Today I finished Clara's run on Doctor Who. Granted, she died two episodes ago, but with this show you just have to accept a bit of timey-wimey goodness. More importantly, given what is coming very soon, today's episode contains the very first in-cannon onscreen regeneration of a Time Lord in which the gender changes. It has been mentioned in the past, and of course there is the change from Master to Missy, but this is the first one where the gender change happens unambiguously onscreen. For anyone complaining about Jodie Whittaker as the new Doctor, the foundation was already laid. And if you think it is just the show caving to a bunch of Social Justice Warriors, well, let me point you to this very excellent post at SartorialGeek.com (which I discovered via my friend Riff -- who also happens to be the best Roger Delgado Master cosplayer in the world). In short, from Day One Doctor Who has been a very inclusive and socially aware program. Yes, it has had its faults and missteps, it's not perfect, but this has quite intentionally been in the show's DNA from the very beginning. It's one of the reasons I am such a fan.

But enough about that, let's talk about the deposement of Rassillon. (Is that even a word? I think so. If not, it should be.)

Hell Bent

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The gist of this story is that the Doctor has made it to Gallifrey after spending four and a half billion years inside his confessional dial at the hands of Rassillon, and he is Not Happy. The opening sequence is masterful. The Doctor returns to the barn that figured centrally in The Day of the Doctor, and he awaits Rassilon's visit. First an armed airship is sent to retrieve the Doctor, and he simply draws a line in the sand and walks away. Then armed guards are sent. Then the Gallifreyan High Council. The Doctor refuses to so much as speak to any of them until Rassilon himself comes in person. When Rassilon orders the Doctor's execution, none of the soldiers (who all fought at the side of the War Doctor during the Great Time War) are willing to carry out the order. As Rassilon rants and raves, the Doctor simply says, "Get off my planet." Rassilon, the first Time Lord and possibly the greatest figure in Gallifreyan history, is overthrown by the Doctor simply by words. (Well, and by the fact that the entire military and citizenry stands with the Doctor, thus removing all leverage that Rassilon once held.) 

The whole debacle was sparked when the Gallifreyan Matrix started spitting out prophecies about "the Hybrid" that would fracture all of time and space, with the Doctor being the only person having any knowledge. So the Doctor convinces the High Council to use some WhateverTechnology to grab Clara just before the moment of her death, in order to gain her assistance. Her death is still fixed and absolute, and so she exists without a pulse and with no need for breath, held alive and animated in the moment between her last heartbeats.

And the whole thing turns out to be a ruse. The Doctor knows nothing about the Hybrid, it was a tale he concocted to be able to use as leverage. And when Clara finds out that he spent billions of years suffering just to bring her back, she is pissed. Which leads to the Doctor running with Clara in another stolen TARDIS to the very last moments of the Universe, where Ashildr is waiting. The Doctor intends to wipe all memory of himself from Clara's mind so that he can leave her back on Earth in her own time to live a peaceful life.

You know, like he did to Donna Noble.

Only, Clara isn't having any of it. Ultimately it is the Doctor whose mind is wiped of any memory of Clara. And then Clara and Ashildr run off in the stolen TARDIS (which is stuck in the shape of a roadside diner because of Reasons).

Specifically, this one that my wife and I visited a few years ago

This is just a great season finale. So much better than the previous year's, because all of the emotions are well-earned. Well, and also because it doesn't tarnish the legacy of a beloved character, but that's a whole other thing. At this point Steven Moffat has tied up not only Clara's arc, but also the whole "Gallifrey is missing" storyline. All that's left is to button up the River Song arc (that happens tomorrow), and then to take a year off from broadcast in order to figure out where to go next (tread water for a year until a new show runner can take over).

I wish we could have gotten three Peter Capaldi seasons like this one. Instead, his first season is a complete waste and his third is... mostly ok? But this one, this is the season that gave me the Capaldi Doctor I wanted from the beginning. These past two weeks have been a joy to revisit.

Now I get to celebrate Christmas two days in a row. How weird is that?

STATS:

Doctor(s): Twelfth
Companion(s): Clara Oswald, Ashildr
Episode(s): Hell Bent
Steps Walked: 8,972 today, 3,518,800 total
Distance Walked: 4.78 miles today, 1,840.64 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 6,747 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 1,029 total
Weight: 246.76 lbs (five day moving average), net change -60.54 lbs