Oh dear. Up to this point, Series 8 has consistently maintained a high quality, so it's a shame that it fell slightly at the last hurdle. What we have with Death in Heaven is an episode where the individual moments were more enjoyable than the piece as a whole.
The revelation that Missy created an army of Cybermen for the purpose of handing control to the Doctor didn't really work. This Doctor has been so strongly opposed to soldiers that it's hard to believe he'll ever do anything with the army. It also makes the plot feel small in scale. Davros tried to reveal the Doctor's soul in The Stolen Earth, but that was just one part of a much larger plan to destroy reality. It wasn't the whole point of the exercise. Likewise, the reveal that Missy was the woman in the shop and that she manoeuvred Clara into the Doctor's life so that she could lead the Doctor to the point of taking the army was unconvincing as well. How many variables did Missy have to think through to imagine them reaching this point?
It was good to see UNIT again, but they were somewhat wasted. They may well link into the central theme of soldiers, but they didn't accomplish anything other than to nearly get killed. Kate Lethbridge Stewart appears for the sole purpose of introducing her father. Osgood is here to die so that we can tell how evil Missy. And what is the point of hiring Sanjeev Bhaskar for such a minor role as Colonel Ahmed? They might as well have hired a lesser known actor.
The story did manage present the Cybermen in a far more effective way. The idea of them as the living dead was used in Tomb of the Cybermen and here we get them rising from the grave. The notion that they were literally pollinating from the ground might seem a bit ridiculous, but then again this is the same race that hatched from eggs in The Wheel in Space. The only trouble is that once they've risen from the graves, they just stand around doing nothing.
Danny's story arc concluded reasonably well. The realisation of his Cyber Converson looked good. All palid skin. There were still some problems though. We never knew if Danny had made the decision to wipe his memories. It's also unclear why he decided to take Clara to the graveyard. Did the Cyberman programming override his will at that point? His final decision to lead the Cybermen to the destruction was good. What happens to Orson Pink?
The scene of the Doctor having to kill Missy was good. Her apparent death at the end of this story is fooling no-one. She's probably as dead as Ainley's Master was after being burned to a crisp in Planet of Fire.
I have mixed feelings about the Brigadier living on as a Cyberman. As Danny proved, it was a kind of living hell. This is then followed by another ridiculous moment for Clara. The kid shouldn't have been able to come back as he was just a mind within the Nethersphere, not a person.
In a way this feels like Moffat was trying to recreate the RTD era finales. We have Cybermen invading as per Doomsday, the Master from The Stolen Earth and the morale dilemma from Journey's End. But this didn't work as well.
While the plot felt like it was a bit all over the place, the cast are utterly perfect in what they do. Michelle Gomez has become one of my favourite incarnations of the Master. You laugh at her jokes but then you hate her for killing Osgood.
All of the problems of the above were almost worth it for scene of the Doctor and Clara in the Café, lying to each other about their happiness in the hope of protecting the other. In some ways its a shame that this won't be Clara's genuine departure because it's just so good.
Clara is another highlight of this episode. From the opening moments when she pretends to be the Doctor with a wonderful confident swagger to her sadness at Danny's passing. I don't know if Jenna is staying on for much longer but she's definitely hasn't outstayed her welcome.
And of course, we get to the leading man himself. Peter Capaldi has been a brilliant Doctor. It's funny that when they showed Matt Smith in the flashbacks, he now felt like an old Doctor. Peter no longer feels like "the new guy". He is the Doctor.
This episode might have veered up and down in quality, but it doesn't cancel out all of the great stuff that happened elsewhere. Overall, I'd say that Peter Capaldi's Doctor has got off to a great start and I look forward to seeing how his Doctor develops in the next series.
5/10
Next Time: Nick Frost is Santa Claus, but is Santa as real as Robin Hood or is something else going on?
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