Alright, last week’s episode was the best of the season. It made me believe “Oh yeah, this is the guy who wrote “Blink” and “Listen”.” Can the conclusion to this story keep up the momentum? Let’s see…
Be Warned: There will be massive spoilers here.
1.Continuity
Look, I am not one to get mad at continuity. When used well (like in “Starman” or a great deal of Al Ewing’s writings), it can be a great spice to a story. When. Used. Well. Because maaaaaaaan does Moffat throw up a load of continuity nods in this episode. The Time Lords, Daleks, Cyberman, Weeping Angels, the Time War, Rassilon, the Matrix, the original TARDIS control room. My problem here is that it feels very abrasive to the point of annoyance at times.
2. The Hybrid
Now, I’m not going to spoil what exactly the Hybrid is here. Whether it was the Doctor, Clara, Ashildr, e.t.c. What I am going to talk about is that, for all intents and purposes, Gallifrey’s presence in this episode was specific to one thing: Resurrecting Clara. Oh, sorry, she’s not “alive”, she was plucked out of the end of her time stream, that moment before her final heartbeat. And she’s essentially time locked in that state, meaning she won’t age now. That’s really all the purpose Gallifrey serves in this episode.
3. This Felt Familiar
Also, because the Time Lords could potentially track Clara if she has memories of him, the Doctor plans to wipe her memories of him to make sure she’s safe from them bringing her back to the time of her death. Clara hears the Doctor talking about this plan with Ashildr and messes with the device the Doctor plans to use to wipe her memories. Now, it’s a crapshoot whether the device will wipe Clara’s memories of the Doctor or the Doctor’s memories of Clara. If this sounds kind of familiar to those who watched the Tenth Doctor’s tenure, specifically what happened to Donna Noble -still the best New Who companion- then it’s okay, it only means you’re sane. The results of this, as well as everything else in this episode, lead me to one conclusion…
4. Final Thoughts
“Fuck You.”
Those were the words that came out of my mouth the moment the credits to this episode rolled, as well as several times as I wrote this review. In the end, the device wipes the Doctor’s memories of Clara (specifically, he remembers events with her, but not her face or what she sounds like. He tells all this to Clara, who at this point he doesn’t recognize!) and he goes off while Ashildr and the now immortal and not dead Clara go off in a different TARDIS on their own adventures.
Again, “Fuck You”. Because, over the last few years, there has been a big deal about the Doctor not liking endings. It’s even discussed here. But the truth is, it’s not the Doctor that doesn’t like endings, it’s Steven Moffat that doesn’t like ‘em.
Let me preface this upcoming rant with something: I don’t normally rag on Steven Moffat. I think most of the criticism he has gained could be applied to any era of Who. Most of the criticism. But this episode is chock full of criticisms that are all his. Specifically: 1. He is obsessed with the whole “Everyone Lives” bullshit and 2. He is obsessed with creating consequences and then immediately negating them. Clara dies in “Face the Raven”! The Doctor feels a lot of grief and guilt that a companion died! Psych! Clara’s back from the dead and immortal! Oh and the Doctor has lost his memories of Clara and the literal 4.5 Billion year’s worth of grief. So, hooray, let’s negate and diminish the effects and consequences of one’s actions, because that’s such a happy ending. Christ, Moffat would have a lot in common with Big 2 superhero companies, because they hate their books having actual consequences that can be ignored, retconned or thrown out (see: the Post-Civil War mind wipe Tony Stark received).
I struggled to think which episode of the season I hated more: this or the Zygon two-parter. In the end, I think I hate this one more. The Zygon two-parter I hated a lot because of its underlying faulty and naive politics. This one I hate because it’s lazy writing with an undeserved “happy ending” because the showrunner is obsessed with a “happy ending”. Like, I didn’t even talk about the acting or such from anything in this episode because the writing was so unforgivable to me.
Continued belowIt really does hammer home something: Moffat may hate endings, but his tenure as Doctor Who’s showrunner needs to end. He really needed to bow out when Smith left, have the show go in a fresh direction with the fresh Doctor. And that’s not to say Moffat is a bad writer. When I think of “Heaven Sent” as its own thing and not attached to… this, that’s an episode that had all of Moffat’s strengths on display. “Hell Bent” had all of Moffat’s weaknesses on full throttle. It was a poor follow up to “Heaven Sent”, It was a poor season finale (Admittedly, better than last season’s “Death in Heaven”) and just a poor episode of a show that really needs to spruce up a bit in the behind the scenes creative department. This is a world where I’ve got “The Flash” and “Ivar, Timewalker (only for one more issue, but I had way more fun with “Timewalker”’s twelve issues than I’ve had this season with Who). This show needs a new creative head to take it into more ambitious waters.
So, that’s that. Season’s up. My time is over. Which is good, glad I can take a brea…hmmm? What’s that? “Christmas special? With River Song?”
…Oh Dear…
