Shortly Before this series began, there were rumours that the Doctor would be on his own in episode eleven. It was already known the Jenna Coleman was leaving and hinted that she might not make it to the end of the series, so these rumours seemed to hint that episode ten would see Clara's departure. The alternative was that episode eleven would be a 'companion light' episode but there haven't been any of those for a long time and it surely didn't make sense for one to crop up now and be followed immediately by her exit. Of course, we know now that episode ten was indeed her exit which added heightened anticipation that what was to follow may well see the new companion unexpectedly introduced in the series finale! That really would be a coup in a world where such revelations are expected much earlier than they used to be and are generally forced to happen when they starting filming... but this would be the perfect cover, just another actress filming in the final episode, no reason to suspect... Bigger than this in the discussions however, was the suggestion that the Doctor would literally be on his own in this penultimate episode, with nobody else to play against!
Well, that was just bonkers, surely taking the 'on his own' part too far. Or maybe the alien creatures he encounters are non humanoid and potentially non speaking so from a script perspective he is essentially on his own... It's going to be odd even if the latter is true...
What we eventually saw in the actual episode was brave and startling. Peter Capaldi was indeed the only credited actor for about 40 minutes and the way those 40 minutes was both a thrill and an endurance. It was tense and creepy and, curiously, a bit like a computer game - I'll explain that in a moment.
I think it's important to note that when I write these reviews, I have first watched the episode as a fan, enjoying the ride for what it is supposed to be. I will then watch the extra content from the BBC (be it "Doctor Who Confidential", "Doctor Who Extra" or online equivalent clips) and finally re-watch the episode and make notes along the way. I may even put the episode on again as I start typing, for reference and to keep the mood. On this occasion I have not yet re-watched the episode. Not only that, but it is nearly 16 months since it was broadcast, due to my work schedule throwing my reviews into complete delay mode. Despite all this, I felt well enough equipped to just plough on and start typing. That suggests two possibilities: 1, The episode was so strong that I remember everything relevant, or 2, there isn't really much to write about...
Well, the way I see it, Heaven Sent actually falls into both categories. With Capaldi the only actor in it (mostly), there were always going to be limits on what he could be doing and that did indeed hold true. What the Doctor faced was repetition. Over and over and over again. But just as it worked for Bill Murray in "Ground Hog Day" with tweaks and variations, so to did it work for Capaldi. We went on a journey of discovery with the Doctor and he learnt where he was and what was there, then how to interact with it and improve his chances. We saw how things went wrong and how they could affect other things either way. We saw mysterious elements that maybe didn't make sense for a while until eventually they did and everything became oh so clear as the Doctor went round and round again and again. Murry Gold's musical score again took us through the painful journey and the varied and increasingly fast paced editing kept it watchable whilst still portraying the sense of relentless torture. For the Doctor is being tortured. He is trapped in an ever repeating world kept alive by the virtue of a momentary buffer in the teleport circuit that brought him there. Each failed attempt to escape brought him a reset to the beginning, like playing a computer game where each time your character dies you have to restart from the beginning with everything reset but your memories, with just your previous experiences to help you get further and do better next time. Only the Doctor didn't have the luxury of memories and had to relearn everything and find ways to leave himself clues for the next time around.
The details of the repetition can be left out from this review, hence why I haven't re-watched the episode. That's the joy of the episode. I said it was brave episode and like Sleep No More, doing something different was always going to divide audience opinion. The viewing figures and audience share were not the lowest for the series but the Appreciation Index was the second lowest after Sleep No More at just 80 (Sleep No More scored a measly 78 and these are the lowest two scores since Love And Monsters in 2006 which scored 76) Heaven Sent was held highly within the industry and awards circuit, Peter Capaldi's performance in particular, but it was not a populist outing. The Appreciation Index has been in a gradual decline since Steven Moffat took over and these more experimental episodes have done him no favours. Where Love And Monsters was a big blip in Russell T Davies's steadily increasing scores, 76 and 80 are not all that far of Moffats. Indeed, 76 and 80 were the scores achieved by the first episodes when Davies revived the show in 2005. He has one last series to reverse that trend otherwise Chris Chibnall will have a lot to prove.
But I digress. I'll finish this review by stating my opinion that it was strong and creative episode, an exciting rough ride that was only let down by the less adventurous viewers. It finishes with the revelation that, well, it's such a brief scene I may just leave it for the next review as it it leads directly into it! Spoilers!!
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