ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
This is a story that, at the time, felt overly sentimental
and too focussed on Danny Pink. However, now watching it a few years later on,
it’s a strong and dark story. Yes, it does stray a little into over cloying particularly
at the end, but there’s a lot to enjoy and central performances that are very
strong. The double reveal at the end of the first part is also a great
cliffhanger in the tradition of the Classic series as we meet up with the
Cybermen once again and Missy is revealed as a female incarnation of the
Master.
Whilst on the phone to Clara Danny is run over and killed by
a hit and run driver. Clara is distraught and tries to force the Doctor to take
her back in time to stop Danny being killed, instead he gets her to use the
TARDIS’ telepathic circuits to take her to where Danny can be found.
They arrive in the 3W Institute and discover tanks with
human skeletons sitting in the dark water that fills the tanks. They are
greeted by Missy (Michelle Gomez) who says she is a welcome droid. A scientist,
Dr Chang (Andrew Leung), tells them that the 3W was founded when radio signals
discovered that the dead are aware when they are cremated, so their
consciousness is transferred here and stored.
Danny has woken up in another part of the 3W Institute and
is greeted by Seb (Chris Addison) who informs him of what has occurred. He is
introduced to a child he accidentally shot whilst he was a soldier in
Afghanistan and is given the choice to delete his emotions and memories. Clara
phones him and he convinces her he is not really Danny to stop her trying to follow
him.
Missy kills Dr Chang and then commands the skeletons in the
dark water tanks to rise up. As the water drains away they are revealed as
Cybermen. The Doctor runs outside and find that he is at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
As the Cybermen emerge from hiding, Missy reveals herself to be the Master.
The Cybermen released by Missy fly into the sky and explode
creating a ‘Cyber rain’ which hits graves where the dead are buried and brings
them to life as Cybermen. Danny is also partially converted. Missy and the
Doctor are taken prisoner by UNIT where the Doctor is inducted as president of
Earth. Clara stalls the Cybermen at St. Paul’s by pretending to be the Doctor,
she is rescued by Danny who retains his memories despite his conversion. She
wakes up in a graveyard on the outskirts of London.
Aboard the UNIT airplane, Missy kills Osgood (Ingrid Oliver)
and then throws Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) from the airplane. Missy
teleports to safety whilst the Doctor takes the TARDIS to the graveyard where Clara
is. He tells her he can reveal Missy’s plans but cannot activate it without
deleting Danny’s memories. At Danny’s behest Clara activates the device and he
reveals a second rain will soon fall to convert the living into Cybermen.
Missy arrives and offers the Doctor control of the Cybermen,
he refuses and offers it to Danny who takes the Cybermen into the sky and blows
them all up, stopping Missy’s plans. Clara threatens to shoot Missy but the
Doctor stops her, instead she is disintegrated by a Cyberman version of
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart who indicates where his daughter Kate has fallen
having been rescued by the Cyber-Brigadier.
Danny has survived and contacts Clara from the 3W where he
has brought the child he killed in Afghanistan back to life. They then say
their goodbyes. Clara lies to the Doctor that Danny is actually still alive and
he lies to her about planning to seek out Gallifrey which Missy has suggested
has survived.
There’s masses going on here with Missy and the Cybermen and
the whole plot around Danny and his demise. That particular plotline really
comes as a surprise as it felt right up until the previous story that Clara and
Danny are going to end up together and she will leave the Doctor. Whether that
was a double-bluff on Steven Moffat’s part or – more likely – that Jenna
Coleman changed her mind and decided to stay, it makes the death of Danny even
more shocking.
Michelle Gomez as Missy is absolutely brilliant; she can do
crazy so well and the scene on the UNIT plane where she is dancing around and
calmly kills Osgood is both hilarious and chilling. She is the best Master
since Roger Delgado and I look forward to seeing more of her soon. Chris
Addison is great as Seb reflecting Missy’s funny but insane approach to the part.
There are some bits of the story that feel a bit OTT, for
instance, where Clara keeps throwing TARDIS keys into a volcano, although the
fact that this is a trick of the Doctor’s does take some of the craziness away
from this, it still feels a bit of an extreme reaction on Clara’s part. Plus that
last section in the graveyard does drag on a bit, attempting to turn the knife
emotionally about Danny’s plight but it never really hits home and is just too
long, and even in his Cyber-state Danny still can’t resist having a dig at the
Doctor. Really, Danny? Leave it alone!
The Cyberman version of the Brigadier is both quite sad but
also a bit silly and thankfully it was kept to a fairly small bit.
NEXT UP: LAST CHRISTMAS
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