Hell Bent Review
This week’s episode of Doctor
Who, the final one of the series, was action-packed as ever, and there are so
many talking points to go over, so let’s get started.
GALLIFREY IS BACK!
Over two years since Day of the
Doctor, we finally got the return of Gallifrey we fans had been waiting for.
The Doctor banished Racelon, took
over as Lord President and killed the general, which leaves me wondering
something. Are the Timelords good or evil? Certainly from my own knowledge of the
Whoniverse, it is never made clear which side they stand on, with a lot of their
actions being somewhat questionable at times. This has even manifested itself
in various incarnations of the Doctor over the years as well, with flashes of
darkness in the seemingly nicer versions, whilst others such as six and nine had
personalities which were almost nothing but dark. I think this is a good point
to remind ourselves that the Timelords are aliens and possibly have a very
different moral compass to us humans, hence why they are so difficult to
predict.
I absolutely loved having them
back though. Hopefully there are now going to be several more returns to
Gallifrey in the years to come as it will be interesting to see how the
Timelords’ apparent lack of morals manifest themselves. I also would like to
see more clashes between the Doctor and the other Timelords like those in
Classic Who just to see how far either side will go. Long live Gallifrey!
CLARA
Even though she “died” a few
weeks ago, Hell Bent was Clara’s true final appearance in Doctor Who, and was the
chance to round off the character for good.
With the help of his fellow
Timelords, the Doctor extracted Clara from the exact moment before she died, to
make an attempt to save her, prolong her life and ultimately try to stop her
from dying. What this gave us was some more, rather emotional, scenes between
the two of them, as has been commonplace throughout this series and across the
time Clara has been a companion.
In the end, the Doctor is
subjected to a neural lock, which wipes most of his memory of Clara, or at the
very least so that he forgets what she looks like. For me, watching this scene
made me reminisce about the Donna scenario, because this is similar and heart-breaking,
despite the fact that it is the reverse. Even though she has saved him so many
times and they have had so many fantastic adventures together, the Doctor cannot
remember who she is. In many ways, this is more upsetting because unlike Donna
who lost her memory and stopped travelling, the Doctor has lost his memory but
will carry on being in the show, so we fans will have to watch him knowing that
he has no real idea of what he has lost. So sad!
A question which has been running
through my mind and those of other Whovians from around the world since the end
of the episode involves Clara and Lady Me. At the end, we see them fly off in
the other TARDIS and talk about holding off Clara’s death. This would seem to
indicate that they have flown off and are planning on travelling the universe
for a while before sending Clara back to the moment of her death (if they ever
do). Speculation is now beginning to fly around on the internet that there is
now the potential for a spin-off series, based on the adventures of Clara and
Lady Me. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?
So, Clara has now gone, and
Moffat was (for once) telling the truth when he said it was going to be
impossible for her to ever return. All in all, I think that it’s a good
conclusion for her character. She died, but she isn’t dead. It combines the
idea of a companion death with that of a companion simply leaving and going off
to carry on living.
THE RETURN OF THE SONIC
Finally, after the DISASTER that
was the sonic sunglasses, the end of this episode saw the return of the sonic
screwdriver. I am so glad that it’s back, because like so many others, I HATED
the sunglasses. This also gives Capaldi another feature unique to his Doctor. He
always just seemed strange carrying around Matt Smith’s sonic, and I always
wanted him to get his own (which wasn’t a ridiculous pair of unnecessary
glasses) and so this makes me so happy.
THE CLASSIC TARDIS
One of my favourite things about
Doctor Who is the variation of TARDIS consoles. Don’t ask me why, I just love
the way the interior of the TARDIS changes with each Doctor.
With this in mind, imagine how
amazed I was to see a classic interior return in this episode in the form of
the stolen TARDIS, now being piloted by Clara and Me. I love that console room,
mainly because it harks back to classic Who and the origins of the show and how
the Doctor became who he is today. it was amazing and I just love it when we
see these old sets reappear, for example when the tenth Doctor’s TARDIS popped
up in The Doctor’s Wife.
After what seems like no time at
all, this series of Doctor Who is over. The finale delivered on so many levels.
It was a fantastic conclusion to the best series of the Moffat era so far. With
so many classic elements blended in to create a formula for a brilliant plot,
it allowed Clara to leave the Doctor behind in a heart-breaking way, whilst
allowing himself to move on in a way which will not affect him too emotionally
in the future. All in all, a great episode to finish off a great series. It combined
so many different elements in a fantastically emotional way.
Rating for Hell Bent
10/10
BLOGMAS MUSIC CHART
We are now on number 17 on my
Christmas music chart. This entry is a song which is hated by the person who
sang it. But then, if you are one of the most successful musicians who ever
lived, doing cheesy Christmas songs is probably a bit of a step-down. Nonetheless,
I love this song and I hope you guys feel the same. Here is Paul and Linda McCartney’s
song Wonderful Christmas Time. Enjoy!
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17
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Paul and Linda McCartney
Wonderful Christmas Time
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That is it for today. If you want
to let me know what you thought of this episode or of anything I’ve spoken about,
you can leave a comment on this post or let me know on my social media, the
links for which are below. My next Blogmas post will be up tomorrow night, and
don’t worry, there will be Doctor Who posts every Sunday until the end of this
year! So, stay tuned for all of that and until tomorrow, keep festive, keep
smiling and above all, keep believing!
TRENT
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