Reaktion Round Up: What You Thought of Heaven Sent

David Power 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.


Confession dial? More like confession die-l, am I right? I’ll be here for the next 4.5 billion years.”


See? Puns. That’s all I asked for. Look how much more alive the poll looks! Now I’m not saying those extra 268 votes on the poll were because of puns, but I’m also not denying it. Anyway, Heaven Sent was the first part of this Series’ finale (or second part, depending who you talk to) and after the intensity of Face the Ravens‘ ending, this had a lot to live up to. So, did it? Yes. I mean, uh, let’s go to the poll and find out!


Heavenly! 62.15%  (417 votes)


Brilliant stuff 24.29%  (163 votes) 


Expected more, but it was okay 7.75%  (52 votes) 


Booooooring 3.28%  (22 votes) 


Let’s draw a Veil over it 2.53%  (17 votes) 


Glad to see I’m not alone in seeing how much of a masterpiece this episode was. Before I go into too much detail as to why this episode was phenomenal, I’ll get the obvious one out of the way: Peter Capaldi. That man is a one man powerhouse. Bar a touching cameo from Jenna Coleman, Peter consistently enthralled us for 55 minutes sheerly because of his acting chops. I’m trying to remind myself every day how lucky we are to have him as the Doctor, he’ll surely go down as one of the greatest.


Moving onto the episode itself. What a simple yet remarkably effective story. The Doctor responding to his isolated captivity is fascinating to watch, both because of how he responds to it, and how he works out the puzzle box he’s been forced into without a companion to bounce ideas off. The Doctor’s mind-palace (because that’s exactly what it is), being him imagining how he’d tell this story if he survived was genius insight into the character of the Doctor in general, and specifically this incarnation. Also what a cliffhanger!


Buckets of praise also must be delivered to both Murray Gold and Rachel Talalay. Gold’s score was so very different to his usual Who affair, and yet matched the fortress beautifully, and as Face the Raven proved when he wants to, Murray can be a master of understatement (also the inclusion This Time There’s Three of Us from The Day of the Doctor soundtrack was brilliantly subtle touch). The return of Rachel Talalay was most welcome, after doing such a wonderful job with Series 8’s finale Dark Water/Death in Heaven. Being given one environment to keep interesting for 55 minutes is no easy feat, and Rachel rises to the challenge, making the many rooms of the lonely old castle feel alive, lived in, and interesting to look at. That ending montage of the Doctors seemingly eternal punishment was hands down one of the best scenes in the shows history. Here’s hoping she graces us with her presence for the Series 10 finale.


Ratings continued to be on the rise this week. The overnights rose from 4.42m to 4.51m, and the overalls also rose from 6.05m for Face the Raven to 6.19m for Heaven Sent. And while the Appreciation Index score fell from 84 to 80, Heaven Sent has a score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 9.8, by a long shot the highest average score this series. Also, on IMDb, the episode has a rating of 9.6, rating it the second highest Doctor Who episode just behind Blink at 9.8.


So, what did the K readers confess they thought of the episode?
HeavenSent1 HeavenSent3

 


 


 


 


 


HeavenSent2


Next week is the payoff of a story arc started in 2013’s anniversary epic The Day of the Doctor. Will the return of Gallifrey meet the hype it’s built up? Will they explain how Gallifrey got out of its universe without any clunky cup-a-soup analogies? Will Who fans riot in the street if Ashildr turns out to somehow be Susan? (Personally my money’s on Flavia). All this and more in next week’s Reaktion Round-up, see you all the long way around!


The post Reaktion Round Up: What You Thought of Heaven Sent appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

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Published on January 20, 2016 17:30
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