Doctor Who - Season 8 Finale - Recap: Never Trust A Hug

Credit: BBC

The Cyberman invasion led by Missy (Michelle Gomez) is one of the better threats the show has put together, since it employs the notion of an alien threat using humanity against itself. In this case, Missy is uploading deceased minds to a Time Lord hard drive, and then putting them back into upgraded Cyberman bodies. In essence, she's creating an army of the dead to wage war, and this means Danny (Samuel Anderson) is caught in the crossfire, torn in his loyalties. The highlight of much of these scenes is Gomez herself, who imbues Missy with a cackling glee that borders on unsettling, given the severity of everything surrounding the episode. This isn't to say there isn't a levity to some of the proceedings. I loved The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) being named President of Earth, and I adored Osgood, the scientist/Doctor superfan who had such wonderful potential as a companion that I was genuinely sad when she was disintegrated by Missy.

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But the lighthearted moments are few and far between, as the episode pulls out all the stops, not only bringing UNIT out of mothballs to get involved in the fray, but also bringing in Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), Head of Scientific Research and daughter of the late Brigadier General. All of these elements basically orbit around the manic energy of Gomez's performance, as Missy's goal is less about conquering Earth and more about reuniting with The Doctor. By giving him an army, she's hoping to empower him to do whatever it is he actually intends to do in the universe, whether it's helping humans or conquering worlds. She's essentially giving him the power to steer the course of human history, deciding the outcome of any major conflict and ending any potential insurgency by simply deploying the Cybermen. Part of the beauty of Gomez's performance is that she's almost sympathetic, since she's little more than a rogue outcast looking for acceptance from the only other person who might understand what that feels like.

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Of course, what's interesting about "Death In Heaven" is that the emotional center of the episode isn't the relationship between The Doctor and Missy, or even The Doctor and Clara (Jenna Coleman). It's the relationship between Clara and Danny, who wrestles with his humanity after being fully converted to a Cyberman. This isn't the first time Doctor Who has depicted the horror of what it means to be turned into the emotionless, pained husk of a person that a Cyberman is, by necessity. But this is the most vivid depiction of that horror, as we see Danny's scarred, pale, bolted face and grimacing expression. It's effective largely thanks to Anderson's portrayal of Danny's suffering, as Danny pleads with Clara to turn on his inhibitor. Naturally, this is a problem since the inhibitor will suppress the emotions that make Danny who he is. Worse, it'll force him to turn his guns on Clara. This results in some of the more emotional scenes of the episode, which surprised me somewhat, considering how lukewarm I've been on Clara and Danny's relationship, in the past.

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On the one hand, it's a bit strange to depict Danny as someone who's bitter at The Doctor for wanting the tactical advantage that activating Danny's inhibitor will provide (since Danny will be linked to the Cybermen hive mind, allowing him access to Missy's plans). On the other hand, there's something just as powerful in having Danny revert to his role as a soldier. When Missy gives The Doctor control over the Cybermen, he surprises her by ceding control of the army to Danny, who delivers a rousing, commanding speech in which he implores his fellow Cybermen to do their duty, to fulfill "the promise of a soldier." Anderson hasn't had a whole lot to do this season in the acting department, at least where range is concerned, but he did an excellent job here depicting Danny as a man who recognizes his duty, and is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. It plays as an act of redemption for his actions overseas years ago, but it also reads as a final act of love, which The Doctor describes as a "promise" in itself. Danny leads the Cybermen as they detonate themselves in the sky above, dispersing the cloud that threatened to resurrect the dead with its rain. Danny sacrifices himself to save Clara, and Missy is ultimately killed by the Cyberman form of...the Brigadier General?! It'd almost be silly if it weren't so well set-up, from all the talk of The Doctor never having saluted the Brigadier General, to Kate's inexplicable survival after being thrown from an airplane. It's one of those developments that probably should have been obvious from how heavily it's foreshadowed, but I was pretty happy to be caught off-guard, nonetheless.

Credit: BBC

I felt the same way about the conclusion, which was a poignant and bittersweet end to The Doctor and Clara's time together. Apparently, the band used to control the Cybermen had just enough energy to pull back one person from the Nethersphere. Clara was prepared for that person to be Danny, but it's ultimately the child Danny accidentally killed in Afghanistan that gets sent back through the portal, in one final redemptive act. Danny stays dead, and Clara has to find a way to not only reunite this kid with his family, but also find a way to move on without the man she loves. And things haven't exactly been going much better for The Doctor. After being given the false hope by Missy that Gallifrey had resurfaced, The Doctor punches in the coordinates, arrives on the scene, and finds she was lying the entire time. Both letdowns result in Clara and The Doctor separately acting out their grief -- Clara through tears, and The Doctor through trashing the TARDIS. They also cope similarly in how they hide their grief from one another. Clara meets with The Doctor, but never manages to tell him that Danny didn't come back from the Nethersphere, instead allowing him to assume that she and Danny are back to being a happy couple again. Similarly, The Doctor lies and tells Clara that Missy was telling the truth, that Gallifrey has resurfaced, and that he's heading home to rebuild. The Doctor and Clara share a hug, although The Doctor warns never to trust hugs, since all it does is provide the opportunity to hide one's face. And we see that principle in action, as both The Doctor and Clara hide the pain on their faces while embracing, fighting off the urge to let their emotions get the better of them.

Although the episode tries to end on a positive note (with Clara thanking The Doctor for making her feel special, and The Doctor thanking her for doing the same for him), what we're left with is one of the most emotionally disquieting endings to a season in some time, as Clara walks off into the distance after the TARDIS has disappeared, facing an uncertain future ahead. And that's an intriguing prospect as we head into the Christmas special. Where do we go from here? It's a question that's easier asked than answered. If nothing else, season eight has seemingly ushered Doctor Who into darker territory. And that could make for some really engrossing TV when we return on Christmas Day. I can't wait. Until then, "Death In Heaven" is a wonderfully fitting end to a consistently compelling season of Doctor Who.