Friendship drives the Doctor into the rashest decision of his life. Trapped on a giant spaceship, caught in the event horizon of a black hole, he witnesses the death of someone he is pledged to protect. Is there any way he can redeem his mistake? Are events already out of control? For once, time is the Time Lord’s enemy… Written by Steven Moffat and Directed by Rachel Talalay, this is the penultimate episode of Series 10, forming the first half of a two-part finale. We're close to the end. Has the moment been prepared for?
In preparation for tonight's episode, yesterday I watched Utopia, The Sound Of Drums, Last Of The Time Lords, and The End Of Time. I'd forgotten how uncomfortable the aduse of Lucy is (Not sure how intentional it was either - it kind of feels like something the actors and director developed). Also, End Of Time... I loved it at the time (apart from the "I don't wanna go" shit), I still love the Master Race cliffhanger, but it's more of a rambling mess every time I see it - and it could stand to lose at least half an hour of padding made of hints and references to stuff that's never actually used or mentioned again in the episode... I do find myself wondering whether the Master will still have the drumming in his head tonight - in theory he shouldn't, because it was a closed loop (and Missy doesn't seem to), but they may give him it just as a shorthand for reminding us which incarnation it is ("oh, the one with the tinnitus, right"). Or wherther there'll be any explanation of his robot skeleon and Marvel superhero powers. TBH I really just hope they forget those bits from End Of Time... I do hope they keep his theme tune, though.
Really looking forward to this one. The title is from the opening line of a well-known 17th century carpe diem poem by Andrew Marvell. Some of its lines do seem kind of apposite, as does its title. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_His_Coy_Mistress
Oh, that's a good idea, but instead I'm going to watch The Tenth Planet. Oh, good to know. You're quite right that it's rather apropos to this story, although "heart" should be "hearts." Thanks for sharing.
Been thinking about what will happen in this season's Dr Who finale, by which I mean both this week and next. Not sure I'd risk many predictions, because predicting is always going to be a mix of "what I hope will happen/what I'd do," "what I dread will happen cos I don't trust the crew to x, y, or z," and "what I think will actually happen." All coloured by "what they *want* us to think will happen, by spouting hyperbolic bollocks." But I'll go for a few of the categories: What I'd do/hope: All this Cyber-stuff will inspire Missy to go back to 2014 and set up the Third Way arc (between the Doctor's way and the Master's way). We'd get an explanation of how and why she chose to put the ad in the shop window that led Clara to the Doctor (though I actually think that's more likely in the Xmas special, if it ever happens). I'd be tempted to make the Simm Master actually a fake, played by the Doctor in a test to see whether she had really reformed. I'd also be tempted to make Bill's Earth Mondas - or at least the London we saw in Beneath The Ice, so that the change in history is what enabled Mondasian technology to get ahead of Earth's. What I dread will happen: Basically a repetition of half the stuff that happens in Dark Water/Death In Heaven - convert a companion, kill the companion but know it'll be undone two episodes later, etc. A repeat of the Time Of The Doctor Doc-ages-to-regeneration-in-one-episode thing (see below). It all being a Matrix style simulation tying back to the Monks in Extremis. What I think will actually happen: The First Doctor will appear in some form. Whether recast as David Bradley (according to many Xmas Special rumours_, David Warner (according to a few other rumours), or simply a CG-coloured cameo like in Name Of The Doctor. I say this because, you know, Mondas - if it's still around 2017, then its timeline has been fucked with and so the Doctor didn't regenerate when it attacked Earth in 1986. With the black hole relativistic eeffects mentioned in the trailer, I wouldn't be too surprised to see a repeat of the aged-hundred-of-years Doctor we got in The Sound Of Drums and Time Of The Doctor either. (I wonder if Capaldi could be made up to play the First Doctor - he took the role at the same age as Hartnell, after all) And of course the Master and black holes have never ended well... What I think they want us to think: Bill dies. What would actually surprise me (in a good way). Um... Bill is Susan? Maybe? Dunno - I'm hoping that any pleasant surprises are... pleasant surprises. I'd settle for it making logical self-consistent sense, and tying in with earlier episodes logically and consistently.
In the first ten minutes the dialogue is more meta than I've ever known before. I'm also seeing the Doctor's interaction with Missy and being reminded of Odo with the Female Changeling.
Alright. So far, the best episode of the season. And by far. Loved most of it, although the Doctor didn't get to do much, sadly. Still, its nice to see his reaction to the Simm Master. Brilliant. Oh, and I guess Spare Parts is no longer the go-to story for the Cybermen's origin. Too bad.
Loved it! Edge of the seat throughout. Top marks when the poll goes up... And Spoiler The Master was Zathras!
Well, that was.... unsurprising. And if Chibnall never does the "Doctor Who" name reference within an episode, it'll be twenty billion years too soon. They really shouldn't have publicised Simm's return in advance though - I recognised him instantly. Couldn't they think of a pseudonym? Next week looks... impossible to tell cos it was just some action clips. Be interesting to see how the more modern Cybes fit in. Tell you what, though, all of Capaldi's finales have definitely benefitted, visually and tonally, from having an actual Hollywood director in charge. I'm glad she's helming the Xmas Special to see him out as well.
Also, it largely treads the same ground as series 8, but... I don't know, I felt this delivered the emotional punch beter, I think. Mostly because I never thought Danny Pink was an actual character, but more of a hodgepodge of ideas and cliches, and Bill had at least a personality to go with her.
What an awesome episode!! Although the start did remind me of Red Dwarf, I expected to see Bill cleaning the outside!! Other then over doing the "Doctor Who" joke at the beginning I thought it was one of Capaldi's and Moffats best episodes and definitely the best Missy has ever been. I was was a tad disappointed we're seeing the nu-Cybermen next week but hopefully part 2 will live up to part 1 10/10
Hear, Hear! The precedents of Series 8 and 9 lead me to suspect that the actual finale will bear no resemblance to the trailer at all.
Well I guessed the surprises in it, but I'm still giving this 5/5, this has been a particularly good series, and this has been a particularly good episode. This episode has proven to me that the old cloth faced Cybermen (and tbh any of the 60s Cybermen) are much scarier than the modern armoured ones.
Loved it. Like Lonemagpie, I twigged Simm as Zathras quickly, although he did a good job of making his performance just "off" enough I occasionally thought he was a bluff and Simm was elsewhere. But my Mum didn't spot him, so the casual viewers should still be fooled despite the trailer spoilers.