C+Q - Dark Water (2014)

Dark Water and Death in Heaven really made me realise how much I miss two-part Doctor Who stories. By doubling the run time, a lot more focus can be given to the little moments that flesh out the characters and situations, allowing ideas to reach their full potential instead of being thrown aside after 45 minutes. It's mind-blowing to think that the last two-parter before this was The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People back in 2011, a whole regeneration ago. While there have been episodes that seemed on the surface like a continuation of one another (A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler for example), it's been years since we've had a story where the characters, setting, and plot actually moved from one episode into the other with no huge jumps in time. For now though, let's just talk about part one.

This is one of the best episodes of Series 8, and certainly one of the best Moffat scripts in a while. Dark Water is a superb first half, filled with great moments like the emotionally charged volcano sequence. The twist that it's all actually taking place inside the TARDIS and that the Doctor was in control the whole time is a great reveal and, contrary to what most people are saying, I don't think this made the volcano scene pointless. Just because it didn't actually happen, doesn't mean Clara isn't still 100% willing to betray the Doctor in that moment. The situation is fake but the emotions are still real, and both Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman carry the scene beautifully. Perhaps the sequence would've worked a little better if we had heard the conversation about TARDIS keys being susceptible to lava in a previous episode this series, but other than that I can see no fault with it. And no, the Doctor couldn't have just unlocked the TARDIS doors by clicking his fingers. Clicking his fingers OPENS the doors of the TARDIS, it doesn't UNLOCK them. See also: the moment in The Doctor's Wife when House locks the Eleventh Doctor out of the TARDIS and the Doctor stands there clicking his fingers at the door while they don't budge. Clicking opens the doors. It doesn't unlock them. People who use this as a criticism are likely the same idiots who think that in Lord of the Rings they could've just called the Eagles (the species, not the band) to help them fly into Mordor, despite the fact that they would have been shot out of the sky instantly and the whole reason why Frodo and Sam were asked to do it is because Hobbits are more inconspicuous. These aren't real criticisms. They're just memes that get passed around and repeated with no critical engagement. People just go, "LOL, this movie would be over sooner if they used the Eagles (the species, not the band)." Think, people. Think.

I like how the events of Listen end up being vital to the finale, as the TARDIS Telepathic Glowy Thingy Whatsit of Ultimate Power is used again by Clara to travel along Danny's timeline to reach 3W. Now all we need is an explanation for who the hell Orson Pink is as he obviously can't be Clara and Danny's great-grandson now. After marathoning the whole series to pick up on recurring elements and themes, this stands out to me as the only plot hole of the series without an obvious explanation you could piece together yourself. That said, I'm sure there's an explanation coming up, as not only was he a central character of Listen that had a big impact on the finale, but he's also mentioned in The Caretaker, so he's clearly important. I suppose for the time being, we can say that the thing that connected Clara and Orson was the little plastic soldier, but that's a bit of a stretch. The other hanging thread of Series 8 apart from all the questions Death in Heaven leaves us with is where did the Twelfth Doctor's face come from and why does he recognise it, but that's less of a plot hole and more just something that hasn't been answered yet. I assume it'll be covered next series in an epic Fires of Pompeii multi-Doctor retcon with the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, or it'll play into Capaldi's eventual regeneration in true Moffat wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, the-ending-is-the-beginning fashion.

Dark Water has two of Doctor Who's three top-tier villains, namely the Cybermen and the Master. As I said in my review of Into the Dalek, I don't feel like the Twelfth Doctor has 'earned' the right to go up against such iconic villains so early in his tenure, especially now that he's ended up fighting all three big names in his first year. I seriously hope Series 9 focuses more on original villains. That being said, the Cybermen are handled very well in Dark Water and the skeletons in the tanks acting as a reminder that Cybermen are actually normal everyday people who have been upgraded really helped to make them sinister again. I'd almost say this is their best New Who appearance if it weren't for them being reduced to mere henchmen for the new Master, Michelle Gomez. I think the Cybermen need to be retired for a while so new ideas and storylines can brew, and when they return I'd like to see them as the main villains in their own episode instead of being mindless drones who need other villains around to help them with their evil plans.

But as I've already mentioned, the true star here is the new Master, Michelle Gomez, who's just fucking brilliant. She's my favourite version of the character to date. She makes the part fresh and new while still displaying elements of her past selves. The moments when she kisses the Doctor and makes jokes about them being in a romantic relationship are clearly the voice of the Simm Master toying with the Doctor now that she's assumed a female form. In The End of Time Part 2, the Simm's Master says of the Doctor, "Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls," so it makes sense that now she's taken the appearance of an 'Earth girl', she would use it to wind him up. The big reveal moment is handled quite well although I wish the scene at the end with Danny was left out so the episode ended with the image of the Cybermen marching towards the camera. Also, if ever there was a moment for Michelle Gomez to unleash an Ainley-style evil pantomime Master laugh, that cliffhanger would've been it. If the part was still being played by John Simm, he would have gone for the laugh.

A problem that a few people had with this episode is how disturbing Missy's afterlife was. Personally, I'd have softened it by making it more explicitly clear earlier on that Missy was exploiting people's fear of death by inventing a horrific fake afterlife. That said, it didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the episode. Given that this is a show with a time travelling blue phone box which, just four episodes ago, revealed that the moon was a dragon egg, I can pretty easily distance myself from the fiction. That being said, I fully understand that younger audiences may not have been able to, so I'd say viewer discretion is advised. Maybe watch it yourself first before showing it to your 8-year-old. I like how creepy the cremation thing is but I think it's the darkest Doctor Who should ever go.

Dark Water is a very promising start to Series 8's finale. Themes, character arcs, and plot points are being resolved and expanded upon, and the cliffhanger ending leaves a universe of possibilities to be explored in Death in Heaven.