Doctor Who Series 8 Finale

This review contains HUGE spoilers for the Doctor Who Series 8 finale, as well as spoilers from Steven Moffat and possible fan theories. You’ve been warned.

Doctor Who "Death in Heaven" Promo. (Peter Capaldi, Michelle Gomez, Jenna Coleman. BBC)

The finale of Season 8 left many open-ended questions and was quite heart breaking.

First, Danny’s (Samuel Anderson) death from the last episode continued to be painful. Especially as he was had to confront Clara as a Cyberman and later decide whether to save the boy he killed or go back to Clara (Jenna Coleman). The death of Osgood (Ingrid Oliver) was, to me, even more devastating than Danny. Osgood’s character was one of the only things I liked about the 50^th Anniversary special. I had convinced myself that she was going to be the next companion to travel with the Doctor and I was so excited to get to know her better. But that will never be.

Now, we are going to be getting into the more spoiler-y topics so turn back if you haven’t seen the last episode.

I think my favorite part of this episode was Missy and the Doctor’s relationship and dynamic. Of course, any Doctor and Master episode I love. I was a little nervous because I had loved the relationship between John Simm’s Master and David Tennant’s Doctor.  But I thought Michelle Gomez did fabulously as the first Master Time-Lady and her banter and craziness with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor was funny and witty and generally amazing. I’ve always loved the Master (not as a person because s/he’s terrible, but as a character) and Gomez’s version was so clever and intriguing. I hope she comes back in the future before the Master has another regeneration.

On that note, while the episode left Missy’s survival open ended after being shot by a Cyberman (which I’ll talk more about later) Moffat has since confirmed that Master does live on, although he hasn’t said if Gomez will reprise in the role. I hope she does. I loved her in these two episodes and I thought her Master foiled Capaldi's Doctor perfectly. 

Missy and the Doctor in "Dark Water" Promo. BBC

Now, let’s talk about that cyberman now, that is almost certainly the Brigadier, Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, from Classic Who.  The Brigadier is one of my favorite Classic Who characters and one of the most beloved in the fandom. It was kind of great but kind of worrying that he may be alive but in Cyberman form. I loved that he saved Kate Steward, his daughter, when she went out of the plane. I wish him catching her would have been showed in the episode. I also loved that the Doctor saluted him. As the Doctor said earlier in the episode, he wouldn’t salute anyone but the Brigadier. But it is little worrying to me if he is in Cyberman form . As we have seen through Danny and other episodes of Doctor Who like “Nightmare in Silver” for a human to be alive and conscious inside of a Cyberman is painful and torturous. I would hate to think the Brigadier would be suffering through that. His fate was also left open ended, but I highly doubt the Cyberman Brigadier will return.

The last thing I’m going to talk about is the ending for Clara and the Doctor. It was so hard to see them both lie to one another, thinking they were helping the other. To recap, Clara told the Doctor that Danny was back so he wouldn’t worry about her on her own. The Doctor told Clara he had found Gallifrey so that she wouldn’t worry about him and could just be happy with Danny. Neither of which were true. Their hug at the end was heartbreaking and very revealing about both of them. The Doctor saying “never trust a hug. It’s just a way to hide your face” was so true for both of them that it was so depressing and devastating to watch them both try to be brave for one another.

The last thing I’m going to talk about is a wide spread theory that I completely believe, but it hasn’t been confirmed by anyone associated with the show. If you don’t want to read about it, stop here. Basically, a lot of people including myself are convinced that Clara is pregnant. When Clara met the Doctor at the coffee shop it seemed like there was more she was planning on telling him than just that Danny didn’t return. Also, there was a note earlier on in the episode in Clara’s apartment that read “3 months”.

Finally, if Clara was pregnant, it would explain the appearance of Orson Pink in the episode “Listen”. Because as of now, Danny has no children to continue his line, so Orson would have never existed. If Orson never exsisted, the Doctor and Clara’s timelines from “Listen” would drastically change the course of their lives, because they never would have gone to the end of the universe and Clara never would have met the young Doctor. This would change everything, so somehow Danny has to have a child. Even without Orson, Clara being pregnant is a logical step since Clara is alone on Earth and the Doctor is travelling alone again. I think this will be addressed in the Christmas special, but I doubt Clara will ever travel full time with the Doctor again.

I thought this was a great ending to Peter Capaldi’s debut season as the Doctor. I’m excited to see what the Christmas special brings this year.