TV Korner: Doctor Who – Five Things to Take Away from “Death in Heaven” (Season 8, Ep. 12)

Here are five things to take away from this final episode of Dr. Who Season 8…

Hello, Puddin’ heads:

This is the last episode of what has been a nutty season. I have liked Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, but the episodes have been up and down. I honestly think Clara has run her course as a companion and Danny added nothing to the show, I am sorry to say (he did go out like a champ! See below).

1. SO LONG TO, OSWIN

Well, with the return of the Master (now Mistress), we needed to show how evil he/she is! How do you do that? Kill a beloved character. Sadly, they killed Oswin.

True story: I attended LI Who 2 in Long Island on Sunday, Nov. 9, the day after this episode aired and I ran into a girl who cosplayed Oswin and I said, “Oh it was a shame they killed you!”

She snapped at me. “You’re the eighth person to tell me that and not one person asked if I saw last night’s episode!” I apologized, but she refused to accept it and I had not choice but to walk away.

Now I get that “assume” means “never do it because it makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me,’ but in my defense, the idea of a Doctor Who fan showing up at a Doctor Who convention, that day after the season finale of Doctor Who that featured the return of the Master, the return of Kate Letherbridge-Stewart and Oswin (from THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR 50th ANNIVERSARY), the return of the Cybermen and it closes out the first series featuring a new Doctor having been viewed by someone dressed as Oswin – I think that would’ve been a safe assumption.

So there.

***

2. THE RETURN OF THE BRIGADIER 

The Master/Mistress comes up with a plan to seed Earth with some screwy nanobot things that basically will convert the dead into Cybermen, and it turns out, one Doctor Who friend returned in this way. He was made into a Cyberman.

Part of me, when I saw this, was moved by it. However, on second thought, I thought it was a bit of a cheat. I mean Nicholas Courtney has long since passed, so obviously he couldn’t play the Brigadier, but this to me struck me as sorta “Ed Wood Keep Bela Lugosi Alive for PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE” kinda way.

*** 

3. DEATH OF DANNY

I will admit, I was no fan of Danny. I am sure Samuel Anderson is a fine actor, but I thought the whole “I am not over killing a kid because of my time as a soldier” storyline was underplayed throughout the season.

Danny Pink was underwritten.

However, he became a Cyberman, and he ended up leading an army of Cybermen to fly into the sky and burn up a cloud that was going to seed cemeteries and turn corpses into Cybermen.

Danny actually gave a decent speech and saved the day.

While his tenure was problematic, he went out like a champ.

***

4. CYBERMEN, FLYING MONKEYS?  

It was good to see the Cybermen back, but they were the Mistresses/Master’s servants and the Cybermen worked better when they swarm and have their own devious plans and it is up to the Doctor to save the day. Instead, Mistress could’ve brought back the Toclafane or something.

I think using the Cybermen as her “monkey boys” it takes something away from the Cybermen.

***

5. DAVID TENNANT INTERVIEWED RIGHT

In my last column I mentioned a recent interview with David Tennant conducted by David Letterman and how awful it was.

This week, Tennant was interviewed by fellow Scotsman and fellow Whovian, Craig Ferguson. This was done right!

Watch it here.

***

6. AND ONE LAST THING…

Well, this is the end of the season, so what’s next? Well, we have the Christmas special on, well, Christmas Day. I will be live tweeting during that event as I did here.

In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @donsmith1974.

Finally, a massive thank you to Khalil Quotap for the opportunity to talk Doctor Who with you every week!

Take care.

NOTE: All images and videos linked to their sources. 

By- Don Smith