Full spoilers for the episode follow.
Hello everybody & welcome to my review of the finale to Series 7: Part 2 of Doctor Who. The Name of the Doctor.
There's been a lot building up to this episode. There's been the mystery surrounding Clara Oswald, the Great Intelligence, the planet Trenzalore and of course The Name of the Doctor. It's thankful then that Stephen Moffat has managed to deliver a brilliant (though not entirely perfect) episode that has left me even more excited for the 50th anniversary special.
The plot of the episode is very compelling, and despite the initially smaller scope when compared to previous series, there's an epic nature throughout, especially in the last act when things escalate considerably. There's also an element of sadness throughout, as the Doctor is forced to visit his future grave on Trenzalore in order to save his friends. Matt Smith really nails the emotional moments in this episode (& there are a lot of those by the way), and the almost weary tone in his voice is a nice touch to the performance. Matt has really come into his own as the character during this series now that he has more serious material to dig into & his chemistry with Jenna-Louise Coleman has been very fun to watch. Coleman also nail's the emotional material as Clara Oswald. Clara has quickly become one of my favourite companions since the series re-launched, right up there with Rose Tyler. She's given a great moment in the third act where she chooses to sacrifice herself to save the Doctor, which gives Moffat the opportunity for a hell of a lot of fan-service.
The supporting cast across the board deliver in spades. Dan Starkey as Strax gets some of the episodes biggest laughs, the best being the gag of him wrestling Scotsmen in Glasgow during his day off, that one had me laughing. Neve McIntosh & Catrin Stewart are also very good and they handle the more dramatic material they are given with ease. I also really liked the "conference call" scene, which took place in a communal dreamstate (that's the kind of writing I like to see from Moffat). Alex Kingston is brilliant in what looks to be her final appearance as River Song (though there's always the chance that Moffat might use a younger version of her later on). I've had a mixed opinion on River over the past series, the character became quite annoying from Series 5 onward, particularly after the shock reveal in A Good Man Goes to War (this isn't a criticism of Kingston's acting, it's just the dialogue the character was given and her sketchy characterisation), but here, since this takes place after Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead from River's perspective, the character is better handled by Moffat's script and is given the send-off she deserves.
The Great Intelligence returns as the primary villain (which wasn't exactly a surprise given his cameo in The Bells of Saint John) and while he is a very sinister presence, his new minions, the Whispermen, don't do very much in the episode other than kidnap the Doctor's friends and attempt to stop their hearts in a later scene. Richard E. Grant however gives a very creepy performance as the G.I. His plan to enter the Doctor's "grave", which in this case is a column of energy set inside a wrecked future-TARDIS (which is also gigantic as a result of the bigger-on-the-inside leaking out) to undo the Doctor's past is diabolical, although his line about wanting vengeance kind of irritated me. The only problem with this villain plot is that it's impact is diminished because the Great Intelligence hasn't been enough of a presence in the series to warrant this kind of line. He appeared twice during Patrick Troughton's run on the series and has only appeared as the main villain once before. Maybe if we'd gotten a line that indicated that the G.I was previously affiliated with the Silence perhaps?
The Great Intelligence's plan provides an excuse for some classic Doctor action, as we see flashes of all the classic series Doctor's with Clara & the G.I. Now at times this looks really seamless, especially
during the awesome pre-credits scene where Clara meets the First Doctor himself, William Hartnell, stealing the TARDIS from Galifrey. Other times though, it's pretty obvious that Jenna & Richard have been superimposed into the archive footage from the classic, but I dug the novelty too much to care.
Clara's sacrifice at the end provides a great explanation for how she has met the Doctor and died several times, in fact it's enhanced by the classic Doctor appearances. One of the best things about this episode (and in the case of the recent series, original) is that the Doctor actually repays Clara for her sacrifice and saves her, going so far as risking his own timestream collapsing in on itself to do so. The big reveal at the end and the surprise appearance from John Hurt (I got chills when I heard his voice) was masterfully handled and the line delivery from Hurt & Matt Smith was pitch perfect. I'm interested to see how Stephen Moffat explains this "secret incarnation" of the Doctor
The production aspects of this episode are blockbuster standard. Trenzalore is dark, gloomy and morbid, the same applies to the vegetation-ridden future-TARDIS (which reminded me a little bit of Portal 2). The direction from Saul Metztein was superb, he's quickly becoming one of my favourite directors on the show. There are plenty of awesome money shots here. The ending scenes set inside the Doctor's timestream are rushed in some places though. The Doctor Clara reunion was swept aside a little too quickly in favour of the big reveal. This was a truly fantastic episode, a fabulous return to form for Stephen Moffat and a fitting end to the current series. Now we just have to wait 6 whole months for the 50th. Right now I wish I had a TARDIS of my own...
Score: 4.5/5.0
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