This season of Doctor Who has been somewhat tightly structure around a few big radical , and all of them were tied up in the season finale . A lot of them , not surprisingly , had to do with Clara Oswald — and we finally found out why she was choose as the Doctor ’s companion . Spoilers !
So all through this season , Missy ( whom I ’ll just call the schoolmarm from here on out ) has been observing Clara ’s progression from her hideaway in the Nethersphere , and it was hint in the time of year opener that Missy agitate the Doctor and Clara together , back in “ The Bells of St. John . ” ( When the Mistress give Clara the Doctor ’s telephone set turn as a “ technical school support ” choice . )
But why did the Mistress want Clara to be the Doctor ’s companion ? turn out it ’s not because of any particular plot machine or “ Impossible young lady ” material — but rather , a character trait . Clara is a “ control nut , ” who has spent the preceding class endeavor to get a grip on the Doctor , to the point of questioning his morality and even personate him .
The Mistress want the Doctor and Clara to be together , because she want to engineer a moment like the one that happen at the end of “ Death in Heaven ” — where Clara is so filled with rage at the Mistress , she ’s uncoerced to commit execution . And the only way for the Doctor to save Clara from becoming a murderer is to do it himself .
It ’s basically the Hellenic “ You ’re just like me ” thing that villains are always spouting at heroes in pulp fiction — in fact , this is sort of a cover version of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland ’s “ The Killing Joke , ” among other things . The Mistress has observed all the citizenry who give-up the ghost for the Doctor ( because he ’s an military officer , as Danny put it a while back ) and she ’s decided that the Doctor ’s willingness to neglect acceptable casualty mean he ’s really no different than his impish - curse .
So the Mistress aims to use Clara to goad the Doctor into killing her , thus proving they ’re the same — and in the end , Clara wind up faulting the Doctor not for his pitilessness , but for being insufficiently pitiless . If the Doctor has ever get the Master be in the past , then all Missy ’s latest criminal offence are on his hands .
The Doctor is all set to kill the Mistress to save Clara ’s “ soulfulness . ” The Mistress asks the Doctor to “ say something nice ” — the same thing she ’s say to her victims before killing them — and the Doctor says , “ You bring home the bacon . ” “ I experience , ” she respond . ( Thus proving that this is what Missy want , all along . )
But the Doctor is spared from having to belt down the schoolmarm and get his men foul , by the last - minute interposition of the Brigadier , who ’s become a self - mindful autonomous Cyberman , like Danny .
( And now I need a spinoff show about the adventures of the Cyber - Brigadier , flying around sorting out people ’s problems . )
So neither Clara nor the Doctor is forced to make the ultimate choice and commit murder — and I opine Missy ’s program for Clara is spoil due to good old Alistair Gordon Lethbridge - Stewart . But before we get to that head , the Doctor and Clara are each look with another insufferable choice : the Doctor is offered power , while Clara is asked to rub out her lover .
Clara as both critic and aper of the Doctor ’s mercilessness
We ’ve image Clara , over the course of the season , go from calling out the Doctor ’s unfeelingness to trying to emulate it — to be as good a prevaricator as the Last of the Time Lords . And this episode randomly begins with another sequence where Clara pretends to be the Doctor — to talk some Cybermen out of killing her on mess .
( Clara make to be a distaff positive feedback of the Doctor is cute , coming on the heels of the genderswapped Master , and the altered opening credits are nice touch . Also , apparently the Doctor has told Clara about his grandchild , plural , as well as Jenny , his “ daughter . ” )
But then Clara gets a duet of tryout of just how ruthless she can be — the first is when Danny Pink , who ’s now a Cyberman but still has his human emotions , begs her to assist turn his emotions off . This is pretty standardised to what happen to that “ nice ” Dalek in “ Inside The Dalek ” — the Dalek ’s memory - inhibitor was damage , do it to have memories and emotion that would have been supressed , until Clara and the Doctor mend it .
Clara wants to help Danny flip-flop his inhibitor on , partly because she ca n’t deliver to see him support — but mostly out of guilt feelings , it seems like . She feels forged that she was n’t honest with him , and that her attempt to come clean wound up getting him lead over by a camion . ( Was the Mistress drive that lorry ? Seems potential . ) So Clara crack at the Doctor that he should either aid her lobotomize her dead fellow , or allow her alone .
Of of course , the Doctor does wind up giving Clara the sonic screwdriver , so she can finish deactivating Danny ’s emotion — but only so Danny can recite the Doctor the next stage of Missy ’s plan .
Missy ’s Cyber - zombi have fly up into the sky , all over the humanity , and exploded into smuggled clouds of “ Cyber - pollen ” ( do n’t ask ) , which has rained down onto the creation ’s graveyard and assorted funeral parlors , repair the dead of humanity and turning them all into more Cyber - zombie . But the cloud are still there , and Danny reveals that the clouds are move to rain down more Cyber - pollen and drink down all living humans , turning them into more Cyber - zombies .
The only way to lay off the clouds from killing all of humans is for the Doctor to accept Missy ’s “ natural endowment . ”
The Doctor as general who hat soldier
One of the two adult thematic notes that gets break up in this episode , with a pretty emphatic settlement , is the Doctor ’s hate of soldier — and the mind that the Doctor is an officer , who dedicate orders to the soldiers he despises .
The episode spends a lot of time presenting the Doctor with the temptation of authority , something he ’s never had much clip for before . First UNIT sedates him and manacle him , before storm him to serve up as the President of Earth aboard a superplane that stays in the air about five minute longer than I was expecting . And then the Mistress gives the Doctor her “ gift ” — insure over the entire army of Cyber - zombie , so the doc can at last have the agency to specify all the wrongs in the world .
The Doctor is definitely not averse to using multitude and taking advantage of others ’ forfeit ( as he proves by turning on Danny Pink ’s inhibitor so he can learn the final determination of those cloud ) . But he does n’t eff what to do with big businessman or an regular army — he drop his total clock time as Earth President insulting one of his subordinate , whom he dubs “ Man Scout ” in the in style in a foresighted line of merchandise of insulting soubriquet for soldier and ex - soldier . ( Others include “ P.E. ” for Danny Pink , and good old “ Col . Runaway . ” )
And when the Doctor is presented with a Cyber - army , it ’s essentially a huge trap . Missy is telling the Doctor that the only way to preclude the Cyber - clouds from wipe out everyone on Earth is to take command of the exist Cyber - zombie horde and go off and “ conquer the universe . ” Plus the Doctor is presumably a bit tempt by the idea of hold a way to resign all the people in the Dalek striver camps , and to make the Raxicoricofallaptorians stop farting , and so on .
“ ground forces are for people who think they ’re correct . And nobody thinks they ’re correct than you , ” tell Missy .
Notably , the Doctor does n’t waste any time in this episode mourning for Man Scout — or for poor Osgood , who gets so many brilliant moments before being killed because Missy ’s sentry go are numb at their post . Or for Kate Stewart , when he thinks she ’s dead . Because , as the Doctor says in “ Mummy on the Orient Express , ” people with a hired gun to their head word ca n’t mourn . But also , satisfactory losses .
What saves the Doctor from being forced to become a superpower - mad leader of the Cyber - USA ? The fact that he was wrong about Danny Pink .
Danny ’s sacrifice
The Doctor trust that as soon as Danny Pink ’s inhibitor is switched on , Danny will become just another Cyberman , and will likely kill Clara Oswald . But when Missy govern all the Cybermen to do a silly “ safety briefing ” routine , Danny is the only one who does n’t obey — he ’s still got his independent judgement , because of his love for Clara . Love , as the Doctor observes , is n’t an emotion — it ’s a promise .
( Either that , or the Doctor cheated , and never fully handicapped Danny ’s inhibitor . Take your pick , I guess . )
Because Danny resisted Cyber - restraint , even with his inhibitor on , the Doctor is able to make a lovely address about how he ’s not a good serviceman , or a risky man , or a United States President , or an officer — he ’s just an idiot with a boxful . The Doctor thanks the Mistress for helping to clarify that for him , because sometimes he loses sight of who he really is .
And then the Doctor toss the restraint watch bracelet for the Cyber - regular army to Danny , who gives his own endearing speech about reward soldiers and their forfeiture . ( Danny basically say the promise a soldier makes to civilians is “ You will sleep safe tonight . ” ) And then Danny and all the other Cyber - zombie spirit fly up and burn themselves up , destroying the Mistress ’ clouds , without the need for the Doctor to become the general of the Cyber - army after all .
What ’s ironic , of grade , is that Danny ’s last act prove his decimal point . The Doctor is able to shrive himself and say that he ’s not a paladin or an military officer — and thus “ keep those hands neat . ” Because the Doctor knows that when he tosses that watchstrap to Danny , Danny will take care of it for him . The Doctor does n’t need to give an club , he already make out what Danny will do .
Or as the Doctor puts it to Missy , he does n’t need an army , because he ’s got them — mean both Clara and Danny , but by extension all the other people who ’ve done the Doctor ’s work for him over the yr .
Meanwhile , Danny finds his own redemption through ego - sacrifice — first , by ball up himself up along with the whole Cyber - army , and then , by giving his single return ticket from the afterlife to the Afghan son he killed when he was a soldier . alternatively of returning from the idle himself , Danny saves the boy whose death had haunted him . “ I had promise to keep , ” he tells Clara .
As for the Doctor , he may have learned something about respect for soldiers from all this . At the least , he does finally salute the Cyber - Brigadier — an act that he never did for Alistair when he was alive . In answer , Alistair just bows his head .
The Doctor and Clara end up lie to each other
In keep with most physician Who time of year finales , this episode is a weird mish - mash of dodgy plot points and lovemaking save the sidereal day and genuine , realize excited resolutions . But what really raise “ Death in Heaven , ” in particular , is the fact that it pays off all of the thematic and character arcs that have been establish up throughout the total time of year .
We ’ve never had a year of doc Who like this one , in which a single theme had such thrifty ontogeny and deepening , ending with a payoff . ( The closest I can recollect of is the concluding season of the classic serial , in which the notion of “ Survival of the Fittest ” is raised a pile in “ Ghost Light ” and a turn elsewhere , before being center phase of the close , “ Survival . ” )
And yes , the thematic take was not specially subtle — but the massive signposting did n’t at all detract from its effectiveness .
The other affair that rescues “ Death in Heaven ” from some cunning bit ( like the whimsy that the whole world voted to make an stranger in fancy dress its emergency president , in overture ) is the understated final sequence , in which Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman both fetch a ton of emotion with just their face and body language .
The story about Clara and the Doctor both confronting the demarcation line of the Doctor ’s callousness ends with the two of them lying to each other . Before she died , Missy told the Doctor the coordinates where he could find Gallifrey , and rely she was n’t lying for once . ( These were its original coordinates , as first cite in “ Full Circle . ” ) But when the Doctor pilots the TARDIS to those coordinates , he notice just empty infinite — perchance because Gallifrey is still in another dimension ? — and he goes disturbed with heartache , pounding the TARDIS console .
But the Doctor claims he found Gallifrey , because he believes that Clara is happily reunify with Danny and he should n’t intrude in their lives any more . Meanwhile , Clara starts to tell the Doctor the truth , but when she hears he ’s found Gallifrey , she decides to lie and tell him that she ’s back with Danny and everything is fine . It ’s sort of an O. Henry thing — they each believe the other has what they ’ve wanted , so they each footstep apart . They end by hugging , which as the Doctor say , is just a way to blot out your face .
Clara thanks the Doctor for have her feel extra , and he thanks her for “ the same ” — then he ’s gone . But midway through the credit , the story stops , because Santa Claus ( Nick Frost ) intervenes , insisting that things need to be limit right between the Doctor and Clara . Which … should be interesting , I guess .
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