**Spoilers** Series 9, Episode 11 - "Heaven Sent"

pixelburp

So looks like this weeks episode picks up straight from where the last left off, with the Doctor transported to places unknown & coming to terms with ... well, you know, that thing that happened to the person whose name sounds like, ugh, 'Lara'.

It's also going to be an extended episode, running at 65 minutes, and supposedly has

nobody else in it bar Capaldi, that he's completely on his own. So I guess think the intro from 'Listen'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biQb3WRQpw8

Penn

The episode Capaldi has been waiting for. F*cking incredible.

Professey Chin

That was f*cking brilliant from start to end

corkie

Weird Filler episode before the season finale!

"I'm not scared of hell, it is just heaven for bad people"

ebbsy

Doctor Who at its very best.

Wibbs

Capaldi was very good in this. Groundhog day for Time Lords.

FloatingVoter

Pity he couldn't find a sledgehammer. Would have knocked a million or so years off the wall-shattering. Good episode though.

Orion

That was absolutely superb. A 40 minute soliloquay and he pulled it off excellently

Das Kitty

Amazing!

It's a rare hour of TV that can have you twig what's going on in the first minute and still grip you all the way through.

As dark as the programme gets, and probably as good as it gets too.

CastorTroy

Not to nitpick, but why didn't room 12 reset?

So was it all real or just in his head/confession dial and he never really died all those times?

Oh and anyone else notice the "Bird" writing looked different from different angles?

Great episode and nice cameo as well Next week should be good.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

That was really enjoyable. Not easy pulling off a whole hour episode with just one character (mostly, anyway)...

jasonb

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Pity he couldn't find a sledgehammer. Would have knocked a million or so years off the wall-shattering. Good episode though.

Or maybe even a shovel? And how about not burying a clue underground, leave it a little more obvious maybe, save a smidgen of time?

Anyhow, very good episode, that was far from the 'monster of the week' (even though it kinda had one). Don't know if kids would have loved it, but I thought it was very good, Capaldi was excellent (it's almost 'of course' these days) and for want of a better word, it was 'good' to see the Doctor suffer the loss of a friend, and miss them. Even when she's gone, she helps him.

Anyone think 'Sherlock's Mind Palace' when the Doctor 'went' into the Tardis as he was slowly dying? I thought those scenes in the Tardis showed very well just how intelligent he is, and how he can always think of something (just like Missy said earlier in the season).

Back to Gallifrey for the finale, I don't think the Doctor is the Hybrid (no matter what he said). I think it's Me.

J.

Das Kitty

Well he did say, it's "Me"

Haha. Brill.

jasonb

Das Kitty wrote: »

Well he did say, it's "Me"

Haha. Brill.

Excellent, I never even got that!

J.

Eugene Norman

Das Kitty wrote: »

Well he did say, it's "Me"

Haha. Brill.

Great catch.

Excellent episode although I agree he should have probably communicated something about using a shovel to himself.

corkie

CastorTroy wrote: »

Not to nitpick, but why didn't room 12 reset?

So was it all real or just in his head/confession dial and he never really died all those times?

Oh and anyone else notice the "Bird" writing looked different from different angles?

Great episode and nice cameo as well Next week should be good.

What I don't get is in last weeks episode he gave the confession dial to Ashildr(/"Me"). Just scanned through the episode again and he did.

Das Kitty

corkie wrote: »

What I don't get is in last weeks episode he gave the confession dial to Ashildr(/"Me"). Just scanned through the episode again and he did.

Must have got transported into it. I reckon it was a real place though. The stars changing pattern would point to that.

I loved how grim this episode was. All this talk about death on Gallifrey. That everyone hangs around with the body and don't bury it until they're sure you're good and dead. And the woman from his nightmare, dying/dead and covered in veils, but the flies making themselves at home anyway? 'Orrible!


I can't stop being excited about the Doctor on Gallifrey. He hasn't been on Gallifrey since he was the War Doctor. I hope it stays unlocked after this. Let the stuffy feckers out.

T-Bird

Very good episode.

But, outside of the castle doesn’t reset. So why wasn’t there a Doctor Who skull mountain rising out from the water and almost reaching the stars after a billion or so years? :P

Rael

jasonb wrote: »

Back to Gallifrey for the finale, I don't think the Doctor is the Hybrid (no matter what he said). I think it's Me.

J.

Although since McGann has been established as the eighth Doctor, we now know the Doctor is half human on his Mother's side.

FloatingVoter

T-Bird wrote: »

Very good episode.

But, outside of the castle doesn’t reset. So why wasn’t there a Doctor Who skull mountain rising out from the water and almost reaching the stars after a billion or so years? :P

Skeletal remains turn to ash over long periods of time. That's the excuse the crew gave when asked to build a mountain.

McLoughlin

Very 7th Doctor ish hinting that The Doctor is more than a Timelord that he is something else. I wonder and hope that Moffet is going in the same direction as the Cartmel Masterplan

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Yep, that was pretty good. Can't see anyone but Capaldi pulling that one off.

Nice to see Clara show up very briefly. I thought the "fake" Clara was a bit obvious and it started to annoy me as the episode went on, not the blackboard stuff but the person standing there and running off screen but the tiny moment of real Clara broke my heart all over again, as did The Doctor saying it didn't matter what he did or didn't do because she would still be gone. I guess that puts the nail in the coffin of the Clara's been dead since the start but is really still alive!!! half theories we all had

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

P.S. Murray Gold does some phenomenal work with the music.

pixelburp

Had to watch it in two parts, finishing this morning, but ... wow. That was a phenomenal episode. Direction, script, acting, music. The lot. Genuinely fantastic TV, regardless of genre

To the point where I'd like to think more on what I just watched, but first instincts make me wonder if that was one of the best episodes since the 2005 relaunch. Or the shows overall run.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

It's funny, some of us have maybe gone from "I prefer the episodes where it's just two people talking." to "Feck two people, gimme one person talking!"

Also... is Capaldi Doctor 12? So his clue about Room 12 was also him literally being inside himself?

Penn

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

It's funny, some of us have maybe gone from "I prefer the episodes where it's just two people talking." to "Feck two people, gimme one person talking!"

Also... is Capaldi Doctor 12? So his clue about Room 12 was also him literally being inside himself?

Yeah when I saw "I am in 12", I thought it would be revealed that he was essentially in his own subconscious and it would be about dealing with his guilt over Clara's death. Didn't cop he was in his confession dial.

The_Valeyard

Brilliant episode, absolutely brilliant.

Eugene Norman

The direction was amazing. Considering this could have been another corridor romp it was far from the running around the BBC props department c 1960 we got in No More Sleep and Under The Lake.

It never for a moment felt he wasn't on that strange movable pieces castle in the middle of a sea on a strange planet with a weird star system.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Penn wrote: »

Yeah when I saw "I am in 12", I thought it would be revealed that he was essentially in his own subconscious and it would be about dealing with his guilt over Clara's death. Didn't cop he was in his confession dial.

I guessed he was in the confession dial once we saw the levels of the castle moving like a dial.... also all the confessing he was doing. :cool:

Jaketherake

Das Kitty wrote: »

Must have got transported into it. I reckon it was a real place though. The stars changing pattern would point to that.

I loved how grim this episode was. All this talk about death on Gallifrey. That everyone hangs around with the body and don't bury it until they're sure you're good and dead. And the woman from his nightmare, dying/dead and covered in veils, but the flies making themselves at home anyway? 'Orrible!


I can't stop being excited about the Doctor on Gallifrey. He hasn't been on Gallifrey since he was the War Doctor. I hope it stays unlocked after this. Let the stuffy feckers out.

I think that means Clara is not really dead either.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Jaketherake wrote: »

I think that means Clara is not really dead either.

Isn't he a couple of thousand years in the future though? Even if she wasn't dead.... well, she would be, or extremely old.

Eugene Norman

Clara is dead.

Wibbs

There's still the loose end of Clara having descendants, one of whom she met. Gonna be a real trick give she and her boyfriend are both pushing up daisies.

The_Valeyard

Wibbs wrote: »

There's still the loose end of Clara having descendants, one of whom she met. Gonna be a real trick give she and her boyfriend are both pushing up daisies.

Depends on which Clara it is? Multiple Claras across The Doctors timeline.



Also,


Hats off to Murray Gold, thought it was bit flat this season, but the score in that episode was so beautiful.

Das Kitty

Wibbs wrote: »

There's still the loose end of Clara having descendants, one of whom she met. Gonna be a real trick give she and her boyfriend are both pushing up daisies.

I think "time can be rewritten" covers that one.

I think she's 100% dead.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Das Kitty wrote: »

I think "time can be rewritten" covers that one.

I think she's 100% dead.

Also, Clara was supposed to leave last year, alive, but then they got Coleman to stay so it's possible that future Pink was written with that ending in mind.

Unknown Soldier

It's the little things in life.

It always takes me a while to warm to a New Doctor, since I've been watching since the early 80's. (Though a fair bit of that was from behind a cushion):o

They/he/everyone nailed it with this episode, it was almost like the previous episodes this season were fodder for this one and hopefully the next.

I won't lie, I actually went "Squee!" in my head when it ended and I saw the trailer for next week.

I'm still not sure if DW is going the direction it should for a "wider audience" but man they nailed it for me

So..yeah.. Squee!

McLoughlin

What do people think when The Doctor said The Hybrid is me.

Was he rathering to himself (me as in me) or Ashildr (me as in her)

Das Kitty

McLoughlin wrote: »

What do people think when The Doctor said The Hybrid is me.

Was he rathering to himself (me as in me) or Ashildr (me as in her)

I would love if it was himself.

Okay I got there was some kinda loop and the skulls were all his once I saw the clothes by the fire but I did NOT see what was gonna happen with the diamond wall. That must be why he kept leaving shovels maybe. I loved the story he was telling getting a bit more and more revealed on each loop

I'm a bit confused on the confession dial thing though
I thought it was a thing for after you died instead of being transported into it and freaked out for eternity

jasonb

bluewolf wrote: »

Okay I got there was some kinda loop and the skulls were all his once I saw the clothes by the fire but I did NOT see what was gonna happen with the diamond wall. That must be why he kept leaving shovels maybe. I loved the story he was telling getting a bit more and more revealed on each loop

I'm a bit confused on the confession dial thing though
I thought it was a thing for after you died instead of being transported into it and freaked out for eternity

Yeah, but if he kept leaving shovels, he could have used them, instead of his fists!

As for the Confession Dial, maybe it's like filling our your Will, you have to put something into it, and now he has?

J.

Wibbs

Das Kitty wrote: »

I think "time can be rewritten" covers that one.

Aye DK, or maybe more likely in the production meetings; don't mention the war, they'll forget about it, timey wimey and all that. *five cups of coffee later*… here, maybe we can shove her into the same universe Rose is in?

SparklersJo

But we still don't know who asked Ashildr to transport him into the confession dial, do we?

And Gallifrey was in some frozen alternate time/reality, wasn't it? So how did the confession dial end up there for him to come out of it in Gallifrey? Does that mean Gallifrey is back? Or is he gone to it in the alternate time/reality?

The confession dial was kinda cool - typical Timelord technology - it was bigger on the inside

Orion

SparklersJo wrote: »

But we still don't know who asked Ashildr to transport him into the confession dial, do we?

Maybe he did/will?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Do we think Missy having his confession dial at the start of the series has anything at all to do with this or was that just them introducing the concept of the confession dial?

pixelburp

So... with the dust settled, anyone else finding themselves feeling a little distanced & less invested with the Doctor now? I mean whatever about the notion of manipulating the timeline to bring someone back from the dead, I can't shake the feeling that this feels more a case where the 'original' very definitely died, with all the other (billions of) doctors merely being copies, albeit identical by genetics and memory.

Also have to give props after the fact for the score: I've never thought much of Murray Gold's work generally, but that score was both cinematic and idiosyncratic; perfect for the setting & direction in general.

Also also, it's one of the few episodes that genuinely made me jump, the point in question being when the Doctor opened the door from the garden.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ I did wonder about that.... is he still actually the Doctor who was with Clara and Rigsy last week or is he just a billionth copy of him? Probably better not to ask.

Eugene Norman

pixelburp wrote: »

So... with the dust settled, anyone else finding themselves feeling a little distanced & less invested with the Doctor now? I mean whatever about the notion of manipulating the timeline to bring someone back from the dead, I can't shake the feeling that this feels more a case where the 'original' very definitely died, with all the other (billions of) doctors merely being copies, albeit identical by genetics and memory.

Also have to give props after the fact for the score: I've never thought much of Murray Gold's work generally, but that score was both cinematic and idiosyncratic; perfect for the setting & direction in general.

Also also, it's one of the few episodes that genuinely made me jump, the point in question being when the Doctor opened the door from the garden.

No more dead than a star trek transport I suppose.

Eugene Norman

For what it's worth the copy coming out each time was an original ( or the first copy - hence thinking he had just left Clara).

Angron

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Do we think Missy having his confession dial at the start of the series has anything at all to do with this or was that just them introducing the concept of the confession dial?

I'd say we'll find out one way or the other in the finale. If it's not mentioned, I'd take it just to be a reason to introduce it.

I really enjoyed that episode, it was interesting to have such a minimalist cast.

Endaaaagh

CastorTroy wrote: »

Not to nitpick, but why didn't room 12 reset?

I'm curious about this too? Did I miss some explanation about room 12?