Doctor Who: "Heaven Sent" Review (Series 9, Episode 11)

I really had no idea what I was going to think of "Heaven Sent." It being a "one-hander," or an episode only having one speaking role, was certainly intriguing to me. But would this seemingly experimental episode be a triumph or a dud? I'm happy to report it's definitely the former.

Just having witnessed Clara's death, the Doctor beams into a rusty, shifting castle, where he is stalked by a creature known as the Veil. If the Veil reaches him, he dies. The only way he can stall this is by confessing something in its presence, which stops the Veil dead in its tracks. On top of cheating death incarnate, the Doctor must, obviously, find a way to escape and confront the beings who had a hand in Clara's death and who trapped him in this place. 

I think it's fair to argue this is the most Moffat-y episode of his era as showrunner so far, or at least of Capaldi's era. His formula of "introduce a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated clues and then connect them," is put to really good use here. This led to some rather brilliant moments, such as the montage revealing how long the Doctor's been trapped in this place (2 billion years!!!) and his realization that in order to escape, he'll have to keep "resetting" himself, in a way. Seeing the Doctor "die" over and over was heart-wrenching, but it was also a really great "a-ha" moment once it became apparent what the Doctor was doing with that diamond wall. Also, the scenes with the Doctor going to his "Mind-TARDIS" in times of distress were oh-so-Sherlock-y. 

Capaldi was excellent, but you should've figured that already. He being really the only speaking character for most of the episode clearly tickled his fancy and allowed to really give an outstanding performance. The way he delivered the "I'm the Doctor and I'm coming to find you" speech at the beginning of the episode was goosebump inducing. It's Capaldi that makes this episode an instant-classic.

Murray Gold's score was a major highlight too. It sounded a lot different than his usual Who music, but it makes sense considering this is a very different episode. I loved the variation on Twelve's Theme that plays as the Doctor begins punching the diamond wall (this review's gonna sound bonkers to those who haven't seen the episode).

And then, of course, there's the ending: the Doctor was trapped in his confession dial the whole time (again, brilliant) and has returned to Gallifrey. And we find out who the hybrid really is: the Doctor, himself! Does this mean the controversial "half-human" claim of the Eighth Doctor in the TV movie will be officially stamped as "canon?" Time will tell, it always does.

Other Thoughts:

• The Veil was pretty creepy, amirite? The flies that signaled his closeness was a great touch.
• "I'm nothing without an audience."
• Clara's only been gone one episode. Why was her quick appearance here so emotional then? Why???
• Okay, but let's actually talk about the possible canonization of the "half-human" thing. It seems more probable that the Doctor will consider himself a hybrid because he's spent so much time with humans that he's pretty much half-human/half-Time Lord. But let's take that possibility and over analyze it further. The Eighth Doctor said he was half-human "on his mother's side," so what if the Doctor's mother was like him and spent a lot of time on Earth? Also, in "The End of Time," the mystery woman who pops up through out the story is implied to be the Doctor's mother, and she's one of the Time Lords who opposed the Final Sanction. Could that be because she had special connection to the humans as well as the rest of the universe? Don't buy into this theory too much, though, because it was a late-night thought. But if it turns out to be true, I'm handing in an application to become a writer on this show. I don't care if I'm not British.
• In other news, did you hear that it's basically confirmed Peter Jackson's directing an episode next series?

Rating: 9.3/10 skulls

Next week is the finale. That was quick.

It looks as though the reunion between the Doctor and the Time Lords won't be as happy as we were expecting...

Noah