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The Doctor Falls, Gallifrey Gals Get Wibbly Wobbly! S10Ep12

🕑 Added 2022-04-14 17:00:06 +0000 UTC

Comments

Ka Man Chan

Missy's end was what really got to me. Her saying goodbye to the old Master like the Doctor did with his previous regenerations was poignant. And now ... on to one of my most beloved Doctor Who specials.

BGAlphie

It always made me sad to see such a great thing come to an end this one always was the roughest for me cause Capaldi is my doctor and his companions Bill, Nardole, and Missy were so well written I loved them all. Thanks for the reaction loved it.

George Baxter

@Red Claw I can understand that you might prefer Chibnall's style to Moffat's, that's basically subjective, but his run?? We are talking about 3 x 10-11 episode series versus 6 x 13 episode series and specials (including the 50th)! Hell Moffat even had two whole Doctors to choose from!! So for me comparing the runs is like comparing a 15 meter dash to half-marathon.

mark saunders

Have to disagree with you there. I didn't dislike CC's run. Series 11 was average, but i really liked series 12 (apart from maybe 2 episodes) and really enjoyed series 13. Looking forward to the return of one of my favourite Classic monsters this Easter: the Sea Devils!

Red Claw

I liked Chibnalls Who better than Moffats. But Flux had to many unecessary complicated Timeparadox shit. That was the reason I didn't like Moffats run as much. Sidenote: I did not dislike Moffats run. It's just my least favorite.

Alisa Loudner

I love Class too! It deserved more of a chance.

Mark Ten

It was pretty much obvious that Chibnal wanted a clean slate to work with, new Doctor, new Tardis, new companion(s). From the start of series 10 we knew Bil would have a short run. As for Donna - well I was amazed that Catherine Tate would actually do a full series considering how popular she was at the time.

Mark Ten

"Say something nice... I have all day!"

Thomas88

One edit, because its not adressed in the show, but in Big Finish. Missy wasnt able to regenerate, but she used an old forbidden Timelord ritual to focus the remaining energy of her body. At this point, it was pure good, so "all the good" aspects of the master fused to the next icarnation "The Lumiat" a good Master and she was the opposide to the Doctors "Valeyard" . Sadly this was the last good season of Doctor Who... only a few Episodes are good, from here on .... wich is a shame, because Jodie could have been great, but C.C. had other ideas :(

Mark Ten

Add 2 more cents for me. A few more contributions and we can afford some jelly babies

Mark Ten

When I first saw this eps and we saw Bil in the barn coming to terms with being a Cyberman, it gave me chills. Throughout the rest of the eps when we saw Bil as Bil, I tried re-imagining her dialogue delivered in that awful Cybervoice which is how the rest of the people would have heard her.

John

I grew up watching Tom Baker, but I can say with no reservation that Peter Capaldi is My Doctor. Regardless of character and story, I also believe Peter is the finest actor to ever take on the role. He can convey so much with just a look. I can't imagine the Doctor / Missy dynamic working nearly as well with any other pair than Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez. They're both absolutely brilliant.

Nicole Mazza

So glad to see the 'Class' love -- was starting to think I was the only one who loved it!

Nicole Mazza

I love that she was inspired by bits of the classic film 'Night of the Hunter' (esp with the characters sitting on the porch holding a rifle, like Lillian Gish did in the film), which is seriously one of the most gorgeously directed films ever! <3

Nicole Mazza

Seconding request for 'The Tenth Planet'!

Amy Chlebus

Happy 64 Birthday Peter Capaldi!!!! 😁😁😁😁❤️❤️❤️❤️

DeathSwitch

100%! Class was underrated imo and Torchwood.. just speaks for itself

Rebecca Banks

you should check out some of the spinoffs

Ash Davis

Capaldi is my Doctor. Such a crazy coincidence, but y’all dropped The Doctor Falls ON PETER CAPALDI’S ACTUAL BIRTHDAY! Such a beautiful synchronicity!

Bill

Aaaaaaaand we're all crying now. The Master didn't regenerate until The Master killed him, and he killed her for doing it.

John

Missy died without hope. Without witness. Without reward. She was good in the final hour.

Amy Chlebus

Don't worry Kat. I was crying with you. When I see somebody crying at a sad episode, I start boohooing right along with them.

Amy Chlebus

I love timeparadox stories though. Not everybody is going to like the same thing. That's what makes doctor who so awesome. 😁

Sufyaan Kazi

"I don't want to be me, if I can't live anymore". Bill was one of the most 'real' companions. Such a great story 😭

Red Claw

I love Capaldi so much, despite Tennant being my Doctor. And this Episode (or two parter) is among my favorite Episodes for so many reasons. Despite not liking Moffat as a showrunner that much, on the rewatch I noticed this is my favorite season. I have a huge dislike Moffat can't let companions just die. But of all the fakeout companions death, this is the one I'm most comfortable with. I also really like the poetry in the death of Missy. It's so sad, that the Doctor doesn't know she was by his side in the end, but that's also the beauty of it. He didn't need to know. He has hope and also "Without hope, without witness, without reward." Or to use the full quote from a previous Episode "Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the final hour, in the deepest pit without hope, without witness, without reward. Virtue is only virtue in extremis." It's what the Doctor believes and it's the way Missy died. It's sad, but beautiful. What I hated most about Moffats run as showrunner was the overuse and unecessarily complicated use of Timeparadoxes as plotdevise for the overarching story. This season doesn't have that and low and behold it's awesome!

tal goren

My favorite part of this reaction is when Heather appears and Paula's expression turn from puzzlement into relief when she realize that Bill really is getting one of Moffat's Deus ex Machina

Scribbles

Paula had more patience with Moffat than I did. I stopped watching for a bit after the abomination that was Series 6. I still skip over it when I do rewatches on my own. Your feelings about Clara were my feelings about Amy and River. Especially River who just would...not...go...away. But I was more angered on behalf of older companions, rather than later ones. Donna gets one series, while Amy and River were friggin' forever.

Alisa Loudner

Loved the reaction! I recently rewatched 10 again in preparation for the reactions but also stopped before the few episodes. I love Tenant and Smith but Capaldi is my NuWho Doctor, he's just amazing. As for you two reacting in the same room again, I actually enjoy this format. The fan whether its Kat or Paula doesn't have top be sooo careful to not react to speculation. It's fun to see the sly looks to the camera, the wide eyes etc. Also, I love getting to see the animals and watching you react comfortably like reaching for the Narwhol or showing us Who and Trek decor in your homes. I think I'd miss all the cats and now the dragon and the comfort of you both swiveling in your chairs looking at your personal surroundings while composing your thoughts. Keep doing whatever works for you but that's my 2 cents.

Henry from CO

My goodness, Rachel Talalay can direct!

Keith Goodnight

Since you wondered at one point during the episode— we have seen the Master's TARDIS in the Classic series. Unlike the Doctor's, its chameleon circuit is not broken so it always looks different, something that successfully blends in with its location. It's been a horse trailer in a circus, a bank of computers in a lab, a stone column in a stone city, among other things. On another note: this would be an excellent time for the Gallifrey Gals to watch "The Tenth Planet" before going on to the next Christmas special.

Trav

Can't remember where now, but I read a really good analysis of this exact thing. Just in general, this show has a really bad track record with how nonwhite characters get treated by the narrative - going all the way back to Mickey and Martha if we're being honest. I agree it's not intentional, but it's not great. I do really like Bill's ultimate ending though. It's unambiguously optimistic, which is rare for *any* companion.

Nicole Mazza

Oh, and I almost forgot: Today is Peter Capaldi's bday, so it was super-excellent to celebrate that with watching such an utterly brilliant performance of his! <3 <3

Trav

I'm always really fascinated to see how people rank the three Capaldi series. Seems like if you're a fan of series 10, you're usually mixed at best about 8 and 9. On the other hand, most of the 8 and 9 fans I know look at 10 as a really by-the-numbers series without much that stands out. Ultimately, I think it comes down to 8 and 9 being pretty experimental (at least in the context of Who) so an initial reaction is always going to be like "What is this? What happened to the show I know?" And I say this as someone who had that exact first reaction: There's so, so much to unpack in rewatches and I would really encourage you to do it. And even if 10 is kind of "standardized Who," it's still that standard executed really well.

LatePaul

Awesome reaction. I love this two-parter and I love series 10. It's probably not my favourite overall but it's really good. What is definitely true is that 12-Bill is my favourite Doctor-companion pairing. I'm glad you were happy with Bill's ending Paula. I know a few people who weren't but for me it works. Moffat is my favourite show-runner and it's nice not to have to defend him for once!

Nicole Mazza

Argh, I have such a love/hate relationship with this story! On the one hand, there is SO MUCH AWESOME – such as the culmination of Missy's beautiful arc (Michelle Gomez is PERFECTION), watching her dynamic with the Simm!Master (who – like you -- I also don't like much, but I thought was an interesting foil for Missy here), some wonderful imagery such as Cyber!Bill holding the Doctor's body is the mist at the beginning (totally a Facebook wallpaper of mine at the time!) or the Doctor holding a shotgun on the porch (which reminded me of my fave film, 'Night of the Hunter' – which I later found out was on purpose from both Peter and Rachel Talalay!), and finally – and I know this last one is kinda weird – but I actually kinda liked something really bad happening to the companion that the Doctor just can't fix. I just thought that was very daring and interesting for the show to do, as usually the companion is relatively 'safe' from what is going on to the peripheral characters ('plot armor'), especially in a Cybermen story, but here, they TOTALLY WENT THERE, and actually converted Bill! I MEAN, WOW! But then there's the bad stuff too. Sadly, I vividly remember back then a lot of commentary from many POCs in fandom about the issues with this story. Issues that really fly in the face of any positives of 'color-blind' casting – here especially because of the weight that they hold when the optics are dealing with a black woman. Such as I mentioned last week (I think?), we had YET ANOTHER black companion becoming a Cyberman (see also: Danny Pink), but more importantly things like telling that black woman that she 'can't get angry', which is a REALLY big sticking point for black women, as that is something they often hear in their own lives. And so it all really hurt for a lot of those viewers and I know that many of them swore off the show after this story, because they felt that the people that look like them on the show were going to get perpetually screwed over royally. (See: the TARBIS podcast or the Woke Doctor Who podcast, if you want to hear more of that side of things) And that's just super sad. And I mean, don't get me wrong, I really don't think that the production team did this on purpose or with any maliciousness, but I do think it points to yet another instance where you have to be careful about the optics when 'color-blind' casting and maybe even have someone around to tell the writers how bad this stuff can look, because at the end of the day, things that happen to a white character vs a POC character can read VERY DIFFERENTLY to the audience and can hold lots of weight. And so yeah, taking Bill's color out of the mix, I LOVED her story arc, but you obviously can't make her not-black and so it stings a bit as well. :(

LatePaul

Came here to say this. I'll just add that it's because she does it without witness that we know Missy's final decision to stand with the Doctor is real. Of course it would have been lovely for him to know but that would have undermined that somewhat.

Mark Ten

Such great performances from everyone here. People tend to overlook Matt Lucas as just comic relief (Missy even calls him that), but how much did he bring to these last 2 episodes! And Pearl was amazing- genuinely believed she was in pain.