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Early Access - Doctor Who | Reaction & Review 8x12 "Death in Heaven" (Patreon)

Published:
2023-04-14 04:40:45
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SeeJay

I feel the same about the Danny Pink/Clara ark not being as impactful as it's perhaps written to be. I think part of the problem is that the Doctor is our main protagonist, this is why we are watching and the person we want to succeed. The companion is the secondary protagonist, and for some people the companion might be the primary. Danny, was vehemently against the Doctor, from the beginning until the end. That instantly makes him a difficult character for us, the viewer. Not that we wanted to see Danny die, but it doesn't make us feel as emotional as we would be if Danny was someone we were rooting for. We've seen this before with the mothers in RTD's era. Jackie grew to love the Doctor and is by far the best mother. Martha and Donna's mothers, never grew to like to the Doctor much throughout the show and it made us not like them. Personally I feel that if Danny had shown appreciation for the Doctor trying to spare Clara the pain of removing his emotion, and thanked him for it, it would have been much more impactful. Instead Danny puts the Doctor in a trap; damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. He says watch what the Doctor will do when I trap him, he will show his true colours. When the Doctor doesn't go through with this, and Clara DEMANDS the Doctor hand over his screwdriver, it's "oh he's making YOU do his dirty work, look at this true colours." I can only imagine if the Doctor refused to give Clara the screwdriver Danny would no double have said "oh look, he's willing to sacrifice all of humanity, he can't possibly be your hero"

Anonymous

The Doctor and Clara lying to eachother is such a good scene, showing just how alike they really are. But a detail i like better is the Doctor when he "finds Galifrey" he strikes the T.A.R.D.I.S 11 times, but stops on the 12th, being the 12th doctor himself. It says a lot about how this Doctor feels, espeically in episodes to come. Cannot wait for next season. Your reactions are going to be legendary.

tom

Oh boy, more text-vomit to the vastness of space. But it's a good mental exercise! I doubt I'll ever make reviews like you to process my thoughts. Let's talk about Missy. To contextualize this, to the best of my knowledge as someone who has limited exposure to Classic Who, John Simm (S3 & S4') was received as not the best, but still a representation of the character of The Master. Meanwhile, Missy is by some not even considered to be comparable to The Master, but a different character. This is in part due to her name, her gender (possibly) and in this episode, her motivations. I personally disagree and was blown away by Michelle Gomez's depiction of this character way more than John Simm's. Both are very campy performances (I was surprised to see you didn't find her to be too much this episode), but Gomez (or perhaps Moffat's writing of The Master) wonderfully embodies this dark feeling of chaos, sadism and danger. And at its core, the friendship between the two feels so much more pure. The way Missy can switch from physical dominance to emotional vulnerability on a dime makes her all the more terrifying and all the more captivating. I love the unhinged and delusional nature of "I need my friend back". To elaborate, the bracelet moment received flack for not being "The way The Master does things", particularly in Classic where The Master was a more traditional villain hell bent on ruling the world at any cost. This approach feels way more nuanced and layered to me. I absolutely love that this was all to prove a point, and it gave 12 year-old me chills as I first watched this episode. It fits perfectly with these two Timelords (Or Timelord & Timelady if you're old-fashioned) being these destructive alien intellectual powerhouses wreaking havoc because of their feud. There's also just so many little mannerisms in Gomez's performance and the writing. I love the almost forced/strained whisper Missy does when she says "Not telling you". I've always felt that, as giddily childish as it is, there's a bit of sadistic fury behind the delivery of that line. The comical line about Belgians which was entertaining even when I couldn't hear the dialogue over the roaring of the plane -- the way she delivers it is so perfect. The way she refers to murder as "popping a balloon", or killing a grieving Clara as "popping the pain away"; she's really an evil Mary Poppins. And her musings on how humans stink as they rot from birth, and the way she killed Osgood because she was pretty... The Osgood death is one that hit me a bit harder than it did you (though on a separate note, how useless were those guards?). Perhaps it's because Day of the Doctor was my first live episode, and it as an episode, particularly through Osgood's character carries a lot of idealism and heroism associated with the Doctor Who universe, so for that to be squashed left my jaw on the floor way back then. I didn't read it as jealousy, just a hungry sadism that was triggered. She smelled the tragedy of killing her right as she had hope to travel with the Doctor like a shark smells blood. And then Kate dies too. By the end of the episode that one would be undone, and by where you're up to in S9 so would Osgood's death too (for all intents and purposes). Still it creates an effective, albeit temporary feeling of death. Overall a great first outing for Missy, and as you said, "Can you really keep a bad girl down?". It wasn't as long until her return as you had estimated, lol. The selfie joke is a bit of outdated 2010's humor, especially the fact that it worked. But Kate Stewart's walk to Missy with her hands behind her back to later reveal the severed Cyberman head is a great moment, and makes up for it. Also, Missy's little incinerator. I always pondered why Missy and Clara both hold it like a phone, face forward, whereas the Doctor holds it more like a gun, face-down -- is it an actor miscommunication or were they directed that way? Either way Clara seemed to have the right idea considering the larger surface seems to be where the ray of death is fired from, haha. But that final exchange and callback: "You win", "I know". It's perfect. A while before this ep's reaction came out, I mentioned to try and see if you notice anything in the intro. Obviously it was a long shot that you would both notice and remember, but yes as someone else pointed out, Clara's eyes are in the intro in place of the Doctor's and Jenna Coleman's name also replaces Capaldi's as being first. Funny little gag, and they do the same in S9 with the electric guitar version of the theme. As you observed, Clara slots easily into the role of the Doctor, so even for this gag (and a scene that possibly only existed for the 'Next time' trailers, which caused much speculation on if Clara's entire character was a lie or it tied into the S7 splinters/echoes of her self) I love it being used as an opportunity to reinforce that trait of hers, even an episode where that facet isn't necessarily explored nor necessary. But the echo of it fits so well and is heavily focused on next season, as you've seen by now. The semi-coincidence repeats with the final scene. I love that goodbye. It was written as their final goodbye before Jenna Coleman changed her mind. Many say it was written so well that it should've stayed her companion exit Many others say it should've been the next Christmas special, which was ALSO written as a farewell (however, it was changed for her to continue her adventures before the writing had concluded, unlike Death in Heaven which was shot as a farewell). There is something beautiful about them simply ending things and deciding their partnership ran its course, like you wanted with Amy and Rory in S6, and the bittersweet nature here is so perfect to me. But also it not being the farewell is so fitting too. I mean, S8 literally has them breaking up halfway through which is a very jarring choice so it feels almost destined that Clara and Twelve would end up back together again. Even though there was evidently no planned conclusion for her Doctory traits, nor her seemingly breaking things off with the Doctor amicably, it ended up well. I don't feel the "power of love" plot that's perhaps behind Danny's final stand. But I think it can be explained through other ways. I think I left it in a comment of Dark Water that I see the emotional resonance having more to do with their individual characters rather than this idea of perfect love between them. That being said, their relationship feels conclusively ended in the next Christmas episode, from knowledge. We'll see as I'm about to rewatch it with you after this comment is done. Side note, the depiction of Danny's face feels brutally realistic to me. What a gut-wrenching reveal. If they had to show his face as opposed to it just being a full on brain-in-a-helmet cyberman of the RTD days, I'm glad it wasn't all clean and normal-looking. As for their final scene at Clara's place, I read it more as exhaustion/disillusionment rather than this heavy tragedy and that's why I like it. Honestly, it feels very similar in tone to when Amy in S5 realizes Vincent still killed himself (but without the sweeter touch afterwards). The sense of disappointment on Jenna Coleman's face when she sees the kid and the realism of her not feeling attached to him, in fact feeling as awkward as Danny did with him, really works for me narratively. In another story we might have her accepting that Danny is gone and hugging the child, or being happy she can save the child, being proud of Danny for saving him, or even seeing Danny's spirit living on through him or something and cherishing him. But this is written with a lot of respect and I like that Clara is selfishly not happy with Danny's decision, even if she understands -- he's gone, and that's that. The general feeling of the subsequent farewell with the Doctor feels very "that's that", afterall. Very British. She's also rather tired when Danny blows up at the graveyard, as is The Doctor when 'killing' Missy. Maybe that drained feeling doesn't work for many, but it does for me and there's plenty of bombast coming in S9. I like that Orson Pink isn't touched on. We know time can be rewritten, and it's good to finally just have it happen and have faith in the audience this time rather than needing it repeat ad nauseum, or having a scene of a flashback of him and him fading out Back-To-The-Future style. Classic vs Modern philosophy RE: Doctor Who writing... On Clara's lowkey exit, as you mentioned Martha is really the only other one with a scene like that. It's more in like with Classic Who philosophy. There's many meta-theories that the reason so many NuWho companions need to be forcefully ripped away from the Doctor is because the writers, having grown up on Doctor Who, are unable to fathom why someone would give up all of time and space for a more mundane life. I'm more partial to the simple explanation that NuWho favors melodrama over more down-to-earth emotional beats. I did feel middling about Clara's exit myself, too, not fully being on board until later. But I can't help but wonder if part of the reason for your reaction is because you knew in the back of your mind this wasn't Clara's true exit? You have mentioned seeing a poster from S9 of Twelve and Clara holding hands, I believe. I will say that while the dead all being brought back is undeniably chilling, I don't think it should've been all over the world as a global threat. The implications it has for previous companions feels a bit too far, and that this episode is overstepping when it comes to its threat/stakes level. And lastly, though I don't know if you'll ever see this, I had planned to show you this video ever since you were nearing the end of Matt Smith's run: "A Decade of Doctor Who" https://youtu.be/XvpfIjCi2bo?si=htTSXgXq2r4p8kZc It's a fan edit made of S1-8, because of the airing years of 2005-2015. It's very nostalgic for me, as it was when I first watched it, and now doubly so. I wish I had showed it to you right after this episode as I planned so you would have the same amount of show-knowledge as this episode for contextual synergy, but ah you're a busy man so who knows if you'd have been able to check it out anyway.

tom

FINALLY TIME TO WATCH NEW EPISODES, AFTER 5 WHOLE MONTHS