Doctor Who Review: The Fall of the Doctor (Season 10 Episode 12)

Characters are chosen over plot on Doctor Who Season 10 Episode 12, “The Fall of the Doctor.”

There are two main points I want to explore here, due to their impact and importance far above any (very solid!) plot this episode offers: Bill and Missy.

BILL

We’ll start with Bill, whose heartbreaking journey finds a note of hope in the final hour. Bill has spent a good portion of this season bringing a ray of light into the Doctor’s life, which was badly needed after his loss of Clara and his 25 years on Darillium with River — not to mention his imprisonment of Missy.

But more importantly, Bill’s journey this season has been one of unabashed optimism. Even after losing her mother and seeing the truth of the universe, Bill hasn’t lost her passion for life or adventuring.

Much like Donna or Martha, one season with Bill hardly feels like enough. We haven’t had any other journeys with her mother, like Rose and her Father, or gotten a look at how travelling with the Doctor changes her everyday life when she’s not on board the TARDIS.

It just feels like we’re not done with Bill yet, which is the biggest shame of the episode. The second is the puzzling return of Puddle Girl Heather. After a brief relationship of glances and unfinished conversations in “The Pilot.” Moffat brings her back as Bill’s fellow water-like companion.

I want more for Bill. Yes, it’s fantastic that the show remembered Bill’s brief crush on her, as well as her sexuality in general, but it just feels like a bow tied on a poorly wrapped present. Their relationship felt ancillary and hastily developed on “The Pilot,” and that feeling hasn’t gone away by the time “The Doctor Falls” rolls around.

However, it is gratifying to see Bill fight for and embrace life with or without the Cyber technology inside her. Bill is a fighter until the end, and I hope that we see her again. Pearl Mackie is far too good to lose.

MISSY

What is there left to say about Missy, past me just crying? Oh boy. Here we go.

All season, we’ve been treated to the mystery of Missy’s transformation. Is she good? Is she faking it? Is she actually making progress, or is she merely waiting for the perfect opportunity to escape and kill the Doctor?

Now we know: it’s somewhere in the middle, which is the most painfully human thing about Missy.

The literal manifestation of her past self in the form of the Master provided Missy with a funhouse mirror reflection of who she was and who she could still be.  She rejects her past self’s narrative, however, and chooses to stand with the Doctor for the first time since they were children.

THE DOCTOR: Without hope, without witness, without reward.

This choice of Missy’s is absolutely monumental not only in new Doctor Who lore, but in the original’s, too. We have been told over and over that the Doctor and the Master used to be friends, but we’ve never really seen what that looked like. It’s hard to imagine at times why the Doctor tried so hard with the Master, but here we see that work pay off — Missy’s season long arc culminates in an act of good. 

Missy slays her demons quite literally (giving us the answer to how the Master died and regenerated into Missy in the first place) and is in turn killed for her trouble. I’m so sad to see Michelle Gomez go, as I truly believe Twelve’s run would not have been as successful without her.

Much like River Song’s addition to Eleven’s run, Missy’s on and off presence in Twelve’s gave a breath of fresh and irreverent air, and in “The Fall of the Doctor” strikes a strong, empathetic note that sends this season off in one of the finest finales to date.

STRAY THOUGHTS

• I’m in denial about Twelve regenerating, as he is my second favorite Doctor after Eleven. So, you know, the whole him dying thing isn’t actually happening. And not at Christmas! Right? Right. I’m glad we talked this out.
• One! One is back! I can’t wait to see how Moffat interprets the first Doctor, and how Twelve interacts with him.
• I miss Bill and Missy already.
• See you guys at Christmas!

What did you think of this episode of Doctor Who? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Reviewer Rating:

User Rating:

 

Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 9/8c on BBC/BBC America.

Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!