The DW finale part 2

[shapinglight]

Managed to watch this when it aired for a change.

Spoilery thoughts behind cut.



On the whole, I thought it was pretty good, though that has not a lot to do with plot resolution, which - as so often with DW -seemed to boil down to 'Humans are marvellous, I tell you, marvellous! The human spirit can overcome anything,' which, while a nice, inspiring message, is a bit trite, to be honest.

No, where it was good was in all the character moments. The Doctor and Clara, Clara and Danny, the Doctor and the Master (ooh boy, Michelle Gomez knocked it out of the park with her performance. Queen of Evil? Heh!), even the Master and the Computer Interface bloke in Netherworld. And, yes, the nods to the Brigadier were really nice. It was time the show did a proper tribute to Nicholas Courtenay, and I thought it worked very well.

I also thought the episode worked thematically, with what was built up all season - the Doctor worried that he's not a good man, his antipathy to the military, etc.

It was also, at times, a tough watch emotionally. Jenna Coleman and Samuel Anderson sold the Clara/Danny romance to me completely. I so wanted her to get him back, even though I was sure she wouldn't even before the little bit at the end with the magic bracelet. Pretty devastating really - especially when followed by the Doctor and Clara talking past each other in the TARDIS, each not wanting to put a damper on the others' supposed happiness, while at the same time being totally miserable.

I didn't much like that downbeat ending being spoiled by the Father Christmas cameo at the end, but I appreciate I'm not the target audience, and some people may well have needed a bit of a lift.

So, all in all, I liked the series. There were some seriously duff episodes (the moon one, the magic forest one, Listen - though it's possible that, now I like Clara, I might not think that one was so bad if I re-watch it). Peter Capaldi is great as the Doctor. For me, he's very effectively made the part his own. Also, the series has done what I never thought it could do, which is make me like Clara. I think it needed the edge that Capaldi's brought to the part of the Doctor to bring out the best in her character.

Hands up who thinks the Master is really and truly dead this time?

Me neither.

Comments

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

Had to wonder what Clara was going to do with a kid who has arrived in England by magic, presumably with no ID papers. He's probably in Harmondsworth right now, lucky lad!

[shapinglight]

Yes, probably.

I suspect that was one of the many things we weren't meant to think about too hard.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

At least they didn't resort to the solution I was expecting - tinkering with Danny's settings so that it gave all the cybermen their emotions back. But I am a bit fed up of all the "am I a good man?" navel-gazing.

[shapinglight]

Are you? I don't think I remember the Doctor doing that before, so I found it interesting.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

He - or the show - seems to have been doing it on and off all season ... But I did enjoy most of the bits people complained about - "we've got a burner!" I wonder how many people tore up their organ donor cards ...

[shapinglight]

I doubt anyone did.

I dunno. where the Doctor's navel gazing was concerned, I'm just glad there was pay off for it. It wasn't just some random thing thrown in there.

[rahirah]

I had to wonder how the magic bracelet reconstituted his living human body.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

Magic?

[shapinglight]

Another of those things we weren't meant to think about too closely?

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

Definitely not dead as the 'ray' thing was blue instead of red.... ;)

I rather enjoyed it and I did feel sad about Danny.

[shapinglight]

I rather enjoyed it and I did feel sad about Danny.

Yeah, me too. :(

[ex_peasant441]

I thought it was blue because it was the Brigadier Cyberman shooting her so the Doctor didn't have to use the red hand-held thingy. Or am I missing something?

[shapinglight]

I thought it was the Doctor that shot her, not the Brigadier.

Now I'm confused.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

It was totally a transmat for Missy.

[shapinglight]

Had to be. ;)

[rahirah]

Of course Missy survived. S/he always does!

(I realized you and I were talking about different cameos -- I meant the Brig, and you were talking about Santa, which I agree was a bit WTF-making.)

[shapinglight]

Ah, okay. No, the Brig cameo was great. Loved it.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a good finale, though the mere fact that they had to insert a bunch of flashbacks to earlier in the season made the thematics of it look more than a little clunky - as if the first 10 episodes were just there to be background for the finale. And what happened to all those people that Missy collected earlier in the season?

But yeah, good ending, and I'm curious about where the Doctor will go from here. Capaldi was brilliant in this episode - this is what I'd expected of him as a Doctor.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

Presumably all the ones she collected earlier were turned into Cybermen who helped save the earth from ... more Cybermen ...?

[shapinglight]

And what happened to all those people that Missy collected earlier in the season?

I suppose when they got un-Cyberized their consciousnesses ended up back in the Nethersphere (presumably, that's what appears to have happened to Danny).

I hope someone's thought about that.

[ex_peasant441]

I liked it. And I'm glad they turned around all the anti-military stuff they have had the Doctor say all season. That felt especially good given it was transmitted over Remembrance weekend.

Of course the Master isn't dead, although I am pretty sure the Brigadier did shoot her. But presumably she will just regenerate. Did we ever get any explanation how he/she survived whatever it was killed him last time? (I forget when we last saw him.)




The magic forest one was just daft beyond belief. What is it about urbanites that they are so scared of trees?

[dalmeny]

Did we ever get any explanation how he/she survived whatever it was killed him last time? (I forget when we last saw him.)

Not that I noticed. Funeral pyre of John Simm? I hope Lucy had something to do with it.

What is it about urbanites that they are so scared of trees?

Not us. dmw is planting as many fruit trees as he can cram into our garden. The mulberry is fruiting nicely.

[shapinglight]

The mulberry is fruiting nicely.

Ooh, lucky you! Mulberries are amazing.

[dalmeny]

Other berries don't grow well here on the Adelaide Plain, so dmw suggested a mulberry, which has worked very well.

[shapinglight]

We have a mulberry tree in our garden, but it never has any fruit.

[shapinglight]

The magic forest one was just daft beyond belief. What is it about urbanites that they are so scared of trees?

Were they?

I don't think that was way that episode was daft.

I can't at all remember what happened to the Master last time he was around. Was probably too busy rolling my eyes at all the Tennant over-emoting.

[lokifan]

The magic forest one was just daft beyond belief. What is it about urbanites that they are so scared of trees?

??? The whole point of the episode was that the trees saved the earth?

But then I really like fairy tales so I liked that episode a lot.