YMMV / Doctor Who S34 E12 "Death in Heaven"

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Danny's final "Reason You Suck" Speech - Correct, deserved, understandable bitterness in the face of death and betrayal, the former but directed at the wrong person (in the sense that he should be upset at Clara for lying and not putting him first), or unnecessarily petty? Or intentionally being too harsh in an attempt to make the Doctor dial it back, for Clara's safety? Or undeserved and harsh, but understandable considering the pain he was in?
  • The cafe scene, in which Clara and the Doctor part ways - indicative of both their unconditional caring for each other, fundamental unhealthiness of their interactions, normal/acceptable display of human (and Time Lord) imperfection and fallibility that will be easily remedied by the Christmas Special, or something in between?
  • Even discussed in the episode proper when the Doctor mentions and rejects various potential interpretations of his person and sort of comes away with "not perfect, but most definitely not interested in megalomania".
• Broken Base: As is customary for nearly every Doctor Who episode. In this case, the break is between those fans who thought the Brigadier's return as a Cyberman was a touching tribute, and those who thought it was in the worst possible taste.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Missy's quote on killing some Belgians because they're not French is now hard to take humorously because, two years later, there came the Brussels bombings courtesy of the Islamic State.
• He's Just Hiding:
  • Fans were quick to notice that if Danny had the opportunity to return to the living world two weeks after his Cyberman body was killed, similar means could be used to resurrect any other character killed in the episode. Especially Missy.
  • Fans were also adamant that Missy killed a Zygon and not the real Osgood. The Zygon two-parter from the next season would eventually confirm that there were two Osgoods, but doesn't answer whether Missy killed the human or the Zygon.
• Moral Event Horizon: Invoked by Moffat in an interview, who is well aware of Missy's Draco in Leather Pants tendencies. He had her kill off fan-favorite Osgood to remind us that just, because she's a woman now, the Master isn't any less of a psycho than she's always been.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • The clouds burning look surprisingly generic, especially compared what happened the last time the sky burned. Most shots we get are when the explosions start happening, none in progress or spreading out.
  • Particularly noticeable is the explosion over Australia which is just a rather generic stock image (not even video footage) of the Sydney Opera House with the explosion added to it.
  • The bluescreen effect when Missy floats down into the cemetery isn't particularly convincing.
  • It's clearer than ever that the Cybermen's suits are made out of rubber. Especially in the beginning when people are touching and hugging them.
  • Any shot of the Cybermen taking off into the sky looks extremely fake. They also looked like a bunch of Iron Man suits taking off.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: After spending the last two seasons playing out in the background, the fact Missy orchestrated the Doctor and Clara getting together is still, ultimately, pushed into the background by the whole "make every dead person on earth a Cyberman" thing. Also, considering their deaths were the emotional centre of Series 7, the fact neither Clara's mother, nor Amy and Rory, are even mentioned feels like an omission given that the fact the Brigadier is revived implies that they might now be Cybermen, too.
  • All the characters talk about the terror of how every dead person on Earth is a Cybermen and all they do is... stroll about in cemeteries, stand still, then blow themselves up.
• Unexpected Character: Seriously, who thought for one minute that Santa Claus would show up, especially in an episode like this?

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