Doctor Who S09 E12 - Hell Bent

[Joelist]

And so Season Nine closes in fairly epic fashion - the Doctor returns to Gallifrey!

Frankly I was a bit pensive about this episode going in, as there were some rumbles that we would still be dealing with evil Time Lords as in the horrific "The End of Time". I guess I should have known better...

Overall this was a superb piece of Doctor Who. The Doctor did indeed return to Gallifrey and we know that the Time Lords have returned it to normal space albeit hidden away and effectively impossible for anyone to find unless they want them to find it. Also, in a nod back to Classic Who the Doctor (after dispensing with the "bad guy" President) is back to being Lord President. MUCH better depiction of the Tine Lords and of Gallifrey.

We also have a final resolution to Clara and also to Ashildir (of sorts for her). Basically Clara is "back" but not really back as at some point she will need to be reinserted into time where she died (in order to preserve the timeline). Nicely written and accounts for both dangling threads. Doctor Who under Steven Moffat has been very good at not leaving open plot threads and this was no exception.

All of the acting was first class and like last week Peter Capaldi just dominated the stage. It was also nicely paced and never felt like it dragged.

And the nicest part is the Time War is done with as a continuing plotline. Gallifrey is back out there and safely hidden but able to intervene if needed to protect the Laws of Time. Well done!

 

[Gatefan1976]

So...........
Hmm........
I have watched this twice now, I even re watched all of this season to get a full view of the arc involved, and I have to say............
I'm not overly impressed.
Don't get me wrong, as an Episode -removed from all context- it is an OK, if not good episode. We get to see Gallifrey again, and it maintains the continunity of what we have seen in NuWho. There are fan callbacks to traditional Who, which is nice, and everything makes a certain sense when viewed through the idea's being presented. Even the "madness" the Doctor displays in killing the General and going to extreme lengths to recover Clara makes a certain sense if you think of it in terms of the history presented in the episode last time he was in the Cloister (going slightly mad), and his anger over being tortured for billions of years.

However:-
Inside the context of the series, I thought if fell flat on its butt.
2 more episodes of Clara -after- her death was just trite and really cheapened Clara's sacrifice in Face the Raven. Yes, Heaven Sent had little screen time with Clara, but the -whole impetus- of the episode was based on Clara. Let her Die FFS!!
Giving Clara The Restaurant at the End of the Universe as a Tardis was a -crap- callback to Douglass Adams having written for Who (and even if it was not meant to be seen in that way, it was still noticeable enough).
Ashilder/Me..........
Dear lord, 3 Episodes all but wasted on her, and she is not even going to be a companion, but to serve as another crappy conscience for the Doctor? (oh and tease the half Time lord/ half Human stuff from the movie??)
Really?
Was it needed?

Is it just me, or would Hell Bent, with a different script excluding Clara as a season opening just have been...... Better?
Rather than wasting Gallifrey on a one shot, we could have seen something great on Gallifrey, harkening back to Trial of a Timelord, or the Deadly Assassin. A few eps where Capaldi could show off his ability to actually -be- the solo doctor for a short while, or at least "companionless" for a bit. Make the On screen regeneration of a Time Lord from male to Female -actually- worth a damn?
Just so much wasted potential

 

[Joelist]

Eh. Differing opinions.

I liked it better. To me Capaldi was solo in the last episode. The little bit of Clara at the end was minor. And really he effectively was solo here also. Also, no new companion has been announced yet by BBC. And to me it was a satisfying wrapup to both Clara and Ashildir. Clara knows she is existing on borrowed time and Ashildir in something like a TARDIS is really where she needs to be rather than on Earth.

Also, I think that the rehabilitation of the Time Lords from the terrible depiction of them in "The End of Time" was worthwhile.

 

[Gatefan1976]

If you liked it Joe, you liked it, no need to justify it