(812) Death in Heaven

Today is the penultimate episode of the marathon and the final story of the thirty-fourth series. The revelation that Missy was the Master was a cool way to end the previous episode and things start in quite an interesting way when Jenna Coleman’s name comes before Peter Capaldi’s which is a first and shows just how much the role of the companion/assistant has changed over the years and also how the character of Clara has become just as significant as the Doctor’s. The episode picks up where it left off with Cybermen coming out of St Paul Cathedral and I quite like how the adoring crown around the Cybermen were actually working for UNIT. Kate throws an old Cyberman head which was a nice nostalgia nod. The idea of Water/Rain bringing dead people back to life is quite a fun and grim idea and it’s quite a clever idea from Missy. Yes it has hints of convolution that Delgado and Ainley’s Master would have been proud of but there seems something rather epic about it. On the subject of Missy, I am now convinced that Michelle Gomez’s casting was brilliant. There is the nice coincidence that both the Doctor and Missy are Scottish but they are just as good as each other in acting terms and the scenes they have together are rather good. What is perhaps more interesting than Missy’s plan to turn dead people into Cybermen is the revelation that Missy knows where Gallifrey is or at least makes the Doctor think that she knows. From the moment that this is bought up, I start to lose interest a little bit in the main plot. With UNIT bought into this story it means that it sees the return of Kate Stewart and also Osgood who is now wearing a bow-tie. I miss the fourth Doctor’s scarf that she wore in Day of the Doctor. Quite early on in the story the Doctor is made President of the Earth. The quick way this sort of thing can be arranged is rather implausible and also the mere idea that the US, Australian, Chinese or even French armies would hand themselves over to the Doctor is perhaps a bit of stretch even for a show which encourages you to give you suspend your disbelief. The death of Osgood is a bit of a surprise but slightly undermined by the music played the moments after. Since then it has been revealed that Ingrid Oliver is coming back in the new series so it isn’t the sad moment that it seemed to be at the time. The sight of Cybermen coming out of graves is a very good one and keeps the dark vibe going. It could be argued that the Cybermen are slightly sidelined in this episode and that might be true but in my opinion they are still used in a clever way and I thought that the Cybermen continue to be used in a good way under Steven Moffat’s stewardship. Despite all the good things going on in the episode there is still the matter of Captain Grumpy. I know you could say that waking up after you thought you were dead and then wake up and find yourself as Cyberman isn’t the greatest feeling in the world but its still no good reason to be grumpy. When Danny reveals takes his mask off and shows Clara what he now looks like. Sadly Captain Grumpy returns when he is talking to the Doctor. Just when I think that Grumpy is going to end grumpy he sacrifices himself to save the day and then he uses his one and only opportunity to travel back to Clara with a bracelet to let the boy that he killed in his army days go back to his family. I think that the character has run its course and there isn’t much more that could be done for the character. Samuel Anderson has done well with what is a rather thankless role but I cant say that he has been the worst actor in the show. There is one moment that made me think that Steven Moffat had gone out of his mind and it was when the Doctor is shown flying through the air to meet mid-air to get to the TARDIS. This is a bit like the tank falling to the ground in the recent (ish) A-Team movie. Kate reveals that the Brigadier only wanted the Doctor to salute him once. This leads to a lovely moment when a Cyberman points out that Kate is alive and the Doctor concludes that the Cyberman is the Brigadier and the Doctor salutes him and this was unexpected. It was nice and it was about three years after Nicholas Courntey’s death its impressive how much he is still a part of the programme. That picture of him on the plane is a pretty big indication of his impact on the show. There is one last swerve in the story and that is when Missy reveals the co-ordinates of Gallifrey. I remember watching it and wondering whether Gallifrey was going to be found after being pretty much ignored since Day of the Doctor. The Doctor and Clara both lie to each other. Clara lies that Danny came back and the Doctor lies that he found Gallifrey. It’s a rather grim ending really because there isn’t the cheery ending that there normally is. What we do have just after the credits start is the cliffhanger and the lead up to the Christmas Special where Santa (played by Nick Frost) asks the Doctor what he wants for Christmas. Whilst there were some impressive moments in this episode and in the previous one, I cant help but say that it was a little underwhelming. It didn’t have that end of series finale that most finales have. Well tomorrow is the final episode in the marathon and I am waiting until tomorrow to say the line I have used a few times during this marathon but will be used for the last time. Last Christmas is the last episode and I just hope that the marathon ends on a great note.