@Apopheniac     I thought it was Seb at the door!  In any case, I’m not sure that scene can really count as a spoiler. Unless we’re believing in Santa now!

@pedant      It is a fundamental of good storytelling that victory has a cost.    I could accept Danny as the cost, but not Osgood!  🙁  I will have to watch again, but I didn’t think the…[Read more]

Wow, I’m still in shock. I actually thought that was nearly perfect. It will require a second viewing for me to count the ways, but briefly. The Doctor is not a good or bad man, he is an idiot with a blue box! The Doctor and Clara’s journey has involved a lot of lying. The Brigadier comes back as a Cyberman to save his daughter (that was act…[Read more]

Oh, and I forgot one: I think Missy definitely has a TARDIS, and it is involved somehow in the mausoleum.

Ah. So we’re putting our money down, are we? Okay, then, here goes. Being the happy-ending-girl that I am, I am going with: afterlife a con, Danny brought back, Missy survives to torment the Doctor another day, and Clara also survives. This last one is mainly because I like @janetteB’s idea about a return to Coal Hill School for Christmas, and an…[Read more]

And @ScaryB:    They might not always be to our personal liking, but it’s worth giving the writers/directors/producers etc a chance to tell the story they want to tell before making the call.   I was trying to say this. You said it better.   🙂

@Barnable    The Doctor is re-coding DNA into Computer Code on the chalkboards.   This is a very cool idea!

@JimTheFish   Well said. I will admit that I’m not really warm to the idea of a female Doctor. But that’s a personal response, not really supported by the facts. I actually find that I can never really envision how anyone will work as th…[Read more]

@Perry

First of all, I don’t think it’s possible to compare AG and BG Who, because that implies two distinct entities, when in reality there are more than that. You can’t even really compare different Doctors’ eras, because the style of the show changed considerably from one end of the Tom Baker era to the other, and from McCoy’s first season to…[Read more]

@Whisht      I had the same thought about the potential connections to earlier episodes. I had dismissed it because of the similarity to A Good Man Goes to War, but that was awhile back now, so who knows? Like @Bluesqueakpip, I find the idea rather fun. We’ve had some great secondary characters this season, it would be fun to see some of them tie…[Read more]

I wasn’t going to weigh in on this, but what the heck. My own view is that the “arrogance” that we see on both sides of the fence probably comes from a feeling of being under threat. I think that the biggest battle in North America these days is really the Christian/atheist one, but of course we also see it between faiths and between sects withi…[Read more]

I don’t think Danny is permanently dead. The uploaded souls in the Bells of St. John were able to go back to their bodies if there were bodies left to go back to. @Mudlark quoted Missy: “Imagine you could upload dying minds to that…” So I’m betting that as long as Danny is still on ice (so to speak), he can return there.

< …[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip   @JimboMcMaster

There is only ever one truly right choice. It is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when Death is on the line!

@macphisto96    I’m pretty sure that is Clara’s hand. Earlier in the episode, when she and the Doctor are looking at the painting, there is a clear view of her right hand, wearing what appear to be the same rings. I agree that the angle looks awkward and I can’t explain that, but I think it’s Clara’s hand.

Well, really. I step out for a few short hours to watch a volleyball match, and someone leaves the screen door open and lets the trolls in. Seriously, are there no responsible adults present?    🙂

But there’s still @PhaseShift, whose eloquent letter really says it all. And @lisa‘s bonkers speculation on the meaning of post-it notes!

I agree wi…[Read more]

@DrBen   You’ve actually hit on the bigger point, which is that, sexism aside, two pregnant companions in a row would just be lazy writing.     I’m a woman and a writer, and this sentence makes me laugh! Because, shockingly, I have some sympathy for the notion that it matters not if Moffat is sexist, as long as he can write!

Obviously, it is mor…[Read more]

@purofilion     Good to see you back out of the cupboard!   🙂

@janetteB   Maybe the cybermen are only a threat, akin to Clara and the keys      I like this parallel, and it’s the kind of thing we’ve seen before (cup-a-soup).

@Bluesqueakpip    Love your summary of the different types of love shown in the episode.

@CathAnnabel   I agree with your thoughts on the phone call. I don’t see this as a future Clara, but pretty much what we are shown: Clara trying to open up with Danny (and possibly including some truth that we aren’t privy to, either!)

@Brewski     Yes, I was thinking of the security lock on my Toyota Matrix. You can’t start the car without the…[Read more]

Just had my second watch. Man, that was good. 11/10. Personally, I don’t think it missed a beat. The first 16 minutes are possibly the best that DW has ever been. Clara’s anxious conversation with Danny, and the line “Those words from me are yours now,” I loved that line! And the way the music, and all sound, just stops, at the moment he is appa…[Read more]

@Whisht   Those are great! Is the Nick Cave track part of your bonkers theory, by any chance?

@purofilion    With or without actual baton, it made no difference to my bobbing and weaving. I was simply no good at it. Which is fine, as I have never aspired to leadership!

Very good point about the music this week, it was wonderfully subtle, wasn…[Read more]

@purofilion     Thanks for sharing that. With so many dead in WWI, it’s a shame that some people still want to politicize these things. Surely, wherever we stand on the war/anti-war political spectrum, we can acknowledge that? Hopefully, nowadays, we can define our nations by greater parameters than how heroically we died, but that shoul…[Read more]

@purofilion    Well, yes. That is how I generally watch. My first viewing is very much an emotional one (which is probably why I rarely dislike an episode!). On rewatch I can see more twists/possibilities/flaws, and if I am formulating theories, it’s usually then that I do it.

@glenisterm @Apopheniac    Aside from giving me the strong sense t…[Read more]