Dr Who season 9

Anyone notice how this street was like Faerie and Ashilda the immortal Faerie Queen? Rigid laws with horrible consequences for minor violations, it's there, but hidden, a deal with the devil and the tithe to Hell kind of thing.

 

This season started out promising, but I think it has crashed and burned far worse than last season at this juncture. I'm regretting buying the season pass this time out. The episodes with the Zygons (quite possible the dumbest villain in the Doctor Who universe...yes, even sillier than killer rolling trashcans) was where it seemed to stumble and hasn't recovered.

 

Hmmm... I see not all of you enjoyed this one so much. Personally, I thought it was quite a solid episode, much better than the previous three ones, which I thought were quite mediocre. I liked the ambientation, the set up and the evolution in Maisie Williams' character. Clara's exit was not bad but reminded me a bit too much of 10's one, though slightly less saccharine, luckily. The Doctor getting angry reminded me a bit of his "time lord victorious" delirious rant at the end of "The Waters of Mars"... brilliant! A very worth episode, in my book, except for the after-credits ending which I found slightly cringe worthy (but since it's so brief, I will just forget about it). However, I must confess that her death was pretty much expected... by me at least. I noticed that she kept getting impulsive and impulsive and I suspected that this would eventually led to her demise. It seems so obvious that I don't think her story has actually ended here and, as you mentioned, Jenna Coleman is to appear on "Hell Bent". I don't think they will necessarily bring her back... after all, they didn't with Danny Pink (whose death, actually, created a sort of plot hole: remember his supposed descendent on "Listen"?), but let's see what they have in mind. Oh, let me stress again how much I enjoy Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman's performances. 12 is definitely my favorite of the Doctors I saw. I didn't actually remember Rigsy, I had to look who he was. That's strange because I remember "Flatline" as being one of the best episodes on season 8.

The trailer to "Heaven Sent" really intrigued me. I'm expecting a great serie finale. I hope I won't be disappointed!

 

Wow, tonight's episode was a particularly dark and nightmarish affair!

 

Yep. Enjoyed the occasional Nosferatu teases. Effective lighting created an oppressive mood. Didn't see the ending coming. I'd speculated to the wife that perhaps 'bird' was a phoenix reference. The whole born-again/regeneration thing. Wrong! The blackboard scenes were nice touch too. I'm already missing Clara. The next companion's a massive task ahead of them I reckon.

 

and another feat; there was really ONE person...erm...timelord present in this episode! And indeed; at about five minutes before the ending the

Spoiler: don't read this if you haven't seen the episode!

desperation is huge! It's a nightmare version of Groundhog Day. Am I right to think ALL these skulls at the bottom of the ocean are his?

 

That was my reasoning, yes. Mind-blowing or what?

 

Nice atmospheric episode with a terrific performance by Capaldi. The story really didn't need to steal from The Maze Runner, but I guess Moffat can't help himself when it comes to pop culture steals!

Did I miss something or don't we yet know how he got into the time/energy loop thinggy?

 

I thought he was transported there right at the end of the previous episode (the sad one...)....

 

Me put a teleport device on his wrist in the previous episode.

 

Yep. My first thought while watching it was that this episode was a mishmash of Groundhog Day, The Maze Runner and a couple other plots from movies, TVs, and plays (Hamlet anyone?) Hell, there was even a very brief Rocky II moment (Namely, one short line that was said.) If you caught it then good for you. If not, go back and watch it. I won't tell as not to spoil it.

 

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/grimm/g86h/chapter153.html "The Shepherd Boy", Brothers Grimm.

 

Holy crap! This was certainly my favorite episode of the season, so far. Excellent acting by Capaldi, fantastic writing, great atmosphere. One of the most terrifying episodes I've ever seen, more claustrophobic than "Midnight" and scarier than "Blink", in my opinion. Now, I hope next week's episode lives to its standards! This is the first time that they show blood in the modern series, right?

By the way, my mind is clearly irreversibly influenced by music by now: I can't write the title of the next episode ("Hell Bent") without thinking of Judas Priest! This also happened with the earlier episode "Before the Flood" ("After the Flood" by Van der Graaf Generator).

 

It wasnt much of a plot hole because as has often been said on the show, time can be rewritten, although I always only thought that was due to interference by time travelers, but Danny seemed to die due to a natural every day accident.

Aside from the awful episode "Sleep No More", this has been the strongest season since Eccleston! Im very much looking forward to this Saturday!

 

Also, I know that most viewers are taking Heaven Sent literally, but it's my theory that this entire episode didn't take place in the physical world. It just doesn't make much sense, does it? Two billion + years is an awfully long time for something unintentional to intervene, like the sun going supernova or aliens coming down to invade (we all know how populated the universe is!). Could The Master ever leave his best friend in peace for such a span of time? And would even the Time Lords remember who the Doctor was after 2 billion years? I think it was all in his head.

 

I never saw Maze Runner, but I remember when they found Scotty trapped in a transporter, where he'd left himself in limbo for years.

Also, I felt the way the monster was also an interrogator was rather Prisoner-esque. It makes me think that maybe the Timelords and/or The Master were behind it in their desperation to find out the location of the Hybrid.

Also, do you think they're implying the Doctor is half human, like Paul McGann revealed in the TV Movie?

 

Spoiler: Hint, hint

Well, he didn't say "I am the hybrid", but the "hybrid is me".

 

Spoiler: Spoiler

Actually, we don't yet know if he said, 'The Hybrid is me' or 'The Hybrid is Me.' Note the capitalization.

 

Spoiler

It's tempting, but I'm going to go with no, I dont think so. He was talking about himself. The Doctor always referred to Me by her proper name, Ashieldr. The prophecy of the hybrid relates to the time lords and the daleks, and she is neither. He knew he was the hybrid all along and that's why he stole the TARDIS and left.

 

Spoiler

maybe the prophesy was he'd create the Hybrid and the Hybrid was 'Me' and he calls her Ashieldr because he's in denial that the prophesy came to pass

 

Spoiler

Maybe, but I think she's a bit too obvious, and probably a red herring. She's a hybrid of two warrior races, but so is Osgood. So was River Song. So was Captain Jack and Donna. So was the Human Dalek from series 3. Let's face it, The Doctor is very good at making hybrids. He is like the GOD of hybrids!

 

Spoiler

What if This Doctor isn't really THE DOCTOR but the companion and Clara is the real Doctor. Meanwhile Clara is regenerating as the next companion/Doctor.

 

Spoiler

Maybe he refeered to her as "Me" because he realized "Ashildir" is no more. During the end of "Face the Raven" he was not exactly in good terms with her, but he was at the end of "The Woman who Lived", when he kept calling her Ashildir. Until next Saturday we can only speculate I guess.

Questions, questions, questions, flooding into the mind of the concerned young person today.

Yes, the more I think of it, the more it makes sense. I think the giveaway is the

Spoiler

confession dial at the end from which he seemingly emerges: in my opinion it's a clear indication that it was not the real universe

 

Spoiler

I doubt that'll happen, but i wouldnt be surprised if he used Gallifreyan tech to regenerate Clara back to life. Maybe she becomes the hybrid.

 

Because to the Doctor time is non linear then although for him it may be two billion years to those outside the Tardis he will only appear to have been gone for a day, week, year, century, or however long it was since his last appearance, likewise because he is a duplicate of himself he, (the duplicate), hasn't aged more than however long it takes between leaving the teleportation pod and breaking through the wall, so not only does the Doctor not remember all those lifetimes, but his absence will not have been noticed.

It was the best episode this series and the best for quite a while, although I haven't been impressed by most of the series so far, hopefully they'll maintain the standard next week.