Doctor Who Series 10 First Impressions: Episode 12 (The Doctor Falls)

Really, it was the only way Series 10 could have gone out.

And they lived happily ever after.

I'm trying something different here. I've not rewatched the episode yet. I'm letting my words stand on the initial viewing I did last night for once. This is partly because I forgot to PVR it and can't wrangle out a rewatch method immediately due to shenanigans and can't wait, but also sort of a new take. I've called these "First Impressions" but they're honestly second impressions because I always do a rewatch and take notes. Not today. For the last episode of this series, for the penultimate episode of Peter Capaldi's run and of the Moffat era, we will do a true First Impression. Or rather, we already did because the above line I started this all with is my first impression. For better or worse, this is Steven Moffat at his Steven Moffattiest. And now we pad time before talking about the ending by talking about everything else before it. The stuff that matters. Here, then, is The Doctor Falls.

I suppose we can begin with the two incarnations of the Master, Missy and Mister Saxon. Or "Harold" as Phil Sandifer dubbed the John Simm incarnation, which is good enough to borrow for now. They're a delight in the opening, flirting about and dancing as the Mondasian ship burns and the Cyber-foundries mass produce more Cybermen. Of course, it doesn't take long for the Doctor to have his desperate backed-into-a-corner plan come to fruition, but things do go a bit wrong. Mainly in the form of the Doctor getting electrified and kind of out of it for this episode, holding back regeneration stuff. And hey, we got a Planet 14 reference AND a Donald Trump joke! What's not to like? For the rest of the episode, they're sassy and plotty folks working in tandem with one another. Even here, at the absolute bitter end of the world and the Doctor's life, he's still trying to get them to be kind and good. Harold's having none of it but Missy is somewhat conflicted by it... which leads into their ending. But, more on that in a bit.


The Doctor is at his peak here, pushed to his limits and forced up against the wall. In essence, it's the same sort of problem that defines the Doctor (and killed him in his previous life): standing up for the little people against impossible odds, because with his help they'll be able to survive that much longer. Said little people work on a solar farm on one of the upper floors of the colony ship, and the Cybermen are coming up to try and get them. No way to access his TARDIS, no real weapons other than some guns, and no plan. That's the Doctor at his peak. Oh, and he's holding back from regenerating and it's making him sort of a muddle, making all these classic series references and callbacks and lines. Things are getting odd, but he's making what seems to be his last stand. Nardole, to his credit, does some interesting hacks and finds a way to make explosions to stop the advancing Cybermen. Also he flirts with a lady on the solar farm, so that's nice.


Bill... Bill, Bill, Bill. Really, this is one of the big focal points of the episode. We're getting into the big territory I want to talk about here, but last week I made a point of wanting a better ending for Bill than "whoops, Cyberman now". I had hope. If you're reading this you probably know how that turned out, but I just want to touch on Bill in the rest of the episode. I feel like I'm just skipping ahead to the ending, but this episode is a nice slow death drive build up to it with utter tension and worry for the people we love in the show. Bill chiefly among them. It's a cruel trick Moffat pulls with her in this episode. We see her in a barn and it's Pearl Mackie and she looks fine! The Doctor pulled it off! No. Oh god no. The power of the mirror reveals the truth. Bill is absolutely still a Cyber-person. The mirror betrays us. Despite the gut wrench of that cruel move, we do see Bill as Bill for most of the episode even though she's really a Cyber-person. Her resistance against the Monks has primed her to resist full Cyber-conversion, and she does what she can to help. Even knowing that she's probably stuck like this, she does what she can. And then, the finale drops.


Here it is, then. The part that blossoms me with pure hope in the face of my tears. The fates of everyone are something. First, our duo of villanous Time Lords. Missy stabs Harold and Harold shoots Missy. Harold will regenerate, perhaps into Missy and with an army of Cybermen and a desire to help her friend. Missy apparantly dies in the grass, having decided to help the Doctor after all. He may never know. The Master will come back, but not like this. Not as Michelle Gomez. This is one of the costs we pay for the death drive of the episode; we lose Michelle Gomez, who was a treasure and a wonderful incarnation. We lose Matt Lucas as Nardole, who is a few floors above looking after children now. We knew he would depart, but it's still sad to see him go. There was skepticism when he was announced, but he worked. Somehow, he worked and it's a sad departure... but the price is paid. The Doctor is blasted into oblivion by a Cyberman but manages to blow everything up in one final grand defiant gesture. He does not regenerate, and lays there on the ashen earth, stone dead. Bill Potts, sci-fi savvy girl who wanted to have adventures, is a technological terror holding her emotions at bay from the programming within her, weeping over the death of her space friend. The uncompromised power of the finale's death drive has destroyed all five of our main players in some way, leaving them unable to function. Series 10 is over.


And then...


A miracle. The sentient lesbian puddle from 11 weeks ago returns, giving Bill her own puddle form as well as a kiss. Bill and Heather, now reformed and in the TARDIS, have brought the Doctor back to his ship to rest. With one final tearful goodbye, Bill leaves the Doctor to go off with Heather. Maybe she will return to life as a human in Bristol. For now, Bill and Heather go to explore the universe... Heather taking them and Bill directing. The cynics will howl and bawl over this, I'm sure. The ass pull of magic puddle powers restoring Bill. There's no stakes if we undo every death. Bullshit, says I. There are stakes. The stakes are just applied to the Doctor, the one constant of the show we can apply said stakes to. This is what the Moffat era has been about always; the endings are bittersweet, but only for the Doctor. For us they are triumphant celebrations in which our beloved companions depart, but don't really "die". The Doctor can never see Amy and Rory again, but they lived happy lives in New York City together. The Doctor does not remember Clara's face, but Clara lives between one heartbeat and the next, a mirror of the Doctor travelling through time and space. The Doctor has no idea about Bill or Nardole's fates, but they get to live; Nardole taking care of kids, and Bill as a puddle. The Moffat era has never been about killing our darlings and making it stick... except in regenerations. Speaking of.


The Doctor is okay. Magic puddle powers brought him back, but he's regenerating. He denies it. He's sick of it and still wants to be him. Stepping out into some frozen wastes, he soon meets a strange figure... one calling himself the Doctor. It's the original Doctor Who. We're back at the start of this mad regeneration thing. Antarctica. 1986. Doctor #1. We will be here again in six months for the end of Peter Capaldi and the Moffat era. It has to end, but that doesn't mean it has to be cynical and tragic. This episode and its ending moved me, and I suspect it will be high on my ranking due to it. I will miss Bill Potts. I will miss Nardole. I'll miss Missy. I cried for their departures, but they're never truly gone... just like all the others. Clara, Amy, Rory, Donna, Martha, Rose. Friends and pals all, never truly gone. I cry for them, yes, but I never forget one important thing.


Where there's tears, there's hope. I'm ready to cry for your departure now, Capaldi. We return at Christmas with the end of it all.