Fandom Friday-Hell Bent Review

Okay, it Fandom Friday again, and after several weeks of being positive, it's time to be a Negative Nancy. While this is a part of something I love, namely Doctor Who, I do not like Hell Bent. I do not like it on my screen, I do not like it being seen, I do not like it here or there, I do not like it anywhere.

Some set up first: I love Doctor Who, whether it be Classic, New, or Big Finish. I love the Twelth Doctor, regardless of the quality of scripts he's given, Peter Capaldi is a gem and pure perfection. I...like(?) Steven Moffat.

That last one is part of why I come down so hard on this episode. I have been defending Moffat, showrunner of Doctor Who from Series 5-10, since I became a fan. Sure, his stories sometimes drift too far into fantasy, they hand wave a little, and he doesn't seem to care about logic, but he (usually) had good directions for the show and The Doctor to go, and I still hold that he's presided over several of my favorite seasons.

Similarly, while I've never necessarily "liked" Clara, I rarely disliked her either, and was willing to stick up for her. This was especially true in Series 8, where her storylines actually went somewhere.

The tragedy, for me, is that this episode soured me on Clara, Steven Moffat, and Doctor Who in general for quite a while. I had been keeping up with the show as it came out for years, but after this episode I stopped watching until very recently, and while I've made the effort to catch up I'm still not finished with Series 10 yet. Before I start actually getting into this episode, I'll be spoiling it and Series 9 in general quite a bit, so warning.

Let me break down where this episode fell apart for me into parts. First off, Gallifrey. This is the first time a story has taken place on Gallifrey in the modern series, and that sets up big expectations. Especially after it's return in the 50th anniversary, focusing on how not all Time Lords were bad, the return of this planet and it's people was long awaited. What did they do with it?

NOTHING. This episode could have been set ANYWHERE. Sure, it tries to tie in some existing lore, but for every interesting reference it screws up in three other places. Most basic failure: Rassilon. This dude created Time Lord society, gave them regenerations and TARDIS's and everything. Also obscenely powerful, really evil and racist, takes a lot of effort from the Doctor to defeat him. They bring him back with an amazing new actor...

The Doctor tells him to get off the planet, soldiers agree, he leaves. Wow. WOW. That is laziness on a whole new level. Those opening scenes in general rely completely on Doctor Swagger, which can work if properly built up to solve a problem, but here it just comes off as lazy and masturbatory. It doesn't require anything clever from the Doctor, it's really just there to get through that bit of the story to get him in a position to bring Clara back from the dead. It feels like Moffat was ready to skip all that, but then the writers pulled him aside and reminded him that Rassilon might still be in charge, so he wrote this in as padding.

In general, nearly everything Time Lord in here is just boring, and it's clear it wasn't what Moffat was interested in. Nope, he was too busy writing "teh greatest love-story of all time!1!". Clara died and now the Doctor is willing to rip apart space and time to bring her back.

The episode gets that this is a huge violation of the Doctor's code, that he's acting super out-of-character, but I don't think lampshading that fact makes it better. What, he's doing it because he "loves" her? Uh, I'm pretty sure 10 loved Rose (probably), and he didn't go after her because dimensions and stuff. If the Doctor is willing to go that far for someone he loves, why didn't he wrip dimensions for her?

The reason is that, for all his faults, Russel T. Davies understood a vital aspect of the Doctor: for all his compassion, all his love, he is always ready and willing to leave others behind or move past their deaths. He'll be sad for a while, but the Doctor has seen many companions and loved ones die, and walked away from many companions, including his own granddaughter. For some reason, the Doctor never stays that attached to others.

I'll probably get into the character of Ashildr another time, but last thing for today is the Hybrid. Oh dear sweet Backscratcher of Rassilon, the Hybrid. You see, every series of Doctor Who has an arc building thing to tie the series together. Russel T. Davies preferred words (Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Harold Saxon, stars going out), while up until this point most of Moffat's had been visual. (Cracks in time, Doctor got shot, Missy)

So all throughout Series 9 people talk about the legend of the Hybrid, a combination of Dalek and Time Lord that will destroy everything or something I don't really care. It was fairly broad, vague, and lazy, but that was nothing for how it was resolved. What is the Hybrid?

It could be Ashildr, or The Doctor (Half human on his mother's side? Really? Get out of here, Moffat, you're drunk.) or The Doctor and Clara together or something I don't know. Wow. I mean...wow. I guess some people think it's clever, like wow it's a mystery it could be anything. I'm sorry, Moffat already tried that BS of Rassilon with the Doctor's name, that ain't workin' twice.

I understand that some people like this episode, in fact a lot of people do. The illogical nature of a lot of it was okay for them, because the music, performances, and momentum kept them going. I get that, I really do. For all it's flaws, I really love the finale to Series 5, because I feel it works in larger terms of the Doctor's character and Amy's arc. So I completely understand liking this episode, but that doesn't mean I agree. Honestly, in terms of just a viewing experience, this might be my least favorite episode of New Doctor Who. Still, I'm enjoying Series 10 so far, and with a new showrunner and Doctor on the way, I see no reason to give up on my favorite live-action TV show.

#doctorwho #tvseries #fandomfriday