I really need to go back and watch last season of Doctor Who because I don’t remember Peter Capaldi’s first turn in the T.A.R.D.I.S. being this great. This season has had a few mediocre episodes, but the past three weeks have all been strong entries into the series.
I was about to type a sentence, but if you’re not caught up then you probably want to stop reading right now. I’m going to make references to “Face the Raven” and I don’t think I can do “Heaven Sent” justice without discussing some big spoilers.
Consider yourself warned.
I feared that “Heaven Sent” would be a bit of a letdown after Clara’s death in “Face the Raven.” Clara’s goodbye was practically perfect and I knew it would be difficult to top. Instead of trying to top the emotion of Clara’s death, “Heaven Sent” embraced that emotion and went deeper with it. Capaldi turned in a masterful performance as he spoke nearly every line in the episode. Like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, Capaldi brought something special to a performance that was so focused on him.
Here are some other thoughts I had while watching “Heaven Sent.”
Grief
In this episode we very clearly see the Doctor’s grief as he spends most of the episode talking to Clara. The first time he talks to her he seemingly does it by accident, forgetting that she’s dead. Subsequently, though, he uses her name as a crutch to help him get through his 2 billion year long ordeal. We all have different ways of dealing with grief and, as long as they’re not destructive, they’re all valid. The Doctor dealt with his grief by talking to Clara, clinging his memories of going on adventures with his friend.
Hell
“Hell is just heaven for bad people.”
A lot has been written about hell in recent years. In the eyes of some, Love Wins turned Rob Bell into a universalist who said that everyone could get into heaven. Francis Chan followed up with the book Erasing Hell, which made the claim that hell is a very real place to which people will go if they don’t know Jesus. I believe in hell, but I think of it less as a place of punishment and more as a fitting end. If people spend their entire lives avoiding God, then why would they want to spend an eternity with him? If someone spends his or her entire life fleeing from God then, in the end, he or she is going to get what he or she wants. (I may have gotten that idea from C.S. Lewis).
Perseverance
I had a hard time persevering through 10 weeks of trying to lose more weight than Ron. That is almost nothing compared to the 2 billion years the Doctor spent punching through that wall. “Heaven Sent” already had a Groundhog Day feel to it with the Doctor running back and forth through the castle to avoid the Veil. It really made me feel like I was watching the Bill Murray classic, though, when we saw the Doctor go through the same experiences time and time again, working away like that impressive bird, until he finally broke through. If the Doctor can do that for 2 billion years then I suppose I can go for a run tomorrow morning.
“Hell Bent” seems like it will be quite the finale, though I doubt it will tie up all the loose ends. I’m just waiting for the Sandmen to make their reappearance, but that might have to wait until next year. “Heaven Sent” was great, so great that I might just have to watch it again this week.
What did you think of “Heaven Sent?”
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