Advanced Review Round-Up: Hell Bent

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Once you leave home, you can never really go back again. That old adage goes double if you happen to have stolen a TARDIS and exited stage left because of some business involving a deadly premonition about a hybrid.

That kind of departure raises a lot of questions that time has failed to answer; and, if the early spoiler free reviews go for Hell Bent, not all of them lead to a satisfying conclusion.

Perhaps because our expectations were raised high above the clouds thanks to last week’s stunning, brilliant Heaven Sent (feel free to add your own adjective to that list), but, despite some sterling storytelling, Den of Geek found it a tad frustrating.

“Hell Bent, then, rounds off Doctor Who series 9 – well, at least until Christmas – with a coherent, nerdy, often brilliant, sometimes a little frustrating, but always watchable piece of television. This series, more than any other in his tenure for me, Steven Moffat has really clicked everything into place. Hell Bent suggests he’s got many more interesting Doctor Who stories to tell, and hopefully, Peter Capaldi will be there every step of the way to help tell them.”

However, according to the Metro, there might be a moment about midway through that could prove to be even more controversial amongst fans than last year’s finale.

“The ending is both uplifting and utterly heart-breaking, but I suspect the biggest and most controversial talking point is one that occurs mid-episode. Remember the furore last year over the appearance of the Cyber-Brigadier? That split Who fandom down the middle. This one is potentially even more divisive. You have been warned.”

In tying together all the loose threads of this series and possibly other minor events from previous series, Blogtor Who found the conclusion was a lot more open ended than the absolute nature of the questions led us to believe.

“Ultimately, Hell Bent is not as good as Heaven Sent (and I’m guessing that’s what you really want to know). But how could it be? That’s really not putting it down. It does, however, live up to its promise – The Hybrid is revealed and we witness just how powerful and how far it’s willing to go. The ongoing hyperbole about its intentions are well-founded but does the Doctor get his revenge on the Time Lords for what they did to Clara? In a way, yes, and, in a way, no. There’s an odd open-handedness about proceedings at the denouement as if it’s a new start for everyone involved. As if the slate has been wiped clean. Which is not a bad way to go about things at all.”

So from the advance reviews, it seems like the episode is both exciting, brilliant, moving and also oddly open-ended not as much of a thrill-rush as Heaven Sent.

We’ll have the answers (or not) when Hell Bent airs Saturday 5th December at 20:00 on BBC One.

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