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BBC Death in Heaven |
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| Story No. | 274 | 
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| Production Code | Series 8, Episode 12 | |
| Dates | November 8, 2014 |
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With Peter Capaldi,
Jenna Coleman
Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Rachel Talalay Executive Producers: Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin. |
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|
BBC Death in Heaven |
|
| Story No. | 274 |
|
| Production Code | Series 8, Episode 12 | |
| Dates | November 8, 2014 |
|
With Peter Capaldi,
Jenna Coleman
Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Rachel Talalay Executive Producers: Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin. |
| Synopsis: The President of the Earth is not a happy man. |
"Happy birthday, Mister President" by Donna Bratley 24/6/18
Lead writer sets up sensational finale, doesn't quite deliver and nobody is remotely surprised. Death in Heaven isn't a disaster - just a disappointment.
Love, apparently, is a promise. An implausible romance between two ill-matched schoolteachers saves the human race. Pass the sick-bag!
If I'd ever believed in the Clara/Danny romance, that major thread might have worked instead of feeling over-long, overblown and hideously mawkish. It's like watching the final moments of Doomsday to see Clara tearfully declaring her love for her deceased partner before she sonics him into the cyber-sphere; I know I'm supposed to be moved, but I'm downright bored. Get back to the Doctor and Missy - they're a credible partnership at least!
On the subject of Missy, I don't see any sense in her plans. Does she want an army of cybernised corpses to storm the universe herself or is she really crackpot enough to present it to the Doctor and think it'll make him her friend again?
If nothing else her offer - and her very pointed "No one thinks they're righter than you!" - ends the agonising the Doctor has undergone all series as to his own basic nature. An idiot with a box, wandering around and helping out where he can, always aware of his limits - and his flaws - is my kind of Doctor.
UNIT are a bumbling let-down - again. It's a smart twist that Missy herself causes them to descend at exactly the right/wrong moment and their first appearance bodes well - Osgood is charming, Kate's a competent leader with a dry sense of humour (her exchange with the Doctor over his payroll status is a moment of levity in a classic standoff) - but things go downhill fast once they've knocked out their president and carried him off to the official plane.
I'm not sure why, name-recognition apart, they bothered casting the excellent Sanjeev Bhaskar to be the butt of the Doctor's man-scout barbs. It's a sheer waste of talent. Always uncomfortable, the President of Earth's nastiness toward a uniform is particularly hard to take here, whether because of the desperate stakes or the likeability of Bhaskar's performance. I'm all in favour of a dismissive Doctor without time for the social niceties, but this pushes it too far.
I'm glad Kate took Daddy's portrait along for the ride, and I'm in a tiny minority: I found the notion of the Brigadier absolutely refusing to accept alien control of his mortal remains far more emotional than the shouty heroic demise of Cyberdan. The Doctor's solemn salute and quiet "thank you" to an old friend resolutely at his shoulder in death as he was in life... call me a sentimental idiot, but it got me. And he got to shoot the Master too - wonderful!
Anyway, if poor old "P.E." can miraculously find the "strength" to overcome cyber-control it's an absolute certainty the Brig would too!
Another black mark against UNIT is their casual attitude to restraining the most dangerous of prisoners. Handcuffs? The most dim-witted guards in human history? It's as if they want her to escape!
Her cold-blooded killing of the only smart member of the organisation on show (who I didn't care for in the anniversary special but was converted to just in time for her demise) is shocking in its flirtatious brutality. The Doctor offering her a place aboard the TARDIS was a neon sign signalling Osgood's fate, but it also teed up a real standout scene as the two Time Lords come face to face in the cargo bay.
Capaldi and Gomez make a sensational double act, both able to infuse tension with comedy and vice versa. It's astounding that they manage to convey cold dislike and ancient affinity in every exchange. I particularly love his cool "piece of cake" as the planet's president is summoned from questioning the captive; and his soft, resigned "You win" matched by her quietly triumphant "I know" as he steels himself to save Clara's soul at his own expense. Tennant and Simm tried to capture the best of enemies/worst of friends dynamic but never nailed it (the writing didn't help them, to be fair). Capaldi and Gomez do, and it saves the episode.
The Cybermen pollinating Earth's graveyards is grotesque, slightly silly and makes for surprisingly chilling viewing. Shots of silver hands clawing up from beneath tombstones should be cheesy, but Rachel Talalay makes them into moments of visceral horror. There's less she can do with the flyers attacking the presidential jet or the massed take-off into the clouds - those are some of the least impressive computerised visuals of the year.
Dan the Cyberman gets his grand heroic exit - which I find off-key and a touch embarrassing. It's almost a relief to see his resentment of the Doctor remaining intact to the last, but if I'm supposed to sympathise with his snarling against the old General who understands the consequences of his strategic call much too well, it doesn't happen.
If the Twelfth Doctor was as cold and unemotional as his words can imply, it'd be an effective rebuke. As he's not - Capaldi's subtle expressions have been making the point since Deep Breath - it's a final fit of pique from a desperate man in an impossible situation. Perhaps it's also a last blast against the man who always - she couldn't have made it clearer - came between him and the woman he loves.
Amy's eventual choice made sense: I can't imagine Clara doing the same, because neither can she. The one man she'll always forgive, her best friend... hard words for her dead lover, but essentially the woman addicted to the Doctor and his life we've seen all series. And, for once, a dead character does stay dead. Thank you, Mr Moffat!
The final moments are, astonishingly, actually poignant. I've always found the Fourth Doctor's restrained farewell to Sarah-Jane more affecting than the recent "Look at us! This is sad! Did you get that? SAD!" companion exits, so the low-key nature of this one hits home. And they're both lying for "the right reasons" too. It couldn't finish on a more bittersweet note.
It ends too with a spine-tingling reminder that great actors don't need words. I knew Peter Capaldi was a superb actor when he took the role. Series 8 alone proves he's a great deal better than that.