Series 8, episode 12 – Death in Heaven

It is said that when time travels are involved nobody really dies, that there (almost) always is a way to bring him / her back. But, at least for now, Danny Pink is dead and he stays dead: killed in the previous episode in a car accident, he got into the world beyond (or heaven / hell / Nethersphere / Time Lord database / data cloud) in order to become a Cyberman (he returned in his own body with an update) because of Missy / Mistress / Master’s plans to take over the control over the humans on Earth and to transform them into an army to conquer the Universe with. And, eventually, he was distroyed once more, sacrificing himself for humanity survival. So, at least for now, we can assume with some degree of certitude that Danny Pink is dead. It’s not very certain how this thing will affect Orson Pink’s existence, Danny’s descendant from 22nd century… Clara could already be pregnant with Danny’s son (or she will become pregnant – the miracles of current time technology can make this possible, without being a Time Lord technology), but she did not take his family name.

But let’s start with the beginning… something that can be damn difficult when the early mentioned time travel are involved: yes, as you found out in the previous episode, Master regenerated into Missy, but it’s not clear when / where / how / in what conditions it took place. Or even if it did took place – because Missy could be also a puppet in someone else’s hands, just like she selected Clara Oswald and she made certain that she was staying with the Doctor until now. Yes, Missy / Master is one of Doctor’s childhood friends, and he became one of his greatest adversary / enemy, and their lives paths met over and over again during the last decades of the show. And she / he could appear again because one very simple reason: she disappeared while the Cyberman was aiming his gun at her and the Doctor was preparing to use or he used the device Missy was carrying most of the episode. That device made people disappearing in a cloud of dust or ash, including Osgood. It’s not the first time in the show when people are disappearing in such manner, assumed dead, only to discover later that they were actually teleported somewhere else – do you remember the Jeopardy game Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) was forced to play in one of the episodes?

Yes, Ingrid Oliver (Osgood) andJemma Redgrave (Kate Lethbridge-Stewart) return once more in the show, in the middle of necessity state that put their lives in danger. And, to all appearances, Osgood loses her life, and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is saved in the last moment by a Cyberman that could have been her deceased father, the Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (often called just Brigadier, sometimes Brig, Lethbridge-Stewart or Stewart) that founded United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT) and worked with the Doctor in the 1980s. The salute the Doctor addressed to that Cyberman at the end of the episode (the only one time he ever saluted) could be considered a little morbid by some, but not when it comes from the chosen president of Earth. Because yes, in this episode the Doctor is elected the president of Earth in crisis situations (it means the alien invasions, the Cybermen returning, and all sort of thing we are already used to) –  a solution approved by all the nations. One that Doctor hardly accepts and with a lot off scepticism. And only to throw it into Missy’s face, some time later – he never wanted the political power, but he got it, while Missy / Master did everything he could do in order to change the world as he wanted.

Directed by Rachel Talalay, writer Steven Moffat. Producer Peter Bennett, executive producers Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin. Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink), Michelle Gomez (Missy), Chris Addison (Seb), Ingrid Oliver (Osgood), Jemma Redgrave (Kate Lethbridge-Stewart), Sanjeev Bhaskar (Colonel Ahmed), Antonio Bourouphael (Boy), Shane Keogh-Grenade (Teenage Boy), Katie Bignell (Teenage Girl), James Pearse (Graham), Jeremiah Krage (Cyberman), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Cybermen).

The next episode in the Christmas special. If at the end of this magnificent episode Clara and the Doctor are getting on their own ways, apparently with no option of getting together again, with all the appropriate lies said between two persons that lived through extraordinary experiences together and suffered lose that only made them to become closer. But she will be at least in one episode, the Christmas special. After that… the bets are open. She could continue her adventures with the Doctor, with or without her child, she could be replaced with someone else. And Nick Frost’s appearance costumed as Santa Clause remind us of Donna Noble’s appearance several years ago. Stick around, interesting episodes will happen.