not the Doctor, then some kind of powerful Alien that can stand up to them?

(Which is what Billie did on purpose. It's called acting.)

 

[Green Lantern]

I must be the only person who's glad Osgood's dead, never really cared that much for her, just some annoying geek to me. Plus her death had a nice dramatic impact, It showed what the Master is truly capable of.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Osgood was a walking stereotype. Don't feel one way or another about her.

 

[DarthPipes]

It's interesting. The critical acclaim for this episode was great but the fan reaction on the message boards I've visited is very mixed.

 

[Mr Light]

I just thought up another HUGE dropped ball.

We spend the entire season seeing Missy collecting the Doctor's dead enemies and victims.

These characters/actors are neither seen nor mentioned in the finale.

 

[chelly]

Why would they need to be mentioned? I would have assumed they were some of the cyberman we saw. Probably the ones that were behind the glass. Though that leads to the question of how did she get some of the bodies.

 

[Cutter John]

It's interesting. The critical acclaim for this episode was great but the fan reaction on the message boards I've visited is very mixed.

That's just internet fandom for you. God forbid anyone sees you actually liking your favorite show.

Personally not having to visit GB for the next five weeks is the few one good thing about the season ending.

 

[Mr Light]

Was the only one anticipating the return of all these fallen characters in the finale in an army against the Doctor?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I must be the only person who's glad Osgood's dead, never really cared that much for her, just some annoying geek to me. Plus her death had a nice dramatic impact, It showed what the Master is truly capable of.

Osgood as a companion would have been very interesting. What if a fan traveled in the TARDIS? Very similar to Izzy, but a decade older.

It's interesting. The critical acclaim for this episode was great but the fan reaction on the message boards I've visited is very mixed.

That's the way it's been all season. The reviews love it, the fan reaction in fora and social media is more ambivalent. It's very puzzling why opinions are as divergent as they are. In some cases, I've wondered if reviewers are watching a different show than I am. (I haven't hated this season. It's a very polished production. But I don't like thinking about it, because I stop enjoying it when I do.)

 

[Alidar Jarok]

First, he completely forgets about Jenny even though he asked RTD to keep her alive

Well, she got specifically mentioned in this episode. Keeping someone alive doesn't mean they have specific plans for the character, just that they'd like to keep that option open. And, who knows, maybe Georgia Moffett hasn't really felt like reprising her role just yet.

I want Clara to come back next season. I think Jenna Coleman is positively fantastic and the character they've developed over the last two seasons has been really a pleasure to watch. She certainly isn't your typical Companion who is just there to look pretty and ask the questions so the Doctor can explain the plot. She is quick on her feet, resourceful, and while not as smart as the Doctor, she can contend with him intellectually. She's almost like Donna in a lot of ways. It's really a breath of fresh air.

I like them together and I'd be sad to see her go. But I also am a bit sick of false goodbyes.

 

[tomalak301]

Why did Missy pair up Clara and the Doctor? A mystery to hopefully be solved another day. (If it's not then I will be retroactively pissed.)

But when though. It seems like Clara has one foot out the door already. There is always the possibility of her returning in a recurring role, but when you set up the entire basis of a character as being connected to the Doctor in some way and say that Missy "chose" her and then not have a good explanation as to why in the season finale, well, that's not good.