Plot threads from Series 8 come to a head, and a few from Series 7 get a mention too.

Doctor Who finales are tricky things to write, and extremely hard to get right - so much so that I think only 3 finales have achieved true excellence (the Series 1, 5 and 7 finales). Two of those were written by current showrunner Steven Moffat, but can he repeat his success again here for Peter Capaldi's debut series? Unfortunately, he can't, but he comes close.

Dark Water/Death in Heaven sees the Doctor and Clara search for an afterlife when Danny Pink is tragically killed in a car accident. The succeed in their search, only to discover that the afterlife is a myth concocted by Missy and the Cybermen. Will the Doctor and Clara be able to save Danny and stop the latest machination of the newest incarnation of the Master?

If I hazard a guess, the revelation that the Master regenerated into female form will be the biggest reason these two episodes are remembered. That’s not to say there weren’t other memorable moments, but the return of the Doctor’s arch nemesis understandably overshadowed anything else that happened, particularly for the first half of the finale, and it’s not hard to see why. Michelle Gomez’s incarnation somewhat returns to the more sinister roots of the character, while still retaining the distinct ‘crazy’ vibe that John Simm’s version possessed. As I was never a big fan of the Simm’s rather manic Master (instead preferring cool, calm and collected demeanour of the late, great Roger Delgado), this partial return to the original characterisation was a welcome relief. I also felt that the more zanier scenes worked well too; whether that’s due to the writing or Gomez’s performance, I’m not sure. In either case, this new version of the Master is one I definitely enjoyed, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of her in the future, despite the apparent obliteration by the Cyber-converted form of the Brigadier.

While Missy was great throughout Dark Water/Death in Heaven, her co-conspirators, the Cybermen, were unfortunately lacklustre. I felt they weren’t utilised as well as they could have, though this is somewhat understandable considering that Missy was the focus. However, both parts still felt like episodes that had Cybermen in them, rather than Cybermen episodes. That’s not to say they weren’t effective – far from it. The original Cybermen from the Classic Series had a large emphasis on body horror, and we see that aspect utilised again here for the first time in ages. It’s just that, apart from their scare factor and the general creepiness of the thought of dead people being converted, they’re left horribly under-explained. For instance, why couldn’t Cyber-Danny turn on his emotional inhibitor himself, and when it was activated, why did it seemingly have no effect? Similarly, why were he and the Brigadier the only two people not to be purged of their emotions? Most importantly, though, how could the consciousness of people in the afterlife be downloaded back into their bodies after prolonged periods of time? Surely their brain matter would have decayed away? In conjunction with the fact that the Cybermen are essentially Iron Man rip-offs, the end result is something rather confusing, and as a result is a bit of a letdown.

I also thought the same of Missy’s grand scheme. It was nice not to have the generic ‘take over the world’ plot, but her giving the Doctor an army did seem rather strange, thought the justification of her ‘wanting her friend back’ was a nice touch, and played on the long history the two have had together. All things considered though, it was a rather weak explanation, not to mention that it was an extraordinary amount of effort to orchestra the entire thing just to hand it over to the Doctor.

However, I think the source of my semi-disappointment with Death in Heaven stems from the fact that it largely ignores the fantastic potential set up by Dark Water. Towards the tail end of that episode, we’re shown what the Nethersphere actually is – a Gallifreyan Matrix (Hard drive). There are so many possibilities that the revelation opens up. Are the people inside actually dead, will their existence continue indefinitely, how does it work, why did it look different every time we saw it, are there other people like Seb, is 3W aware of the actual reality? The list goes on. Instead, the episode decided to deal with more emotional issues. This isn’t bad in and of itself, but I do wish we’d explored the ramifications of the Nethersphere some more.

That being said, the creative decision to make the finale a more personal tale definitely works in its favour. Right from the first minute of Dark Water, the audience knows that their heartstrings are going to be severely pulled as Danny Pink is quite shockingly killed off. I’d suspected that his character wouldn’t survive the end of the season for some time, but I never imagined that he’d be offed in such a manner. As Clara pointed out, his death was, by Doctor Who standards, rather mundane, and it’s all the more effective for it. If a main character dies, it’s generally a long and drawn out affair, so Danny’s death really stands as a stark contrast to the show’s norm. What makes Danny’s death even more noteworthy though, is the fact that he actually stays dead, making him the first recurring character to do so for too many years than I care to remember. Proper, actual death is something that has been severely lacking in Doctor Who of late, so the fact that it’s finally happened again is very relieving.

But as if that wasn’t enough, we are also treated to the shock death of fan-favourite Osgood, who is mercilessly disintegrated by Missy for no reason. It’s a chilling scene as Missy counts down to the moment of Osgood’s demise, though I have to ask how Missy managed to reach Osgood before the UNIT Guards watching her even blinked. It was a bold move for Moffat to make, but one I’m happy we went with. The audience did need to see how much of a threat the Master was this time round, after all, and Osgood’s death was the perfect example. For several horrifying minutes, I thought that Kate Stewart had also gone the way of Osgood, though fortunately that turned out not to be the case. That being said, I think they way she was saved by her Cyberdad was rather silly – why couldn’t the Doctor just use the TARDIS to catch her before she hit the ground?

The Doctor himself though, was, as usual, absolutely fantastic. Peter Capaldi has easily made the role his own, and I would say that these two episodes contain his best performance to date. After having a Doctor who wasn’t exactly ‘user friendly’ for 10 episodes, it was surprising to see the Doctor display some genuine tenderness after Clara betrayed him with the whole ‘destroy the TARDIS Keys’ scene. Capaldi really exhibited why he’s such a great actor in that scene, and made it really stand out. The same applies to the 'finding Gallifrey' scene towards the end. That was powerful stuff. As for Clara, well, lets just say she somewhat redeemed herself this time around. I still don't like how she treated Danny for the majority of the season, I do admit that having her realise just how much she took him for granted was a solid conclusion to their arc.

All in all, Dark Water and Death in Heaven make for a good, enjoyable finale. They're not the best, but are by no means bad. There's a lot to love in each. The reintroduction of the Master is great, and the episodes answer several lingering questions left over from both Series 7 and Series 8. Roll on Christmas!

8/10