Who Review: Heaven Sent

Still reeling from the events of the last episode, the Doctor finds himself transported to a mysterious castle. Intent on revenge, he explores the twisting stairwells and many rooms looking for clues to his captor, and possible ways of escape. All the while he is pursued by a mysterious, ominous veiled creature that appears to leave death in its wake. Driven by anger, fear of death, and following clues that lead him from room to room, there seems no end to this castle prison. Will the Doctor find a way out, or will death finally catch up with him?

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

This episode is another experiment, but one that worked a whole lot better than “Sleep No More.” For the first time ever in Who history, we have a virtual one-man performance. This wasn’t just a companion-less story–there have been plenty of those (e.g., “The Deadly Assassin,” “The Next Doctor”, “Planet of the Dead”, etc.). Rather, this was the Twelfth Doctor on his own, talking himself through the situation, offering confession, speaking truth, whatever he needs to do to find answers, to escape, to win. The only other cast members are “The Veil,” which doesn’t speak, a brief cameo by Jenna Coleman who has a few lines, and a young boy at the end who says nothing. Otherwise, it was 55 minutes of pure Capaldi. And he was terrific. A stellar performance. If there was any doubt that Capaldi owns the role of the Twelfth Doctor, they were put to rest with this episode.

What of the story itself? This is one of those stories you have to stay with  to get the most out of it. At first it seems frustrating because we’re not even sure who or what the enemy is, and the Doctor appears to be running around this castle getting nowhere. But along the way we pick up clues. The Doctor confessing to the Veil, speaking truth, and then, finding door twelve. Behind door twelve is the thick block of Azbantium that he needs to break through. But it would take many lifetimes to chisel through such a block. Then the Doctor realizes that when he leaves, the rooms reset, and since death comes slowly to a Time Lord, even after the touch of the Veil he would have time to get back to the room in which he arrived, newly reset. He would then die, giving his life energy to power the teleporter bringing himself back into the castle. It’s a bit like a time loop–except his work on the Azbantium never resets. He remembers the bird in the Grimm Brothers’ story who slowly chips away at a mountain with its beak, and realizes that he can keep returning to this point after the Veil “kills” him to resume work on the block. Sure enough, after a long time, and many cycles of death, he breaks through the Azbantium, and escapes through a doorway. That doorway and castle resolve themselves into a disc, which seems to be the Doctor’s confession disc from “The Magician’s Apprentice.”

But that’s just a minor “aha!” moment compared to the big reveal. It appears the Doctor is on Gallifrey! But his visit is not going to be a happy homecoming. He says the prophecy about the “hybrid”–a half Dalek, half Time Lord that will conquer Gallifrey–was incorrect. The “hybrid” isn’t half Dalek. It’s the Doctor. So, are we saying the Time Lords are responsible for Clara’s demise? They were the ones who summoned the Doctor, so it was because of them the Doctor and Clara were in the hidden street in the first place. Is the Doctor holding them accountable? It looks like it, but I guess we have to wait until the finale to find out for certain… 🙂

Some reviewers have called this one of the best Who episodes ever. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it certainly fits right in with what has been, on the whole, an excellent Who season. And while the cliffhanger reveal wasn’t as surprising as Capaldi’s eyes in “The Day of the Doctor,” or Tom Baker’s cameo in that same story, it was a great way to end the story and tease the finale.

Before I let you have your turn to comment, I did note a moment in the incidental music that sounded very 80s Who. It was when he was looking at the painting of Clara. I’m not sure why they switched to synthesizers for that brief moment, but it was a nice touch. Also, my daughter and I both thought there were times when Capaldi’s voice-over sounded just like Tom Baker.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think?