Hell Bent

"I heard the Doctor had come home. One so loves fireworks."

Writer: Steven Moffat 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 5th December 2015

Series: 9.12

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara 

Synopsis 

After being tortured for billions of years within his own confession dial, the Doctor has been pushed to the brink of madness. Returning to Gallifrey, he must face his own people, the Time Lords, but how far will he go in his quest for vengeance? Does he have another confession?

Verdict 

Hell Bent was an interesting and very good series finale, continuing and concluding the story already started last week in Heaven Sent. After the incredible cliffhanger at the end of the episode, I was quite surprised by the direction of the story in this second part. After four and a half billion years breaking through the confession dial and finding his way home to Gallifrey, the Doctor wasn't at all interested in much the Time Lords had to say. Frankly, I loved the attitude of the Doctor. He was the sole survivor of the Time War. It was he who wiped out the Daleks and saved Gallifrey but had to live there incarnations with the memory of wiping out his own people. Now, when he knew that he hadn't obliterated his home planet, he was back. On his planet. Some of the dialogue really was incredible and I just loved how it was said the first thing you notice about the Doctor was that he was unarmed. The way he drew the line between the Time Lords and the familiar barn he had housed himself in was spectacular. The outsiders from the city admiring the Doctor was just fabulous. The thing I found most striking though was when the soldiers ignored the commands of the President and dropped their arms to stand side by side with the Doctor. He was back and more than in control. The revelation that the current President was a regenerated Rassilon was a magnificent surprise and I love how the Doctor simply banished him. And then did the same with the High Council. He placed all blame on the Time Lord involvement in the Time War on the elite of Gallifrey. With that policy, I'm going to assume he's not wrong. The motives of the Doctor were quite surprising to me. I know the death of Clara in Face the Raven, the episode that receives my award as best of the series, will not have gone down well with the Doctor, but to break through the confession dial after 4.5 billion years, he wasn't returning to Gallifrey to simply come home but instead to use Time Lord technology to save Clara. Now, she just should have remained dead in my opinion. The excavation tool to bring her back to life I was fine with but she should have returned to the moment of her death instead of what happened at the end. It was pretty nice though that Clara got to step foot on Gallifrey. Well, I guess she did that in The Name of the Doctor when we saw her there when the First Doctor stole the TARDIS all those years ago. The idea of the matrix and the Cloister Wraiths was very good and I did like seeing glimpses of Daleks, Weeping Angels and Cybermen as examples of those who had tried to invade. They of course failed. The Sisterhood of Karn returning was fantastic and some of the implications with the relationship between Ohila and the Doctor were intriguing. I do hope that gets explored a bit in the future. The Doctor and Clara running away to the end of the universe was interesting and I loved how Ashildr, or Me, was there waiting. The Doctor wasn't at all surprised to see her and their discussion about the Hybrid was most revealing! The Doctor's theory (even though I'm sure he knows the absolute facts) was that the Hybrid was in fact Me, a mix of human and Mire. Ashildr on the other hand thought that it was the Doctor (as do I) and in comments that make The Movie a whole lot more credible, she thought he was a hybrid of Time Lord and Human. Judging by the Doctor's reaction, I'm guessing she's right. I mean, it really would make sense. I did love the other theory though that it was two people. The Doctor and Clara. That really did bring Clara's story full circle with a mention to The Bells of Saint John, as it was Missy who brought them together. She so loves chaos and look what she caused here! I really enjoyed the references to The Girl Who Died, The Woman Who Lived, Mummy on the Orient Express, Cold War and The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. Ever since the news that Jenna Coleman would be departing was announced, I have been wondering how the Doctor is going to cope without her. In a very clever twist, instead of following the steps of Jamie and Zoe in The War Games, it was the Doctor who lost the memory of his companion rather than vice versa. I really loved that. However, I'm not a huge fan of Clara still being alive in a TARDIS, even if the interior was absolutely magnificent, with Ashildr. I guess it leaves a return open but for me she should have stayed dead. It took away a little from the incredibly emotional scene that saw her die. But overall, it's great to know Gallifrey isn't impossible to reach! A superb two-part finale, just not quite worthy of full marks as I know a lot of people gave. 

Rating: 9/10