DOCTOR WHO Review: Hell Bent

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 12 : Hell Bent

The Doctor is back on Gallifrey to finish what he has started, and this time he is truly Hell Bent.

BIG FINALE SPOILER ALERT : IF YOU DON'T WISH FOR THE SERIES FINALE TO BE SPOILED FOR YOU THEN PLEASE LOOK AWAY NOW. Thank You. 

So what did I think of the series finale? well I actually quite enjoyed it. It wasn't a brilliant story by any means however I really liked it. Its a pity to see Doctor Who come to an end, but all series have to end to allow other things to be on telly. It will be back for another series.  

I thought It was nice to take The Doctor back to Gallifrey and there were loads of awesome references to other stories which is always great to see. It kind of shows that Doctor Who relies on its past a bit, and that new who and classic who are not two different shows they are the same show and always have been. What I did think was a bit of a shame was that we didn't see enough of Gallifrey 'The Planet' in this. Gallifrey is a beautiful planet and the visionary is just incredible and we didn't get near enough of that at all. There wasn't near enough time lord vs Doctor action in it then I thought there would be, which was disappointing. What we really needed was a two part epic, The Doctor VS The Time Lords. I like "Heaven Sent" but I'd rather have a two part epic finale set on Gallifrey absolutely. 

So going into a brief synopsis of what the episode is about, The Doctor is back on Gallifrey hell bent on revenge against the time lords and he plans to take control and save Clara and unlock the mystery behind the whole hybrid thing which has been playing on since the series started. 

The Time Lords are one of the doctor's greatest threats in a way. Yes, they are his own people but the doctor's had the fair share of back lash from the high council. I mean he's disobeyed their laws, he stole a TARDIS, rejected offer of the presidency, in their view never really faced to any expectations really. The War Games will show you that the time lords are probably the most powerful race in the galaxy. The top dogs of the universe. They can be very scary when they want to be, and impose a great threat to the doctor because they've done it in the past. 

The last time we saw the time lords were in 'The Day of the Doctor' give or take, but the last proper story we saw them in was 'The End of Time' and there the role of Rassilon was played by Timothy Dalton, here we see a much more aged Rassilon played by actor Donald Sumpter. Although he is referred to in the episode as 'The President' not to give too much away. But I clocked that he was Rassilon straight away. It was nice to see the sister hood of Karn back in the show, haven't seen them since "The Magician's Apprentice". 

I liked the designs of the capital, the citadel and indeed the matrix itself. It relates back to Gallifrey that we have seen before in previous years, it reminded me a little of the Invasion of Time. Yes it is very modernised now in terms of the design but it had that Invasion of Time feel to it for me. It's a lot better than 80's Gallifrey which is like the reception of the BBC. Robert Holmes's Gallifrey in 'The Deadly Assassin' however will always be the Gallifrey I like to remember however.

It was also nice to see the outside of the citadel and see the wilderness, nice nod to The Invasion of Time, lovely orange backdrop to the wilderness and it gave off a warm breeze which I felt I could feel. The barn is back, haven't seen that since 'Day of the Doctor' or arguably 'Listen'.  

Now I wish to clear something up. The people in which the doctor meets in the wilderness, the ones with normal clothes on, they are villagers. The species themselves are not called time lords, the species is gallifreyan. You become a time lord by joining the academy and you have to pass certain exams to become part of time lord politics. So the people we meet in the wilderness are not time lords, they are just simple gallifreyan people. Just wanted to clear up any confusion.

So Clara's back after being killed, the Doctor managed to freeze time and take her out of time and bring her back. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the editor or editors on this episode for creating a nice tripping 3D effect, it looked awesome. With Clara back The Doctor was not going to let her go. He rebels against the time lords and runs away with Clara in a TARDIS to the end of everything where the mystery is revealed and Maisie Williams is back, yet again. 

Me has been a character that has evolved throughout her time in the series, and has become a key asset to the whole series main storyline. I think she is definitely a character that progressed over time. I mean that in terms of context to do with the show and also time and again in which we've seen her. This is her fourth time we've seen her now, and in all her times we have seen her her character keeps changing and keeps evolving so that by the time we get to where she is in 'Hell Bent' she has seen more than the Doctor has, she's older than him and seen more than him. I do like the idea a lot of the concept of a character to time travel the slow way. 

Anyway, her and the doctor have this babble on about who the whole hybrid is, which never really enticed my interests if I'm being honest with you. The whole thing never really had a clear answer and was too confusing. I don't know how anyone watching it would have gone "Oh I get it! I get that completely. That makes perfect sense!". It's just another one of Moffat's plot holes that is conducted really well, but by the time you get to the answer its a shite result. 

Anyway the Doctor plans to wipe Clara's memory so that she will forget her time with him ever happened, however Clara does a really bitchy thing in my view and swaps it round so it goes off in the Doctor's face so that its the Doctor that forgets Clara. 

He wakes up in Nevada U.S.A completely confused, and the whole thing rounds itself off nicely to the interacted scenes with the Doctor and Clara dressed as a waitress in a diner.

I liked the scenes in the diner, it was a nice break away from the action and gave us as viewers a chance to catch up with what looked like was the doctor telling us a story as if this was meant to lead up to something which it was. The diner was a nice design, it looked like what it was meant to look like a 1950's Happy Days type of place so in that sense it was very authentic. 

The scenes in the diner keep going back and forth in-between the parts of whats happening on Gallifrey leading up to the big reveal that the diner is actually a TARDIS, and Clara goes zooming off with Maisie Williams into god knows where. So they've basically turned Clara into the doctor. Which is the one thing that really pisses me off about this episode. As a parting gift to Clara, here you go, avoid an agonising death and here's your own TARDIS. She should have just stayed dead in my opinion. However that being said, it rounds Clara's story off nicely. The Clara Oswald story is done! We never ever again after this story ever have to see Clara in Doctor Who, ever again! Although there is talk already about Me and Clara getting their own spin off series to which I say as polity as possible "No F**king Thank You!".

I would also like to comment on the actual inside design of the TARDIS. It's a classic design, that was deliberate I take it. It's probably how all TARDIS's start off and then The Doctor just put his own personal spin on it. Seeing as it is where he lives and travels around space and time in. You've got to make the customs fit to your satisfaction. Yeah, really nice design, relating back to the 60's model, a bit like Hartnell's and arguably Troughton's as well. 

Peter Capaldi, excellent performance from him. He is well in his stride with this part and I hope he remains to be The Doctor for at least another two years. 

Jenna Coleman, she was very good too. In 'Face the Raven' she was very cocky and adamant but in this she's rather more taken back in this and is more in a mature stride. I felt that she was playing two different versions of Clara in this episode. There is the Clara on Gallifrey and Clara in the diner. She's the same character but there are ways to differentiate between the two. 

I did think it was annoying that Steven Moffat had to feel the need to bring Clara back, so she didn't really die. She should've stayed dead. That's Steven Moffat's biggest problem, he doesn't know when to call it quits and just leave it. Clara's story was finished, she was dead, she did a noble act to save the doctor and she died. boo who, the end. The end of her story. but no, we have to bring her back and drag it out again and literally exhaust the hell out of it until all the enjoyment is drained out of us. Like a sponge to water. A dry sponge is no fun.  

Maisie Williams, again. Like Clara, the whole Ashilder / Me thing is done now as well. She doesn't need to come back. Although I'm sure some people will want to see her back. River Song's back for Christmas so who knows.

As a finale, it was so much better in terms of story structure than last years finale. There was just more to go upon, and less things to be confused about. More of a matter of sitting back and relaxing and just watching it for me. Rather than struggling to invest in the Danny Pink thing... blur!

I want to give 'Hell Bent' a well deserved 4/5. Giving the whole story 6/10! 

Christmas looks really good as well. I thought it was going to be absolutely awful given who's coming back and the title. However having watched the trailers and seen photos from characters in the episode. It looks to be a really fun and entertaining episode to watch. And the title makes much more sense to me now. So I shall hope to enjoy watching "The Husbands of River Song" on Christmas Day! 

Until then see you next series!