DOCTOR WHO “Death in Heaven” Review

What has the Master…. I mean Mistress have in store for the Doctor? Read on to find out.

The official description from BBC:

With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role. Can the mighty UNIT contain Missy?

As the Doctor faces his greatest challenge, sacrifices must be made before the day is won.

Another series of Doctor Who comes to an end, and though I have been excited for “Death in Heaven” since the title was first revealed, the notion that this’ll be the last episode until Christmas is a little upsetting. Nevertheless I always bask in the moment, and despite having gotten off to average start, Series 8 has certainly found it’s feet in the long run, being a successful start for the Twelfth Doctor.

Having given some interesting developments, “Dark Water” proved a wonderful set-up to this finale, but there was one revelation that set the internet on fire, and that was Missy (Michelle Gomez) being the Master. The choice to turn the Master into a woman was always going to cause controversy, but I have to say that I rather liked the idea. Following on from that we get yet another exciting series of events, as though the tone was a little off at times, the atmosphere within Steven Moffat‘s script was generally brilliant. The way that Moffat tied earlier events of this series together also added great depth, with the revelation allowing for more clarity to those events. The Cybermen are also used in a beautiful way, as though initially I got the feeling this would be your typical Cybermen appearance, it turned out to be something rather unique.

Having given a truly astonishing performance in “Dark Water”, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing what Michelle Gomez would do in this episode. I have to say I wasn’t disappointed, as alongside Peter Capaldi (The Doctor) she was once again one of the standout performers of this finale. Capaldi himself however proved equally as amazing, with his deep performance showing the true essence of the Doctor. Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink) also gave what is quite possibly his best performance of the series, and though I won’t be upset to see the back of him, I will say that he was a key player in this episode. One actress that I did feel was missing a little from this episode was Jenna Coleman (Clara). Don’t get me wrong, we got plenty of Clara, it’s just that with everything else going on, she felt like an afterthought.

“Death in Heaven” bring Doctor Who Series 8 to an end, and though it’s not long until the Christmas Special there will certainly be a void in our TV schedule. The finale does however prove a fitting outro to the Twelfth Doctor’s first series, as though overall it wasn’t quite as amazing as I had hoped, it was still well worth watching. Highly recommended.