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Doctor Who Story 261: Heaven Sent

August 14, 2017 Leave a Comment

The Doctor punches a wall for 4.5 billion years.

Doctor leaving teleportation chamber

The Doctor teleports in

Plot Summary

A teleporter in an old castle reconstitutes the Doctor’s body (he teleported here at the end of the last episode) and he wanders around trying to figure out where he is.

Doctor in castle

The Doctor explores the castle

A creepy hooded creature, the Veil, chases him every now and then; when the Doctor gets cornered, he retreats into his mind to confer with a mental projection of Clara (because the actress is contractually obligated to be in every episode this season).

The Veil

The Veil

The Wall

The Doctor finds a room with a thick wall made out of Azbantium, a material four hundred times stronger than diamond. The way out is on the other side, so he repeatedly punches the wall until the Veil shows up and burns his face.

Doctor in front of Azbantium wall

The exit is behind a wall of Azbantium

Death of the Doctor

Dying and unable to regenerate, the Doctor stumbles into the room with the teleporter and uses the last of his energy to reconstitute a new version of himself, since his bio-pattern is stored in the teleporter’s computer. The dying Doctor fades away, leaving only his skull behind, and a new Doctor is created by the teleporter.

Veil burning Doctor's face

The Veil burns the Doctor’s face – a fatal injury

Groundhog Day

The new Doctor repeats the same cycle as before, but slowly makes progress at chipping away at the Azbantium wall. After 4.5 billion years, and 4.5 billion years’ worth of reconstituted Doctors, the latest Doctor finally makes it through and leaves the castle. Turns out he was in his Confession Dial the whole time, but now finds himself back on Gallifrey.

Doctor on Gallifrey

Welcome home

Thoughts

This was a very interesting idea for an experimental episode: it’s basically a one-man show starring the Doctor. Capaldi does a good job, and I respect that it digs deep into his psyche. The mood is effectively eerie and the Veil is suitably creepy; the scene of the Doctor finding a huge pile of skulls underwater is disturbing in of itself, but becomes even more so when we learn all the skulls belonged to his past selves.

Doctor Who 261 Skulls

The skulls of the previous Doctors

But I had a hard time getting through this episode. I was bored through most of it, and kept looking at the clock waiting for it to end. The Doctor’s philosophical ramblings did nothing for me, and I don’t care enough about Clara to care about the Doctor getting over her death.

Doctor Who 261 Mind Clara Comfort

Mind Clara comforts Mind Doctor in the Doctor’s mind

I know it’s a very popular episode that’s received countless praise, so don’t take my word for it. Maybe you’ll like it.

Rating

2 out of 5 eggs rating

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Series: Doctor Who, Season 18 Decade: 2010s Filed Under: TV Show Reviews Tagged: Twelfth Doctor, live action, mystery, sci-fi, time travel

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