Doctor Who 9x11 & 9x12 Thoughts
Dec. 9th, 2015 02:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iaria9x11 'Heaven Sent': Capaldi was excellent. The reveal of what was really happening in the castle was very creepy and horrifying. If there is any silver lining it's that the Doctor doesn't actually remember those 2 billion years and millions of deaths. But how like him to do it the hard way - killing and resurrecting himself for billions of years rather than giving up a truth. I loved the reveal that he was inside the Confession Dial. I also loved that first trip inside the Doctor's head/TARDIS mind palace where we get to see exactly how the Doctor works through these types of situations.
9x12 'Hell Bent'
I'm really torn on the ending but I did mostly enjoy this episode.
The End
• Okay, working through how this played out:
+ When Clara was brought back I was torn between being pleased to see her and annoyed. I was actually expecting there to be something, probably timey-whimey, to bring her back/save her because - Moffat basically. So this wasn't a huge surprise. But because I thought her death was so well done this ended up feeling cheap and like a cheat.
+ I loved the Doctor/Clara interactions and Clara's reaction when she learned just what the Doctor did to bring her back. It felt like Clara's return to death was the inevitable end (her acceptance of it, it being a fixed point) and this was about the Doctor accepting it. That it was about the Doctor coming to grips with his grief and letting go, and it ended up working for me really well.
+ Except we don't have the Doctor coming to that conclusion and accepting it. Instead he continues to try and runaway from it by using the neuro blocker and Clara enables him. Which I guess fits with their whole relationship. But if taking Clara away didn't unfix her death, and her being alive does have the potential to negatively affect the timeline, how the hell does erasing either of their memories help the situation? Maybe I'm missing something here.
+ The Doctor having his memory of Clara wiped away semi-worked for me. Like I admit there was a little Donna-caused satisfaction happening. I really liked that the Doctor kept all his memories of their adventures and what happened but lost her as a person.
+ I kind of love the idea of Clara and Ashildr running off to have adventures in a TARDIS while taking the long way back to Gallifrey and her death. [Maybe they can meet up with Jenny!] Clara's journey has been her becoming the Doctor - it's what lead to her death - so I really enjoy this as her end: running away from the inevitable in a stolen TARDIS, to have adventures and do good. It felt appropriate.
+ Clara's death is still there, waiting for her. She's simply hit pause for a bit. I liked that she wasn't entirely saved but I'm still not completely sold on it. It still feels a bit like a cheat to me.
+ I'm still not sure how the whole thing actual works - shouldn't her running around changing things/interacting with the universe while her death is a fixed point cause serious issues with the timeline. How does the Doctor not remembering her and them not being together make it possible? So I'm left going meh about execution/details while mostly enjoying what happened. So rather like Amy/Rory's end.
Other
• "Words are his weapons." I liked all the bits with the Gallifreyian soldiers, and the Doctor's reputation among his people, and their respect for him and how he saved them.
• I loved all the enemies trapped in the Cloister/Matrix database.
• I liked the final diner scene. Clara getting teary talking to the Doctor, who doesn't know her, was a lovely. I liked how her goodbye to him played out.
• "I was completely different person in those days. Eccentric, a bit mad, rude to people." - Doctor.
• I love the old school TARDIS. Love it.
• "Get out of that TARDIS and face me, boy." - Ohila. I loved this little moment and that the Doctor immediately goes out. I love their interactions, always have. I enjoy how well she knows him and how she is simultaneously amused and exasperated by his antics. But now I find myself wondering - could Ohila be the Doctor's mother? Just how she said this line, the way she and the Doctor talked when he poked his head out, it was where my thoughts immediately went.
• I liked the General and loved getting to see a Time Lord regenerate into a different gender onscreen. That said I didn't love 100% how it played out - the soldier's shock and slight awkwardness at the General regenerating into a woman makes no sense if it's a normal thing that happens, and (this is just a personal thing) but the switch from sir to ma'am bugged me.
• <>"I've done it before." Oh Doctor. Really? The way he casually throws that out and is planning to do the same thing to Clara - no. Bad Doctor.
• I loved Clara's little rant/monologue to the Doctor about why he couldn't erase her memory. "Nobody's ever safe. I've never asked you for that. Ever. These have been the best years of my life and they are mine. ... I insist upon my past. I am entitled to that. It's mine." It was wonderful and somewhere in the universe I could hear Donna cheering her on.
• I loved all the call backs to previous seasons - Donna alluded to, "four knocks", the barn, the diner and mention of Amy/Rory.
• Soooo... is the whole Hybrid question/situation over and done with then? Doctor + Clara is the Hybrid? That's a bit unsatisfying, tbh.
• I loved that the Master being the one who pushed the Doctor and Clara into meeting initially was brought up again. I love the idea that she purposefully pushed their relationship as a long game in destabilising the Doctor/nudging him closer to being Time Lord Victorious than the Doctor. But how could she have known the affect that they would have on each other?
9x12 'Hell Bent'
I'm really torn on the ending but I did mostly enjoy this episode.
The End
• Okay, working through how this played out:
+ When Clara was brought back I was torn between being pleased to see her and annoyed. I was actually expecting there to be something, probably timey-whimey, to bring her back/save her because - Moffat basically. So this wasn't a huge surprise. But because I thought her death was so well done this ended up feeling cheap and like a cheat.
+ I loved the Doctor/Clara interactions and Clara's reaction when she learned just what the Doctor did to bring her back. It felt like Clara's return to death was the inevitable end (her acceptance of it, it being a fixed point) and this was about the Doctor accepting it. That it was about the Doctor coming to grips with his grief and letting go, and it ended up working for me really well.
+ Except we don't have the Doctor coming to that conclusion and accepting it. Instead he continues to try and runaway from it by using the neuro blocker and Clara enables him. Which I guess fits with their whole relationship. But if taking Clara away didn't unfix her death, and her being alive does have the potential to negatively affect the timeline, how the hell does erasing either of their memories help the situation? Maybe I'm missing something here.
+ The Doctor having his memory of Clara wiped away semi-worked for me. Like I admit there was a little Donna-caused satisfaction happening. I really liked that the Doctor kept all his memories of their adventures and what happened but lost her as a person.
+ I kind of love the idea of Clara and Ashildr running off to have adventures in a TARDIS while taking the long way back to Gallifrey and her death. [Maybe they can meet up with Jenny!] Clara's journey has been her becoming the Doctor - it's what lead to her death - so I really enjoy this as her end: running away from the inevitable in a stolen TARDIS, to have adventures and do good. It felt appropriate.
+ Clara's death is still there, waiting for her. She's simply hit pause for a bit. I liked that she wasn't entirely saved but I'm still not completely sold on it. It still feels a bit like a cheat to me.
+ I'm still not sure how the whole thing actual works - shouldn't her running around changing things/interacting with the universe while her death is a fixed point cause serious issues with the timeline. How does the Doctor not remembering her and them not being together make it possible? So I'm left going meh about execution/details while mostly enjoying what happened. So rather like Amy/Rory's end.
Other
• "Words are his weapons." I liked all the bits with the Gallifreyian soldiers, and the Doctor's reputation among his people, and their respect for him and how he saved them.
• I loved all the enemies trapped in the Cloister/Matrix database.
• I liked the final diner scene. Clara getting teary talking to the Doctor, who doesn't know her, was a lovely. I liked how her goodbye to him played out.
• "I was completely different person in those days. Eccentric, a bit mad, rude to people." - Doctor.
• I love the old school TARDIS. Love it.
• "Get out of that TARDIS and face me, boy." - Ohila. I loved this little moment and that the Doctor immediately goes out. I love their interactions, always have. I enjoy how well she knows him and how she is simultaneously amused and exasperated by his antics. But now I find myself wondering - could Ohila be the Doctor's mother? Just how she said this line, the way she and the Doctor talked when he poked his head out, it was where my thoughts immediately went.
• I liked the General and loved getting to see a Time Lord regenerate into a different gender onscreen. That said I didn't love 100% how it played out - the soldier's shock and slight awkwardness at the General regenerating into a woman makes no sense if it's a normal thing that happens, and (this is just a personal thing) but the switch from sir to ma'am bugged me.
• <>"I've done it before." Oh Doctor. Really? The way he casually throws that out and is planning to do the same thing to Clara - no. Bad Doctor.
• I loved Clara's little rant/monologue to the Doctor about why he couldn't erase her memory. "Nobody's ever safe. I've never asked you for that. Ever. These have been the best years of my life and they are mine. ... I insist upon my past. I am entitled to that. It's mine." It was wonderful and somewhere in the universe I could hear Donna cheering her on.
• I loved all the call backs to previous seasons - Donna alluded to, "four knocks", the barn, the diner and mention of Amy/Rory.
• Soooo... is the whole Hybrid question/situation over and done with then? Doctor + Clara is the Hybrid? That's a bit unsatisfying, tbh.
• I loved that the Master being the one who pushed the Doctor and Clara into meeting initially was brought up again. I love the idea that she purposefully pushed their relationship as a long game in destabilising the Doctor/nudging him closer to being Time Lord Victorious than the Doctor. But how could she have known the affect that they would have on each other?
