Hi all, am finally back at keyboard and have had a chance to rewatch.
I thought it was good but frustrating because it was packed full of ideas, many of which did not have enough time to breathe. It felt a bit rushed and I think it could have been fantastic if it had been half an hour, or even fifteen minutes, longer. I’d rather complain about that though, than complain it was boring and nothing happened.
Moffat seems to have had a bit of a formula for these last few episodes, introducing the Doctor as a bit of a buffoon with some some farce and slapstick before things get serious – letting the kids trick him into playing Blind Man’s Bluff in NotD so they can go to the cinema, hanging from a helicopter over London in DotD, and now all sorts of buffoonery from landing on a spaceship with a seriously wrong piece of hardware in your hand, twice, to turning up naked to Christmas dinner.
Maybe I’m getting more curmudgeonly as I get older but I’m not sure I like it that much, he’s cleverer than that (can he not recognise the inside of a Dalek ship, as I did, or one of the Cyber fleet?). However, I’m sure the kids love it and that is probably the point. Get them hooked, laughing and enjoying it before the darker, more adult stuff starts to happen.
And this was pretty adult, as @blenkinsopthebrave said, it was about facing up to your own and your loved ones’ mortality. “Everything ends, Clara”.
It was a masterstroke to have the Doctor age to death this time, rather than kill him off with a deadly dose of radiation or a fall. Those always felt like plot devices, but no one can escape old age, not even the Doctor.
I liked Handles. It WAS very Wilson/K9 and it showed the Doctor really does always need a companion of sorts, even if it’s just so he has someone to talk to. Handles’ end was quite touching. The defeat of the wooden Cyberman was also great fun, shot like a (very quick) Leone western standoff, with lots of close ups of hands and eyes.
The tying up of loose ends was also reasonably satisfying, if a bit rushed. “Silence will fall when the question is asked”, the Silents, Madame Kovarian and her war against the Doctor all now make some sort of sense. Shame they called Kovarian’s failure “The Destiny Trap” and not the Blinovitch Limitation Effect though. 😀
The dialogue taking us into the third act, revealing that Tasha and the rest of her ship had been taken over by Daleks, was great writing and underplayed brilliance. I didn’t like the Doctor planting one on Tasha right after though. It seemed a moment written by Moffat to, I thought, apologise for the Jenny kiss in The Crimson Horror. “Kiss me when I ask!”. But there was no real outrage from Tasha, only a flirty smile, so I felt it just perpetuated the problem. Let’s hope Capaldi stays away from kissing people.
There were a few things that didn’t seem to make sense. Why could the Doctor or the TARDIS not recognise the message was Gallifreyan but Handles could using the TARDIS data banks? The Angels managed to get through the shield and there were loads of them, but after the Doctor and Clara escaped from them in the TARDIS we only saw one again, trapped by the Doctor using a mirror. And the Truth Field didn’t always seem to work. “I’ve got a plan” to the boy, followed by “I haven’t got a plan” to Clara.
Those slight grumps aside, I did think it was a good episode and a very fine send off for Matt. He really got to exercise his acting chops and I thought he did a brilliant job. And his end was more joyous than sad.
Can’t wait for Capaldi’s take now. Glad he’s got a Scottish accent.
