Doctor Who: Death in Heaven


JZLobo's avatar
So, um... that was a thing. Of course, no explanation how the Master escaped Gallifrey... not that I was really expecting one. With Moffat, things just happen.

Danny had a proper send-off. That's all I have to say about that. It probably woould have been more impactfull if Danny was actually interesting. He was always a meh character.

I'm hoping Clara will stay gone... but I doubt we're that lucky. How can they be "best friends" when ALL they do is lie to each other?

The Master was magnificent. I did not see the twist coming--that it was "all for the Doctor." And the ethical conundrum it presented was, maybe, one of the best moments in Doctor Who. Now THIS is what I have been waiting for in the Capaldi Era, some nice darker, morally complex moments.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Brig moment. I can't decide if it was a nice shout-out, or a quite literal desecration. (I'm just glad I managed to introduce my kid cousin to Brigadier-General Allistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart before this episode.)

And... then we had that Christmas special teaser. It was cute. The Doctor meeting Santa will be either very, very good, or very, very terrible.
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Shidaku's avatar
When did The Master get back to Gallifrey?  Wouldn't that have been better suited for being explained back in The Master's return appearance with Tennant?  At this point I don't think it's worth digging into.

I'm sad they killed Danny, but yeah he was always sort of a 'meh' character.  As far as 'the boyfriends of the doctor's companion' goes, Rory was probably the least 'meh', at least between Danny, Rory and Mickey.  Mickey started being cool when he stopped being a 3rd wheel, so while he was cool sort of disqualifies him.  Captain Jack doesn't really count.

I think that's the point, the lying.

I was really "meh" about the Cybermen throughout the whole thing, the whole point of them being there was seemingly to humanize them, which I don't think went off very well since it was 100% focused on Danny.  I like the Cybermen for being something of a shiny cross between the Borg and a Dalek, they really are quite scary and in this one they mostly just wandered around...doing...stuff.

The last time the Master showed up, there was great lead-in, little things in every episode built up to everything in the Master's appearance.  This time it was just 'oh look, Master!  no, Mistress!"  "ooo Cybermen!" "The President kills the master!  plot twist!"  "The Master is less of a raving lunatic!  Now she's just obsessed with the Doctor and the sexual overtones are way played down!"  I dunno.  I was left very "meh" by the second half of the finale.
JZLobo's avatar
The Master got sealed away with the rest of the Time Lords in Tennant's final story.
TheBlack-Kat's avatar
I have mixed feelings about this episode.
On the one hand, I really loved Missy (even the Mary Poppins nods, had a good snigger when she floated in with her brolly).  On the other, the story didn't hold up as well as the first part did.  Not that I'm surprised, NuWho two-parters have a "reputation." 
Part of the problem was I just don't care about Danny Pink and Clara, if I did I might have been more invested in their plight ala Amy and Rory, but I really didn't care (at least Danny stayed dead, I was so worried he was going to come back through the portal. The kid coming through was lame but at least it wasn't Danny.)
I'm also not fond of The Brigadier moment, though I seem to be in the minority there.  I think he got a nice sendoff in The Wedding of River Song and that was all that was needed, but no!  He comes back as a cyberman!  And flies off!!!  I think that's my beef, actually.  Do not like the flying cybermen!  On the other side I was having issues with Danny being the only one resisting the conversion.  I mean really, just the one?  So it was good to see there actually were others.

All in all, a bit of a let down this season.  I was expecting the season arc to involve the finding of Galifrey, but apparently the knowledge that it was still there is enough for the Doctor.  He only became interested in it again when The Master mentioned it.

Still, like I did with Rose Tyler I'm holding out hope that the series will improve again once Clara leaves (I didn't mind her last season, now I want her gone!!!  Sick of her!  Liked her when she was a Dalek!).  I think it is on the right track, at least for me.  This season was more individual stories rather then Moffat trying to be clever and I much prefer that.  For now I'm just going to assume the writers have gotten out of that habit and need to get back into it again (and have a more interesting companion to write about).
JZLobo's avatar
This season completely forgot the setup we had in the first episode, where the Doctor vowed to do something about all his mistakes. Nowhere in the season did he do any such thing, which was a huge disappointment.
Cenaris's avatar
That Brigadier moment.
LadyAnder's avatar
I've nothing to say about this episode that I have had for other episodes. Since the the skin covering the part of me that is a fan of this show isn't completely covered in 3rd degree burns. I can make it through the Christmas special and everything will be okay, right? Right? Oh look Santa. *sigh*
JZLobo's avatar
Brave heart, LadyAnder.
Bluetabbycat's avatar
I think this last two-parter was probably the best episode of the new series. Like you said, the Cybermen all being for the Doctor was a good twist, and I really liked how the Master was female this time (she was magnificently mad) and how she was mentioned in previous episodes and how that all culminated together at the end. Then again, they have done that before (with much more dramatic effect, I think) when they did the Bad Wolf thing.
JZLobo's avatar
None of the "nethersphere" scenes throughout the season intrigued me. All of Moffat's season finales have been a letdown in some way or another (this being easily the least sucky one), so I really couldn't get invested in any of the foreshadowing.
SherbertTCat's avatar
I loved this episode, from start to finish!
The part where IronBrig and the Doctor salute one another got me right in the feels, and then IronBrig blasted off...to adventure, perhaps?
I was visiting family this weekend, and saw it with my 74 year old mother, who is apparently a bit fan of Nick Frost, as the part with Santa made her giddy.
JZLobo's avatar
I assumed CyberBrig flew off to self-destruct with the others.
SherbertTCat's avatar
We don't know for sure. That's the fun of it.
Powerglove42's avatar
I think this was the best Cybermen episode of the new series. Not saying much, but it was. I also personally thought that it was the saddest episode of the new series. Danny dying, Osgood getting murderes, the whole thing with the Brig, Clara and the Doctor's final moments, hell, if it wasn't for Santa, I very well may have just killed myself.

Okay, maybe that's a bit much...
JZLobo's avatar
Osgood was just cheap shock value. I couldn't have given two shits about Danny, after his poor characterization all season.
Powerglove42's avatar
Personally, I thought Osgood's death really added to the story. It gave you this feeling that ANYONE could be the Masters next victim.
LionesseRampant's avatar
Ugh. I just. Moffat. Can we please get someone to be show-runner who actually knows how to write convincing characters? And follow past things that have happened in Who? Please?
Shivver13's avatar
This. Both points. Just this.
SherbertTCat's avatar
Every time someone whines about Moffat, I grow more powerful.
JZLobo's avatar
Mischaracterization was the biggest flaw of  this season.
LionesseRampant's avatar
I definitely agree.
Paul-A-Newman's avatar
I'll say it -- I love Clara and hope that she comes back.  I think she's a great counter-point to the darker Doctor and love the enthusiasm she has for adventure.  Really, she has a Doctor-like glee about her that is great.  Without her I doubt I would have bothered watching the entire season.

The season has been pretty meh.  The problem is Moffet just doesn't seem to want to write villains.  Every time it seems someone wants to conquer or destroy it turns out to be a lot of nothing.  Even this episode, with cybermen going to use the dead to take over the world ends up being about someone wanting to be friends.  The "something under the bed" episode, the moon episode...it's like the Doctor isn't there to save people anymore, he is there to convince them to do nothing because really everything is okay.  Which is fine here and there to make a point, I guess, but part of the fun of the Doctor is that he sees people trying to do wrong and stands up to stop them.  This season has all been a bit of a miss. 
JZLobo's avatar
A counter-point to the darker Doctor? Did you see the scene where she locked him out of the TARDIS and threw all the keys into the volcano, just to get her fuckbuddy back? That's darker and more selfish than anything any incarnation of the Doctor did, ever.