Doctor Who: 912 – “Hell Bent” (2015)

Not a whole lot to be said without spoilers, but I’ll do my best.  My thoughts on the episode are still sorting themselves out.  I think it was kind of nice, but I also think it was pretty annoying, so there’s that.  I think it makes me optimistic for things to come?  (Optimistic overall, but in particular, the Christmas special looks like a delightful romp.)

Here’s the basics:  the Doctor is as mad as hell, and he’s not going to take this anymore.  He goes on one of his most epic “Time is not the boss of me!” tears of all time, never a good look for him, but bless Peter Capaldi, he mostly makes it work.  There are old faces, continuity nods to classic and new Who alike, arc resolutions and sort-of resolutions that don’t make a surfeit of sense, and high-octane scenes of Impeccable Acting.  Also, for an extended-length episode, it feels like shockingly little plot actually happens.

As always, I like Twelve, even though he’s not being at his best right now and I’m not a huge fan of the reasons behind it.  He’s acting entitled and kind of scary and scorched-earth, but there’s so much desperation and loss fueling it that it sort of works.  Instead of episodes like “The Caretaker,” where the Doctor acts like a dick Just Because, here, we at least get a look at the Doctor’s headspace and explore why he’s doing the dangerous and ill-advised things he’s doing.  That said, he goes way, way too far with it.  As in, the Time Lord Victorious can’t even be seen in the rearview mirror.  And that’s incredibly not good.  The resolution gives me hope that this won’t be an ongoing problem in future episodes – big relief there – but unfortunately, it also doesn’t give much indication that it will address the hugely serious crap that goes down here in any meaningful way.

I have mixed feelings on the big ending.  It has its good and not-so-good points, along with its rather cheesy points and a few overwrought points.  It’s interesting how it takes a device from a previous season and does the exact same thing with it, but in a completely different way.  I think it’ll probably bode well for moving forward.

And… I think that’s it?  Seriously, for an episode without a lot of story, there still manages to be spoilers around every corner.  It may take the next handful of Sunday Who Reviews to dig through all there is to talk about with the spoilers intact:  the plots of the last few episodes themselves, the Doctor, Clara, and what bearing all the developments therein may have on the series as a whole.  So, until next time!