Another 31 Days, Another 31 Screams: Day 24 (Doctor Who: Heaven Sent)

We've been here before, of course. A little under three years ago, when this first aired. This got suggested for the marathon and I thought it'd be fun to go back to it. Mostly because it was a known quantity, and actually quite a spectacular episode. Many would call it the highlight of the Capaldi era, and I can't fault them for it. Me? You know where I fall on the sides of Heaven and Hell. For now, we have to try and analyze the now-known quality of Heaven Sent in the context of horror. Rather obviously, we have a shambling monster created out of one of the Doctor's childhood fears. That's fun, and on airing I remember writing about it in context of Stephen King's It, but I want to roll with the more subtle touches. This is a horror story, but a horror story about loss, grief, guilt, confession, and obsession. The Doctor has just lost his best friend, the ever-wonderful Clara Oswald, and this mysterious castle he finds himself in is his own prison. Yes, it's all engineered so he tells secrets about the "Hybrid" and all that, but he pointedly refuses to. This is 35 minutes of Peter Capaldi, all by himself, playing a man coping with the loss of his companion and friend... except, she's not really gone, is she? No, she sleeps in his mind, someone for him to bounce his thoughts off of. Someone to motivate him to do what he has to do, and ask the right questions. Except... that's not really her. I don't want to talk about the next episode, but it has to be said: the Clara that motivates the Doctor to keep going here is not the real Clara, the real Clara who reacts in horror at what he did to himself once she finds out what he did. She's not, but this Clara echoes the original Clara, the carer who helps the Doctor realize how he's going to win.


I was going to start this off by saying it didn't compare to most horror, but it has the elements. The gothic, imposing castle. The obvious monster. The thousands of skulls. It's a personal horror story, but unlike other personal horror stories like... well, Oculus or 1408, it doesn't rely on creating a nightmarish surreal reality. Everything that happens within the castle actually happens, and reality doesn't melt or any shit like that. No, Heaven Sent's big twist is that of cycles. It's been three years, you've all had your advance spoiler warning; the Doctor goes through billions and billions of cycles in this place in order to punch down a diamond wall and escape rather than tell his captors a simple secret. Obsession and guilt. He lost Clara over this, and he wants to give up but his own stubbornness (and his inner Clara) won't let him... so he burns himself up over and over again, all in this stubborn obsession. In the end, the Time Lords weren't his torturers. The Doctor did it all to himself. He does get out, but what do you suppose that does to someone? His grief and guilt manifested in his own torture in a fucked-up castle, and if that's not Halloween enough for you I don't know what is. I'm getting out of this one while the getting out is good. There's not much else to say that I didn't already, in the past or in the future. Heaven Sent is real good, but is it the scariest Doctor Who? No. No, that honor goes to another episode. Not Blink, but another one. Come back tomorrow.