This week's episode doesn't just wrap up Season 10— it's the end of an era, as the entire cast says goodbye to the show. The Doctor Falls marks actor Peter Capaldi's final regular series appearance as the Doctor. It's also likely the last time Pearl Mackie will ever play Bill. Matt Lucas' Nardole character also bows out of the show this week. We even say goodbye to Michelle Gomez as Missy!
Most importantly, this is Steven Moffat's final regular episode as the series' showrunner.
I've been pretty hard on Moffat the past few years, and for good reason. After all, he's the genius who greenlit horrible episodes like the horrible Kill The Moon (for my money, the all-time worst Doctor Who episode ever) and even worse In The Forest Of The Night. I honestly felt bad for Peter Capaldi. He's a brilliant actor— one of the best who's ever played the Doctor— but unfortunately he was saddled with some of the worst scripts in the history of the show.
Then somehow Moffat made a complete 180º turn and gave us Season 10, which was a MASSIVE improvement over the previous two (with the possible exception of the mediocre Monks storyline). Why couldn't Moffat pump out good work like this all the time? Maybe taking all of 2016 off helped recharge his batteries, who knows?
It's been a tradition for modern Doctor Who two part episodes to start with an amazing setup, only to falter with a subpar conclusion. Actually I can't single out Doctor Who here, as most sci-fi series are guilty of doing this. Yeah, I'm lookin' at you, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Happily, The Doctor Falls doesn't, er, fall into this pattern. It's a worthy followup to the excellent and shocking World Enough And Time. Imagine, a conclusion that's as good as its setup! What a concept!
The idea of the Doctor being tired of constantly changing into someone else is an interesting one, and something I don't think they've ever explored before (other than the Tenth Doctor's brief, plaintive cry of "I don't want to go"). The Twelfth Doctor started out as a cold, distant and grouchy alien, who gradually softened over the course of three seasons as he struggled to discover just who he was. And then just when he figures it all out, his body starts to change. Of course he doesn't want to regenerate now! Who would Unfortunately, due to real world events, his change is inevitable.
I've always been a sucker for stories in which the villain teams up with the hero, so I was happy to see the semi-rehabilitated Missy finally decide to do the right thing in this episode and stand with the Doctor. I'm not sure her change of heart felt truly earned though, as it seemed a bit sudden. I really wish they'd have given us two or three episodes of Missy traveling with the Doctor & Co. as a companion. We needed to actually see her being good for a change, which would have made her eventual betrayal all the more meaningful. In fact I wish they'd have torpedoed the Monks storyline, and given us three episodes in which Missy saved the day.
Although I enjoyed Missy this season, there's something about her reformation that bothers me a bit. The episode doesn't quite come out and say it, but it's subtly implied that Missy's change of heart came about because she's now a woman. Because women are more emotional, dontcha know. This emotional awakening makes her realize she has feelings for the Doctor, and is a big factor in her decision to side with him.
I'm not just imagining this, as the Master even comments on it briefly. Yikes! You know, there are a lot of fans out there chanting that it's time we had a female Doctor. If this is the kind of heavy-handed and cliched writing we're in for, then I hope the show NEVER turns the Doctor into a woman!
I hated to see Nardole go, but as I said last week, the writers obviously had no idea what to do with him once the Vault storyline was over. So his departure's probably for the best. The character deserves better than to be stuck in the background like an extra.
So what was up with all the Susan Foreman references and Easter eggs at the beginning of the season? She hadn't been mentioned for years, and then suddenly you couldn't swing a sonic without hitting a Susan reference.
I assumed Moffat had something up his sleeve, and was reminding the audience that she existed because she was the inhabitant of the Vault for some reason, or Bill would somehow turn out to be a regenerated Susan.
Fortunately neither of those lame plotlines came to pass. But the question remains— why did the show try so hard to remind us of Susan?
MASSIVE SEASON-ENDING SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
The Plot:
We pick up more or less where we left off last week, on a massive, four hundred mile long Mondasian colony ship that's desperately trying to back away from a black hole. Because of the time dilation effect, time moves normally at the back of the ship, but slows to a crawl at the front. After hundreds of years on the ship, the Mondasians began modifying themselves into Cybermen, in an effort to survive the harsh environment near the engines. Thanks to the Master's shenanigans, Bill was captured and converted into the very first Cyberman.
OK, all up to date. Missy and the Master are holding the Doctor captive on a hospital roof at the bottom of the ship, while Cyber Bill looks on. The Masters gloat as they look out over the city, which is now a massive assembly line that's converting the populace into more Cybermen.
Suddenly the Cybermen detect the Masters' presence and begin heading for the hospital to convert them. When they wonder how this could have happened, the Doctor admits that while the Masters weren't looking, he changed the Cybermen's parameters of humanity. They now see Time Lords as "human," and consider them ripe for conversion as well.
As the Cybermen attack, Missy knocks out the Master and frees the Doctor, seemingly joining his side. The Doctor's still not convinced she's sincere though. Just then the Doctor's hit by a Cyberman's blast, which knocks him to his knees.
Nardole, who escaped the Masters earlier, arrives in a stolen shuttlecraft. The Master wakes up, and he and Missy board the shuttle, ordering Nardole to take off. Just then Cyber Bill grabs the shuttle and keeps it from leaving. She carries the Doctor on board, and they all escape with seconds to spare.
The shuttle somehow blasts through floor after floor of the ship before finally crashing on Level 507, which contains a solar farm. A group of farmers have banded together there to protect themselves and their children from the encroaching Cybermen, who're systematically working their way up the ship. The farmers are amazed to see Cyber Bill stagger from the shuttle wreckage, carrying the badly injured Doctor in her arms.
Two weeks later, the Doctor's recovered. Unfortunately he's starting to show signs of regeneration, but is able to repress it. Nardole suddenly stops being an idiot and becomes a general, organizing the farmers into a Cyberman Defense Force.
We then see a perfectly normal looking human Bill sleeping in a barn (?). A little girl named Alit enters, and for some reason, nervously gives Bill a mirror and backs away. Bill looks in the mirror and sees a Mondasian Cyberman staring back, which puzzles her. Alit runs off and the Doctor enters the barn. He explains to Bill that she's been changed into a Cyberman, but through sheer strength of will she still thinks of herself as human.
Cyber Bill sheds a tear when she realizes she's being kept in the barn because the others are afraid of her. She then becomes angry with her situation, inadvertently firing a blast of energy from her headset. The Doctor warns her she can no longer afford to become angry.
Cyber Bill reminds the Doctor that he promised to restore her, and says if he can't, then she doesn't want to live. When the Doctor sees her crying, he says, "Where there's tears, there's hope."
Meanwhile, Missy discovers a camouflaged lift in a nearby forest. It opens up and a modern Cyberman exits. Cyber Bill quickly destroys it, and asks why it looks different from her. The Doctor says time is moving much faster at the bottom of the ship than on their level, and the Cybermen are quickly evolving.
Missy suggests takng the lift to the bridge, which is where the Doctor left his TARDIS, so they can finally escape the ship. The Doctor says they can't, as time is barely moving at the top of the ship, which will give the Cybermen below plenty of time to plan an attack. This doesn't make the least bit of sense, but let's just move on.
Nardole realizes that even though Level 507 looks like a vast, pastoral world, it's still part of a spaceship. He figures out a way to remotely detonate pipes and electrical conduits under the floor to use against the Cybermen. The Doctor finds a hatch to another farm a few levels above, and tells the farmers to prepare to evacuate.
The Master tells Missy that his malfunctioning TARDIS is at the bottom of the ship, and they decide to head there and try to repair it. The Doctor makes an impassioned, Oscar-worthy speech to the both of them, asking them to stand and fight the Cybermen with him. He says it's the "kind" thing to do. The Master refuses of course and leaves. Missy stays behind a bit longer and says she knows the Doctor's right, but she can't stay.
The Cybermen arrive on Level 507 and begin attacking. Nardole and the farmers fight back, forcing them to retreat and regroup. The Doctor elects Nardole to take the farmers and their children to safety on the upper level, and to stay there and look after them. Nardole's reluctant to go, but agrees. Cyber Bill decides to stay and fight alongside the Doctor.
The Master and Missy arrive at the hidden lift. Before they get in, Missy embraces the Master. She sneakily stabs him in the side, which she knows will force him to regenerate into her. When he asks why she did it, she says it's because she knows the Doctor's right, and she's going back to stand with him.
Missy leaves, stupidly turning her back on the Master. Sure enough, he zaps her with his laser screwdriver, fatally injuring her and somehow repressing the regeneration process. This means the Master just effectively killed himself. The Master laughs as the lift takes him down to his TARDIS, while Missy dies alone in the forest.
Back at the farm, the Doctor and Cyber Bill battle wave after wave of attacking Cybermen. The Doctor's takes several cyberblasts, further weakening him. As he falls, he uses Nardole's remote and ignites all the pipes under the floor, causing a massive explosion. The Cybermen are all wiped out, except for Cyber Bill, who's inexplicably OK. She stands over the severely injured Doctor.
Suddenly Bill's back in human form, as her Cyber-suit crumples to the ground. She looks and seesDeus Ex Machina, er, I mean Heather The Sentient Puddle from The Pilot forming before her eyes. Heather says she located Bill through the tears they shared and followed her here. She's turned Bill into a puddle like her, but says she can easily rearrange her molecules and make her human anytime she wants. Apparently Heather is now God.
Heather removes the TARDIS from the bridge, and she and Bill place the dying Doctor inside it. Heather invites Bill to come with her, so they can explore the galaxy together as sentient puddles (!). Bill accepts her offer, after saying goodbye to the Doctor and crying a sentient puddle tear on his forehead.
Sometime later the Doctor wakes up, disoriented. He starts to regenerate, but once again represses the process, saying he's tired of changing and living his life as someone else. The TARDIS lands, and the Doctor starts to regenerate again. He runs out of the TARDIS, into the snowy landscape we saw at the beginning of World Enough And Time.
The Doctor manages to stop his regeneration again. Just then he hears a voice, as a figure appears out of the snow. It's the First Doctor, prattling on about not wanting to regenerate...
Thoughts:
• The previous episode, World Enough And Time, began with a shot of the Doctor exiting the TARDIS as he started to regenerate. Everything in the episode after that was a flashback.
Nardole realizes that even though Level 507 looks like a vast, pastoral world, it's still part of a spaceship. He figures out a way to remotely detonate pipes and electrical conduits under the floor to use against the Cybermen. The Doctor finds a hatch to another farm a few levels above, and tells the farmers to prepare to evacuate.
The Master tells Missy that his malfunctioning TARDIS is at the bottom of the ship, and they decide to head there and try to repair it. The Doctor makes an impassioned, Oscar-worthy speech to the both of them, asking them to stand and fight the Cybermen with him. He says it's the "kind" thing to do. The Master refuses of course and leaves. Missy stays behind a bit longer and says she knows the Doctor's right, but she can't stay.
The Cybermen arrive on Level 507 and begin attacking. Nardole and the farmers fight back, forcing them to retreat and regroup. The Doctor elects Nardole to take the farmers and their children to safety on the upper level, and to stay there and look after them. Nardole's reluctant to go, but agrees. Cyber Bill decides to stay and fight alongside the Doctor.
The Master and Missy arrive at the hidden lift. Before they get in, Missy embraces the Master. She sneakily stabs him in the side, which she knows will force him to regenerate into her. When he asks why she did it, she says it's because she knows the Doctor's right, and she's going back to stand with him.
Missy leaves, stupidly turning her back on the Master. Sure enough, he zaps her with his laser screwdriver, fatally injuring her and somehow repressing the regeneration process. This means the Master just effectively killed himself. The Master laughs as the lift takes him down to his TARDIS, while Missy dies alone in the forest.
Back at the farm, the Doctor and Cyber Bill battle wave after wave of attacking Cybermen. The Doctor's takes several cyberblasts, further weakening him. As he falls, he uses Nardole's remote and ignites all the pipes under the floor, causing a massive explosion. The Cybermen are all wiped out, except for Cyber Bill, who's inexplicably OK. She stands over the severely injured Doctor.
Suddenly Bill's back in human form, as her Cyber-suit crumples to the ground. She looks and sees
Heather removes the TARDIS from the bridge, and she and Bill place the dying Doctor inside it. Heather invites Bill to come with her, so they can explore the galaxy together as sentient puddles (!). Bill accepts her offer, after saying goodbye to the Doctor and crying a sentient puddle tear on his forehead.
Sometime later the Doctor wakes up, disoriented. He starts to regenerate, but once again represses the process, saying he's tired of changing and living his life as someone else. The TARDIS lands, and the Doctor starts to regenerate again. He runs out of the TARDIS, into the snowy landscape we saw at the beginning of World Enough And Time.
The Doctor manages to stop his regeneration again. Just then he hears a voice, as a figure appears out of the snow. It's the First Doctor, prattling on about not wanting to regenerate...
Thoughts:
• The previous episode, World Enough And Time, began with a shot of the Doctor exiting the TARDIS as he started to regenerate. Everything in the episode after that was a flashback.
I predicted that this regeneration scene would reappear at the end of The Doctor Falls, as a cliffhanger that would be resolved in the 2017 Christmas Special.
And that's exactly what happened! Well, sort of. Sure enough, at the very end of The Doctor Falls we see the regeneration scene again. The scene continues though, as the Doctor represses his regeneration and encounters the First Doctor.
• I was looking forward to the Master/Missy team up in this episode, but... they never really did all that much once they met. They captured the Doctor, tied him to a wheelchair and taunted him, and... welp, that was about it. The second the Masters found out they were in danger from the Cybermen, they turned tail and fled, and that was the end of their evil shenanigans.
Even worse, we've seen the whole "Master Pushing The Doctor Around In A Wheelchair" schtick back in The Sound Of Drums.
• At one point Missy says, "Exciting, isn't it? Watching the Cybermen getting started." The Doctor says, "They always get started. They happen everywhere there's people. Mondas, Telos, Earth, Planet 14, Marinus. Like sewage and smartphones and Donald Trump some things are just inevitable."
The places he lists are all planets where the Cybermen popped up over the years. And for Thor's sake, we get yet another Donald Trump reference this week. I hate that orange buffoon as much or more than the next person, but even I'm tired of hearing his name on this show. I watch Doctor Who to escape reality, not to be reminded of the petulant man-child sitting in the White House who's doing his best to destroy the country.
• I really liked the scene in which the Masters separately tell Nardole, "The Doctor's dead. He told me he always hated you."
• This is some hardcore nitpicking, but whatever.
Welp, we actually get an explanation this week, sort of. Missy states that being in such close proximity to her former self has caused both their timelines to move out of sync, disrupting her memory.
As I mentioned last week, this has happened on the show several times before to the Doctor. But usually when the Doctor meets one of his previous selves, it's the YOUNGER one whose memory is affected. Missy's older than the Master, so HE should be the one who loses his memory! Looks like Steven Moffat lost his memory too when he wrote this scene.
• Immediately after Missy explains that being so close to the Master has scrambled both their memories, the two of them have the following conversation:
The Master: "I blew the dematerialization circuit."
Missy: "Which reminds me, funny thing happened to me once!"
The Master: "What?"
Missy: "A very long time ago, a very scary lady threw me against a wall and made me promise to always, always carry a spare dematerialization circuit. I don't remember much about her now, but she must have made quite an impression."
The implication here of course is that Missy is the scary lady who once (meaning right now) threw the Master against the wall, which stuck in his mind.
But a minute or so earlier she said she doesn't remember ever being on the colony ship! So which is it, Moffat? Does Missy remember anything about the ship or not?
• This episode features a HUGE plot hole regarding the time dilation effect on the colony ship.
Missy suggests heading for the Doctor's TARDIS on the ship's bridge. The Doctor balks at this notion, saying, "We can't go back to the bridge. We can only go four or five floors up at the most. The further we move up the ship, the slower time moves for us and the faster it moves for the Cybermen. By the time we get to the bridge, they'll have had thousands of years to work out how to stop us. There is no safe way to get back to the TARDIS it's a mathematical impossibility."
OK, he's right about the fact that time moves slower on the bridge, and normally (not faster) on the lower levels. The closer the Doctor & Co. get to the bridge, the more time will slow for them.
But if the Cybermen pursue them, THEY'LL slow down as well! It's not like the Cybermen are immune to the effects of the black hole!
Either Moffat doesn't understand his own premise here, or he realized he wrote himself into a corner and violated his own rules to resolve the story, hoping we wouldn't notice.
• This episode really hammers home how silly it is that the Doctor has no way to remotely control the TARDIS. The thing can fly anywhere in time and space, but god forbid the Doctor can call it to him.
Look, I get it. If the Doctor could make the TARDIS materialize around him whenever he got into trouble, then every episode would be ten minutes long. Maybe less!
So I understand why the writers don't want him to have that ability. But they really need to come up with a good in-show explanation as to why a remote control isn't possible.
• Shortly after the Doctor & Co. arrive on Level 507, an army of evolved, advanced Cybermen attack. I was sorry to see these modern Cybermen appear, as the original versions are so much creepier.
And what are the odds that the modern Cybermen on this isolated ship would look EXACTLY like the ones we've seen elsewhere on the series?
• After Missy mortally wounds the Master, he shoots her in the back with his laser screwdriver. Oddly enough, his blaster effect looked practically IDENTICAL to the Dalek's lasers. Coincidence?
• Since the Master fatally injured Missy, that means he basically just killed himself!
Despite how it looks, I'm sure we'll see one or both of them again at some point.
• Despite the fact that Nardole's been around since the 2015 Christmas Special, we still know little or nothing about him. Including where what species he is. When Hazran asks him where he's from, he says, "I don't know. I was sort of found."
Somehow I get the feeling that the writers aren't trying to be mysterious here, they just honestly have no idea who or what Nardole is.
• After an entire season of seeming like he's "on the spectrum," Nardole suddenly becomes a badass in this episode. He starts acting like a general, ordering the farmers around and organizing a defense against the Cybermen. His computer hacking skills get an upgrade this week as well, as he figures out a way to remotely detonate pipes and such under the ship's floor.
• I wonder what happened to the colony ship after the Doctor and Bill left? Did it ever successfully back away from the black hole? Or is it doomed to hang in front of it forever? Apparently it's none of our concern, or Moffat forgot about it, because it's never addressed.
• I was looking forward to the Master/Missy team up in this episode, but... they never really did all that much once they met. They captured the Doctor, tied him to a wheelchair and taunted him, and... welp, that was about it. The second the Masters found out they were in danger from the Cybermen, they turned tail and fled, and that was the end of their evil shenanigans.
Even worse, we've seen the whole "Master Pushing The Doctor Around In A Wheelchair" schtick back in The Sound Of Drums.
• At one point Missy says, "Exciting, isn't it? Watching the Cybermen getting started." The Doctor says, "They always get started. They happen everywhere there's people. Mondas, Telos, Earth, Planet 14, Marinus. Like sewage and smartphones and Donald Trump some things are just inevitable."
The places he lists are all planets where the Cybermen popped up over the years. And for Thor's sake, we get yet another Donald Trump reference this week. I hate that orange buffoon as much or more than the next person, but even I'm tired of hearing his name on this show. I watch Doctor Who to escape reality, not to be reminded of the petulant man-child sitting in the White House who's doing his best to destroy the country.
• This is some hardcore nitpicking, but whatever.
The bulk of the episode takes place on a "solar farm" inside Level 507 of the Mondasian colony ship. But... just what is this solar farm collecting?
There's no actual sun on any of the ship's 1,065 levels, right? Each level's most likely lit for half the "day" by a series of lights on the ceiling. So the solar panels must collect energy from the lights, and then uses it to power them. It's a closed loop system!
• Apparently the levels on the colony ship are made of pretty flimsy stuff. Nardole flies a shuttlecraft through 558 floors (from Level 1065 to Level 507) before it's finally totaled.
Later on we see Operation Exodus begin, as the evolved Cybermen blast off and seemingly punch through level after level with their heads!
• So occasionally the Cybermen wander up from the bottom of the ship and attack the solar farm on Level 507. When they do, the farmers either kill them outright, or capture them and hang 'em up like scarecrows.
I'm honestly struggling to understand the scarecrow thing. Why the hell would they chain them to crosses and truss them up like that?? To send a message to any other Cybermen out there who get any ideas about attacking?
• It was a nice touch to have Cyber Bill still believe she was human throughout the episode, and very creepy whenever she was reminded she wasn't.
Obviously the producers did this so Pearl Mackie could still be in the episode, but it was still an interesting idea.
• Whenever Cyber Bill takes a step, there's a loud, metallic "CLONK" on the soundtrack. Later on the modern, updated Cybermen appear and clonk around as well.
OK, I get why the upgraded Cybermen sound this way, as they're completely covered in clunky Iron Man-type armor. But why does Cyber Bill make the same sound when she walks? She's wearing what looks like a baggy silver suit and rubber boots. She doesn't have any armor at all.
• Math is hard! In World Enough And Time, Bill was stuck at the bottom of the ship for an extended period. I noted that according to a chronometer on the wall, she was there for at least 398 days, which is a little more than year. Mr. Razor notes that she recovered in the hospital ward for several months before she woke up, so we could be generous and say she was down there for close to two years.
But then in this episode Bill says she was stuck at the bottom of the ship for a whopping TEN years! Either Moffat's math was waaaaaaaay off in World Enough And Time, or Bill spent a hell of a long time there that we didn't get to see.
• In World Enough And Time I said I understand the Master's plan. Why was he on the colony ship in the first place? There's no way he could have known that the Doctor would appear, so he wasn't there as part of a revenge plot. Was he trapped there? Or did he decide what the hell, I'll just spend ten years or so on this ship gaining Bill's trust so I can ultimately betray her?
We actually get an explanation as to why he was there, although it goes by so fast I didn't even catch it the first time I saw the episode. At one point the Doctor and the Master have the following conversation regarding his plan:
The Doctor: "The last time I saw you, you were on your way to Gallifrey."
The Master: "Well, I didn't stay. Why would I stay?"
The Doctor: "So they cured your little condition and kicked you out."
The Master: "It was a mutual kicking me out."
The Doctor: "Somehow you ended up in this dump. You never could drive."
The Master: "You wouldn't understand."
The Doctor: "Well, let's see how I do. Your TARDIS got stuck, you killed a lot of people, took over the city, lived like a king until they rebelled against your cruelty, and ever since then you've been hiding out, probably in disguise, because everybody knows your stupid round face."
Whew! Sounds like the Master was stuck on the ship a LOT longer than the ten years we saw! He may have been there a hundred years or more!
• Last week I wondered why Missy couldn't remember the decades she spent on the colony ship as the Master, and hoped that this week's episode would explain this anomaly.
Obviously the producers did this so Pearl Mackie could still be in the episode, but it was still an interesting idea.
• Whenever Cyber Bill takes a step, there's a loud, metallic "CLONK" on the soundtrack. Later on the modern, updated Cybermen appear and clonk around as well.
OK, I get why the upgraded Cybermen sound this way, as they're completely covered in clunky Iron Man-type armor. But why does Cyber Bill make the same sound when she walks? She's wearing what looks like a baggy silver suit and rubber boots. She doesn't have any armor at all.
• Math is hard! In World Enough And Time, Bill was stuck at the bottom of the ship for an extended period. I noted that according to a chronometer on the wall, she was there for at least 398 days, which is a little more than year. Mr. Razor notes that she recovered in the hospital ward for several months before she woke up, so we could be generous and say she was down there for close to two years.
But then in this episode Bill says she was stuck at the bottom of the ship for a whopping TEN years! Either Moffat's math was waaaaaaaay off in World Enough And Time, or Bill spent a hell of a long time there that we didn't get to see.
• In World Enough And Time I said I understand the Master's plan. Why was he on the colony ship in the first place? There's no way he could have known that the Doctor would appear, so he wasn't there as part of a revenge plot. Was he trapped there? Or did he decide what the hell, I'll just spend ten years or so on this ship gaining Bill's trust so I can ultimately betray her?
We actually get an explanation as to why he was there, although it goes by so fast I didn't even catch it the first time I saw the episode. At one point the Doctor and the Master have the following conversation regarding his plan:
The Doctor: "The last time I saw you, you were on your way to Gallifrey."
The Master: "Well, I didn't stay. Why would I stay?"
The Doctor: "So they cured your little condition and kicked you out."
The Master: "It was a mutual kicking me out."
The Doctor: "Somehow you ended up in this dump. You never could drive."
The Master: "You wouldn't understand."
The Doctor: "Well, let's see how I do. Your TARDIS got stuck, you killed a lot of people, took over the city, lived like a king until they rebelled against your cruelty, and ever since then you've been hiding out, probably in disguise, because everybody knows your stupid round face."
Whew! Sounds like the Master was stuck on the ship a LOT longer than the ten years we saw! He may have been there a hundred years or more!
Welp, we actually get an explanation this week, sort of. Missy states that being in such close proximity to her former self has caused both their timelines to move out of sync, disrupting her memory.
As I mentioned last week, this has happened on the show several times before to the Doctor. But usually when the Doctor meets one of his previous selves, it's the YOUNGER one whose memory is affected. Missy's older than the Master, so HE should be the one who loses his memory! Looks like Steven Moffat lost his memory too when he wrote this scene.
• Immediately after Missy explains that being so close to the Master has scrambled both their memories, the two of them have the following conversation:
The Master: "I blew the dematerialization circuit."
Missy: "Which reminds me, funny thing happened to me once!"
The Master: "What?"
Missy: "A very long time ago, a very scary lady threw me against a wall and made me promise to always, always carry a spare dematerialization circuit. I don't remember much about her now, but she must have made quite an impression."
The implication here of course is that Missy is the scary lady who once (meaning right now) threw the Master against the wall, which stuck in his mind.
But a minute or so earlier she said she doesn't remember ever being on the colony ship! So which is it, Moffat? Does Missy remember anything about the ship or not?
• This episode features a HUGE plot hole regarding the time dilation effect on the colony ship.
Missy suggests heading for the Doctor's TARDIS on the ship's bridge. The Doctor balks at this notion, saying, "We can't go back to the bridge. We can only go four or five floors up at the most. The further we move up the ship, the slower time moves for us and the faster it moves for the Cybermen. By the time we get to the bridge, they'll have had thousands of years to work out how to stop us. There is no safe way to get back to the TARDIS it's a mathematical impossibility."
OK, he's right about the fact that time moves slower on the bridge, and normally (not faster) on the lower levels. The closer the Doctor & Co. get to the bridge, the more time will slow for them.
But if the Cybermen pursue them, THEY'LL slow down as well! It's not like the Cybermen are immune to the effects of the black hole!
Either Moffat doesn't understand his own premise here, or he realized he wrote himself into a corner and violated his own rules to resolve the story, hoping we wouldn't notice.
• This episode really hammers home how silly it is that the Doctor has no way to remotely control the TARDIS. The thing can fly anywhere in time and space, but god forbid the Doctor can call it to him.
Look, I get it. If the Doctor could make the TARDIS materialize around him whenever he got into trouble, then every episode would be ten minutes long. Maybe less!
So I understand why the writers don't want him to have that ability. But they really need to come up with a good in-show explanation as to why a remote control isn't possible.
• Shortly after the Doctor & Co. arrive on Level 507, an army of evolved, advanced Cybermen attack. I was sorry to see these modern Cybermen appear, as the original versions are so much creepier.
And what are the odds that the modern Cybermen on this isolated ship would look EXACTLY like the ones we've seen elsewhere on the series?
Despite how it looks, I'm sure we'll see one or both of them again at some point.
• Despite the fact that Nardole's been around since the 2015 Christmas Special, we still know little or nothing about him. Including where what species he is. When Hazran asks him where he's from, he says, "I don't know. I was sort of found."
Somehow I get the feeling that the writers aren't trying to be mysterious here, they just honestly have no idea who or what Nardole is.
Then in the third act, Nardole tells the Doctor, "This is me we're talking about. Me. You know what I was like. If there's more than three people in a room, I start a black market. Send me with them, I'll be selling their own spaceship back to them once a week."
Nardole's a black marketeer? Nardole? Why are we just now hearing about his sketchy past five minutes before he exits the series for good (probably)?
• I wonder what happened to the colony ship after the Doctor and Bill left? Did it ever successfully back away from the black hole? Or is it doomed to hang in front of it forever? Apparently it's none of our concern, or Moffat forgot about it, because it's never addressed.
Yes, Heather's existence was set up in the first episode, but her appearance here still felt a bit too convenient, as did her magical handwaving that undid Bill's Cyber-conversion and removed the TARDIS from the ship's time distortion. Talk about a deus ex machina!
On the other hand, I can't think of any other way they could have realistically restored Bill, so... magic puddle it is then, I guess!
• Bill says goodbye to the Doctor while he's lying unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS. That means he'll never know what happened to her. As far as he knows, she's still clonking around as a Cyberman somewhere.
• Bill says goodbye to the Doctor while he's lying unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS. That means he'll never know what happened to her. As far as he knows, she's still clonking around as a Cyberman somewhere.
• As of this episode, both of the Twelfth Doctor's main companions were seemingly killed, but were actually transformed into cosmic beings who flew off to explore the galaxy.
• The Doctor Falls featured quite a few dialogue callbacks to previous episodes, both in the Classic and Modern Series.
When Missy hugs the Master after stabbing him, she says, "I loved being you." This is the same thing the Tenth Doctor told the Fifth when they met in the mini-episode Time Crash.
During the final battle, the Doctor rages at the Cybermen, saying, "Telos! Sealed you into your ice tombs! Voga! Canary Wharf! Planet 14! Every single time, you lose. Even on the Moon!" These are all references to past episodes in which the Doctor defeated the Cybermen.
Bill says goodbye to the Doctor, saying, "Where there's a tear, there's hope." This is similar to the Third Doctor's final words in Planet Of The Spiders, in which he said, "No, don't cry. While there's life, there's hope."
When the Doctor wakes up inside the TARDIS, he shouts, "Sontarans! Perverting the course of human history! I don't want to go! When the Doctor... when the Doctor was me! When the Doctor was me. It's starting, I'm regenerating." The Sontaran line was the first thing the Fourth Doctor ever said in Robot. The Twelfth Doctor also said this in Listen. The Tenth Doctor famously said, "I don't want to go" right before regenerating in The End Of Time, and the Eleventh Doctor said, "When the Doctor was me in The Time Of The Doctor.
At the end of the episode the First Doctor says, "I'm not a doctor. I'm the Doctor. The original, you might say." This is a blending of two lines from previous episodes. In Robot, the Fourth Doctor tells Harry Sullivan that "he may be A doctor, but I'm The Doctor." The definite article, you might say." In The Five Doctors, the First Doctor meets Tegan and says, "I am the Doctor. The original, you might say."
The First Doctor's played here by David Bradley, who's no stranger to Doctor Who. Bradley was in Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, where he played the evil Solomon. Then in the BBC TV movie An Adventure In Space And Time (which was all about the creation of Doctor Who), Bradley played actor William Hartnell, who played the First Doctor on the show!
You might also recognize Bradley as Mr. Filch in the Harry Potter films.
• This Week's Best Lines:
The Master: (to the Doctor) "How many times have you died?"
Missy: "How many different ways?"
The Master: "Have you burned?"
Missy: "I know you've fallen."
The Master: "Have you ever drowned?"
Missy:"Have you felt the blade?"
The Master: "I suppose what we're really asking, my dear, is, well..."
Missy:"Any requests?"
(Missy's "I know you've fallen" line is a reference to the Fourth Doctor, who regenerated after falling from a tall tower while battling the Master)
Missy: (to the Doctor) "Well, we thought we might chuck you off the roof, but I wasn't sure how many regenerations you had left."
The Master: "Yeah, we could have been up and down the stairs all night!"
The Doctor: "Begging for your life already? That's a new record."
The Master: "I'm not begging you. I'd rather die than beg you!"
The Doctor: "Lucky day, then."
Missy: (to the Doctor, after knocking out the Master) "I was secretly on your side all along, you silly sausage."
The Doctor: "Is that true?"
Missy: "Don't spoil the moment."
The Doctor: "Seriously, I need to know. Is that true?"
Missy: "It's hard to say, I'm in two minds. Fortunately, the other one's unconscious."
The Master: (pretending to talk to the Doctor as he boards Nardole's shuttlecraft) "What was that, Doctor? You'll only slow us down? Yeah, I think you're right. (to Nardole) The Doctor's dead. He told me he always hated you. Let's go."
Nardole: "No."
Missy: (to Nardole as she boards the shuttle) "The Doctor's dead. He told me he always hated you."
Nardole: "Yeah, I heard you the first time!"
Cyber Bill: "What was that? In the mirror?"
The Doctor: "Er, a Cyberman."
Cyber Bill: "What's a Cyberman?"
The Doctor: "A technologically augmented human being, designed to survive in a hostile environment. Perfectly sound idea unfortunately all they want to do is to turn everyone else into Cybermen too. They go viral."
Cyber Bill: "Why?"
The Doctor: "They consider themselves to be an improvement, an upgrade."
Cyber Bill: "No. Why do I see a Cyberman in the mirror?"
The Doctor: "What do you remember?"
Cyber Bill: "There's quite a lot! You know? I was down there for ten years.
The Doctor: "And then, one day they took you to the conversion theatre. Do you remember that?"
Cyber Bill: "No. Bits of it. You turned up.
The Doctor: "Do you remember what they did to you?"
Cyber Bill: "Nothing. Look at me. I'm fine. I'm fine!"
The Doctor: "You are so strong. You're amazing. Your mind has rebelled against the programming. It's built a wall around itself a castle made of you and you're standing on the battlements, saying, "No! No, not me."
Cyber Bill: "What are you talking about?"
The Doctor: "All that time, living under the Monks you learned to hang on to yourself."
Cyber Bill: "But I'm I'm fine, look at me!"
The Doctor: "Bill, what you see is not you. Your mind is acting like a perception filter. You still see yourself as you used to be."
Cyber Bill: "Used to be?"
The Doctor: "It won't last forever."
Cyber Bill: "What do you mean, used to be?"
The Doctor: "Bill, I'm sorry, but you can't be angry any more. A temper is a luxury you can no longer..."
Cyber Bill: "Why can't I? Why can't I be angry?"
The Doctor: "Bill please!"
Cyber Bill: "You left me alone for ten years, don't tell me I can't be angry! (she blasts the barn with her headpiece)
The Doctor: "Because of that. That's why."
Nardole: "Right, everyone, back to work. Nothing to see here, somebody broke the barn, no biggie."
The Master: (to Cyber Bill) "Oh, hello, my dear. My God, you were so boring for all those years but it was worth every day of it for this!"
The Doctor: "Bill, don't let him upset you."
The Master: "Though, didn't you used to be a woman? I'm going to be a woman, fairly soon. Any tips? Or, maybe I dunno, old bras?"
The Doctor: (explaining how the Cybermen work to Cyber Bill) "They target the children because conversion is easier with a younger donor. The brains are fresher, and because the bodies are smaller, there's less to..."
Cyber Bill: "Less to what?"
The Master: "Less to throw away."
Cyber Bill: "No, I want you to know, as my friend I don't want to live if I can't be me any more. Do you understand?"
The Doctor: "Yeah."
Cyber Bill: "And that's not possible, is it?"
The Doctor: "Well, I'll tell you what else isn't possible. A Cyberman crying. Where there's tears, there's hope."
The Doctor: (to the Masters) "And we just gave our position away. Well done, the genius twins!"
Missy: "We could evacuate the Waltons back there, if you're feeling ridiculous."
(I think it's funny that at some point in the Master's past, he apparently watched The Waltons!)
The Master: "You know you basically have me to thank for this."
Missy: "You're welcome."
The Master: "By the way, is it wrong that I..."
Missy: "Yes! Very."
(Yep, kids, that really just happened. The Master just became aroused by a female version of himself)
The Doctor: (to the Masters) "No. No! When I say no, you turn back around! Hey! I'm going to be dead in a few hours, so before I go, let's have this out. You and me, once and for all. Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun and God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do, because it's right. Because it's decent. And above all, it's kind. It's just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, and maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there's no point in any of this at all. But it's the best I can do, so I'm going to do it. And I'll stand here doing it till it kills me. You're going to die too. Some day. How will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. And where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?"
The Master: "See this face? Take a good, long look at it. This is the face that didn't listen to a word you just said."
The Doctor: "Missy. Missy. You've changed. I know you have, and I know what you're capable of. Stand with me, it's all I've ever wanted."
Missy: "Me too. But no. Sorry. Just no. But thanks for trying."
Missy: "Come here, I said."
The Master: "Seriously? Are we really going to do this?"
Missy: "I loved being you. Every second of it. Oh, the way you burn. Like a sun. Like a whole screaming world on fire. I remember that feeling, and I always will. And I will always miss it."
The Master: (seeing that Missy just stabbed him) "Now that was really very nicely done."
Missy: "Thank you."
The Master: "It's good to know I haven't lost my touch."
Missy: "You deserve my best."
The Master: "How long do I have?"
Missy: "Oh, I was precise. You'll be able to make it back to your TARDIS, maybe even get a cuppa, though it might leak a little."
The Master: "And then regenerate into you."
Missy: "Welcome to the sisterhood."
The Master: "Missy, seriously, why?"
Missy: "Oh, because he's right. Because it's time to stand with him. It's where we've always been going, and it's happening now, today. It's time to stand with the Doctor."
The Master: "No. Never. Missy! I will never stand with the Doctor!"
Missy: "Yes, my dear, you will."
The Doctor: (to the approaching Cybermen) "Telos! Sealed you into your ice tombs! Voga! Canary Wharf! Planet 14! Every single time, you lose! Even on the Moon! Hello. I'm the Doctor."
Cyberman: "Doctors are not required."
The Doctor: "I'm not A doctor. I am The Doctor. The original, you might say."
Stranger: "I will not! No, no, no, the whole thing's ridiculous."
The Doctor: "Hello? Is someone there?"
Stranger: "Who is that?"
The Doctor: "I'm the Doctor."
Stranger, Who Turns Out To Be The First Doctor: "The Doctor. Oh, I don't think so. No, dear me, no. You may be A doctor, but I am THE Doctor. The original, you might say!"
• This Week's Best Lines:
The Master: (to the Doctor) "How many times have you died?"
Missy: "How many different ways?"
The Master: "Have you burned?"
Missy: "I know you've fallen."
The Master: "Have you ever drowned?"
Missy:"Have you felt the blade?"
The Master: "I suppose what we're really asking, my dear, is, well..."
Missy:"Any requests?"
(Missy's "I know you've fallen" line is a reference to the Fourth Doctor, who regenerated after falling from a tall tower while battling the Master)
Missy: (to the Doctor) "Well, we thought we might chuck you off the roof, but I wasn't sure how many regenerations you had left."
The Master: "Yeah, we could have been up and down the stairs all night!"
The Doctor: "Begging for your life already? That's a new record."
The Master: "I'm not begging you. I'd rather die than beg you!"
The Doctor: "Lucky day, then."
Missy: (to the Doctor, after knocking out the Master) "I was secretly on your side all along, you silly sausage."
The Doctor: "Is that true?"
Missy: "Don't spoil the moment."
The Doctor: "Seriously, I need to know. Is that true?"
Missy: "It's hard to say, I'm in two minds. Fortunately, the other one's unconscious."
The Master: (pretending to talk to the Doctor as he boards Nardole's shuttlecraft) "What was that, Doctor? You'll only slow us down? Yeah, I think you're right. (to Nardole) The Doctor's dead. He told me he always hated you. Let's go."
Nardole: "No."
Missy: (to Nardole as she boards the shuttle) "The Doctor's dead. He told me he always hated you."
Nardole: "Yeah, I heard you the first time!"
Cyber Bill: "What was that? In the mirror?"
The Doctor: "Er, a Cyberman."
Cyber Bill: "What's a Cyberman?"
The Doctor: "A technologically augmented human being, designed to survive in a hostile environment. Perfectly sound idea unfortunately all they want to do is to turn everyone else into Cybermen too. They go viral."
Cyber Bill: "Why?"
The Doctor: "They consider themselves to be an improvement, an upgrade."
Cyber Bill: "No. Why do I see a Cyberman in the mirror?"
The Doctor: "What do you remember?"
Cyber Bill: "There's quite a lot! You know? I was down there for ten years.
The Doctor: "And then, one day they took you to the conversion theatre. Do you remember that?"
Cyber Bill: "No. Bits of it. You turned up.
The Doctor: "Do you remember what they did to you?"
Cyber Bill: "Nothing. Look at me. I'm fine. I'm fine!"
The Doctor: "You are so strong. You're amazing. Your mind has rebelled against the programming. It's built a wall around itself a castle made of you and you're standing on the battlements, saying, "No! No, not me."
Cyber Bill: "What are you talking about?"
The Doctor: "All that time, living under the Monks you learned to hang on to yourself."
Cyber Bill: "But I'm I'm fine, look at me!"
The Doctor: "Bill, what you see is not you. Your mind is acting like a perception filter. You still see yourself as you used to be."
Cyber Bill: "Used to be?"
The Doctor: "It won't last forever."
Cyber Bill: "What do you mean, used to be?"
The Doctor: "Bill, I'm sorry, but you can't be angry any more. A temper is a luxury you can no longer..."
Cyber Bill: "Why can't I? Why can't I be angry?"
The Doctor: "Bill please!"
Cyber Bill: "You left me alone for ten years, don't tell me I can't be angry! (she blasts the barn with her headpiece)
The Doctor: "Because of that. That's why."
Nardole: "Right, everyone, back to work. Nothing to see here, somebody broke the barn, no biggie."
The Master: (to Cyber Bill) "Oh, hello, my dear. My God, you were so boring for all those years but it was worth every day of it for this!"
The Doctor: "Bill, don't let him upset you."
The Master: "Though, didn't you used to be a woman? I'm going to be a woman, fairly soon. Any tips? Or, maybe I dunno, old bras?"
The Doctor: (explaining how the Cybermen work to Cyber Bill) "They target the children because conversion is easier with a younger donor. The brains are fresher, and because the bodies are smaller, there's less to..."
Cyber Bill: "Less to what?"
The Master: "Less to throw away."
Cyber Bill: "No, I want you to know, as my friend I don't want to live if I can't be me any more. Do you understand?"
The Doctor: "Yeah."
Cyber Bill: "And that's not possible, is it?"
The Doctor: "Well, I'll tell you what else isn't possible. A Cyberman crying. Where there's tears, there's hope."
The Doctor: (to the Masters) "And we just gave our position away. Well done, the genius twins!"
Missy: "We could evacuate the Waltons back there, if you're feeling ridiculous."
(I think it's funny that at some point in the Master's past, he apparently watched The Waltons!)
The Master: "You know you basically have me to thank for this."
Missy: "You're welcome."
The Master: "By the way, is it wrong that I..."
Missy: "Yes! Very."
(Yep, kids, that really just happened. The Master just became aroused by a female version of himself)
The Doctor: (to the Masters) "No. No! When I say no, you turn back around! Hey! I'm going to be dead in a few hours, so before I go, let's have this out. You and me, once and for all. Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun and God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do, because it's right. Because it's decent. And above all, it's kind. It's just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, and maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there's no point in any of this at all. But it's the best I can do, so I'm going to do it. And I'll stand here doing it till it kills me. You're going to die too. Some day. How will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. And where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?"
The Master: "See this face? Take a good, long look at it. This is the face that didn't listen to a word you just said."
The Doctor: "Missy. Missy. You've changed. I know you have, and I know what you're capable of. Stand with me, it's all I've ever wanted."
Missy: "Me too. But no. Sorry. Just no. But thanks for trying."
Missy: "Come here, I said."
The Master: "Seriously? Are we really going to do this?"
Missy: "I loved being you. Every second of it. Oh, the way you burn. Like a sun. Like a whole screaming world on fire. I remember that feeling, and I always will. And I will always miss it."
The Master: (seeing that Missy just stabbed him) "Now that was really very nicely done."
Missy: "Thank you."
The Master: "It's good to know I haven't lost my touch."
Missy: "You deserve my best."
The Master: "How long do I have?"
Missy: "Oh, I was precise. You'll be able to make it back to your TARDIS, maybe even get a cuppa, though it might leak a little."
The Master: "And then regenerate into you."
Missy: "Welcome to the sisterhood."
The Master: "Missy, seriously, why?"
Missy: "Oh, because he's right. Because it's time to stand with him. It's where we've always been going, and it's happening now, today. It's time to stand with the Doctor."
The Master: "No. Never. Missy! I will never stand with the Doctor!"
Missy: "Yes, my dear, you will."
The Doctor: (to the approaching Cybermen) "Telos! Sealed you into your ice tombs! Voga! Canary Wharf! Planet 14! Every single time, you lose! Even on the Moon! Hello. I'm the Doctor."
Cyberman: "Doctors are not required."
The Doctor: "I'm not A doctor. I am The Doctor. The original, you might say."
Stranger: "I will not! No, no, no, the whole thing's ridiculous."
The Doctor: "Hello? Is someone there?"
Stranger: "Who is that?"
The Doctor: "I'm the Doctor."
Stranger, Who Turns Out To Be The First Doctor: "The Doctor. Oh, I don't think so. No, dear me, no. You may be A doctor, but I am THE Doctor. The original, you might say!"
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