Previous episode reviews:
Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night
Episode 9: Flatline
Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express
Episode 7: Kill the Moon
Episode 6: The Caretaker
Episode 5: Time Heist
Episode 4: Listen
Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood
Episode 2: Into the Dalek
Episode 1: Deep Breath
Summary:
After tragedy strikes Clara, she and The Doctor vow to resolve it and up in a strange world called "The Nethersphere". What they learn there about the concept of death will change their perceptions of it forever, particularly when it involves Cybermen, and the mysterious Missy...
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Series 8 of Doctor Who has certainly been a wild ride. And after ten weeks of episodes, character evolution, plot development and building mysteries, things start to come to a head in part one of the Seires 8 finale: Dark Water.
Like the review of "Into the Dalek", this review will start off with a brief overview of another one of Doctor Who's iconic enemies due to their crucial role in the finale: The Cybermen.
The first on-screen appearance of the Cybermen in 1966
Like the Daleks, the Cybermen made their debut during the time of the First Doctor. Specifically, they appeared in the four-parter swan song of the First Doctor, "The Tenth Planet". In this story, The Doctor and his companions land at the South Pole in 1986 and come across The Cybermen: robotic creatures that were once humans from Earth's twin planet Mondas (The titular Tenth Planet), but over the millennia have replaced their body parts with artificial parts as a means of self-preservation. As a result, the Cybermen have become more machine than man; powered by cold & calculating logic, detached from human emotions.
Original (and silly, yet terrifying) Cybermen design from 1963
Current Cybermen design from 2013
Counting the two-part finale, the Cybermen have appeared in 20 stories on TV. Unlike the Daleks (and their 31 TV stories), not all versions of the Doctor have faced off against them; The 3rd, 8th and 9th versions didn't face them. Their appearance in the revived series did not occur until Series 2/Season 28, during the time of the 10th Doctor. Since then they have appeared sporadically across the Revived Series, with the most recent being in "Dark Water." They are not entirely the focus of the episode, as this one is revolves around the characters, but they are still the major threat of the story.
The first appearance of the Cybermen in the Revived Series in 2006
In the Forest of the Night was a massive bore and pretty meh episode, but Dark Water completely made up for it. Full of character moments, a creepy undercurrent of malice, dark and rather scary moments, and a HUGE major revelation in the end, it is a very good episode and an excellent start to the finale.
The episode starts off some time shortly after the events of In the Forest of the Night. After her experiences with Danny then, she decides to call him up and come clean with everything about what she has been doing these past few episodes. It's a nice indication that despite Clara's confession about travelling with The Doctor, Clara did not completely open up to him yet. Throughout the entire season we've seen Clara become more and more introvert as she kept more secrets, become more introvert, and become more snappy and scathing at various things that annoyed her. In other words, she became more and more like The Doctor. So it's nice to start out the episode with Clara ready to tell Danny over the phone about all the strange things she's encountered, and potentially start a new chapter in their relationship, go into a new level of development and possibly-
Then the phone goes silent, and Clara rushes to the scene of an accident. Danny is dead, hit by an oncoming car. Yep.
Grieving, Clara goes to the TARDIS and steals all the TARDIS keys while distracting The Doctor, finally knocking him out. In the heart of an active volcano, Clara threatens the Doctor into going back in time and saving Danny, even though she and The Doctor know this is a bad idea without unravelling time itself. In the process, Clara throws the TARDIS keys into the volcano, leaving The Doctor stuck outside the TARDIS, unable to enter, and Clara collapsing in horrification at what she had done...
...and waking up. It was just a dream. Clara failed to knock The Doctor out, and instead he knocks her out, leading to the dream state. A bit of a cop-out considering the trailers have really hyped up this moment, but it serves as an in-story test of Clara's character. We clearly see just how far off the slippery slope Clara fell, and the intention of Clara willing to go far is a big blow of betrayal to The Doctor. Despite this, The Doctor is willing to look aside after all they've been through together. It's probably the weirdest element of the episode for me because a plot idea like that should've have more exploration, but as this is the finale, more pressing issues are at hand.
Using Clara's psyche and desire to find Danny, the TARDIS travels to a building, a mausoleum, housed with creepy skeletons sitting in chairs and submerged in a dark, almost water like substance. It's here where Missy finally emerges and greets The Doctor, as head of the organization known simply as 3W. After Missy outright kisses The Doctor, they are led to the organization's head doctor. Elsewhere in 3W, Danny wakes up to find himself with Seb, Missy's assistant, who tells Danny what happened.
We get a dual plot-exposition as the 3W doctor and Seb explain to The Doctor, Clara and Danny about what 3W really is. 3W is an organization that takes care and preserves the dead. When somebody dies their consciousness is transported here but their physical body is still left where it is. They can also feel whatever happens to their body, as 3W stands for "Three Words". Most of them are "Don't Cremate Me!" implying that the dead consciousness of people can feel what happens to their bodies. It's a really chilling thought, befitting an episode that came out right after Halloween.
After an encounter with one of the people Danny killed (A child), he is given a choice to delete his emotions in order to fully let himself go. Through the 3W doctor however, Clara manages to contact Danny. But Danny, horrified at the prospect of Clara sacrificing everything just to be with him again, forcibly breaks the connection. Finally broken with the blood of the people he killed on his hands, Danny considers deleting his emotions.
Meanwhile, Missy realizes The Doctor has learned too much, and she kills the 3W doctor. She unleashes the preserved skeletons and removes the Dark Water....revealing them to be Cybermen in disguise. The Doctor confronts Missy and she reveals that she's been using the souls of the dead to power a new army of Cybermen. And there were A LOT of Cybermen. The Doctor also realizes that the way she's been using this was a device made of Time Lord technology. The Doctor is in shock and awe at how Missy was able to get a hold of such advanced tech. Missy is unperturbed however, and says that how she got it is simple: She's a Time Lord, or lady, herself. Missy and The Doctor are the same species!
Just as a Cyberman is about to attack Clara, the Doctor bursts out of 3W...only to find himself in London. 3W was actually housed inside St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Cybermen begin their invasion. Finally fed up with everything that has happened, The Doctor once again asks who Missy is. The episode ends as Missy reveals who she is...to the utter horror of The Doctor, as the Cybermen begin their march down St. Paul's Cathedral, just like what happened 46 years ago...
2nd Doctor story "The Invasion", 1968, as the Cybermen march down from St Paul's Cathedral
12th Doctor story "Dark Water", 2014, as the Cybermen march down from St Paul's Cathedral
And who is "The Master"? Well...
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