"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Doctor Who: Series 8, Episode 12 – “Death in Heaven” (2014)

 
Once again, it’s hard to talk about the season finale without spoilers.  Maybe next week – there’s plenty of fodder to last the Sunday Who review quite a while.  Overall impressions:  flashes of greatness, some terrific scenes for Peter Capaldi, nice appearances by characters I like, maddening illogical leaps, some blatant emotional manipulation, and serious messiness throughout.  Ultimately, I come out on the side of liking it, but it’s frustrating, because this show is capable of so much better and PC can be incredible when they let him.
 
I’ll start with what little of the plot I can describe.  The major threat presented by Missy and her invading-alien buddies is major enough for UNIT involvement, so yay!  On all sides, the Doctor is offered/forced to accept power and position he doesn’t want, and the episode delves into what the Doctor is made of in a reasonably satisfying way.  There are some fine horror bits, Missy shows how genuinely menacing she can be, and the Doctor once again proves a far better friend to Clara than she is to him.  (more on them another day – I have a lot of Twelve-Clara opinions.)
 
I’m glad that we get some decent focus on the Doctor.  It’s his show and I want to see him explored.  The episode goes about it in a bit of a clunky way, starting with his wildly-over-the-top prejudice against soldiers and a fair amount of contrived plotting, but it makes its way to some good points and the Doctor coming to better conclusions about himself.  It’s something the show has needed for quite a while, and it’s great to finally make some headway on that front.  Other than that, the best parts of the episode are the interactions between the Doctor and Missy.  They’re just about perfect going up against each other, and the more I think about Missy’s end-game plan, involving layers upon layers of twisted mind games designed to mess with the Doctor, the more fitting it seems.  I hope we see more of her in the future; she’s a fine baddie.
 
The plot holes, shoddy logic, and lazy “science” are harder to take.  As the culminating wrap-up to Twelve’s first season, it feels sloppy – a lot of flash and not much thought.  There are tons of plot elements that come apart like loose threads if you think about them even a little bit, and no sci-fi fan likes to see that.  Granted, Who’s general whimsy and big heart give it more leeway in that area, but there’s only so far you can stretch it, and Moffat comes awfully close to hitting his limit here.  I just like seeing more care paid to the making of one of my favorite shows.
 
Clara is only okay.  She has to rely on some quick thinking to get herself out of a tight spot, but overall, she’s far more focused on her personal drama than the global alien threat.  I knows she’s dealing with some heavy stuff, but come on!  Devastation raining down from the skies and coming up through the ground, the entire planet in grave danger – big picture, Clara!
 
I’ve of two minds about our sneak peek into the Christmas special.  On the one hand, I was rolling my eyes hard.  On the other, a gigantic grin spread across my face when I saw who was playing him.  Okay, Who, you win – color me excited.
 
I don’t know how I made it through the whole season without mentioning Chris Addison (Ollie from The Thick of It) in his recurring role in the Nethersphere bits.  Love him, but I’m almost glad he and the Doctor never interact; the cognitive dissonance might have been a little much for me to take.

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