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@ichabod  wrote:

I’m inclined to agree — partly because of the context in which that end will occur: a big shift in the direction and tone of the show itself after Capaldi and Moffat and most of Moffat’s writing crew are gone; a shift, I expect, away from brilliance and complexity and boldness

This is awfully true.  And I do think poor Twelve…[Read more]

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@lisa Yes, I think the reason he regards Missy as “the other last of the Time Lords” stems from their being the only two who exist in the wider universe anymore — since all the others, cruel and cowardly lot that they are, have chosen to hide at a point the end of time and space, where there apparently aren’t many places left to go (as “Hell…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave From what little Moffat’s said about the finale and Christmas show, the finale may well be tragic, but the Christmas show will be hopeful.  You’re right that Twelve has lost so much.  But maybe he has to lose everything for one great moment?  He has done nothing to not deserve to know a last moment of hope.  Perhaps Clara wil…[Read more]

@nerys I agree with you on this too.  (Sniff)

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@tardigrade All that’s certain is that the execution that wasn’t was “A long time ago” — at least from the Doctor’s perspective.

@constance  Yeah, the shooting and regeneration-that-wasn’t was just awkward conceptually.  As the DoctorWhoTV.co.uk advance review put it, the whole thing seemed designed to provide a “shock trailer moment”.

But also, sometimes all we have are bad choices, but we still have to choose, as he told Clara once…  😉

@lisa  I wasn’t bothered by the Appalling Hair Girl line — this Doctor does tend to be casually insensitive when he’s grumpy (as he was there) in a hurry and the like, and it fits in with his preference for nicknaming others.  P.E., Sexy One, Lofty and the rest…Heck, even Clara wasn’t immune to comments about her appearance in Series 8…[Read more]

@nerys @ichabod I agree that there was only so far this episode could go and still be family-friendly.  Many critics and viewers wanted the Doctor to have either truly sided with the Monks or have been brainwashed, from my understanding, and have the episode just deal with that.

If he’d been sincere he no longer could be seen as a hero at all,…[Read more]

@constance The idea of the Doctor being affected by Missy is interesting, though his brooding, fear, manic moods,etc. go at least as far back as “Listen”.  And of course, he has been through a lot of heartache and psychological trauma…and here, six months of putting on a facade to the Monks and the public, claiming to be one thing while being…[Read more]

@mirime  This is a good point.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember watching the show in the here and now, but the Doctor and his companions have dealt with tons of traumatic situations and invasions like this in varying points of Earth’s timeline since the early days.  The main difference, I think, is that the aftermath is given a little more th…[Read more]

@thane15 I must apologize for my hemming and hawing here Puro — somehow your comment about the Doctor doing his best with what he had (regarding his position with the munks) slipped my mind-net like a magic haddock.  He had bad choices but he still had to choose, and he did the best he could.  Many good souls have done the sorts of things he d…[Read more]

@nick That’s a depressing thought.  His story should come to an end on a note of hope, after all he’s been through… (and you forgot losing Clara and the memory lobotomy, and having no home world because he was evilly betrayed…). 🙁

@whisht — Glad I could be of service!  😉

Lovely as the climax/denouement is, I really am bothered by the Doctor and Bill not feeling remorse for all the lives lost in this story, given that it was her bargain with the Monks and his serving as a propaganda mouthpiece for them that resulted in so many innocents going to their doom.  The Doctor d…[Read more]

@ichabod  I think what Moffat and co. meant about Bill not being “special” was that she does not enter the story as having some great mystery surrounding her, as Amy Pond did with the crack in her bedroom, or Clara Oswald did with her multiple lives.  Bill really is “just” a cafeteria worker with little means and little really fulfilling in l…[Read more]

@miapatrick  Yeah, the fake-out regeneration was especially odd because he was so stingy with energy when it came to his blindness!  If he can control the energy that well…(shrug)

As I said — it would have been cooler if he had been brainwashed, whereupon shooting him and triggering a quasi-regeneration would reset his mind to “factory s…[Read more]

@miapatrick An interesting take on why Bill took it out on Nardole!  And yeah, I do agree about the Doctor being pragmatic with regards to being the propaganda minister.  Maybe the wrap-up should have gone into more detail on stuff like that — my understanding is that this one barely clocks in at 40 minutes without ads as it is; they had the t…[Read more]