Doctor Who Series 8, Episodes 11 & 12 Review: Dark Water & Death in Heaven - Shiny, Yet Dark

What did you think of these episodes?

• Sonic!
• Good!
• Bumpy-wumpy!
• Exterminate!

Oh yes. Now this is how you end a series. The Series 8 finale is bold, shocking, and soaked in atmosphere. It's dark - like really fucked up dark actually - but it's also thrilling, emotional, and elevated by some of the best performances of the Capaldi era. Michelle Gomez steals the whole thing with her unhinged, gleeful performance as Missy - the Master reimagined, and in my opinion, improved.

"It was ordinary. People just kept walking with their iPods and their shopping bags. He was alive and then he was dead and it was nothing. Like stepping off a bus."

Let’s start with Michelle Gomez. Iconic! From the off she is bonkers and I love it. She brings chaos, camp, and genuine terror. She’s funny, unpredictable, and when she turns sinister, she goes really sinister. Missy is one of those rare villains who makes you grin and shiver at the same time, and you believe her connection with the Doctor. There’s history there. Pain, affection, and total madness.

@BBC

Her plan is utterly chilling. The idea that every dead person on Earth can now be a Cyberman is next-level horror. The graveyard scenes are beautifully shot, and the idea of the dead rising, not as zombies, but as Cybermen, is classic Doctor Who nightmare fuel.

I guess you could say Clara and Danny's relationship was something everyone was rooting for and that could be a blot on these episodes. But Jenna Coleman and Samuel Anderson put in banger performances so I am not marking it down for that.

Plus without that, we wouldn't have got that amazing scene by the volcano. Jenna and Peter are so good here. I love how Clara develops during the Capaldi era.

"Do you know what, Doctor? When it comes to taking control, you really are out of your depth. One last chance. And I don’t care about the rules, I don’t give a damn about paradoxes. Save Danny, bring him back, or I swear… you will never step inside your TARDIS again."

For once, people stay dead. Osgood, Danny Pink, and dozens of innocents gone. No magic wand, no timey-wimey fixes. Just loss. That’s rare in modern Who, and it gives this finale real weight. The show doesn’t flinch from grief here, it leans into it. And that makes Clara and the Doctor’s final scene together hit so much harder.

Their double-lie goodbye is one of my favourite moments in their whole run. They're both trying to protect each other. It’s beautiful. And gutting.

"Oh you know who I am. I’m Missy."

The Death in Heaven opening was a bit odd. Clara billed as the Doctor? Her eyes in the title sequence? Her name before Capaldi’s? It’s clever and stylish, but it doesn't really go anywhere beyond the cold open. A fun gimmick, sure, but it could’ve been more meaningful. Or maybe it was and I just missed it. Wouldn’t be the first time.

@BBC

Chris Addison’s Seb is an underrated delight. It’s a genuine shame he and Capaldi never got a proper Thick of It reunion. Imagine Malcolm Tucker versus Cyber Heaven? We were so close.

Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are absolutely on fire. This whole story is the culmination of their relationship throughout series 8, and it is far more complicated than any other Doctor/companion relationships we have seen. Clara becomes the most human and raw she’s ever been, while the Doctor stares right into the moral abyss and refuses to fall in.

@BBC

And the music? Murray Gold was on another level here. The final scenes are so good because of him. The climax to Dark Water is pure theater, the music building as the Cybermen descend and we find out who Missy really is. I think most of us knew who she was going to be, but the Gomez, the build up, the music, Capaldi's reaction, were all so good it didn't matter, it was still epic.

"Permission to squeeeee..."

This is one of Doctor Who’s darkest stories and it works because it doesn’t hold back. It asks big questions about death, identity, morality, and loyalty. It pushes Clara and the Doctor to their limits. And it gives us a villain who is equal parts terrifying and irresistible.

Series 8 was already great, but this finale locked it in as one of my favourites. It’s daring, devastating, and bloody brilliant.

Last Christmas Review

Doctor Who Series 8 Review

What did you think of this finale? Do you think Missy is as iconic as I do? Let me know in the comments below.

RATING: Sonic!

BEST LINE: "I'm not a good man! I'm not a bad man! I'm not a hero! I'm not a President! And no, I'm not an officer! You know who I am? I am an idiot with a box and a screwdriver, passing through, helping out. And I don't need an army, I never have."

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