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@tardigrade I’m not sure I agree with you about him forgetting almost everything and abdicating responsibility. Clearly he knows what he did, and his role in it. After all, he is the one telling Clara the story … about what he did as a result of her. The only thing is, he doesn’t realize it’s Clara he is talking to, because his memory of her…[Read more]

@tardigrade

Working my way through comments, so only on page 1. Apologies if other people have already raised these points.

To complete the emotional arc of the story, Clara has to face the raven.

No. That’s the emotional arc of a tragedy. As I’ve said before, it’s the Doctor who thinks he’s playing the starring role in a tragedy. However,…[Read more]

@Avaris     BBC can really do a Paternoster Gang and Clara Who Spinoff.  It will be quite (a-hem) interesting character relation between Vastra, Jenny, Clara and Ashildr. This will be just very weird. But I bet every episode will pass the Bechdel Test for sure.     Throw in River Song! How anyone can say that Moffat doesn’t write strong fema…[Read more]

@supernumerary   @tardigrade

You both make some good points. The fact is that those who feel strongly that Clara should have died will of course not be happy with this outcome, and fair enough. I could have lived with her death because it was well done, and appropriate in all the ways we have discussed. I’m not unhappy with this outcome, how…[Read more]

@tardigrade– he asked ‘how many regenerations’. The man said ten. Therefore, not fatal.

If any bonkers theorist had come up with a short version of that plot ahead of the episode and posted it, I’d have thought they were in serious need of a long lie down in a darkened room with a pot of coffee and twelve jammy dodgers. But I thought it worked beautifully. For me, Clara’s original death was a big surprise. It had been flagged up all…[Read more]

@supernumerary @tardigrade see I feel that Clara’s departure was kind of a way to appease all.
– She survived
– Her journey from Apprentice to Magician, follower to leader, is complete, nicely closing that arc
– Ashildr finally got to travel in time and space
– It doesn’t change the nobleness of her sacrifice for Rigsy in any way
– Eventually she…[Read more]

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@puroandson  SM does not bother with over explaining. Much of his work is metaphorical with a layer also easily understood by children  Very good point. And it seems to me modern day children are much more sophisticated `consumers’ of images and TV than my generation was.

@pedant  That a few don’t get picked up on (most notable, I guess, Jenn…[Read more]

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@tardigrade

…, then she might plausibly be part TL in some sense (River Song certainly seemed to be following exposure to the time vortex in utero).

For a while now, and for this reason, I’ve been thinking the hybrid is River Song. Of course, all my other theories have amounted to zilch, so this one probably will, too.

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@tardigrade  It did occur to me though that Missy was the previous curator of “Heaven”, so might point to her involvement and the Doctor’s experience in the confession dial perhaps being similar to those of her earlier “clients” in the virtual heaven – that’s probably reading too much into it though 🙂.

I think I like your interpretation…[Read more]

@tardigrade    He might have considered writing “keep spade” instead of “bird” one time though , since the point of that spade would be pretty useful against the wall compared to his fist    Yes, that would have been practical!

Interesting thought about Missy as we know she definitely “sent” Clara to the Doctor. And even thought the Doctor is on…[Read more]

There have been a lot of interesting ideas about the virtual vs. physical reality of events in the episode and it’s all wonderful. I’m inclined to lean toward the “subjective” rather than “objective” interpretation, although not strongly in support of any one description of exactly how/why that works. Lots of people have had very creative th…[Read more]