Hell Bent Reaction and Discussion Post [SPOILERS!]

[jjpor]

Well, I don't know about any of you, but I thought last week's Heaven Sent was one of the strangest, and at the same time, most fascinating things I have seen in Doctor Who in quite some time indeed. A masterclass from Capaldi...and what a payoff... How on Earth are they going to top that? Well, let's find out this week in the hotly anticipated

Comments

[ravenskyewalker]

...oh, wow, why am I so scared while waiting for this one? I'm really trying not to see spoilers, beyond what the synopses and preview clips and generally spoiler-free reviews that can't talk about details have done. (However, I did glance really quickly at a general reaction of someone I know on Tumblr, who moaned "Kill me now," so, um, ouch.) I won't be seeing this until 9 PM PST (maybe a few hours earlier if the same source as last week provides me with a way to see it), and how am I going to wait??

Gonna get back offline and read as much of Ann Leckie's Ancillary Mercy as I can, that's how...

ETA: Okay! I was able to watch that hours before BBCA's airing, and WHY AM I CRYING SO HARD?? To those reviewers who said it wasn't as good as they'd hoped, hell, I just cried harder than DW's ever made me do, and it was glorious. As to that clue that something happened that had happened before, but in reverse, that totally fit, and was probably all that could happen at that point, considering how close the Valeyard or Time Lord Victorious was by then. Moffat, I congratulate you.

Oh, and that "cheerworthy regeneration" mentioned by Radio Times, I think it was... I laughed/clapped so hard, I had to stop playback on my tablet so I wouldn't miss anything. Yes, that was perfect.

And I keep editing. Apologies. If I could type and construct sentences straight, that would help.

[jjpor]

My main disappointment with the ending is that it turns out the notion I'd constructed of Twelve spending some time living the life of a wandering guitar man on the roads of the US of A wasn't actually true. Because that would have been amazing. :D

I'll confess to having a bit of a "moment" when Clara said she was going the long way around as well. It must have been dusty in here or something.

[ravenskyewalker]

Spoilers, as if I really need to warn for those at this point...

My reaction was because the Doctor was obviously so damaged from Heaven Sent, and so willing to go out of control (despite having said he wanted to FIX his mistakes), that his having to lose the memories of what Clara had meant to him was probably the only way to resolve that. It felt right that they risked the mindwipe together, with Clara having agency, and that it got the Doctor, after the vile crap of the Tenth Doctor mind-raping Donna's memories (which is one reason #10 is unredeemable to me). But if he remembers her influence, does that mean he still remembers going through eons of torture in Time Lord prison for some vague someone?

I'm hoping (beyond hope, because modern DW is cruel to the Doctor) that the Twelfth Doctor might be less haunted. Capaldi has said he'll be different in S10 after all that, but in what way? Because he seemed puzzled by the memory gap, but maybe... lighter? A little freer? (Actually willing to talk companionably with someone who, to him, was a stranger? Kind of amazing right there.) Because, damn, he's already gone through hell.

I loved the cold, "oh, f*** you" silence of the first stretch on Gallifrey, being so stubborn that crazy old Rassilon himself finally went to him. 100% rebel Time Lord. When he threw down the confession dial between them, that was what I'd wanted to see -- except that he didn't open it and pour out all the water filled with billions of his own skulls. *snort*

Come to think of it, jjpor, didn't it seem as if the Doctor might have spent some time as a wandering guitar man (well, Time Lord) before the TARDIS came for him in the desert? (Unless she didn't do that herself. That was probably Clara and Ashildr dropping her off. I just like the idea of the TARDIS deciding it was time to be there for him.) There was something about the ratty old truck, and the dusty look, and his "I don't have any money, but I play," that suggested he may have done it for a little while.

[dbskyler]

I'm wondering how much the Doctor remembers of the confession dial, too. I hope that he won't be quite so damaged going forward. But I do love that it all turned out to be for Clara, and now all those moments from "Heaven Sent" when Clara writes on the chalkboard "How are you going to WIN?" have a new and heartbreaking meaning. He really did go through hell for her, and that is just such a Doctor thing to do.

[scifi_mel]

It felt right that they risked the mindwipe together, with Clara having agency, and that it got the Doctor, after the vile crap of the Tenth Doctor mind-raping Donna's memories (which is one reason #10 is unredeemable to me)
Totally agree!!! The whole way it was handled felt like justice (in a way) for Donna and was done so much better. A friend posted on FB that Moff seems to be much better about giving the women agency for when they leave than RTD did which I thought was a very good point. The whole thing just made me incredibly happy (despite all the tears I shed).