Writer: Steven Moffat
Director: Rachel Talalay
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Maisie Williams, Donald Sumpter, Ken Bones, Clare Higgins
Synopsis: Betrayed by his own people, the Doctor returns to Gallifrey to exact revenge.
Verdict:
Appearances can be deceiving. If anyone saw the trailer for Hell Bent at the end of last week’s episode, it wouldn’t be wrong to believe that the episode would be an explosive finale, focusing on our main character going rogue and conquering his own planet! Instead though, writer Steven Moffat cleverly cheats the audience, delivering a much-more personal and character driven finale. Still epic, but not in the ways we’ve been led to expect.
If anything, the real satisfying element of Hell Bent is just how much of a small, personal story it becomes, despite the big grandiose trappings it finds itself set in. Ultimately, it becomes a very simple story of the Doctor trying to save the life of his best friend by manipulating the Time Lords into once again making him Lord President of Gallifrey. Well, wouldn’t you, given the chance?
But does Hell Bent truly satisfy as a finale? For the most part, yes. Taking multiple story threads that have been left hanging, not just from this season, but also the previous two, Moffat ties everything up neatly, revealing answers to immediate questions such the identity of the Hybrid, the ultimate fate of Ashildr, what happened to Gallifrey, and why Missy worked so desperately hard to put the Doctor and Clara together in the first place.
Which brings us to Clara. Let’s face it, we all knew her death in Face the Raven wasn’t going to be her final appearance. However, what’s great about her ultimate fate in this episode is how it doesn’t undermine or rewrite her dramatic death scene at all, yet still ending on a more hopeful and cheeky note. Her final scene gives her character (and Ashildr’s) some much required closure. Essentially becoming the Doctor, complete with a faulty TARDIS and a companion, its a very big middle finger to Clara-haters across the whole of Who fandom from Steven Moffat. Its gloriously insane yet oddly right.
If anything, the resolution to her storyline does bring the awkward arc plot concerning her recklessness to a decent, rounded endpoint. The decision to limit her character’s personal involvement in stories this year, as opposed to her centre-stage role in Season 8, was certainly a wrong turn, though these final 3 episodes certainly make up for that fact.
Much praise to Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi here, who pour their heart and soul into the scenes between to the two companions, especially their frankly-electrifying scenes set aboard the TARDIS and the poignant book-ending exchanges in the diner. The chemistry between them has always been astonishing, and here it pays off in buckets. Much how the Fourth Doctor had a quintessential companion in Sarah-Jane Smith, the Twelfth Doctor and Clara will be remembered as one of the best Doctor/Companion pair-ups in the show’s history.
In and among all the sad farewells, Moffat also finds the time to add and play around with established Gallifrey mythology, as well as tying up the Hybrid storyline in a manner that provides answers, albeit not definitive ones. Is it Ashildr? The Doctor & Clara? Or is it the Doctor, as a result of his unusual parentage (a cheeky nod to the 1996 TV Movie there!)? If we’re honest, the lack of a definite answer actually works. After all, the Hybrid arc hasn’t really been the driving force behind this season at all, has it?
There’s a lot going on in Hell Bent, but the episode never feels overstuffed. The opening scenes in the diner, the Doctor’s return to his childhood home, all the scenes in Gallifrey High Command and the Cloisters, the heart wrenching final scenes aboard the classic TARDIS set – it all segues together nicely in a narrative that flows nicely from emotional beat to emotional beat, resulting in one of the strongest, more consistent finales the show has delivered in quite some time. The final big moment in the TARDIS as Twelve dons his new jacket and Sonic Screwdriver, setting out on new adventures in time and space provides a hopeful and triumphant ending to what has really been one of the best seasons of Doctor Who in quite some time!
Best Bit:
The first 10 minutes or so after the opening titles feature Capaldi on top form, barely saying a word, yet menacing and imposing as he returns home, drawing a line in the sand to intimidate his fellow Time Lords, all before finally confronting Rassilon and the General in a tense western-style exchange. Its a tension soaked 10 minutes, to say the very least.
Best Line(s):
The Doctor play’s Murray Gold’s Clara Theme on his guitar.
Clara: Is is a sad song?
The Doctor: Nothing’s sad till its over. Then everything is.
Clara: Whats it called?
The Doctor: I think that its called…Clara.
Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Christmas Day at 5.15pm.
