Well, did you see that one coming? The eighth season of Doctor Who has begun its lurch towards the finish line and in true Steven Moffat fashion, the showrunner has managed to produce a suitably chilling, dark and satisfying result. If we’re honest, this season of Doctor Who hasn’t really maintained the consistency it has in previous years. Peter Capaldi has been brilliant, Jenna Coleman has flexed her acting muscles impressively, but in terms of the episodes’ flow, Season 8 hasn’t really been pulled off with the same amount of shocks and bravado than we’ve seen before. However, with “Dark Water”, things seemed to come together – the elements that have made some of Moffat’s previous episodes standouts were all in full flight here and the viewers had some long time questions answered.
The death of Samuel Anderson’s Danny Pink early in the episode was underwhelming, as Clara’s grandmother acknowledges, he deserved better. I also found it hard believe that Clara was rocked so hard to the core by it that she would go so far as to betray The Doctor in the horrifically dramatic fashion as she did in her dream state. It’s great that the viewers finally got that emotional breakthrough from The Doctor (“Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?”) because, let’s be honest, if he didn’t give his mourning companion any inch of compassion, it would be a pretty horrible move on the writers’ behalf. Still, I found the initial response to her lover’s death reflected the way Clara and Danny’s partnership had been portrayed up until this point: rushed, slightly empty and over-wrought.
Moving ahead though, Danny interactions with Seb in the Nethersphere are great. Chris Addison is brilliant as the efficient Nethersphere administrator and the Steve Jobs line was excellent. His cold, corporate natures matches the Nethersphere’s establishment in general as being really unsettling, thank you Moffat. The simple revelation that Danny feels cold because his consciousness is connected with his dead body, which we assume is in a morgue somewhere, taps into that fear many will have about what happens to us after we die. The chilling ‘Don’t cremate me’ line which rattles The Doctor and Clara is equally as unsettling. Similar to how Lindsay Duncan’s suicide in “The Waters of Mars” was brutally effective without needing to be actually a ‘seen’ event, the interaction between Danny and Clara brings up some fairly cold facts. Danny is dead. He’s been told that he’s died (if you’re a follower of Sci-Fi, this will mean something). We all know from every other show in the genre that even if he is brought back in some way, he won’t be the same. Nor will Clara. And that is so human, something Doctor Who has been so good at realising through storylines past. Considering the rumours swirling around Coleman’s possible departure from the show, “Dark Water” brings up such a possibility because really, can Clara stay with The Doctor after this all? It’s not seeming that way, especially considering how the dead are playing into things.
Obviously, “Dark Water” is also about the much-anticipated meeting between The Doctor and Missy. Or ‘The Mistress’. After all, it wouldn’t be appropriate if she called herself ‘The Master’, would it? *Cue internet meltdown* I for one, imagine John Simm is sitting somewhere silently applauding. What a fitting successor!
Hands up if you called it when the nice Dr. Chang was introduced. Or when The Doctor commented, as he left with Dr. Chang, that he was missing something so obvious regarding the harvesting of humans. I thought it was too simple a reveal, but hats off to Michelle Gomez and her insane portrayal of the now Time Lady – The Doctor’s gobsmacked reaction was brilliant. Sure, the reveal wasn’t as shocking as Derek Jacobi’s in Season 3, but to have all the rumours confirmed in a rather tightly written fashion, speeding through to her alliance with The Cybermen, now the focus of the finale, was an appropriate move. Capaldi and Gomez have great chemistry onscreen, even though it’s been short shared time so far, so “Death in Heaven” looks set to be fantastic. The dialogue was great (the acknowledgement of Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker was awesome) and the pacing kept consistent.
“Dark Water” sets us up for a great season final for Doctor Who, all the necessary puzzle pieces are in play. The image of The Cybermen stomping down the stairs of St Paul’s was a brilliant throwback, the fact that we’ve got two iconic Big Bads back in action (and alliance) is thrilling and going off last week’s preview, we’ve still got ‘Evil Clara’ to deal with.
Will Danny delete himself? Will Missy regenerate again before the end of the season? Will Addison and Capaldi ever share the screen?
With no trailer for next week’s episode at this stage, we’re yearning for more.
REVIEW SCORE: FOUR STARS OUT OF FIVE.
Doctor Who screens on ABCTV on Sundays, 7:30pm.
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