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

[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 someoneI'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,

[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.

[ponygirl72]

Spoilers..

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Well, after not crying at the end of Face the Raven, I bawled at that one. Well done, Moffat.

Seriously, though, how much did I love the Time Lords pissing themselves over a Matrix prophecy about a terrible hybrid that would sit in the burning ruins of Gallifrey after seeing a billion hearts dead, to heal its own... only to find that it was the Doctor and Me, having a quiet chat at the end of the universe, debating which one of them it had actually been. I found that to be a hauntingly beautiful payoff.

Also, bonus points for the "Restaurant at the End of the Universe."

[dbskyler]

it was the Doctor and Me, having a quiet chat at the end of the universe, debating which one of them it had actually been.

I loved that as a resolution. How typical of the Time Lords to freak out about a prophecy that turned out to predict that quiet chat.

[jjpor]

Yes, and some pretty heftily fourth-wall breaking acknowledgment of all the theories circulating in fandom, esp. re the Doctor "half human" thing. Well played, Moffat. Well played.

[ravenskyewalker]

What I like is that the half-human thing was mentioned as a valid possibility, without being treated in the stupid way that the TVM did it. Everything the TVM did was handled badly. This just put the idea out there -- does a high-born Time Lord spend so much time on Earth because he's half-human? The Doctor didn't acknowledge any truth to it, but he was messily in denial, so who knows?

[persiflage_1]

So the Clara and Ashildr spin-off starts shooting when?

Much as I love Ken Bones, I totally want more of T'Nia Miller's General. Oh yeah baby!! In fact, can she play the next companion?? (Hey, they did it with Freema!)

In short, though - mind blown!

[dbskyler]

Not sure when the spin-off starts shooting, but I bet someone out there is already writing the fanfic. ;)

[persiflage_1]

Oh I hope so!

[jjpor]

Yes, indeed! I'm still processing what I actually think of the way the story panned out, but the fanfic possibilities are amazing! :D

[dbskyler]

Lots and lots of feelings, and I thought it was great. I'm not quite ready to articulate all my thoughts, but I do have a bit of a random question that I'm hoping this comm can help with:

I noticed they referred to the Doctor as Lord President at one point, and now I'm trying to remember when he first became Lord President. I want to say it was way back in "Deadly Assassin." Has he really been Lord President ever since then? I'm kind of remembering something in "Invasion of Time" about how there could be no other legal president after the Doctor pulled that delaying tactic of declaring himself a presidential candidate in "Deadly Assassin."

I kind of like how it was such a random, throwaway line, though. In fact, I'm not even 100% sure I caught it correctly, but it is the kind of thing Moffat would do.

[persiflage_1]

AFAIK it was The Deadly Assassin. And Romana's been President since then - also Rassilon once they resurrected the mad bastard.

(And I did love Donald Sumpter as Rassilon's most recent incarnation.)

[jjpor]

Rassilon the Redeemer! Rassilon the Resurrected! Yes, I liked the way he was simultaneously an extremely nasty piece of work and also a bit ridiculous and pathetic. Very much in line with the classic Robert Holmes portrayal of the Time Lords as a bunch of corrupt old politicians/academics

[persiflage_1]

TBH I have no idea - the whole thing's so bloody convoluted (and the existence of Big Finish's Gallifrey series doesn't help, I suspect - well, doesn't help me!)

[dragonsally]

OMG, that was brilliant. I'm off to watch it again - so much to take in and process. I so hope there is a spin-off.

[jjpor]

Fingers crossed!