Doctor Who (36) 10.12 The Doctor Falls

[Anushka Mokosh]

This is by far my favourite episode of the season, though the last one is a very close second. Simply for the Master vs Master. My heart broke for Missy. She was such a fun character and her ending was so beautifully done and, in a way, it really has been where Master has being going this entire time, towards self-destruction.

The way Bill's programming had her turn on the Doctor was also rather heartbreaking as was the scene where she regains her senses and cries over The Doctor's body. I was also very glad they did not go back on Bill being a cyberman, but choose to give her a different kind of happy ending. I was very glad that Chekhov's gun played out in that fashion. I thought it was rather clever as we quite forgot about it. At least I did.

And I absolutely loved a bit of a throw back to 10th. In a way, this Doctor has been struggling with his identity for such a long time because 11th died with the understanding that there would be no more of him and it is understandable that he so stubbornly stuck to it after it took him so long to understand himself. I've also been fangirling so hard over the ending and hate them for making me wait for the Christmas Special to see the resolution of this.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I think it's clear that they're going into a retrospective trip through the other Doctors on the way to the next one and the reboot under new management -- these episodes have been full of throwback homages to all the old stuff, a great deal of which I don't even recognize yet but everyone else does. How many did he go through in that attempt to hold off regeneration, anyway? At least half a dozen that I know of.

I saw this one all mixed up, as I hadn't realized it would be longer and turned the TV to BBCA at seven pm, only to scream "six-thirty???" and I had to wait till 2:00 am to see the first half hour when it was replayed. I am not, however, the only one, so I don't feel too bad.

Looks to me like the ending for Bill leaves it open so they can keep her if they (and she) want, or give her a spin-off, or bring her back for cameos, or leave her alone entirely. Nice, and sweet, but calculatedly cynical as far as business goes.

 

[MemoryTale]

I'm bittersweet about this episode.

Unmarked spoilers abound by the way.

One thing I really loved, and feel Moffatt understands a lot better that RTD ever did, is that raising the stakes for the series finale doesn't necessarily mean more stuff is in danger of going boom, or increasing the number of daleks. This was a very human (or Time Lordian if you will) drama and was a great resolution to Peter Capaldi's time - I'm thinking the Christmas special is going to be more drama as previous Doctor's try to convince him to go. Peter Capaldi will be replaced for this special by Jeremy Corbyn.

Sorry Brian, I know politics is banned for the moment but I couldn't resist that one

I loved the interaction of the Masters, even if it was a bit squicky at times - the Master truly is in love with him/herself! The ending for their story was perfect too and if this is the final end for the Master I can't think of a better way for him/her to go. I'm not expecting it to stick though.

One logic bomb that took me out a bit was the presence of multiple Cyberman types. It's been previously established that the Cybermen redesign themselves once they've been defeated, and they do this to iron out the weaknesses that beat them last time. Well these Cybermen have never been in combat, so they can't have been defeated so why are they redesigning themselves? Also why are they leaving previous versions un-upgraded? I get that the real reason is so we can show every Cyberman that's been made (for New Who at least) on TV one more time before their inevitable redesign, but it didn't work from a narrative point.

And finally Bill's fate. Yes it was lovely, yes it was nice that the Chekhov's gun was fired, and I would have loved it a lot more if we hadn't been told Rose would die only for her to only be declared dead and stuck somewhere else. Or the Ponds being declared dead but only being stuck in the past and having a very happy life together. Or Clara literally being killed only to be brought back two episodes later. You can't keep putting characters in these impossible to survive situations only to bring them back via deus-ex machine, else why should we trust you the next time a companion is in jeopardy? I swear companions are getting to be the Anti-Kenny.

Also I'm now calling Heather Liquid Jesus.

 

[Ursa major]

Well these Cybermen have never been in combat, so they can't have been defeated so why are they redesigning themselves?

You seem to have forgotten all those "scarecrows".

More seriously, wasn't there a comment, in the previous episode, about something on a higher (lower-numbered) level being a problem? I'm pretty sure the number of that level was mentioned, but I can't recall what it was, and so don't know if it was the same level as the one where this episode was set.

 

[REBerg]

I had no problem with the happy ending given to Bill. Going from spending an eternity painfully trapped inside a metal manikin to becoming an irrepressible being free to travel the universe with a love interest was quite an upgrade -- no TARDIS required. I noticed that Bill didn't give the option of returning to her old human life more than momentary consideration.
Frequently switching the view between Bill and the Cyberman she had become was well done. The emotions so well conveyed by Pearl Mackie would have seemed more comical than heartbreaking in Cybermanese.
I thought the apparent ending of the Master/Missy, with both laughing hysterically about their fates, was great. If one kills the next regeneration of himself before regenerating, does that close the process?
I can understand the Doctor's struggle against regeneration. Being forced to literally become another person must be the ultimate identity crisis. Wouldn't defeating regeneration, though, mean the end of the line for the Doctor?
The rules for regeneration are undoubtedly as fluid as the imaginations of the writers. It would be hilarious if the Doctor succeeded in remaining himself, and the new Doctor to be revealed in the Christmas Special will be Peter Capaldi.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

If one kills the next regeneration of himself before regenerating, does that close the process?

On the contrary, I suspect that opens the process up to something else entirely.

 

[Dave]

On the contrary, I suspect that opens the process up to something else entirely.

I too, have a problem with the logical reasoning behind that. It's surely a grandfather paradox. I also have a second grandfather problem as I quite strongly believe The Brain of Morbius showed that there were regenerations before the old man. We already had a very long thread here about that, so no need to open that up that can of worms again, I'm just saying.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Whatever it is, there will be another Master. We know that. So it will be explained somehow.

 

[williamjm]

One thing I really loved, and feel Moffatt understands a lot better that RTD ever did, is that raising the stakes for the series finale doesn't necessarily mean more stuff is in danger of going boom, or increasing the number of daleks. This was a very human (or Time Lordian if you will) drama and was a great resolution to Peter Capaldi's time - I'm thinking the Christmas special is going to be more drama as previous Doctor's try to convince him to go.

That's a good point, it's nice to have a season finale where the fate of the human race or the entire Universe isn't under threat (not that Moffat himself has been innocent of that type of finale in the past), here the main thing at stake is the survival of a couple of dozen Mondasians and I don't think the smaller scope is a problem.[/QUOTE]

More seriously, wasn't there a comment, in the previous episode, about something on a higher (lower-numbered) level being a problem? I'm pretty sure the number of that level was mentioned, but I can't recall what it was, and so don't know if it was the same level as the one where this episode was set.

I was wondering that as well, but I also can't remember which level it was.

I had no problem with the happy ending given to Bill. Going from spending an eternity painfully trapped inside a metal manikin to becoming an irrepressible being free to travel the universe with a love interest was quite an upgrade -- no TARDIS required. I noticed that Bill didn't give the option of returning to her old human life more than momentary consideration.

She doesn't seem to have any particularly strong ties to her old life - she believes that the Doctor is dead, she doesn't seem to be particularly close to any family, she has a few friends but that's about it. Based on that it makes sense that she might find the idea of travelling the Universe to be more interesting.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

She doesn't seem to have any particularly strong ties to her old life - she believes that the Doctor is dead, she doesn't seem to be particularly close to any family, she has a few friends but that's about it. Based on that it makes sense that she might find the idea of travelling the Universe to be more interesting.

Oh, yeah, that was a no-brainer for her! She can go back to a rather overbearing foster mother who doesn't even know enough about her to know she's gay, where she has no close friends and a dull cafeteria job, or she can follow the hot girl on a tour of the universe. Where do I sign up?

 

[reiver33]

Jellybabies.

That's all I'm saying...

 

[Ursa major]

It sounds to me as if that Bill was literally... er... tearing herself away from the Doctor.

 

[REBerg]

Just re-watched this and noticed that the Doctor's regenerative glow makes its initial reappearance at the same spot where Bill's tear fell on his forehead.
Significant?
How omnipotent are the water-centric beings represented by Heather? Are the Doctor and Bill now "joined" as Bill and Heather seemed to be by their previous tearful encounter?
The next Doctor may have some new powers.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

I'm thinking the Christmas special is going to be more drama as previous Doctor's try to convince him to go.

This may reveal how the new personality is chosen. It may be a quality the current doctor lacks is why a new persona comes about.

 

[Ursa major]

How omnipotent are the water-centric beings represented by Heather?

They might be as powerful as the TARDIS allows them to be (if my theory from way back in this series/season holds... er... water: that the "puddle" was a TARDIS, specifically Missy's**).


Assuming my brain hasn't made this up in the meantime.... Didn't Heather explain her facility with the controls of the Doctor's TARDIS by saying she was a pilot.

That would make most sense if the complete answer had been. "...a pilot of a TARDIS." This might also explain the business with the TARDIS's controls being moved, taking it back to Earth during the Empress of Mars episode, which seems to have remained unexplained in the show. (If that is what happened, it might suggest that Heather doesn't have to materialise as Heather in order to affect things around her.)


** - I'd rather it be Missy's than the one that Clara and Me are using.

 

[Cathbad]

I'm sooo po'd.

My newer laptop died, so I'm back to using the old one. It's a lot slower, but works in most ways. But on both A&E and BBC America, the video player won't load.

I'm missing all the good shows!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Didn't Heather explain her facility with the controls of the Doctor's TARDIS by saying she was a pilot.

She was The Pilot -- it was the title of her first episode, and in the episode the voices in the puddle said "Pilot selected" when they saw her. And Bill was "Passenger selected".

In this episode, she said she could fly anything, because she's The Pilot.

But on both A&E and BBC America, the video player won't load.

Have you tried different browsers? I can't load a video player on some browsers on my laptop, and BBCA is one of the cranky ones.

 

[Ursa major]

She was The Pilot -- it was the title of her first episode, and in the episode the voices in the puddle said "Pilot selected" when they saw her. And Bill was "Passenger selected".

In this episode, she said she could fly anything, because she's The Pilot.

I know that, but:

1. there was nothing in that episode to indicate that she was selected to pilot anything other than the "puddle", whatever it is;
2. her saying that to Bill is just her saying that;
3. unless she wasn't what she seemed at the start, she wasn't a pilot before she became The Pilot, and so required some sort of training (even if it was near instantaneous);
4. I doubt the pilot of, say, a 747 or one or more of the various space craft we've seen over the decades would know exactly what was needed to pilot a TARDIS... unless they had encountered one and learned how to pilot it (which was the point I was making).

For all we know, she's the post-Missy Master....

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Hmm. I got the impression that The Pilot was meant in the same way as The Doctor. Whatever they did to her, or whatever she was to begin with, it was just a universal piloting thing. We never did find out what the star in her eye was about, after all.

 

[Ursa major]

I think there's a good chance that some of the things that haven't been spelt out yet will be answered/resolved in the Christmas special...


...if only** because someone takes over from Moffat after then, and they will want to start with as close to a clean sheet as possible.

In any case, if they aren't explained this Christmas, it's likely that they'll never be.



** - And even the pile of nonsense that were the concepts behind Series Eight received some sort of implied explanation in its Christmas Special, Last Christmas, i.e. that what we'd seen before took place in dreams. The alternative -- that, for instance, the Moon really is/was an egg (and that its gravity was variable because of that) -- simply does not compute.