As Missy has the Doctor’s confession dial at the start of the series, and the Doctor gives it to Ashildr in Face the Raven, has he already lived through the thousands upon thousands of years in the puzzle torture-chamber/ confession dial before series 9 starts, for us?

Is Series 9 itself a bootstrap paradox (the creation of the confession dial…[Read more]

Wow – I loved this episode.

Capaldi was really marvellous in this extended riff on Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, his sticky-insecty frock-coated Twelve enacting the madness of mourning, just like the Prince of Denmark. That determined deductive mind of the Doctor’s, fueled by grief, despair and rage, on a mission to punch through time itself.

I…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip

It’s a pretty impressive technology, being able to import body and soul into a database, but yes, it makes sense that CAL was on the fritz because she couldn’t handle all the data at once.

I still wish River could escape from there – I really think the Doctor “saving” her to a post-death prison, however filled with literature, was…[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]

@lewis97 Good trousering!

The check trousers remind me of the second doctor and the long red coat in Face the Raven reminds me of the third Doctor.

I wonder if, because this Doctor has been given a new set of regenerations by the Time Lords, he’s revisiting his first incarnations of the previous cycle.

The Tarot card journey can, as well as…[Read more]

@JanetteB

So sorry about the fires where you are again – climate change, I know. I hope everyone you know is safe? Have things calmed down?

@Puroandson

Hi Ilion – your take on what has been scary, or not, is interesting.

I remember being absolutely terrified by some Doctor Who episodes when I was 9 or 10 (the Brain of Morbius in particular,…[Read more]

@ichabod

As to Captain Jack, a male example of a human with serial lifetimes but always as himself, I can’t speak much, since I had no interest in the character — he seemed very static to me, and dull in the ways that old-fashioned hero-protagonists of the pulps were static.

You said you were curious to know what others thought of the good Cap…[Read more]

@Whisht

Well I think we should visit all the major arcana if tarot theory is go.

So far, and others may map these differently:

0= The Fool – the Doctor

1 = The Magician – also the Doctor

2 = The High Priestess – Missy

3 = The Empress – Ashildr

4 = The Emperor – Davros

5 = The Hierophant – The Fisher King

6 = The Lovers = TBD

7 = The…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip

Ah that is tough for you. Different Docs for different folks, I guess. I didn’t realise you were sitting on that one!

As @HTPBDET resisted all my attempts to get him to like Smith’s Doctor, I realise it’s simply whether the actor’s interpretation of the character “works” for someone, or not. And sometimes things change in…[Read more]

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

@nerys

Exactly – Ashildr is a wonderful character because she is shades of gray.

She was a storyteller and a young hothead as a girl. Her bravado brought the Mire back to her village. Her consent to wear the Mire helmet as part of the Doctor’s plan of trickery then saved her village, but killed her in the process.

And the gift the Doctor gave…[Read more]

@Purofilion and @Geronimo – a lovely exchange.

Oh no @Puro – so very, very sorry to hear that. I think it’s clear many on the Doctor Who forum have loved your company along the way, and if you do want to stay, while you can, I’ve no doubt you’d be warmly welcome. You should do what’s best for you, of course.

We lost someone else, @HTPBDET ,…[Read more]

@timetot

I meant to say – welcome! Don’t apologise for taking up space – we don’t (usually) bite.

Glad you are enjoying this series so much. I am also pleased there are women writing and directing this year (TPTB have listened to some of the reasonable critique on that score). I also love the addition of Maisie Williams very much.

I was deeply…[Read more]

@Avaris

Yes, I’d forgotten about Clara’s association with roses in the first series in which she appeared. I think that motif was definitely designed to spark speculation about her potential connection to Rose, now that Moff and co realise that what fuels engagement (for many) is spec. It paid off in that the Moment (in the form of Rose as Bad…[Read more]

Thanks @Craig – I am not the most tekkie of folks!

Yes absolutely – check out that really beautiful memorial – but doesn’t it look like a Sleeping Beauty motif? Especially as Rigsy has painted the flowers travelling from the pavement to the TARDIS so that there in no confinement to death, but rather something organic?

@Phaseshift and @Bluesqueakpip

Definitely Time Lords, and yeah not sure if Clara’s death is for real – there are a lot of roses on the TARDIS memorial (I’d upload a pic but can’t work out how to do that from my desktop) which made me think of Sleeping Beauty. And also the fact that in the last episode we saw Rigsy in, drawings came to life…

Well, well… so Ashildr has been keeping peace on alien-refugee street with a raven “time eater”? How very Norse of her.

Did Clara really “face the raven”?

Moff is so likely to bring folk back across the Styx that it’s hard to be sure. I hope this is the real death for her, because I loved it – just a misadventure along the road with the…[Read more]

@Phaseshift

I second @mudlark ‘s sentiment – recommended your post in t’other place – I’m convinced the tarot journey (all credit to @kharis for spotting the theme initially here) is heading for Gallifrey and I’m looking forward to it. Hoping to see Lord Borusa again!

This seems to have been a bit of a marmite episode BTL at @DanMartinUK ‘s…[Read more]

Thanks for replying @Craig – it’s your website at the end of the day 🙂

Yes, it’s perhaps easier to feel less queasy about the Scottish flag.

I just, in the midst of this horror, have reservations regarding the French state (banning the niquab in public does not seem to extend “liberty, equality and fraternity” to all).

<pours everyone a…[Read more]

I see we have the French flag flying on the frontispiece. Whilst feeling, of course, tremendous empathy for all who lost their lives in the Paris terrorist attacks, I am wary of the symbolism of solidarity-by-flag. Solidarity with the people not being quite the same as solidarity with the nation-state.

I like Syrian activist Nader Atassi’s…[Read more]