The fact that in the opening we see Clara, the impossible girl, actually makes sense. It was a way to frame the story and at the outset one could assume it was just another instance of Clara. He was there telling this girl his tale, surely fudging some of the more fanciful details to make it believable. As time and the story went on we learned more about Clara and why they seemed to not know each other and it became more and more heartbreaking.
The most important thing is that we are on Gallifrey. Since the new run of Doctor Who we haven’t got a whole lot of Gallifrey. Other than the regular mentions of his home planet our glimpses at the Planet and the people on it were limited. thus it was nice seeing the Doctor back home was great for the show. So it was nice getting to be back on the plant again.
The Doctor decided to go back home. While his family and the people of the town didn’t do anything to him other than feed him and stare at him as though he was the biggest attraction in the area, there were still people coming after him. There wasn’t a single moment of peace for him. He was a wanted man by Gallifrey. Even as the military hunted him down, none of it jarred him. he drew a line in the sand. He was simply going to sit back, eat and relax. None of the nonsense that people were trying to get him involved with was anything he even wanted to remotely deal with.
Things got interesting when the confrontation got heated or less heated. The military all disobeyed Rassilon’s orders and sided with the Doctor. I enjoyed that in siding with the Doctor the military wasn’t opting to pick up or change the target of their arms, but to relinquish them. In doing so the Doctor was put into a position of power. It was only then that they could begin to approach the real issue, the hybrid.
All season we’ve been teased with the hybrid. The hybrid a creature blended of two warrior races. So it made sense that this final episode would focus on the hybrid.
We got more information about Clara’s death. The Doctor snatched her literally the moment before her death and she was whisked forward in time. However the Doctor seized the moment to try to help Clara. It was heartbreaking to see the Doctor’s desperation to try to save her. Even though he could never outright say it, Clara means so much to him. He meant the world and they had to finally have a proper goodbye. Yet through this they were able to go for one final fling. One last chance for them to prove that they were an incredible team.
It wasn’t all that surprising to see Me turn up yet again. This season she’s popped up either for amusement or at the worst of moments. She’s immortal so provided she wasn’t killed she’d always be around. Me is dangerous. Me is curious. Me asks questions, ones that the Doctor doesn’t want to confront. All the theories that were pushed forward that were bandied about this season. Maybe it was Me who was the hybrid because of her immortality, but that doesn’t work because she isn’t truly a time lord. Maybe it was the Doctor who might actually be half human, that was not confirmed or denied. Maybe it was the relationship between The Doctor and the Master and their symbiotic relationship made them the hybrid. However, Me came to the conclusion that it was both the Doctor and Clara that made the hybrid. A team willing to push each other, willing to sacrifice for each other and that made sense.
Clara and the Doctor’s goodbye was one that brought me to tears. The fact that in order to destroy the hybrid they could not exist together was the clincher. It was initially assumed that Clara was going to be the one who forgot. However, it was clear that Clara remembered while the Doctor was forced to connect. The fact that he did that because he didn’t think he could live with himself knowing he’d done that to her was rough. It really showed just how close he was to Clara because the Doctor was previously willing to let Donna forget. However with Clara it was too much for him, showing just how intense their bond was. He was able to sit right in front of that cafe in front of Clara recounting their adventures, but couldn’t remember her face.
At the end of it all it felt like a proper send off.
And seriously, he has a new sonic screwdriver.
What did you think of the episode?
So, I pondered... 