(811) Dark Water

Not only is this the finale of the series but it’s the first two parter since The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People story back in the 2011 series. The episode starts off in quite a grim way because Danny was hit by a car and died. I know I have been calling him Captain Grumpy but I can’t say that it was good to know that the character had died. This is a really dark way of starting the episode. It’s fair to say that this sends Clara a bit mad as within minutes she is threatening to throw all the TARDIS keys into molten lava if the Doctor doesn’t bring Danny back. I know she’s grieving I cant help but feel that Clara is a being a bit selfish.

It’s quite amusing when its revealed that Clara was tricked by the Doctor into thinking that she’d thrown away all the keys. Moffat has had a recent track record of misleading people and then revealing what actually happened and its only frustrating when its revealed what has happened. I liked it when the Doctor says that he is going to help Clara find Danny and bring him back despite what she had done. This shows why the Doctor is better than Clara.

There is almost a sense of black comedy in this as the appearance of Chris Addison who worked with Capaldi in The Thick of It and its nice to see him play something different with the right amount of humour. In fact the whole episode is very dark because the Doctor and Clara come across skeletons sitting on thrones. Then there is the moment where Danny meets a young boy that he killed when he was in the army. This isn’t the sort of thing that anyone would expect in Doctor Who.

Missy’s first encounter with the Doctor is quite strange bearing in mind that she is in fact the Master. It’s weird to think that the same role played by Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley has snogged the Doctor. When Missy reveals that her name is short for Mistresses it doesn’t mean anything to the Doctor and then when she says that she couldn’t keep calling herself the Master then the penny finally drops and this has to realise that Missy is the Master. I think that the idea of changing the Master’s gender is a bold move for the role because whenever there is a new Doctor there is always the idea that the Doctor could be a woman so this sort of proves that this could happen. The casting of Michelle Gomez might be one that would raise eyebrows but I cant say that it wasn’t a good piece of casting. She brings the right balance of madness and menace to the role and this is why the episode and in fact the whole series story arc works.

The moment when the water in the tombs empties out of the chambers and reveals that the Cybermen are skeletons.

There is Timelord technology that is being used in Missy’s plans but the question is just how she managed to get it but that is something that will be answered in the next episode. Cybermen walking down the steps of St Paul Cathedral seemed to try and mirror the Cybermen walking around London in the Invasion. Despite it not being original it is an awesome sight and it’s the perfect way to end the episode and the final episode of the series looks like it will be just as good as I remember it and as good as it needs to be. Two more episodes to go.