eve11 | Hell Bent

Imma just put these here, even though the lines themselves don't do that set of scenes justice.

**
A long time ago there was a student at the academy. He got in here. Disappeared for 4 days. Showed up in a completely different part of the city. Said the sliders. . . talked to him. They showed him the secret passage out. We just need the code.

What, and the kid told you the secret?

Ah, no. He didn’t tell anyone anything, he went completely mad. Never right in the head again, so they say.

Okay, that’s encouraging.

The last I heard, he stole the moon, and the President’s wife.

Was she, um. . . was she nice, the President’s wife?

Ah well, that was a lie put about by the Shobogans. It was the President’s daughter. And I didn’t steal the moon, I lost it--

I’d know you anywhere.

I was a completely different person in those days. Eccentric. A bit mad. Haha. Rude to people.

Look at me again.

Say what?

In the eye. Look at me. Just do it.

What--what is it?

How long has it been for you since you last saw me?

Ohh... whoa, oh I’m not sure.

How long?

I was stuck in a place. They--

They. What, who? Who are we talking about?

They wanted something from me, information. It really doesn’t matter.

What happened to your coat? The velvety one, I liked that one, it was. . . it was very Doctor-y.

I changed it.

Why?

Well I can’t be the Doctor all the time.

**

The hybrid. What is it? What’s so important you would fight so long?

It doesn’t matter what the hybrid is, it only matters that I convinced them that I knew. Otherwise they would have kicked me out and I’d have nothing left to bargain with.

What were you bargaining for?

What do you think? You. I had to find a way to save you. I knew it had to be the Time Lords. They cost you your life on Trap Street, Clara, and I was going to make them bring you back. I just had to hang on in there for a bit.

How long?

It was fine.

**

One question, and you will answer. How long was the Doctor trapped inside the confession dial?

We think, four and a half billion years.

He could have left any time he wanted; he just had to say what he knew. The dial would have released him.

**

Four and a half billion years.

If she says so.

No, why would you even do that? I was dead. I was dead and gone; why, why would you even do that to yourself?

I had a duty of care.

**

You are monsters. Here you are, hiding away at the end of time. Do you even know why? Because you are hated. You. Are. Hated. By everybody, but by nobody more than me.

What did you say to him?

Oh, nothing I’m going to tell you. Or anybody else. Except maybe this one part. I said, “Don’t worry Doctor. They’ll all be looking at me.”

**

Right, overall, I really loved this episode. Also loving the idea of Me and Time-Frozen Clara traveling the Universe in a last hurrah. If you think about it, Me/Ashildr is in the same position as Clara, kind of. She can deposit herself at the end of the Universe and also end--just the long way round.

I thought that scene with the Doctor was Maisie Williams' best of her run. "A reality bubble, how are you doing that?" "Brilliantly." :D And I loved how they basically plunked an entire internet message board fan debate into that scene and then cast it aside and didn't actually resolve anything.

I think Clara was convinced a little too easily to do that 50/50 split. But perhaps it was just the Doctor lying to her, and she knew that ("You really don't know which?").

Also it's taken 1 and 3/4 seasons but I feel like I'm invested in this show again... maybe not to the extent that I will drive 8 hours on an impromptu road trip to get a week-ahead look at the season opener again, but these last few episodes in S9 have really hit the right emotional notes. We are finally getting the right stories and writing for Capaldi to shine in the role. Okay not all of it is the electric guitar. But a lot of it is the electric guitar ;) But no, really, part of what frustrated me with earlier stories was this tendency to make his character too extreme. Too gruff, too rude, too alien, without earning that. And these last two episodes really highlight the balance and adjustments they've done. Because they show just how alien he really is, and at the same time they show the full range of his recognizably human grief and emotion too.

My only complaint is his running away from the pain of loss by forgetting. I realize the forgetting was because the pair of them were too dangerous to be together, and they would gravitate to each other and never stop if given the opportunity. But forgetting her also makes him forget her death, or at least not carry it with him to the extent of 4 billion years of torture. But he has to remember things about her--including her death, in order to tell the story he's telling. Or maybe Clara is filling in the gaps for the parts when she came back on the scene.

That said, the scene between them in the diner at the end, how Clara is fighting to keep it together when he tells her face to face that he would know her if he met her again, really is heartbreaking. I suppose it is a different kind of grief he has to carry with him now. Clara can live in the gaps of his mind (along with all those adventures his sixth incarnation had with Charley Pollard, one must say).

Other eras: The Amy and Rory mention in the Diner. The amnesiac Doctor traveling the world reminded me of Eight. The Seventh era shout-out to not eating pears. The academy era fairy tale. The Hartnell old school TARDIS. Remembering the horrid end that came to Donna (and NOT repeating it). There was the sisterhood of Karn and a "death" scene that reminded me of both Four and Five. And the parallel to all of those Eleventh era digs: "Clara. Clara Who?"

And I absolutely loved all of the paint flaking and floating away when the blue box under it was removed.

In conclusion, farewell Clara and Me. Farewell sonic sunglasses. And even though it's Jossing my WIP, for the love of pete, bring on the Christmas special.