So we've come to the finale of Series 8, and Peter Capaldi's first season as the Doctor. And overall I'd say he's been very good even in the face a of a few weak scripts.
Unfortunately he won't be able to save this incoherent mess of a finale. There are just so many thinks not to like about Death in Heaven.
Spoilers ahead! You've been warned...
I'm still not sure why we have the Cybermen here. They don't really do anything to they? Or are they just here so Steven Moffat could recreate this scene?
 |
| The Invasion 1968 |
But ok. Cybermen. Missy is going to create an army of Cybermen by uhm, raining exploding Cybermen onto grave yards and out will come fully formed and armoured Cybermen? A perfect example of good idea, terrible execution from the writers.
Also does this mean we have a Cyber-Hitler? Cyber-Ghandi? Cyber-Frank Sinatra? This would also mean Amy and Rory are Cybermen now. Also every grave on earth is empty.
So the Doctor has forcibly been drafted to act as "President of the Earth". Appointing someone you had to tranquilize sounds like an excellent choice. If you don't like this, don't worry, it's actually completely pointless other than to get him onto a plane. The Doctor does nothing while in "office".
Then we get to Missy & Osgood. Osgood seemed like a promising character and was even teased as a potential future companion, but so much for that! Also the super smart Osgood ends up being super stupid, falling for such an obvious trick. Why? Because the plot demnds it. While we're on this one, UNIT has apparently hired the worst guards ever.
Back to our Cybermen. Luckily there is one Cyberman that has overcome his programming thanks to (facepalm) THE POWER OF LOVE! Yes Danny Pink's love for a girl who has lied to him constantly and whom he threatened to split up with more than once is enough. But apparently nobody else does! Also all these aforementioned historical figures must have had some pretty strong personalities, were they able to overcome their program? Also, Danny loves Clara more that Rory did Amy, apparently, I mean all he did was wait in a tomb 2,000 years.
And finally we get the reveal to the Master's "Master Plan": create a massive army of Cybermen for the Doctor to control. To PROVE to him that he would be tempted! Are you kidding me?!? All that work for that? A simple "Galactic Domination" plot would have been better than that. And can anyone explain why Missy "chose" Clara and conspired to keep them together?
Earth is in big trouble, what to do? What seems to happen too often lately, we need a quick hand-wave Deus-ex-Machina to save the earth. So Danny commands all the Cyber-corpses to fly up and do...something.
Then this indignity happens...
They just had to drag the Brigadier into this. This didn't need to happen! I know some people think this was a good moment. I'm not one of them, The Brigadier already had a send-off. We didn't need to do this again. This isn't touching, it's horrifying. And now he's a Cyberman that blew himself up. Bravo.
While I find the actors give fine performances, the script they had to muddle their way through make the whole episode a frustrating nonsensical mess. Safe to say this is my least favourite of the rebooted series. I hope there is something in the Christmas or Series 9 that may redeem it in some small way.
One more gripe: "Clara as the Doctor" was just another terrible execution. The teaser proclaiming "Clara doesn't exist!", the opening credits crediting Jenna-Louise Coleman first, her eyes appearing in the place of The Doctor. A whole episode where she's pretty much the acting Doctor. All this turns out to be is a minute or two of her BS-ing a few Cybermen.
No comments:
Post a Comment