"It’s Where We’ve Always Been Going, And It’s Happening Now, Today. It’s Time To Stand With The Doctor..."
Three years after venturing into my local cinema in order to witness the first ever Peter Capaldi led Doctor Who episode in the form of "Deep Breath", the brilliantly creepy yet somewhat divisive opening for the Twelfth Doctor, here we are reviewing the final ever regular series episode featuring perhaps my favourite incarnation of the travelling time lord since Jon Pertwee. How time flies. With the brilliance of last week's episode setting the basis for the overall narrative of "The Doctor Falls", what we have this week is a melancholic, fan-pleasing conclusion to a series which although lacked the consistency and sometimes perfection of Series Nine, was a solidly effective run, one which tapped into the classic sense of what a show such as Doctor Who truly offers and one which gave us some flashing moments of what we are set to miss after Capaldi's tenure is ultimately over. Whereas last week's episode was flawed somewhat by a ridiculous need from the BBC to over-publicise the high-profile events before the episode even aired, the twists and turns this week were more than effective, using a face from the past in the episode's concluding moments to emphasise truly the wondrous nature of the greatest science fiction series ever.
Whilst the body-horror infliction of the Mondasian Cybermen from last week's episode completely evaporates in favour of more daring set pieces and screen-filling explosions, their usage is still incredibly eerie, particularly within the scene in which the effects flick back and forth between the Mondasian Bill and the human Bill, building on a characterisation period throughout the series which has seen Pearl Mackie come forth as perhaps one of the standout companions of the modern era. With plot threads and series long arcs being put to bed, including the resolution of the Master/Missy timeline, the finale truly belongs to Peter Capaldi's performance, one which mixes the inevitably of death from Peter Davison's regeneration story "The Caves of Androzani" alongside the reluctance of passing from Tennant's change-up during "The End of Time", and boy does it pull on the heartstrings. Whereas many have seen Capaldi's tenure as a mixed bag of ups and downs in terms of consistency, I believe the past few years have seen the first real classic interpretation of the Doctor since the Tom Baker years and with the Christmas special to come alongside a very, very special guest, one can and can't wait for the Christmas special, an episode which although will see the end of a superb Doctor will also offer the opportunity to perhaps see Capaldi at his finest. See you in five months.
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