In the mysterious world of the Nethersphere, plans have been drawn up. Missy is about to come face to face with the Doctor, and an impossible choice is looming. “Death is not an end” promises the sinister organisation known only as 3W – but, as the Doctor and Clara discover, you might wish it was.
And so it begins, and so it ends… It doesn’t seem so long ago that Peter Capaldi was spat from the mouth of a dinosaur and introduced us to his attack eyebrows, yet three months later and the Scot has now firmly established himself as the Doctor. With universal praise for his performance and a generally positive reception to his first season, the Twelfth Doctor signs off until Christmas in Steven Moffat’s Dark Water, the first of a two-part season finale.
Who is Missy? Who was the woman in the shop in The Bells of St. John? How did Missy “choose” Clara? What does she mean she “never existed”? Why is the Doctor holding a classic cyber-head in that picture below? What do happen to the dead after they die… (well you can probably work that out!)
All very good questions, but will we get any answers over the course of Dark Water/Death in Heaven?
“The darkest day, the blackest hour”
The reveals start early in an episode that is short on the bombast of early season finales, yet builds throughout to an epic conclusion, leaving the viewer a long week until the resolution. If anything Dark Water can be compared to Utopia in that it sets events in motion, establishes our scenario and places the pieces on the board, setting up the one hour special Death in Heaven as the true series finale.
Unsettling, claustrophobic, disturbing, the superbly directed Dark Water is the epitome of the realistic approach many have called for with the Capaldi Doctor, it’s certainly one that will have the “think of the children” complaints rolling in and one definitely to vet prior to letting the young ones watch. With it’s “unique” take on death and the afterlife, those recently bereaved or overtly religious might also find cause for offence.
The relationship between our three leads meanwhile reaches it’s climax in shocking fashion as we get our pay off to the interplay that has been building all series, yes there will definitely be “feels” after this one.
Oh Clara
You’ll Like This if you Like: The Invasion, Tomb of the Cybermen, Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen, Rise of the Cybermen
Watch Out For: Danny’s flashback, Missys big reveal, the delightfully camp and sinister Seb, memories of Nightmare in Silver being banished
I really wanted to do a Cyberman story, because they were always my favourites when I was a kid, and I was quite surprised that one way or another I’d never used them in any of my own scripts, except as supporting characters. So I wanted to do a proper scary one... Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Magazine 479
Gallery (Click to Enlarge)
Videos
Next Time Trailer
TV Trailer
Clip - Who’s Missy?
Cast and Crew
Writer: Steven Moffat
Director: Rachel Talalay
Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink), Michelle Gomez (Missy), Sheila Reid (Gran), Chris Addison (Seb), Andrew Leung (Dr Chang), Bradley Ford (Fleming), Nigel Betts (Mr Armitage), Joan Blackham (Woman), Antonio Bourouphael (Boy), Jeremiah Krage (Cyberman), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Cybermen)
Dark Water airs tomorrow at 8:15pm on BBC One and BBC HD in the U.K and 9pm in the U.S on BBC America.
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