PLOT
The Time Lords trap the Doctor in his confession dial to squeeze the secret of the Hybrid out of him. After 4 and a half billion years of reliving the same nightmare over and over again, the Doctor manages to break out to use Gallifreyan technology to save his beloved Clara.
ANALYSIS
Heaven Sent was perfection. Quite possibly my favourite Doctor Who episode to date. Since the Doctor was the only character present, Moffat had no choice, but focus the story on him and all his whizz-bang ideas feel organic(the mental TARDIS was brilliantly effective) and part of the story as opposed to little sketches that go nowhere. It was tragic, beautifully acted, gave us a sense of the Doctor's character better than any other story could and the production values were as high as we've ever seen them. I have nothing more to say here.
But the other story is a big mess. It has enough interesting elements to it that it's not a total failure like some of the other finales, but for the most part, I was unhappy with it, sorry.
Bringing back Gallifrey for the sake of Clara's happy ending... well, you can imagine how I feel about that. It's completely trivialised the planet. After everything that was set up in the Ninth and Tenth Doctor eras, here we see the Doctor returning... and then sodding off again once he's got what he wanted. I don't care how many times you say "mad man in a box", this was out of character. This isn't the Doctor we saw as late as The Zygon Inversion. This is the Doctor who shoots others for no reason, is maniacally obsessed with saving his companions to the exclusion of everyone else and claims to have authority on a planet he won't help.
What is the Hybrid? I don't know. I know it's not the Doctor and Clara, because two people don't make up a Hybrid. If it is the Doctor, what is he a Hybrid of? Humans and Time Lords? Okay, can I get an affirmative on that? No? Does this legend have anything to do with anything? No? Then what's the point of this storyline?
At one point, the Doctor wants to wipe Clara's memory of him. Why? I don't know. Her memory doesn't get wiped and nothing happens to her. She's immortal so she couldn't die. The only reason it's done is so the Doctor can "accidentally" wipe his own memories. Yeah, he risks that for some reason. Did I mention he's out of character this episode?
All of the cloister bells on Gallifrey are ringing. Why? Because... the Hybrid is coming? You know, the Hybrid THAT MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And will likely not come up again since the season is finished. That Hybrid.
Why was Rassilon still in charge after all the crap he did in the Time War?
No one seemed to have a clear motivation here. It's like the story was there, but all the characters were stumbling around in the dark, their motives ripped out.
Now, you may find it hard to believe, but I actually didn't mind seeing Clara Oswald one last time. Her ending in Face The Raven was absolute crap and I'm glad they had something more interesting up their sleeve. I was touched, really. For better or for worse, she's been the companion for three years. I felt it. The problem is that the script was lazy.
CHARACTERS
The characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor here is horrible. Is this really how he treats the Time Lords, especially after Rassilon is knocked out? Why? Why are they still "hated"? They're hiding because they're afraid of being slaughtered! The whole idea in The Time Of The Doctor was that the Time Lords would return in peace! So why is he essentially ignoring them in favor of someone who's already dead and dust? Why can't he let go of Clara?
The Time Lords save him, tell Rassilon to bugger off and he still considers them his enemies for some bizarre reason. And he shoots someone! The Doctor shoots someone for no bloody reason, is that what fans are going with nowadays?
And it hurts, because Peter Capaldi, man... he is so good in this. I can't think of enough positive adjectives for the guy. He's probably the second best Doctor for me now, behind old Hartnell himself. Just give him some meat, not this tofu.
Jenna Coleman was really likable here, which surprised me(apart from a few moments like the speech she gave to the Time Lords) and she got a better exit than I could've anticipated. I'm also glad she took Ashildr with her in the TARDIS since that means that Maisie Williams won't come back for awhile(since they obviously can't bring back Coleman for a few years) and I am down with that.
It was nice to see the General again(who for some reason is the only Time Lord to talk with the Doctor) until he was randomly shot and regenerated into a woman. I don't think there's ever been anything more gimmicky on the show than that moment. And of course, the sass begins as soon as she's a woman. It's like clockwork.
I thought the idea that all immortals band together at the end of the universe was quite neat and interesting... but Ohila was just... there. Though apparently she doesn't like the Doctor as much as she used to and refers to him as boy now(even though he's a few thousand years older by my count).
It was nice to see Rassilon again. Donald Sumpter was vaguely interesting in the role, but doesn't beat Timothy Dalton(the definitive Rassilon, no doubt).
One really wishes they had more time to devote to Gallifrey. The Doctor being their war hero now plus the difference between Gallifreyans and Time Lords is already enough for some pretty great TV. Why do they have to throw it away in the name of a companion we've already let go?
NOTES
*Who were the holo-Time Lords in the Matrix area?
*What was the signficance of the American diner? Why there of all places? Is it just Moffat saying he's leaving soon?
*Where did the Doctor get a new suit from?
*If the sonic sunglasses is more high-tech, why does he go back to the screwdriver? If it's because Clara is gone(which he barely even remembers), why does he only change when someone close to him dies? That's annoyingly specific.
*Isn't that classic TARDIS set beautiful? I feel like it fitted Capaldi a lot better. He was truly home there.
*How did Gallifrey break out of the pocket universe?
*How can Ashildr be the last immortal if she's alive thanks to gadgetry? Surely that Mire healing device would burn out or break down eventually?
*And how does she remember the Doctor so well after that many years?
*I'm pretty sure Rassilon's gauntlet looked completely different.
*What's the deal with the four knocks again?
*How can the Doctor remember everything that happened to him and Clara, but not Clara herself?
*And did we really need him to wipe his own memories of her to move on?
*What was the point of having the Dalek, Cyberman and Weeping Angel? We haven't had a Twelfth Doctor Weeping Angel story, so that'd be interesting and the Dalek's appereance was pretty sad, but still pointless.
*And we still don't know the connection between the Time Lords and the Weeping Angels.
*How exactly did Missy bring the Doctor and Clara together?
*I get what the confession dial is, but where did it come from? Who built it?
*The chameleon circuit being stuck on the other TARDIS was just... ugh. It wouldn't have mattered if they had intentionally broken it, I get that, but seriously?
*Also, how does the other TARDIS feel about travelling with Clara and Ashildr?
*Why was the other TARDIS in Nevada in Series 6? Was it so that Clara could meet the Eleventh Doctor(hang on, did he get his special straw from the console room... OMG!!!)?
*To all those people who thought the barn was on some moon or whatever, HA. Gallifrey's sky is only orange at night anyway.
*Since when does he have a neurotic compulsion to run away? The Doctor left the Time Lords in the classic series twice. First before the series start, because he was bored and a second time in The Five Doctors because they wanted to make him Lord President(remember that this was when Time Lord society was stale and meaningless). Both were easily understandable choices that other people could've made, giving the Doctor both depth and a sense of reality, like all great characters.
Here this is rewritten so that the Doctor leaves because he was scared of some meaningless prophecy that didn't amount to anything. Well that's relatable.
*I'd like to re-iterate that Murray Gold's score in this story(particularly the first part) is outstanding. And in the second one, I noticed a reuse of the Tenth Doctor theme, which was touching, if a little odd.
BEST QUOTE
Basically everything the Doctor says in the first part.
CONCLUSION
I've never seen a writer as inconsistent as Steven Moffat. One day everything ties together in a nice bow, the other it's all over the place.
Answering your question, Missy was the 'lady in the shop' who Clara mentions in The Bells of Saint John, the one who gave Clara the TARDIS' number.
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