@juniperfish

Yes, I think Moffat is using the same caution as Whedon did in not being too specific about what a “soul” is and how it can be handled. @jphamlore‘s analysis, I think, is a massive over-reading of the evidence presented thus far.

On another matter, it has just occurred to me (JF – ta for the seed corn of thought) that Clara’s con…[Read more]

@jphamlore

I didn’t see an unequivocal reading from the text of Face the Raven that Clara’s soul had been taken for torment by the quantum shade? Your reading is a valid interpretation, but not explicit text. We are left to wonder what the shade actually “does” with souls – consumes/ feasts on them was my sense. But I think perhaps you are…[Read more]

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@jphamlore  @puroandson  @nerys

More and more, I think that death and it’s various opposites are an ongoing theme. There was the Fisher King stealing people’s deaths. There were all those abandoned Daleks that were apparently living on in some sort of undying agony. There is of course Ashildr, made immortal by the Doctor (and I wonder what h…[Read more]

@arbutus   I think that Rigsy’s concern came from the fact that the Doctor had never, ever called him by name before, and to do so now would indicate that something was very wrong. He preferred the dismissive nicknames to actual concern on the Doctor’s part

Right, thanks!

@jphamlore  With “contract” we have an explicit analog to making contracts…[Read more]

Wonderful observations, @jphamlore and @puroandson. Continuing on in the “soul” vein (I haven’t yet made up my mind as to whether Ashildr/Mayor Me’s comment was meant to be taken literally or figuratively), the Doctor did go ballistic in a previous episode, with regard to not allowing people their natural deaths. I believe that was part of his…[Read more]

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@kharis

I really see Capaldi as meant to be more unpredictable and to keep us in question if he is a good man.  He is not meant to be charismatic, but layered, tired and hard to reach.  

That’s the problem with the Doctor! After all these years in this world (I lost count how old is he) you can expect that he knows who he is. I definitely knew w…[Read more]

@jphamlore @thebrainofmoffat

When Me says “Do you think a Cyberman fears a merciful death?” I think she may have picked just one of the species in her street to use as an example. I think we are not meant to know the actual species of the executed(?) man and his wife, and instead simply empathise with them and their situation. It is the same…[Read more]

@jphamlore Hm, I thought the Ood we saw with the Cyberman was a “man” doing some repairs or modifications to him. No idea what the wife was.

@ichabod In the Series 2 episode in which Ten and Rose went to Pete’s world, as well as in Death in Heaven, we saw a Cyberman’s emotional inhibitor thing deactivated, revealing what was left of the original…[Read more]

@pedant – thanks!

@juniperfish – fantastic – a list!! I think I maight suggest a couple of alternatives (as might jpamplore methinks!)

@bendubz – the psychic worm things which acted as lights were… well worms (thus dragon-y)

@jphamlore – I’m liking your current bonkerising (apologies if you don’t consider it as bonkers!). So, The Doctor went…[Read more]

@jphamlore  Thanks for the quotes, but do Cybermen *have* souls?  I thought that was all gone, part of the horror of the process of encyberment.

And I don’t buy the eternal damnation thing — not in the Doctor’s universe.  Although you could see being turned into a cyberman as pretty damnation-ish, provided they have souls (though Danny ce…[Read more]

@bendubs11  there were no snakes in this episode, or at least not that I saw.

Ashildr’s snaky tattoos?

@jphamlore  “I promised it a soul and only I can break that contract. When you took it from him, you changed the terms. You cut me out of the deal.”  These are not the tropes of a standard execution, no, it’s much worse. These are the trop…[Read more]

@jphamlore

Clara Oswald is far from dead, far worse. Clara Oswald’s soul in in some form of hell.

Well, you’re the life of the party! Here I am, about to go to bed…

I have tried to think of a counter argument, and the only one that presents itself (at this late hour of the night)

is that it would be too cruel.

@jphamlore   Clara Oswald is far from dead, far worse. Clara Oswald’s soul in in some form of hell.

Which prompted me to think again about this exchange from Death in Heaven:

MISSY: Cos she’s perfect, innit? The control freak and the man who should never be controlled. You’d go to hell if she asked. And she would. The phone’s ringing, Doct…[Read more]

@Swordwhale Welcome! I hope you enjoy it here, we’re all very friendly, if a bit insane.

@jphamlore

“Supernatural-like setting”

Do you want me to call Sam and Dean?