Hell Bent

This series has been highly impressive and when a series has been this good, then it needs a finale that matches this. After the previous episode and knowing that we were going to have an episode on Gallifrey properly. Like the previous episode, this episode has an extended running time. Under the RTD era I would worry because it would mean that the final 15-20 minutes would be sentimental drivel but under Steven Moffat, that wouldn’t be the case. This is the 40^th episode that Steven Moffat has either written or co-written by him and that ties him with David Whittaker and tied fourth most credited wrtier in Doctor Who history. Only Robert Holmes (64), Terry Nation (56) and Malcolm Hulke (47) have written more episodes.

The episode starts off with the Doctor arriving in the café that featured in The Impossible Astronaut back in 2011 and the only person that is there is Clara. I knew that she wasn’t dead because the character is held in too high a regard by Steven Moffat. The way that this episode starts is typical Moffat. The previous episode ends with a fast paced and high energy and so he deliberately starts the episode in quite a slow manner. The Doctor is telling a story and how Gallifrey has moved to the end of time. This does seem to be quite a shift considering all the effort that went into hiding it in The Day of the Doctor. When the Doctor arrives on Gallifrey he is given the traditional greeting that the Doctor usually gets when he visits Gallifrey.

Sadly Rassilon isn’t played by Timothy Dalton. Whether he wasn’t asked or refused to play the role again is unclear. On this occasion Donald Sumpter is in the lead role and I thought that he did a very good job. He got the out of control vibe of the character just right. I thought that once he had been shown up by the Doctor and the firing squad guards then his usefulness ceased. The General was a character from Day of the Doctor and I thought that Ken Bones was a good bit of casting but what came as a surprise was that he regenerated and this is another example of new thinking where he regenerates into a woman.

The whole episode (yet again) seemed to be centred around Clara and this is where I think that the episode starts to crumble. The Doctor manages to extract Clara between her last heartbeat and her death and is determined to try and get around the fact that Clara’s death is a fixed point. I think that it was a mistake bringing Clara back and that ultimately it was a bit of a wasted return to Gallifrey. However the biggest mistake was in the matter of bring Ashildr back. I could see the logic bringing her back in Face the Raven but me in this episode was very little logic behind having her back because I don’t think that she bought anything to the story and also it seemed like they bought her back to stick her in the TARDIS with Clara so there could be the tiniest possibility of a spin-off series which is only likely to happen in the world of Big Finish.

The whole thing about the Doctor forgetting Clara is borrowed from the Big Finish storyline where the Sixth Doctor forgets that he travelled with Charley. I suspect that a majority of those watching this episode wont know that but for someone who has been listening to Big Finish for about a decade now it felt like a nice little nod from Steven Moffat.

Whilst I enjoyed this episode and thought that the running time was very good, it didn’t feel like a finale. It didn’t feel like it had achieved anything really and in that regard, I thought that it was a bit of a disappointment. I think bringing Clara and Ashildr back didn’t achieve anything and the final shot of the TARDIS and the diner flying off in the distance isn’t the best way to end the episode. My worries continue with the NEXT TIME trailer and the reminder that River bleedin Song is making a unwelcomed return to the show.

Back to happier matters and this series has been much stronger than the previous one. Capaldi seemed more confident than in the previous series although the flaws with the series are centred around the obsession with Clara. Hopefully now she is part of Doctor Who history and whoever is chosen to replace her will not be saddled with Clara comparisons. The 35^th series of Doctor Who has suffered from being dumped between Strictly Come Dancing and Casualty and as a result the ratings have suffered but reviews have generally be positive. My hopes for the next series is that this trend continue although in a slightly earlier timeslot.