![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
How amazing was the Doctor Who finale!
I loved every minute of Missy's screen time, Michelle Gomez was just fabulous. And how freaky was the moment when she was about to kill Osgood! I had to remind myself that this was a family show and we were unlikely to get a Hannibal Lector moment, just because Michelle Gomez was so unsettling that I was half expecting something really nasty to happen when she kept luring her closer *g*
I loved the final revelation that she just wanted her childhood friend back, that she wanted to help the Doctor realise that they aren't so different by giving him his own army to command, and she wanted them to find Gallifrey together. "I had a friend once. We ran together when I was little. And I thought we were the same. But when we grew up we weren’t. And now she’s trying to tear the world apart and I can’t run fast enough to hold it together" I need to find all the fan fic for them <3 I only hope that they bring her back for next series!
I've seen some controversy over whether it was right to have the Brigadier as a Cyberman but, as someone who has never really followed Classic Who, I thought that the way they handled it was very touching and meant as a heartfelt tribute to the character
And I've spend a lot of series 8 being pretty cynical about the Clara/Danny relationship, but it worked for me really well here when you get that moment of tragedy of Clara talking about the Doctor and how he is the closest person to her in the world and she would never lie to him, only to realise that Danny is the Cyberman. I thought that ending actually worked with how messy and dysfunctional their relationship has always seemed to me, to then end it on Danny heartbroken and asking Clara to remove his emotions.
Danny still annoyed me to the end though tbh with all of that "Sir" business and accusing the Doctor of being a "typical officer" in trying to keep his hands clean, even though it was Clara who took the inhibitor off the Doctor in that moment because she wanted to do it herself. That still annoys me about him that he has to make everything the Doctor's fault, he even accused him of trying to have a "tactical advantage" when the Doctor was weighing up the hard choice of sacrificing Danny's emotions (which Danny had been asking Clara to do anyway), what else would you have him do to save billions of innocent life's? The Doctor WAS giving a heartfelt speech about why Danny's emotions were worth keeping, and he WAS torn up when he realise the impossible choice that he was facing, but it felt like all Danny took from that speech was the opportunity to get in a cheap shot as soon as he possibly could. I feel like the writers always think that they are portraying Danny with really good points and ooh look at him call the Doctor out, but it just always comes across to me more as him being very biased and having a real chip on his shoulder because of issues from his own past. I did like his final moments of choosing to bring back the young boy instead though (although granted kind of a stretch as to how exactly Clara was supposed to find his family and explain where he's been all this time!)
And the last scenes KILLED me, I was literally sobbing out loud during the final Doctor and Clara hug and, "Never trust a hug, it’s just a way to hide your face". And seeing them walk away from one another convinced that the other got their happy ending and not wanting to ruin it for them :sobs and sobs: The Doctor's face when he realises that Gallifrey is still lost and he starts smashing up his Tardis :(
I loved every minute of Missy's screen time, Michelle Gomez was just fabulous. And how freaky was the moment when she was about to kill Osgood! I had to remind myself that this was a family show and we were unlikely to get a Hannibal Lector moment, just because Michelle Gomez was so unsettling that I was half expecting something really nasty to happen when she kept luring her closer *g*
I loved the final revelation that she just wanted her childhood friend back, that she wanted to help the Doctor realise that they aren't so different by giving him his own army to command, and she wanted them to find Gallifrey together. "I had a friend once. We ran together when I was little. And I thought we were the same. But when we grew up we weren’t. And now she’s trying to tear the world apart and I can’t run fast enough to hold it together" I need to find all the fan fic for them <3 I only hope that they bring her back for next series!
I've seen some controversy over whether it was right to have the Brigadier as a Cyberman but, as someone who has never really followed Classic Who, I thought that the way they handled it was very touching and meant as a heartfelt tribute to the character
And I've spend a lot of series 8 being pretty cynical about the Clara/Danny relationship, but it worked for me really well here when you get that moment of tragedy of Clara talking about the Doctor and how he is the closest person to her in the world and she would never lie to him, only to realise that Danny is the Cyberman. I thought that ending actually worked with how messy and dysfunctional their relationship has always seemed to me, to then end it on Danny heartbroken and asking Clara to remove his emotions.
Danny still annoyed me to the end though tbh with all of that "Sir" business and accusing the Doctor of being a "typical officer" in trying to keep his hands clean, even though it was Clara who took the inhibitor off the Doctor in that moment because she wanted to do it herself. That still annoys me about him that he has to make everything the Doctor's fault, he even accused him of trying to have a "tactical advantage" when the Doctor was weighing up the hard choice of sacrificing Danny's emotions (which Danny had been asking Clara to do anyway), what else would you have him do to save billions of innocent life's? The Doctor WAS giving a heartfelt speech about why Danny's emotions were worth keeping, and he WAS torn up when he realise the impossible choice that he was facing, but it felt like all Danny took from that speech was the opportunity to get in a cheap shot as soon as he possibly could. I feel like the writers always think that they are portraying Danny with really good points and ooh look at him call the Doctor out, but it just always comes across to me more as him being very biased and having a real chip on his shoulder because of issues from his own past. I did like his final moments of choosing to bring back the young boy instead though (although granted kind of a stretch as to how exactly Clara was supposed to find his family and explain where he's been all this time!)
And the last scenes KILLED me, I was literally sobbing out loud during the final Doctor and Clara hug and, "Never trust a hug, it’s just a way to hide your face". And seeing them walk away from one another convinced that the other got their happy ending and not wanting to ruin it for them :sobs and sobs: The Doctor's face when he realises that Gallifrey is still lost and he starts smashing up his Tardis :(
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 06:31 pm (UTC)And the end scene with the hug just broke my heart and the Doctor's face after his line about hugs hides your face just tore at him so much. So amazingly acted and written.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 07:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 06:44 pm (UTC)Michelle Gomez was perfect as the Master, by far my favorite iteration of that character. I'm sure she'll be back (and pissed that the Doctor was all set to kill her at Clara's command) and I'm really looking forward to it.
I liked so many things about Danny, but his attitude toward the Doctor, especially at the end of this episode, was definitely annoying. Chill the fuck out, man, he's trying to SAVE THE ENTIRE PLANET here!
I'll have to rewatch this one alone. Watching with my boyfriend usually forces me to keep my emotions under control, because I don't want to cry over television in front of him, but I did tear up a little at the way the Doctor delivered the line about hugging. And his reaction when looking Gallifrey was so intense! I really love Capaldi in this role.
That entire last scene, I was shouting at Clara, "Just tell him! You're pregnant with Danny's love child! Admit it, Clara! Admit iiiiiit!" I guess there's always the Christmas special...
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 07:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 07:39 pm (UTC)F
Date: 2014-11-09 07:34 pm (UTC)Aww yeah, I could see Clara's point, but I must admit that the hopeless sentimentalist in me did like it more when I imagined that the Doctor's 'don't you dare' came from not wanting to see the Master dead, and I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't also take that very personally that he was willing to kill her to save Clara's soul! I loved every second of her on screen, especially the Mary Poppins landing lol, I think that could make series 9 the best yet if the main arc involved the Doctor and Missy teaming up in some way to try and find Gallifrey?
And right!!! I just felt like Danny was constantly pre-judging the Doctor and making digs at him, even when he barely knew anything about him! When he started on about the Doctor getting Clara to remove the inhibitor because he wants to keep his hands clean, I mean that's totally ignoring that Peter Capaldi's Doctor is constantly having to make the tough decisions in deciding what's best for the bigger picture, and that the Doctor has never asked his companions to kill or make the tough decisions for him?! Honestly it almost felt like Danny was gloating when he told the Doctor that everyone could be saved if Danny connected up with the rest of the Cyberman and so what are you going to do now, I never liked how he was always so determined for the doctor to live down to his first impressions of him
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 08:08 pm (UTC)I actually found it a bit difficult to feel sad about Danny and Clara's parting because of Danny's attitude to the Doctor just beforehand. The Doctor and Clara's sad farewell made me tear up a bit though and so did the Cyber Brigadier.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 08:19 pm (UTC)And I did find Clara and Danny's final moments more moving than I had expected, but admittedly all of my tears were saved for the Doctor and Clara's heartbreaking farewell, that was what really killed me :/
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 08:35 pm (UTC)What a good episode.
And yes, Michelle Gomez was so awesome and I couldn't help but imagine John Simm and thinking how great she "inherited" so much "of him" - kind of - because she pulled that off so perfectly :D Kudos to her.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 08:42 pm (UTC)And I interpreted it as Clara wanting to tell him about Danny not being the one to come back, but the Doctor already seemed convinced that she was about to break it to him gently that Danny was back and she couldn't travel with him any more, so he was trying to gracefully step out of the picture and leave them to their future happiness by pretending that he had found his home. And then of course, once Clara heard that, she didn't want to put a dampner on his good mood, so she pretended to have found her happy ending as well. It was all so tragic
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 09:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 11:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 11:42 pm (UTC)I had NO IDEA that Danny wasn't okay, or that the Doctor couldn't find Gallifrey. I thought the hug-hide-emotions thing was just because Clara and the Doctor had such mixed feelings about splitting up. So today, when my husband and I watched the whole thing . . . wow. It really hit hard to know what was really going on.
My Classic Who is mostly Tom Baker, but I know just enough about the Master to think that in some ways Missy was closer to the classic goateed Master (played by Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley and wow I actually knew their names) than John Simm's Master was.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-09 11:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-10 12:36 am (UTC)Apparently this is an unpopular opinion -- I can’t say I’m bothered by Danny shading the Doctor 24/7 tbh. But then, I don't feel protective of Twelve remotely. And IMO it was important for the Doctor to have a foil (which Clara couldn’t be since the show emphasised them being mirrors). Of course, the show did this better with Rory, admittedly.
GALLIFREY WILL BE FOUND ONE DAY, TAKE SOLACE.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-10 09:56 am (UTC)I do get protective of Peter Capaldi's Doctor, I can't help it *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-10 08:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-10 08:47 pm (UTC)