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@bluesqueakpip Good pick up on each of the characters.  We don’t really know much about Michael Troughton’s character, so I even will question whether he was a “real” character.  Maybe he was, but he’s the trouble with the connection.

Shona is interesting.  I like your idea that she may have kicked Dave out.  Look at that list for Christmas.  Other than her dad stopping by, she’s all alone.  It’s just her watching those movies and even progressing to a Game of Thrones marathon.  An argument could be made that every person affected by the dream crabs feels isolated and lonely for some reason.  The hope is that this experience turns them around.

And maybe, just maybe, the dream crabs were not truly a threat that ate brains.  Maybe they were nothing more than a species that enabled community dreaming and the perceived threat was created by the dreamers.  Could Santa have initiated the community dream in an attempt to not only heal the Doctor and Clara, but also to help heal the others involved?  Is his appearance at the end of Death in Heaven a dream or reality?  He is able to open the door to the TARDIS there and even a Time Lord can’t do that.

I guess I’m a believer that Santa is real in the Doctor’s universe.  He’s a powerful alien presence of some kind that likely has some Time Lordyish abilities.  I don’t think that they were still dreaming at the end, but I do think Santa instigated it all in an attempt to heal the participants.  It’s pretty clear from the beginning that Santa is the one who knows precisely what’s going on.  Just watch his reaction when they figure out they are dreaming and still being attacked.  Santa could be a construct, or have the ability to enter dreams himself.

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@Barbara Lefty But were the Dream Crabs dreamed too?  The central conceit of the episode is not trusting anything and that stretches into when everyone appears to wake up.  Of course, we’re probably overthinking everything.

@milliemaerose Moffatt has spoken about Orson Pink and basically said that Danny has other family and Orson likely descends from that stock.  It could just be a misdirect or it could be what Moffatt actually thinks.

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@janetteb There are many who aren’t aware that others did it before Inception.  I think the innovation from Inception was the time differences as you progress through the dream layers.  You don’t really fully get that in Last Christmas, just the idea that dream time passes far more quickly than real time.   Though it is implied when the Doctor jumps into the Danny and Clara dream that she has been there all day on Christmas – it starts in the morning and the Doctor visits in the evening.  That Danny Pink dream is five layers deep.

I do remember the Despair Squid, though I hadn’t thought of it until you brought Red Dwarf up.  The Dave reference makes a lot of sense, especially as a nod to some of the inspiration for Moffatt here.

Another thought.  In Inception there is the architect of the dream.  Someone ultimately is the chief dreamer the creates the structure for the dream that all the dreamers inhabit.  Shona’s the one with the list the features Alien, Miracle on 34th Street, and others.  I wonder if the entire dream was her construct due to what she was watching.  She made it all the way down to #7 on her list, Forgive Dave?????, and checked it.  That also interests me because 7, at least looking through a Biblical lens, is the number of completion.  Seeing as this was Christmas, Moffatt is a pretty smart guy, and that list probably didn’t have seven items on accident, I wonder if checking off 7 symbolizes a completion of something as well.  It could just impact Shona, but it may impact the Doctor and/or Clara as well.

I must also say I like the idea I’ve read in a few places that some would like to see Shona as a companion in the future.  She could be quite good, though I’m not sure how much everyone would want two companions in a row from Northern England.  She and Santa are two characters I would love to see again.

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@purofilion I agree there.  I loved his “idiot in a box” line.  It was one of those moments where I actually clapped with joy.  I did that too at the end of Mummy on the Orient Express where he transfers Maisie’s grief and torment to himself so he can see the mummy.  Those are reasons why I’ve never understood those who claim that Moffatt does not understand the Doctor.  Personally, I think he has written the Doctor about as well as anyone since 2005 while also crafting some of the best episodes of the series.  The difficulty is always in matching up what you’re given with what you wanted or expected.  I doubt any of us expected Series 8 to be what it was nor did any of us perceive that that is what we wanted.  For some, it’ll take longer to reconcile.  I feel fortunate because I have less baggage and less expectation due to my own newbie status, though I don’t want to attack those that found issue.  Ultimately these things are subjective and we all can have different tastes, etc.  Yet those moments revealed clearly that Moffatt didn’t just suddenly lose his ability.  Though, like you, I saw quite a but in Deep Breath as the Doctor was figuring himself out, beginning with him realizing that leaving by the door to talk to the T-Rex was “not me”.

@janetteb When was this in Red Dwarf?  I’m afraid I have a lot of catching up to do there.  I think I’ve gotten through to Series VII, but we in the States have often gotten spotty releases on Red Dwarf.  I can still catch up through Back to Earth on Netflix, but I don’t think I’ve seen Series X turn up in the US yet.  I may just begin at the beginning to refresh myself.  It was one of my favorites to watch on PBS when I was in high school.  At least I was able to purchase my other favorite, Blackadder, for posterity.  Red Dwarf has always been a tougher one to crack.

@all I do wonder how much time has passed between the Doctor’s parting with Clara.  I’ve said that I think Series 8 takes place over 1-2 years.  Clara may have moved from her flat into more of a house.  Is it only a few months later for her or a year later?  Moffatt made it a point to again stress the possibility of traveling in time in dreams, likely due to the fake at the end.  Yet the Doctor travels in all of time and space himself.  How long has Clara been grieving for?

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@purofilion I tend to look at the Doctor in Series 8 as a long reboot.  He was always the Doctor and was at his most tenuous in Deep Breath before meeting Clara at the “restaurant”, yet many of the warm personality traits disappeared.  To me, he most resembled Hartnell and early Tom Baker.  Deep Breath was a fine example of 12 in this series – he has a plan, but he’s not sharing it with anyone.  He left Clara hanging.  He did that to the extreme in Kill the Moon – an episode where I actually thought Clara was the most imbalanced.  Yet warmer aspects of his character did gradually return and he was confronted with the harder edge of himself in Flatline when he basically got to take a look at himself as Clara played him.  Flatline and Mummy on the Orient Express were the places where the Doctor’s hard veneer began to break.  The audience and Clara began to see that he didn’t fail to save people because he was cold or he saw people as nothing more than moving cogs in a larger machine, he just acted like that to hide the pain of being the Doctor and not being able to save everyone.

This series presented numerous character arcs and challenged the viewers with them.  Last Christmas was no different.  I’m one that loved Series 8 and found upon rewatch that I like it even more than I thought.  I’m a relative newcomer.  I saw the 50th and then power watched the revived series before Time of the Doctor and have been watching what is available of Classic Who on Hulu.  I grew to adore Smith’s Doctor, but Capaldi quickly won me over.  There’s so much depth to 12, just as I see so much depth with Clara.  Moffatt has been digging deeper with her than I think we’ve ever gone with modern companions.  That’s why I’m thrilled Jenna Coleman is returning.  The difficult dynamic of Series 8 that was shaped by the Machiavellian impulses of the Doctor, Clara, and the Master appears to be shifting into something completely different – maybe just a bunch of adventures that happen when you travel in a Blue Box with a madman.

I also must say that I agree on Clara.  Her character shift occurred in Day of the Doctor, as you said.  I love how she asks 11 above the promise he made – and I love how she cares for him in his dotage during Time of the Doctor when all seems last; no more regenerations.  Yet her character shifted once again with his regeneration.  Couple that in with the implication that Series 8 occurred over a couple of years.  Danny appears to be a new hire at Coal Hill in Into the Dalek but has been there for at least one year by the time we get to The Caretaker.  There were many adventures that happened between Deep Breath and Dark Water that we did not see (and I think the names of each episode implies a relation between the two) for Clara – and those adventures involved the Doctor and Danny as she lived a double life.  Visual media does not do a good job of relating the passage of time.  The prime example I think of in this is the journey of the Fellowship in Lord of the Rings.  In the film, many wondered why members of the fellowship were so upset at the loss of Gandalf, a man they had only known for about an hour in film time.  Yet they had been journeying for weeks together and many had a history with him that film could not convey without a lot of dialogue.  There are many things in Series 8 that we did not see that we must imply – and I’m a fan of writers who trust the audience enough so that they don’t force feed them every little item.  Instead they leave bread crumbs so you can figure things out for yourself.

Last Christmas managed to close a chapter and signals another change for Clara and the Doctor.  I think we’ll see the Doctor trust Clara more with his thoughts and I expect them to be much more honest and open with one another.

One thing I do wonder is if we’ll see Clara actually travel with him.  It’s been awhile since we had a companion that travelled with him and didn’t get dropped off at home after every adventure.  Amy did it for a time, but the “drop the companion off at home” stuff began with Series 7.  I’d like to see Clara be a travelling companion next series instead of just an occasional passenger that is picked up in a broom cupboard.

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@scaryb Santa may at least have some means of using Time Lord tech.  If 11 is to be believed, he knows Santa and hung with him.  Why is 12 so leery when he sees him?  There may be a backstory there – and I would not be averse to exploring it because I would LOVE to see Nick Frost in that role once more.  He was superb.  Of course he could just be the Dream Lord.  When Frost used the Scottish accent to mock him and say it was all a bit “dreamy weamy”, it made me think of a less harsh version of the Dream Lord.  Loved the Doctor having a problem with Santa giving a scientific explanation, but that certainly could mean the real St. Nick has some kind of extraterrestrial or otherwise origin.

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My mind has often come back to this episode and series 8 today.  I just think of the Doctor’s cynicism towards the existence of Robin Hood and how that cynicism permeated Clara as she became like the Doctor – having seen so many fantastical things, she actually stopped believing in fantastical things.  Has Moffatt been examining the loss of innocence and wonder that we so often experience as we grow up?  This was the fantasy series of Doctor Who, if ever there was one.  Yet Clara discovers that the Doctor is the most fantastic thing of them all – and in the midst of a dream, the Doctor literally takes the reins and rediscovers his own childlike sense of joy.

It is when that cynicism and darkness is rejected that joy returns and real adventure begins, not just obligatory adventure.  I got the sense so often that the journeys this year felt obligatory for the Doctor and Clara, that they had lost their sense of purpose behind it all.  Danny actually ended up giving them both purpose towards the end of the season in different ways.  It’s fitting that his death caused a morose in both.  It’s equally fitting that Santa Claus found them both and pulled a Dickens on both of them.  Unlike A Christmas Carol, it was the Doctor and Clara that were the Scrooges this time around.  The genius is that Moffatt pulled that off without retelling the same story and did something different.

Moffatt has been gifted in regards to these Christmas specials.  The worst is The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe – and that one had some good ideas, but it fell flat except for the emotional resonance at the end.  Yet I’d put all other Moffatt Christmas stories ahead of their counterparts from the RTD era.  I also loved Time of the Doctor, though that didn’t strike me as a pure Christmas special because it had another purpose.

I am interested to see what happens going forward.  I still think there are things about this past series that we don’t fully understand, yet Last Christmas made the entire series better because of the resolution it offered.  Moffatt clearly intended this.  He also knew #12 was going to have a rough time adapting to his new regeneration, but now he seems to have found himself.  He’s gotten progressively less grumpy, but I think he and Clara are now free in a way they were not a year ago.  Clara was nothing more than the impossible girl and then got stuck with Captain Crotchety and the Doctor went from youthful and exuberant to old, pessimistic, and weary.  I don’t think the circumstances of Trenzalore, etc allowed for either to truly be themselves quite yet.

The amazing thing is tracking reactions.  So many that have said they now loathe Moffatt have done a 180 since seeing Last Christmas.  I know there are those that didn’t like it, yet it seems like the majority really liked it quite a bit.

The only negative I see is the wait until we get to see new Doctor Who, but that just makes me savor it all the more.

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@nerys I’m pretty sure the Daily Mirror were the ones reporting Jenna Coleman was leaving.  I’m not sure if that was ever the case.  Maybe the ending was changed, or maybe it was leaked out to create a tension going into the special.  Someone at the Mirror wanted a scoop and got taken in the process.

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@bluesqueakpip The other thing was the Doctor’s comment about how quickly he deletes someone’s face from his memory.  It sounds cold to a degree, but there’s more to it than that.  There are layers for the Doctor’s own protection but also a focus on the things he finds important.

I really loved the scenes with Danny.  When he spoke and clearly understood the situation, it was an eye opener.  I loved how he said that he didn’t save the world, he saved Clara and the world got lucky.  He had a sense of duty that was honor bound in relation to Clara – and that even extended to him telling her to remember him, but to be sure she didn’t dwell on him.

The realization by Clara and the Doctor that they had lied to each other with the other’s best interests at heart, but that that honesty had backfired.  Why did the Doctor end up going to what looked like the volcano from Clara’s dream in Dark Water?  I’m pretty sure it was that place.  I wonder if the Doctor had despaired in some way?

@phaseshift Right down to the Christmas crackers, the Doctor and Clara were reversed.  It was touching to see him help her pull the cracker just as she had done for him a year ago.  That finale was beautiful.  I wonder if that was the original ending if indeed Clara was originally set to depart.  We would have found out that she had had a life, though I think the ending as is is better.  The Doctor once more knows who he is and Clara has found a way to not dwell on her grief, but to remember Danny always while still moving on.

 

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Really unexpected, from start to finish – and all in a good way.  I think that Danny truly found a way to reach out to her so she could begin healing – and we saw the Doctor finally grow back into himself.

A Christmas Carol still remains my favorite, but this is a great one.  Overall, I think Moffatt has done an exemplary job with Christmas specials, but this one raised the game again.

So glad to see that Clara is returning.

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@fonsini As an American I can assure you that I took no offense.  I also happen to be an active church going American, yet still took no offense and saw it as a funny line and not a bigoted one.  I think the tongue was firmly implanted in the cheek by Moffat.  He and the BBC know that the show is growing in popularity in the US, so they aren’t going to be negative.  Besides, there’s a history of polite jabbing across the pond.

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@zackyclear I’m not sure either why the robots were searching for the Promised Land.  Same goes for the clockwork droids.  We did see Missy plucking out characters from the Doctor’s timeline, but that could just have been for research purposes as she constructed her plans.  I don’t think we have every answer yet.  Moffat gave us “Silence will fall” at the beginning of Series 5 and we didn’t figure out why until Time of the Doctor.  He often leaves mysteries for the future or creates new ones when he finishes a storyline.  We were left asking who blew up the TARDIS at the end of Series 5, an answer we did find out in Series 6 kinda, though the full answer came in Time of the Doctor.

@geoffers I had not heard that Smith was originally going to continue for Series 8.  Granted, I have only followed the show for a year.  The 50th Anniversary pulled me in after years of avoiding it.  So I had known Smith was departing as I binge watched all of the revived series.  I wonder if we would have gotten the same character arc if he had stayed.  It was my feeling that Moffat long had had a conclusion in mind for Smith’s departure by planting Trenzalore at the end of Series 6.  Then Series 7 came without a unifying plot arc.  The Impossible Girl didn’t rear her head until The Snowmen.  The first part of Series 7 just seemed to be a series of disconnected adventures.  I enjoyed that, though was sad to see Rory and Amy go.  I wonder if Moffat was going to just stick with single episodes for a time.

I think Matt chose a good time to leave.  It wrapped up well in my mind and gave us Series 8, a series I have greatly enjoyed.  I’m not sure that we would have gotten Capaldi a year later and I think he is brilliant.

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@IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan Any summary for those of us not fortunate enough to live in the UK?  It would take some work to get iPlayer to work in Florida, methinks.  Though I probably can find it somewhere eventually.

Now that Series 8 is over, I at least get to re-watch it and then go back to brushing up on Classic Who.  It’s a good thing that Hulu Plus has most of it over here in the US.  They’ve even added a few of the recently returned episodes.  I hope eventually they’ll add stories like The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase, and The Invasion (guess I’ll continue the focus on the Cybermen).

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@mudlark I don’t think Missy was lying about Gallifrey.  The interesting thing is that she states quite plainly that it is in another dimension but gives the Doctor coordinates in normal space.  Was the Doctor not really listening when she spoke?  I knew she was lying at the end because that statement contradicted her original statement.  I think the original is true.  Gallifrey is not lost, but it is in another dimension.  How is that dimension accessed?  Did Missy find a way out and is it a two way passage?

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@barnable I’m pretty sure it was Missy that tipped UNIT off.  We heard her go through a series of accents in the episode, including a Scottish one when she was telling Osgood that she was going to kill her.  I think Missy was cluing Osgood in at that point that she had called UNIT and they had fallen into a trap.

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@IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan Absolutely.  Great point on Missy/Master.  I tire of so many stories in different genres painting the villains as misunderstood.  It was an issue I had with Raimi’s Spiderman films.  Almost always, the villain was just misunderstood or a victim.  There is a bit of room for that on occasion, but it become a theme.  It’s very post-modern in a way, an attempt to make everything subjective – except everything is not always subjective.  Some people are just evil.  Hitler was not misunderstood or a victim, he was a genocidal madman.  The Doctor may just be a madman with a box, but he’s a madman with a box that is looking for adventure and trying to help where he can.  The Master is a narcissistic madman that cares for no one but him/herself and his/her own feelings and desires.

As for Star Trek III – the Grissom was not meant to be destroyed by Commander Kruge.  He wanted the engines disabled and was angling to take hostages – very unKlingon.  The gunner misfired and was vaporized for doing it.  I think that whole event was scripted to show how brutal Kruge was – and that he was without the same honor that other Klingons had.

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@bluesqueakpip Good catch on St. Nicholas.  I should have thought of that, especially since he is venerated by the Orthodox (I’m Orthodox) as a Wonderworker.  Moffat definitely has shown a tendency to highlight things such as St. Nicholas’ reputed accomplishments with great subtlety, yet he builds those things in so often.

Of course we know that the Doctor has met “the fat fella” before.  He says as much in A Christmas Carol and shows off a picture of him with Father Christmas at a hunting lodge with Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra in the 1950s.  Of course, he could have been making it all up.  For all we know, the picture could have been psychic paper.

Certainly looking forward to Nick Frost in the role.  His name indicates that he has long been meant to star in a Christmas special.

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@arbutus I thoroughly enjoyed Series 8, though didn’t have any of those moments myself, at least not like in the past.  I did get many laughs throughout the series.

As for Clara not recognizing the women in the shop, she could have just been calling a computer shop and given a phone number to call.  Thinking about it, there may not have been any face to face contact.  Interesting thing is that Missy set up the whole Impossible Girl arc and was clearly familiar with it.  Any chance she was working with the Great Intelligence or, more likely, manipulating the GI?

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@chrissk I’m never really surprised when the Master does something that seems completely counter intuitive.  The twist fit the character, especially as depicted.  In our first encounter with her, she calls the Doctor her boyfriend.  It’s lonely being the Master and she wants someone like her.

All series, the Doctor has gotten to avoid confronting what he is exactly.  He recovered his hero persona a bit in Flatline, but he’s been a bit off since he regenerated.  I think a lot of this has to do with the trauma he has experienced over time, trauma enhanced by having Clara as a companion.  From the dialogue throughout the series, this regeneration has caused him to look at himself.

I’m thinking at this point that the purpose of his face, eyebrows and all, is to force this reflection.  #11 saw a lot of death, sadness, and sacrifice – I could see him internally desiring to take a long, hard look at himself and how he fits in with the universe.  He regenerated into an older man because that’s how he felt – no longer the young adventurer that could swashbuckle his way through his journeys.  Trenzalore had taken a toll.  The Time War had taken a toll.  Amy departing had taken a toll.  He could no longer be that, not without looking at himself first at least.

I agree that Moffat has been scaling back the Doctor.  #10 got too big and too arrogant, especially in Waters of Mars.  Even RTD saw that, so Moffat ended up having #11 begin to delete himself in the databanks and try to be a bit more inconspicuous.

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@voidstuff They could conceivably use the Zygons as an out to bring back Osgood.  We don’t know how the Zygon issue solved itself or what deals were made in their treaty when both sides didn’t know who they were.  So it’s possible that Kate and Osgood were Zygons.  Good catch.

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@beancounter Danny was sustained by his promise as a soldier.  A true soldier was not going to just be subjugated by the Cyber collective.  The obey orders, but orders that pertain to the vows they’ve made as a soldier.  That’s why Danny was horrified by killing the child.  It was not purposeful, but it betrayed his promise.  That’s where the Doctor got Danny wrong.  He thought he would just submit, but he did not.  Nor did the Brigadier.  Their promises held them firm.

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@timeloop It’s certainly not only British, so agree there.  It’s also very German as well, amongst others.  Yet it is a British show and we’ve seen an emphasis on that aspect of British nature in the past.

I’ve seen several people here and elsewhere speak of the missing joy.  I understand that, but that is purposeful.  So often in past adventures, the damage done by them was never examined.  Not very often was the damage done to the Doctor examined and most companions, especially in the modern series, get a happy ending.  Rose got her Doctor in the end.  Martha got Mickey and continued a life of adventure.  Donna unfortunately did not get to remember what had happened, but she married a nice guy and the Doctor made sure she was taken care of.  Rory and Amy went back in time, but had a great life.  Against all odds, these guys didn’t come off too damaged.

Yet we saw the scare tissue in Name of the Doctor.  As 11 said, “Time travel is damage.”  This series and the entire relationship with Clara was set up by Missy to enhance this IMHO.  Clara and the Doctor enhanced each other’s worst traits, having to up their games with one another.

Moffat seems to have taken a different angle.  Most of the time we show up and want an adventure to watch.  We see it, have some fun, clap, and never think about what really happened.  I laughed, clapped, and screamed with delight as the Doctor and his companions sailed through the sky in a carriage pulled by a shark that could swim through the air.  Yet even there some serious things went down.  A man’s life was completely rewritten so he would serve the Doctor’s purpose.  He was a fun and happy manipulator, but a manipulator nonetheless.

Moffat is exploring who the Doctor is, what he does, and why he does it.  We were warned at the beginning of the season during Into the Dalek that we were journeying into darkness.  I always thought that meant more than just for that episode.

I can see why those who are looking for joy and fun would be disappointed with this series.  There wasn’t much of it, if any at all.  Yet we have seen Moffat deliver those joyful stories – and I think we will get some of that when Santa Claus shows up at Christmas.  He was the one who crafted the seemingly dour and scary Empty Child/Doctor Dances story where #9 got to proclaim at the end “everybody lives” and we could see way back then that that was his great desire.

Yet the damage catches up with you.  He spent roughly 700 years on Trenzalore fighting for that town and planet.  He saved countless lives only to see them whither away as time moved on and he gradually grew older.  He saw the people he could not save over the years and the losses that he and others suffered.  I think Moffat decided that we could not easily just jump back into a lot of fun, exciting and joyful stories.

Then to end this series we find Osgood lost just because Missy was vindictive and jealous.  Danny, who the Doctor finally came to respect, sacrificing for all humanity.  Clara dejected and damaged herself.  Missy apparently killed, taking the knowledge of Gallifrey with her.  And the Doctor alone in his TARDIS, dejected.  Time travel is damage.  These adventures cause damage.  It was so often ignored through the life of the show, glossed over, or fixed too easily (not to say it was never explored).

Many wanted something fresh going into this series.  This seems to be largely uncharted territory.  They tried a bit of it with Colin Baker but it never came off right largely due to some terrible stories filtering through and the BBC’s waning interest in the show.  But I doubt they could have done this back in the 80s.

I do hope to see the fun and adventure come back in, but several things need to be resolved before we get there.  I’m glad for this journey down the rabbit hole.  It hasn’t left me clapping and laughing, but I have been left thinking about the implications of the story.  I like both outcomes equally well.

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@herisson I think the Doctor emphasized the right point.  We all have different dreams for our futures as we grow – and they can shift from week to week.  The Doctor may have helped this one stick a bit.  I’m not saying he was overly manipulative or that Danny would have turned out radically different, but it is conceivable that without the emphasis provided by that “big dream about Dan the Soldier Man” that the Doctor gave him, he may have moved on to another dream and had a slightly different attitude.  He was certainly not planting that intentionally, but the Doctor seems to instinctually do what is needed to save the day – even when it is giving a little boy a dream.

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@herisson I don’t really look at Amy’s departure as a sad note.  It was sad for the Doctor, yet Amy and Rory lived a wonderful life together.  They adopted a child, grew old together, and remembered their adventures.  Clara’s departure is not known yet.  Clearly Santa is not going to leave it at that.

@timeloop 12 doesn’t seem to have the empathy of 11, at least not publicly.  Yet he told Danny in this episode that he can feel what he has done.  I think 12 is gruff and rough around the edges in an attempt to protect others.  We see if in the hug and his explanation as to why he doesn’t like hugs – because they other person is hiding their face from you.  He knows people can be at their most honest then and he wishes to avoid himself and them having to address reality.  I love Matt Smith’s Doctor.  He is my Doctor, yet I don’t miss many of his aspects because they don’t work here.  I don’t think they are truly missing in 12, but buried.  He had around 700 years fighting on Trenzalore.  Lots of time to think.  Lots of lives saved.  Many people he saw die – some in the fight.  I can imagine that Matt Smith’s Doctor felt much pain over it all – even including the demise of Handles.  He got a bit broken up over that.  I think 12’s view is that he felt too much as 11.  He knows who he is.  He knows what he must do.  He knows what he must bear, but he will do it privately and without complaint.  Very British.

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@bluesqueakpip I think the “known as Danny Pink” is a note since we know he real name is Rupert.

How much did Listen contribute to setting this up?  Clara by planting the idea of Dan the Soldier Man and the Doctor giving him a big dream about that when he scrambled young Rupert’s memory.  Clara and the Doctor unwittingly encouraged the vision that would make Danny the soldier and the one guy that could save the world.

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Well that was a bit rough.  Not in the story department, but a lot of heartbreak and heartache.  Been reading through the comments and really love seeing what everyone else is thinking.

Osgood dying not too long after the Doctor basically told her she could take a trip with him – ouch.  I have to watch again, but I think Missy heard that.  I also think that is why she killed Osgood.  Vindictive, jealous, and nasty.  She probably had in her mind that the Doctor fancied her in some way.

Danny.  I really liked his character and I also like ultimately what he did to the Doctor in confronting him.  The Doctor is really a soldier after all, but he can feel every bit of pain he has caused.  Wow.  Danny saving the boy he killed was an incredible act of selflessness.  His parents would have grieved him long ago, so Danny could have easily put himself first.  He had a future with Clara – yet he sacrificed and restored a life he had cut short.  That was a beautiful bit and a wonderful act by a character that I’d love to see them find a way to bring back.  Though I must say, I’m not sure Clara deserves Danny.  Sounds harsh, but Danny is too good for her in many ways.

The Brigadier.  I was shocked when Kate fell to her death, yet it was wonderful to give the Brigadier a final hurrah and allow the Doctor a chance to salute him.  The admiration for him was there and Capaldi showed it wonderfully.

Whither Orson Pink?  Clara could still be pregnant.

I agree with those that brought up how many mythical characters and stories we have had this year, even including a “good” Dalek.  Enter Santa Claus knocking on the TARDIS’ door.  There’s more to resolve going forward.  Loved how they interrupted the credits.

Methinks Missy had a teleport ready.  However it was great for the Brigadier to step up and prevent the Doctor from directly getting blood on his hands.

Glad the Doctor noticed Danny didn’t respond to Missy.  I did too.  Really loved how he worked that out and let Danny save the day.

Need to watch this one again.  I think this elevated the series as a whole.  I really need to roll back and re-watch the entire series.

[macphisto96 @replies]

@demafromua I do think Moffat thinks ahead, at least concerning major plot points and arcs.  I think he knew where the Silence Will Fall arc was going, he just didn’t know how long it would take to get there (Matt Smith probably had a lot to do with this if Moffat always intended it to close the 11th Doctor’s story).  I think the same with River Song.  He probably didn’t have her well developed when he introduced her during RTD’s era, but I tend to think he had an idea who she was when he introduced us to Amy and Rory.

I wonder at what point he turned his eyes upon Series 8 and the return of the Master.  Probably at some point during Series 7.  It’s been interesting reading about different script writers who are given an idea to work with, but also a few things they need to incorporate into the script.   There’s a lot of freedom on one hand to let them resolve the plot of the story, but Moffat clearly knows where the show needs to go.  It has also sounded like he scripted all the Missy bits building to the end.

Reading up on this season, it is clear that Moffat had the beginning and the end before everything else was done.  Jamie Mathieson blogged that he had read the last two episode scripts before he wrote Flatline and Mummy on the Orient Express.  Moffat wanted the writers to know where the show was going, probably from both a plot point and a character development point.

 

[macphisto96 @replies]

@scaryb I think she was a Resident at a hospital.  But she willingly let the beast take her and was scared of losing her faith.  Was a good character in The God Complex.  I think she was the last to die before the Doctor cracked it – and he pleaded with her because he wanted to save her.

[macphisto96 @replies]

@scaryb I agree completely on Doctor Who being quite respectful of religions.  I recall the respect the Doctor showed to the Muslim doctor in the God Complex and also the respect shown in The Rings of Akhaten towards that people’s belief system.  When Clara asks him about whether life did originate there, he said it was what they believe and a nice story.  Here we have a time traveler that knows what really happened – or at least could know, but he’s respectful and seems to admire the people and their belief.  Same for the Muslim Doctor and then earlier we find him hiding with Monks.  It’s an endearing quality of the Doctor, at least in the past.  I think #12 may be more likely to call something rubbish or nonsense, but Matt Smith’s Doctor definitely exuded a lot of empathy.  Yet the show as a whole is very respectful, more respectful than much science fiction has often been.  I think that is one of the many aspects that make it enduring – there are many.

[macphisto96 @replies]

One thing that recently struck me in going back and looking at our other encounters with Missy is how those that “went to heaven” in prior episodes would not serve well as Cybermen.  The first was a clockwork droid.  He was a kind of cyborg since he had used organic replacement parts over time, but he is an ill fit for having his consciousness popped into a Cyberman, especially since he doesn’t have a brain.  The other two humans were both essentially incinerated or disintegrated.  It seems like Moffat made sure we got to see what happened to each.  The soldier would have been turned into goo while we see the severely charred remains of the police officer.  They look like charcoal.

It’s possible that Missy can put a consciousness into a dug up body, not just into the original body.  That’s a pretty grim prospect.

 

 

[macphisto96 @replies]

@geoffers I’m interested in discovering just how the Doctor abandoned the Master and left him/her (I’m assuming she was a he at that point) for dead.  He willingly attacked Rassillon and drove the Time Lords back into the Time War in The End of Time.  Did something happen in between that we haven’t seen.  As far as we know, 11 never encountered the Master – he had over 1,000 Master free years.  Must have been a nice respite.

Could there be an encounter with the War Doctor after the Master returned to the Time War?  Could we see John Hurt again in the future?

I also hope to see Michelle Gomez back next series.  Though we don’t know if any of the main characters are the reason for the next episode title.  Someone suggested somewhere that it would be interesting to see Missy be the Doctor’s companion in a season focused on returning Gallifrey safely from the pocket universe.  I’m not sure how that would play or if that could work, though I could see some kind of race to recover Gallifrey.  We’ll have to sort out what happens to Danny and Clara first.  I do wonder if Clara is going to make it out of this episode.  We saw Orson Pink, but that could just mean that Danny survives – and possibly travels with the Doctor (though why would he?).

Wish I could just hibernate until Saturday night.  I want to see where this is going and see what other mysteries Moffat will leave us for Christmas and beyond.  Then comes the great wait until series 9.

[macphisto96 @replies]

@geoffers If she’s leaning in from the side, it would work.  It’s just an awkward shot that has struck me as strange since I first saw it.  Part of the problem is we can’t see exactly what Clara is doing because of how high the shot is.  Always struck me as odd that it was focused on the frame like that instead of at a bit of a wider angle.  Still not sure if her shoulder is out far enough for it to work.  Mine goes out well past my chin (probably at least four inches).  Granted, I have broad shoulders, though I’m not sure a woman’s would be so much less substantial that the right shoulder would not clear the chin.

Thank you for the suggestion.  Because of that, certainly tend to agree with you at this point.  It still strikes me as a strange shot and a strange choice as an action.  I’d only use my right hand in that situation if my left was incapacitated and I am a righty.  Shame.  The idea of Missy climbing out of that portrait was an interesting one.  I’m not sure if we’ll get any type of story about how the Master escaped either before or after Gallifrey was shifted to the pocket universe this week.  It seems there’s a lot of story to tell beyond that.

[macphisto96 @replies]

@geoffers The hand coming out of the portrait is indeed a right hand, but we are on Clara’s LEFT side and she’s fairly distant.  How could she wrap her right hand around her and reach the left edge of the portrait?  I can’t even get my hand a foot away from my left shoulder if I tried that and it’s uncomfortable.  It’s an impossibility.  It could be an error, but that’s a big error.  And why focus on that hand before shifting focus to Clara.

Indeed, why show her climbing out of the portrait at all?  There was no need to show the Doctors climbing out.  We would have assumed when Clara appeared that she came with them from the portrait.  Why bother showing a hand?  Wouldn’t you be more likely to grab the bottom of the from with both hands instead?

A screen cap for your viewing pleasure.  I think that is Missy.

http://1drv.ms/1qqGwzw

[macphisto96 @replies]

Has anyone brought up the hand coming out of the Gallifrey Falls painting in Day of the Doctor?  That scene also struck me as odd because Clara was out of focus, we were on her left hand side, and the hand was clearly a right hand.  Wonder if Missy had trapped herself in the Gallifrey Falls painting during the fall of Arcadia and escaped when the Doctors did, stealing Time Lord tech that the Black Archive had acquired.

[macphisto96 @replies]

I also see how Gus’ monocle resembles the Cyberman eye when turned, so what does that have to do with everything?  Why did Missy seem disappointed when Earth was not destroyed by the coronal ejection last week?  Why was she so upset looking at the end of The Caretaker?  Did she set up the whole Skovox Blitzer problem?  Has she been trying to destroy Earth in the past, present, and future the whole series, only to have the Doctor unwittingly foil her at every turn?

One big thing to note that may have implications for Mr. Pink.  We have seen Missy inside the Nethersphere and outside of it.  We don’t know where she was at the end of Flatline and In The Forest of the Night, but it is a pretty sure bet that she was inside the Nethersphere during all of out other encounters.  So she likely has the ability to jump between the two.

I also wonder if Danny is dead or if the accident was staged to get the Doctor to 3W.  Missy didn’t seem surprised to see him.  Missy possibly could go in stasis or something of the sort when she goes into the Nethersphere – so Danny could be in a similar state.

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