User Reviews

This episode is widely regarded as one of the most disappointing episodes in the entire series. After the build up from the episode Heaven Sent, it makes it seem like there will be a big finale or massive battle in this episode as the Doctor's fury is unleashed unto Gallifrey.

However, this episode does something different that no one expected - it undercut it all. Instead, it presented a counter-narrative that is a simplistic tale of the Doctor, at his best, using his abilities to save a life, rather than end one. It's the Doctor at his most mature and self-aware. That's what the two hearts are for - forgiveness.

It explores the Doctor and Clara together. The Hybrid isn't some massive evil monster or Dalek. It's the human-Timelord relationship that the Doctor and Clara have. As they push each other further and further, innocents began getting hurt and that is why it is remarkable. The Hybrid was the Human-Doctor relationship that we've known for over 50 years now! It's an incredibly well-written twist that very few people saw coming.

We also see the Timelords as they really are. Scheming bureaucrats who have short term aims and narrow visions. The Sisterhood of Karn, watching the Doctor but refusing to do anything about him. Rassilon, an ancient relic of the past who has failed to revive Gallifrey who stands as a monument to everything wrong with the Timelords - a self obsessed despot.

All performances are incredible in this episode. The Doctor (played by Peter Capaldi) and Clara (played by Jenna Louise-Coleman) are especially good when deciding to wipe one of their memories. Together, they decide to destroy the hybrid but with tragic consequences. Clara ignores the Doctor's stupid 'I know what's best for you' and reverses the polarity of the neural block (A nice classic Who reference).

They part as equals in a gut-wrenching goodbye, as the Doctor wipes his own memory of Clara. (A fascinating twist on Donna's fate in Journey's End and Bill's argument in Pilot).

People are upset that Clara came back to life. However Steven Moffat has always written like this and Doctor Who has done it many times before. Moffat's philosophy is that Doctor Who is a show where good people should win, since there's already so much darkness in our world.

The episode ends as the Doctor finishes his story to Clara and steps into his Tardis, a man in a box with a future ahead of him.

Of all the ways I expected Doctor Who's ninth series finale to open, that certainly wasn't it. After that unspeakably dramatic ending to last week's Heaven Sent, rather than immediately resume with the Doctor marching towards the Gallifrey Citadel we begin in a small American diner, where the Doctor stumbles in and finds a waitress who looks identical to Clara. We don't know it yet, but Moffat's trademark games begin now. And so does the emotion. The Doctor sits down, sparking up a conversation with the waitress, and strums a tune on his guitar: Clara's theme. "Is it a sad song?", the waitress asks. The Doctor replies "Nothing's sad until it's over, then everything is." "What's it called?" "I think it's called Clara." "Tell me about her...". And so he does, and only then do we cut back to Gallifrey and resume where last week's monumental cliffhanger left off. We're yet to even see the title sequence, and Hell Bent is ready to drop some major emotion. We can only assume the Doctor has found his long lost companion, but she has no idea who he is.

From that moment it became immediately clear: This episode was never going to be about Gallifrey or the Timelords or the Doctor seeking vengeance. This is an episode about the Doctor and Clara, and the lengths that he would go to when he just might be able to save her. That said, the Gallifrey stuff all works terrifically well. After the title sequence, a silent Peter Capaldi wanders around the barn we flashed back to in Listen, before having one lonely meal at a table surrounded by onlooking villagers as the Timelord army approaches. President Rassilion (played this time by Donald Sumpter) orders the Doctor's execution, but the army sides with the Doctor, and instead he banishes Rassilion before heading to the Citadel to discuss this ominous Hybrid that we've been teased about all season. But, again, Hell Bent sidesteps giving us a real answer. We know that the Hybrid was never a Dalek-Timelord combination as many speculated, but Moffat simply offers us a few theories, and leaves the rest alone. Sometimes solid answers don't work, especially in a show like Doctor Who where not everything absolutely needs to be wrapped up in a neat little package. We hear the Doctor's beliefs, and we hear Ashildr's beliefs, but which is true?

Many, I presume, will be disappointed about Gallifrey's minimalist role in this finale, but I'm fine with it. After being trapped in that confession dial for four and a half billion years just because he thought he could save Clara, I think the Doctor is perfectly justified to avoid the big Timelord confrontation today and focus instead on saving his best friend. There's still quite a bit more I could say about the incorporation of Gallifrey, but I'd much rather talk about what, in my eyes, made this the best series finale to Doctor Who's best series: all of that emotion. Look at the Doctor's sorrow as he first plays Clara's tune on his guitar. Watch Clara's face as she discovers the Doctor was trapped in the confession dial for over four billion years. After we discover that the waitress is the real Clara, note how her whole face drops when the Doctor tells her, unbeknownst, that he would know Clara the minute he saw her, yet has no idea she is standing directly before him. Smile amid tears as the Doctor warns Clara not to eat pears because they're too soft as he gives her all of his final pieces of advice while he says his final goodbyes to her before his memory is wiped and he forgets everything. Steven Moffat has been hit and miss with how he handles emotion, but he hit the nail on the head here. This was all sad, beautiful and poetic writing that acts as a perfect encapsulation of everything this series has offered us.

I will miss Clara, I really will, and whoever acts as our new companion next year will have enormous shoes to fill by following Jenna Coleman, who has proved across her tenure that the companion character shouldn't be sidelined and treated simply as a question- asker. Coleman has delivered excellent performances in every way possible; she's been funny, she's excelled in fear, she's packed in the drama and ripped our hearts out with her emotional scenes. It's genuinely tough to imagine anyone alongside Peter Capaldi in that TARDIS besides her. And speaking of Capaldi, there's not much left to say that I haven't already said across the previous eleven reviews. This man is an utter revelation; he will be remembered as the Doctor from the 21st Century no matter how long this show lives for. I've always been a big fan of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who writing. He doesn't always get it right, I know, but when he does he can make something genuinely remarkable, and I believe that is exactly what he's done not only with Hell Bent, but with series 9 as a whole. I adored this show last year, but in 2015 it reached levels I never thought it capable of. Steven Moffat, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman have, together, elevated Doctor Who from a bloody good sci-fi series into something beautiful this year. We may never have another series quite like this one, and these three will always be my wonder trio for Doctor Who, but no matter where the show takes us next year, I already cannot wait to work my way back through series nine all over again. I've always enjoyed this show a great deal, but I feel this is the first time I can think of it as something truly, truly special. What a year it's been.

Well looking at the message boards some like it some don't - others are stuck in the Twilight zone.

As for me? Well it wasn't what I was expecting from last week's lead in but I still really liked it. Having watched the first ever episode back in 1963 it's nice to see that my longtime 'companion' is still around.

Clara looked radiant (yes genuinely pretty) and I don't begrudge her being given a second chance for some fun. Clara and her new companion should take the diner back to the 60's and serve Elvis (they'd better have plenty of meat and cheese though).

Am I cross with Mr Moffat for a slightly anticlimactic conclusion? Given time I'll forgive him.

I rate this as excellent and worthy of a 10/10.

Excellent because the multitude of threads are held together - and there are a multitude - at this stage of the Universe that is Dr Who, there are so many threads that it is impossible to trip over massive issues and obstacles - yet this episode manages to dance it's way through a very complex back-story fairly well. The threads that are feints, or distractions, are relatively consistent from the start of the season to now - that the confusion or holes are beautifully rendered and where imperfectly visible, they only slightly mar the experience of watching Capaldi perform a Prime version of a completely classic Dr Who (with some darn fine rock chords).

The few cries I had of disappointment were echoed by my household fellow whovians cheering - so my view of these discontinuities clearly were not entirely right. But - meh, it's a small thing.

Snippets are:

Ashilder/Me clearly was sitting in the ashes of Gallefrey still immortal and still circling around the legacy given by the Doctor. Surely that is an example of the Prophecy being correct? What else would an immortal do at 5 minutes to the end of the universe.

The prophecy of the Hybrid is only heard from other's saying it (Davros etc.,), so the direct statement is never heard, only other's statements of it. I sense an opportunity to send in a lawyer to prise apart exactly who said what when. Also, the gestation of the hybrid is never explained, just that the rumors and the speculation remains sound, and the validity of this rumor is based on the time lords own crypt thinkers all concurring with this. It's an unfinished issue.

Missy in setting up Clara/The Doctor as a union through time and space is cute, but it does not cut it for me. The ego of the Master/Missy is far too self centered to be only an observer of the chaos created by the hybrid of the Doctor (a warrior race leader of time-lords) and Clara Oswald (a warrior race leader of ... um ... yes, just what please?) Unfinished, but not unsatisfyingly so.

The Doctor fires a gun to save Clara - breaking one of the longest lasting rules in Dr Who - and the reason for this, that Clara is between heartbeats - that's not enough for me. The Doctor never fires a firearm. Never harms another and never panics. He panicked here, now and it does not feel right. Why is Clara so bloody important other than the fact that the Doctor considers it so.

This is presumably the first time that Me/Ashilder has been able to travel through time - and if Me/Ashilder has been walking through 4.6 billion years of the universe to get to Gallifrey then the remaining billions of years of the universe to get to the final moments, then surely there would be more glee at doing this unforgivable thing, or less glee at having done the standard thing. The plot that is Me/Ashilder is much MUCH less clear now, and stands as a massive Chekhov gun. It feels like a spin off series is now able to be played, two spunky girl sidekicks spinning through the universe in a chameleon circuit stuck 50's diner ... and that prospect excites me and shudders me. But, Ashilder has her hair down and what does that mean for the oldest living entity in the universe?

Take home issue - the Master/Missy deserved to be part of this story, and it was a shame that our most loved/hated Gallifreyan was not there.

This, the conclusion to a three part story arc and the current season, follows two separate time lines. In one The Doctor goes into an American diner in the desert and finds Clara serving; they act as though they don't know each other and The Doctor starts telling her a story about a girl named Clara. The other time line takes us up to his arrival at the diner. The Doctor isn't welcomed by the leader of Gallifrey but manages to persuade others that there is a way for them to learn about the dreaded hybrid; to do that they must snatch Clara from the moment before she dies. She is told that for her time is frozen just before her last heartbeat and she will have to return and die… The Doctor has other ideas. He has an escape route planned and if it works he will wipe all of her memories of her before returning her to Earth.

I found this to be one of the best episodes of Doctor Who as is constantly confounded my expectations. The best twist being the whole diner plot line which appears to be the Doctor visiting Clara after she has had her memory wiped when in fact it is the other way round. This was of course a bit of a cop out as it meant Clara's death wasn't very permanent but it was done in such a satisfying way I didn't mind one bit. Before we get to that revelation there were a series of really good scenes; the Cloisters were particularly creeps and it was great to see several old foes, including a Dalek, a Cyberman and a few Stone Angels, in there. There is also some fun to be had when the Doctor and Clara escape in a stolen Tardis; inside it isn't like The Doctor's current Tardis; instead it is the 'classic' design of the old series. There is also another appearance from Me/Ashildr who the Doctor and Clara find at the end of time… I was pleased that in the end she turned out to be one of the good guys! The acting was really good; Capaldi was on top form as The Doctor and it was great to see Jenna Coleman back as Clara for what I assume will be the final time although the way she left does leave open the possibility of a guest appearance at some point. Maisie Williams was also really good as Me/Ashildr. Her 'Game of Thrones' co-star Donald Sumpter also puts in a good performance as The President although he wasn't in for as long as I'd have liked and their characters don't meet. Overall a really good season finale with a fine story, some decent scares, unexpected twists and a bitter-sweet ending.

The biggest episode in Doctor Who history since Smiths regeneration, I will be hell bent on making sure this episode is always a huge 9.

The Doctor is on Gallifrey and making a final confrontation on behalf of the death of his faithful companion, and is willing to stop at nothing to save her. This is surly a side to the twelfth Doctor we have not seen yet.

The series has been on a huge high, with the Capaldi as the Doctor, the mysterious Hybrid, great stories, and now the finale. The story starts with a brilliant performance from Capaldi as he remains silent for the first five minutes, but after turning an army around by just standing, he becomes the Liam Neeson of sci fi as stops at nothing to save his friend.

I found that as usual the finale of a Doctor Who series makes the viewer feel like watching the end of a show entirely, but there is so much more left to see. Filled with emotion, and adventure and sure suspense Hell Bent enters a whole other universe where the Doctor is in control, and he chooses what will happen.

Unfortunately, it's the last quarter that sadly lets it down for me. I'm not devastated that Clara's is going, but I still think they should have just killed her off then making an excuse for a whole spin off show. I mean I know they said Clara is going to face the raven at some point but, why the long way round. It also felt like they were putting the Doctor to the side slightly, and that he just needs to carry on, and don't mind them, of course he has forgotten her.

Although the lasts minute is very exciting as we see a new sonic screwdriver born, and the Doctor basically getting his grove back. Hell Bent is 9, with a few rough edges, but I am now buzzing for Christmas special.

Here is the thing, last week's Heaven Sent was a masterpiece (easily the best episode of Nu-Who); however, it shouldn't mar your perception of this week's episode. I went into the episode with a slate wiped clean. Though I did retain extremely high, especially for Doctor Who, expectations, I wasn't expecting the Magnum Opus that was Heaven Sent. I do agree with a few other reviewers that death (in this case Clara's) within the world of Who has been cheapened a great deal; I did ,however, think that Clara's semi-return was written in a clever enough way as to allow me to still enjoy it (if it happens AGAIN though, I will be on Moffat's back faster than you can say the Face of Boe (like every RTD fan boy)).

To get to the point more, the end made me giddy. It did what only Series 5 and 6 managed to do, in my opinion, make me dying to see the next series. It gave Clara a respectful send off, and the doctor a new start (and a new sonic!).

The episode reminded me of the Time of the Doctor.... if that episode had been written almost perfectly.

Yes, I said ALMOST perfectly. There are issues, mainly ones of pacing, though they are easily forgiven once the credits roll. This is not the best episode of Doctor Who (I would give that to Heaven Sent), but it is my favorite episode: one that marks the end of the greatest run in the show's history.

To series 10! Fantastic! Allons-y! Geronimo!

For the first time in a while, Moffat has spun out a second part that isn't a total disappointment. The episode was an incredible conclusion to the running emotional themes, but I wish they had wrapped up the technicalities of the hybrid storyline more coherently. Is it still going to destroy Gallifrey? Is time still unravelling? The episode was also quite low on action. Now, back to the good.

Throughout the episode there is a dreamlike experience of the Doctor chatting with Clara in a diner that seemed like something out of Breaking Bad. This actually ends up leading to a twist. When they first start unveiling it, I was NOT okay with it. Then, it seemed to just be a rip-off of a previous companion's departure, which I was doubly not okay with. But in the end, they used it in an unexpected way which challenges the Doctor for giving in to temptation in the last two episodes.

Ultimately, this episode is the beautiful end to some character arcs, even if it's action light and slightly confusing as an end to the story.

This episode picks up where the last one ended. The doctor is now on his home planet Gallifrey. There he is asked an important question, where only he knows the answer to: Who is the hybrid? This question makes him 'save' Clara and go to the end of time to really know the answer for sure and also make Clara live.

The episode was shot nicely some good cgi effects were edited in to make Gallifrey look more realistic. With "Doctor Who" you know that the effects aren't going to be that great, nut Gallifrey looked okay. The writing of this episode was very good, thanks to you Steven Moffat. But the previous episode was way better. It had some good character development; and made you care more about the Doctor. But I only have one question: how come the Doctor can tell the whole story to Clara when he has forgotten who she is? The part where The Doctor forgets about Clara is hart wrenching. It was sadder than the death of Clara. The set design of this episode was very good. I loved that they brought back the old TARDIS design. Also the Matrix, as they call it, had a scary feeling to it. A nice touch was the Wheeping Angles and the Cyberman.

The acting was top notch, at least from Capaldi. He is so good as the Doctor, i think he is even my second favorite Doctor. In the previous episode he was already very good, but now he just kept the trend. The rest of the cast was very good too, but just not so good as Capaldi. In the emotional scenes it looked like he was really emotional. in the end of the episode when he finishes his story and Clara walks away was handled well. And when he started to play Clara's theme on his guitar, it just made it sadder. But this was handled very beautifully. Maisy Williams came back as Me for this episode. The doctor finds her at the end of time, where he talks with her about who could be the hybrid. She was good too, you could really see the regret in her eyes.

Overall this was a good episode to end the season with, there was a good goodbye to Clara, and some good acting. The new screwdriver looks nice, as what I have seen from it. The previous part was obviously a lot better, but this one was still good, by the way did you notice the little easter egg, if it is one, when they say that The Doctor has to drop his weapons, and the camera zooms in on The Doctor dropping the spoon. This is, I think, to an episode in the previous season called "Robot of Sherwood". in this episode The Doctor takes on Robin Hood with a spoon and wins.

I have mixed feelings about this episode. Not everyone loved Clara obviously, but I was really sad to see her go. She really grew more on me than any of the other characters. Especially Rose and Amy pond, Gods those were useless. That the doctor was going to try to bring her back was obvious, which, sadly, made this plot a bit predictable. I sort of feel betrayed for the doctor not standing in Gallifrey's ashes, wiping away the caste system and bringing justice to his home planet. He didn't do anything but run away and escape the consequences AGAIN. I also feel a lot was left unexplained again and I'm afraid we aren't getting any answers.. ever... so her we go fanfiction. A finale is supposed to tie things up, after last week's fantastic episode - this one feels mediocre. Will the doctor always be a scared little boy - running away in his Tardis? It starts to get really annoying... I thought this doctor would finally face the consequences. "RUN, you 'clever' boy"... He seemed a broken man ready to do anything to avenge his loved one. Even if you wipe away Clara... won't those billions of years of torture do something to you? Isn't there still anger burning in his heart? he punching through bloody diamond to get some time with her?!? - oh and I honestly thought blink was rubbish, how about the empty child huh>\?

This episode was a mess and it shocks me that the media are not looking critically at it and seem to be wearing rose tinted glasses when viewing this story which is bad form since it sends a bad message to the producers that "This is fine, keep doing this." I don't go into doctor who wanting to dislike something or to be negative and there was much I liked about series 9, even the first part to this episode Heaven sent which was an amazing piece of television. Through this episode has sort of ruined it along with face the ravens brutal ending.

We've had this build up for the doctor getting back to Gallifrey for many years now and it gets completely thrown to the side while the episode turns into the Clara show yet again because Moffat just refuses to let her go as character.

There's also no consequences in the series anymore, death is meaningless and anyone can just be brought back to life when the doctor feels like it. Remember when the "Everybody lives" moment in the doctor dances felt so special? Now it's just everybody lives all the time, there is no death, no sadness, loss or consequences which removes any tension or stakes.

Not even getting into the part where the doctor shoots a guy in cold blood, who by the way was helping him and took his side which was out of character and just nasty.

Clara got a great send off in face the raven, there was no need to bring her back two episodes later which has also made that episode worse by comparison now.

I was hoping going into this that we would get something like the deadly assassin. Seeing interesting Gallifreyan political plots, exploring post time war Gallifrey, seeing some old characters making a come back.

Instead we get a Moffat hammering the show into the ground with an ocean of forced fan service and whimsy and I hope that once all the first viewing hype dies down that the media will look more critically at this episode because show runner does need criticism, he does need to be called out when writing stuff like this or else it sets a bad example and down the line we will get more slop like this...and if we don't question it then it's no more than what we as viewers deserve.

I like the idea of Peter Capaldi's Doctor so much that, when sitting to watch this season, I almost forgot that the previous season was all over the place, and the Christmas special was only really solid. Coming into the ninth season the show is pretty odd to watch because it continues to be all over the place, to the point now where I'm not even sure who it is trying to please any more. The history in the plots not only make me glad I am currently watching the early episodes (I had just watched the one where the sisterhood show up for the first time), but also seems to suggest it is being aimed at viewers of the classic show. However at the same time the show seems happen to change around accepted things about that same history with disregard for those Whovians furiously plotting everything on timelines and insulting other people's mothers on message boards. In other ways it seems to be aimed at family audiences, but yet some episodes were still on after the watershed and had darker and harder to understand plots.

It is very much a mixed bag, and the actual episodes play out the same way. As standalone episodes some are very strong and, happily, none are a total mess. However many of them are two-parters and not all of these connections work, and watching them back to back as I did, this is more obvious. I did enjoy the darker tone of many of the episodes; although I understand the point that it alienates younger viewers, I did think the traditional 'monsters in an enclosed setting' structure delivered both several times this season. The problem for me was that it didn't really follow through on its ideas most of the time; so yes it was brave for Clara to be killed – but we all know this show never really kills anyone, plus it spend the next few episodes backing out of that and giving her semi-immortality instead. This runs the same through a lot of other episodes, with darker ideas generally betrayed by the show trying to balance a lot of different things at once.

In the middle of all this are a couple of actors doing their best – although this means different things for them. For Capaldi it means he is a great intense presence in his performance, and I continue to like him in the role even if at times the show seems to be overdoing his less comic Doctor, or ignoring it and trying to push him to be Matt Smith. He brings a lot to the character and at times it is a shame not to see him better served. Coleman on the other hand continues to be a cute-as-a-button companion with a great wardrobe, but she is a companion for a different Doctor and I was not too sad to see her go. The support casts are variable – on one hand I quite liked Williams in her reoccurring role (even if her material was below that which she is used to) but then we also had lots of stiff or poor supporting turns, whether it be the forest-levels of wood found on Gallifrey, or Elaine Tan lumbered with a terrible (and pointless) accent in the otherwise strong Sleep No More. Technically the season looks great this season; lots of money spent, strong design, and some very well realized monsters/creatures.

The sight of Riversong in the Christmas trailer at the end of the season dampened my enthusiasm for the show yet again, however this is not to say the ninth season was bad – because it wasn't. It had a lot in the writing I liked, lots of good ideas, lots of darker moments, and some very well designed creatures. The problem is that it is so uneven in what it does, whether it is tonally or just keeping the logic consistent. I think I enjoyed the season as much as I didn't – which to be fair is still a more positive picture than some of the previous seasons. The Christmas special looks like something just to get through, but I do hope season 10 can maintain the strengths this season had, work out the many kinks, and not feel it has to turn everything up to 11 in the way it too often does.

Hell Bent was never going to match the heights set by Heaven Sent, but nonetheless it represents one of the better finales in recent memory. The thing with Moffat finales is that they tend to be incredibly confused and Hell Bent in general maintains that promise, but it has a very strong core that it can come back to throughout.

At its best Hell Bent is really one of the most personal episodes of Doctor Who ever. The core I'm referring to is that of the Doctor and Clara's relationship and it made for some hugely poignant moments between the two of them.

I think it was no shock that Clara played a big part in this episode, the nature of Jenna Louise Coleman's contract will have allowed for this and the season has been building to this for the last few episodes. In this sense Hell Bent has one over many recent Who finales in the way it really feels like the culmination of hours of storytelling.

I also, for the second week running, must praise Moffat for the cleverness of the script. At various points in the episode I was really worried that either they would keep Clara alive and do a whole Donna memory wipe bit, or that the Doctor's memory would be wiped but that Clara would continue to live anyway. Throughout the episode I was kind of just hoping that she would talk the Doctor out of it and that the scenes at the diner were just like his scenes in the Tardis last week, but Moffat once again came up with something far better.

Not only do I like the subversiveness of the Doctor losing his memory, but they did in a way that allowed for Clara to die and in a way that tightened everything up. It explained why waitress Clara didn't just call the cops on the crazy, old, senile, Glaswegian talking about aliens and why she was a waitress in Nevada in the first place.

In saying that the twist put a nice bow on things the main issue with Hell Bent is the level of redundancy in it. Because at its center Hell Bent is really such a personal episode, whenever it is anything but this the episode suffers. the first ten minutes in Gallifrey feel really unnecessary and ditto for all the stuff about the hybrid.

I understand that the Hybrid helps the plot along, as does Gallifrey, as does Maisie Williams but all of these things feel pointless in and of themselves and I sort of felt like Moffat and co could have found a more economic way of getting from point A to point B whenever they had to use anyone of these things.

Nonetheless Hell Bent was a really excellent closer to a really excellent season (in the most part.) Season 9 has been more ambitious than any that have come before it and it has provided a couple classic hours of modern Who. Not everything worked but more than enough did and as someone who can be very critical of Who and of Moffat, I think the show has hit a bit of a hot streak since the arrival of Capaldi and even if the next assistant isn't very good, the show has had two of its best seasons back to back in this period.

As with the rest of this series, this finale is more character focused. The core focus of this episode is the contrasting philosophies of the Doctor and Clara against Me's (similarly to the contrasting philosophies of Davros and the Doctor seen in episode 1/2). This episode not only understands the Doctor's psyche but completely dismantles it showing exactly how he could break every rule he ever lived by. This is not a world ending threat like most finales, this is a story of how immortality can drive someone to deconstruct his own morality. Of course Rachel Talalay's direction is gorgeous as always and Moffat writes brilliantly. I just wish Clara had died. Other than that this episode is thoughtful, unique and rich with meaning. Possibly my second favourite finale ever?

My only major problem with the episode is that both Me and Clara just out of the blue had full knowledge on flying a TARDIS. How did they acquire this knowledge? It took The Doctor many years at the academy to learn, and he never really got it right. The girls however just flew the thing like they have been doing it forever. I do not understand. Moffat needs to go. Please. I have read some reviews that say the entire episode is just one with Capaldi talking the entire time. This reasoning makes little sense to me. The show is called DOCTOR WHO. It can't be a Michael Bay film the entire time, with explosions, bad acting, and bad writing. It's a show with substance and is very entertaining to viewers, and to long time fans. Yes, the writing was a bit weak but I believe it's because Moffat is a little tired. He should move on.

*SPOILERS AHEAD!* *SPOILERS AHEAD!* *SPOILERS AHEAD!*

***************** *overall* This episode was just perfection everything I could ever want in a doctor who episode and made for an epic final episode to series 8 has been the best series in years! and if not the best series since 2005 I think it's Steven Moffet's (writer of doctor who) best work!

*for the fans of Clara oswin Oswald (Jenna Coleman)* what an ending! this would of been a very emotional goodbye for fans and clara is my favorite companion so was very emotional through out the whole episode and found it very heartbreaking when they showed her death and the doctor playing Clara's theme on the guitar was very moving when clara first appeared I was very confused but Steven straightened that all out I was quite shocked when they brought clara back defiantly tears of joy it was quite shocking and emotional to see how the doctor was... I have never seen the doctor so crushed and would do almost anything to save her which I found hard to watch I do think that maybe the doctor perhaps might of killed someone if it meant saving her the ending was a mix of emotions

*ashildr* I was not really impressed with her return I was questioning why she was in the episode at all... I mean I loved her in the girl who died and Maisie is a wonderful actress but I kinda wish they had left it at the girl who died

*timelord* it was amazing to see the doctor back in gallifrey back home I can take a good guess that the people who were not fans of clara probably didn't like the episode as I think the episode was really about clara and less about gallifrey it was fantastic to see the doctor's home I kinda wish they had shown more of it and explored it more but overall it was really good

*Tardis* so 2 tardis's in time and space so Clara has now got a tardis along side ashildr "me" I loved the console room very 1963! if you get my meaning it was lovely to see I am sure peter capaldi got a kick out of it flying that tardis! when the doctor finally returned to his tardis and flew away the artwork rigsy did came away which was a shame it was beautiful and it's very much possible for Clara to return for the fans of Clara that's fantastic! (really hoping she does miss her so much!) and she is not dead not quite yet so it's possible Clara could still die in a future episode if Jenna Coleman decides to return

I honestly want to like this episode so badly. I'm the guy who 10/10s every episode and even likes Love & Monsters. And to be fair I do like this episode because it's enjoyable Who and I think this series really was a high point for the show. Also with the incredible set-up from Heaven Sent this episode couldn't possibly be a dire one. Trouble is there's just something nagging me that I can't shake, even 3 years on, which is why I always revisit Heaven Sent over this.

Firstly, some good points. Peter Capaldi, once again, is nothing short of incredible as Twelve, portraying the Doctor's grief, anger, determination, fear, sorrow (and so on) with absolute perfection. This man will always be one of my favourite Doctors and there are few actors I am genuinely stunned by and respect more. I also liked returning to Gallifrey here, in that it was enjoyable to see the Doctor on his home planet for a while in New Who and it was very respectful to the Gallifrey we know and love. Every detail looked beautiful, the lore was spot on, Rassilon was fantastic (if a little brief) and it was nice to explore a bit. I'd also like to praise the Sisterhood, the old TARDIS, the beautiful scenes in the diner and the inclusion of Ashildr (portrayed wonderfully yet again by Maisie Williams), all of which I thought were very thoughtful and fun additions to the story which made it feel very grand and, in some ways, reflective.

So, what went wrong then? On the face of it I do like this episodes, but it p***es me off beyond belief when it comes to the plot. And please understand that I am very lenient towards Moffat and have always respected the ingenuinity of his arcs even if I felt they didn't quite work. I even managed to follow the arc of Eleven's era perfectly, even if no-one else I know personally, even to this day, understood half of it! But this hybrid arc really intrigued me for the whole series and I was so looking forward to seeing where it went, especially given that it was allegedly the reason the Doctor left Gallifrey - Moffat was clearly feeling brave here if he was going to change Who history so drastically, and when this was revealed I really respected that decision despite my apprehension.

But it just doesn't pay off, at all. Which means that such a huge revelation about the Doctor, such a pivotal aspect of his life and of the show, is reduced to literally nothing. The Doctor left Gallifrey because he was scared of being involved in creating a hybrid being so powerful that it would stand in the ruins of Gallifrey and would tear time and space apart - okay, cool, I get that. But this hybrid is clearly the Doctor and Clara, and it comes about purely by chance and because she dies one day (bearing in mind that the Doctor left Gallifrey almost 1200 years before ever meeting Clara and almost 2000 years before her death) and he decides to save her but he can't. It just feels so lacklustre and convoluted. So apparently the fact that the two of them act so recklessly together (and we never even see a single one of the ramifications of their "drastic" actions in this episode despite a few out-of-character moments for the Doctor which makes it a hard idea to get behind) is essentially the reason that the Doctor decides to leave Gallifrey all those years ago, and the two-reckless-time-travellers-doing-reckless-things-together-even-though-they-shouldn't-because-it's-dangerous-to-time-and-space-even-though-there-is-no-proof-of-that "hybrid" is apparently capable of destroying Gallifrey and scares the Time Lords enough that they trap the Doctor for 4 billion years and it's one of their greatest fears... right... yeah I'm not buying it. Moffat has even established previously that fixed points in time can be changed, which sort of takes away from the potential severity of this situation.

The first 30 minutes or so of this episode were so badass because it really was the Doctor going mad with grief and being incredibly dangerous and unpredictable, banishing Rassilon (a plot point that shouldn't have been dealt with so lightly!) and shooting a friend just to escape. But once he'd rescued Clara it just went downhill. If we'd seen him literally tear Gallifrey apart, almost devastating it to the same extent the Time War did, just in order to save Clara then I would've totally bought the "hybrid" thing. If he'd have had to completely (or even just nearly) wipe out half the life in the universe just in order to save her and then realised what he was doing just before he became a mad god and put things right, I could've bought that too. But seriously, they just legged it from Gallifrey, Clara was alive enough that she was basically saved and then they realised they'd done something potentially dangerous and concluded that if they'd stayed together they would devastate the universe - probably. Sooooo close, Moffat! Soooo close! The ideas were there, the build up was there, the actors and characters were there, the emotion was there... but then the emotion just kept coming and the action just sort of stopped, and I was already pretty emotionally invested in this whole thing after Heaven Sent so I just wanted to see the Doctor go apes**t and become some sort of angry god. Ah well, at least everyone lived happily ever after! Aapart from Donald Sumpter - poor guy's just floating about in space now probably.

A great episode bogged down by unnecessary emotion, a lacklustre climax to a pretty ballsy and lore-changing arc and a waste of an incredible preceding episode and cliffhanger. Lovely character moments though, great acting and visuals all round, lovely score and a semi-satisfying send-off for Jenna Coleman. Kudos to everyone involved for making the show's most annoying anticlimax ever still enjoyable to watch.

Seriously? Why does she get two? But we'll get to that later. That aside, the plot is actually fairly straightforward. The Doctor, outraged and grief stricken, simultaneously takes revenge on the TimeLords (specifically Rassilon) and uses them in an attempt to save Clara. The only problem is that from the future's perspective, her death has already taken place, making it a fixed point. This is honestly my only complaint, the fixed point in time issue. Because from that point of view, every ones's death should be fixed, which it obviously isn't in the show, but whatever; timey wimey nonsense.

This episode proved to be somewhat divisive among fans. The main gripe about this episode, that it completely undermines Clara's death in "Face The Raven" has some validity but does not actually ruin the episode for me. And quite honestly, doesn't truly undermine her death in the sense that it still provides the catalyst, combined with the personal Hell he goes through in the confession dial, for The Doctor's desperate actions in this episode. While many contend that Clara should not be worth this much to the Doctor, I argue that he has come quite close to this level of despair and rage when losing companions before, and that this grief combined with the confession dial 4.5 billion years of torture is probably sufficient. Further, why wouldn't Clara be enough? Even if the audience doesn't care for her as a character (which you all should by the way, cause she's awesome), there is a mountain of previously established evidence of how much affection The Doctor feels for her in season eight alone. While his actions (the desperate vengefulness, ignoring rules of time, his own rules involving not killing - - which I feel he is rather flexible on, anyway - - etc.) are definitely out of his normal character, but that's the point. He is a little out of his mind here, as the episode is examining the effect of his grief on The Doctor's character. And in that aspect, the episode does a marvelous job.

The return of Me/Ashildr at the end of the universe was an interesting surprise as well, and I found myself enjoying this more mature version of her character much more than all her other appearances. She was calm, reasonable, and tempered by her billions of years of existence by this point. And is actually the one to bring him to his senses! The absolute Me as I believe The Doctor mentions. The diner scenes were also very sweet yet heartbreaking as The Doctor recounts his story to Clara, whom he can no longer remember. While the conclusion of the episode I feel skirts the issue of "the hybrid" (supposedly the threat to all of time/space The Doctor may or may not have become) along with how the memory loss truly solves the issue (the explanations are rather weak, but serviceable on the surface, I suppose), Clara's final(?) send off is still touching, a little sad, but also uplifting in its own way (the music especially was done quite nicely), and the episode as a whole was a rousing, fun adventure to conclude the ninth season. 9.5/10

Steven Moffat is a writer capable of both incredible ideas (the whole amnesia-diner twist in this episode) and incredible cheats (if every room in "Heaven Sent" resets, then how can the Doctor punch through a spantium wall, even after 4+ billion years?). In "Hell Bent", he subverts the audience's expectations in more ways than one: this is probably the "smallest", least epic of all modern "Doctor Who" season finales. There are no grand battles between huge armies with the universe at stake, it's "just" a race to save Clara's life. This may disappoint those expecting something major to come out of the Doctor's long-awaited return to Gallifrey, but as a bittersweet sendoff for Clara Oswald, this episode does its job. And certainly a lot more happens in it than in "Heaven Sent". *** out of 4.

I confess to not completely understanding every element of the episode but the actual main plot is very good indeed. The Doctor's essentially his love for Clara means he'd spent over four billion years just so he could rescue her and even then she didn't want to be resuced, what I liked is she said she'd go back to Galifrey but she might stop off somewhere in between. Quite a nice little notion, probably will play a part in future episodes.

So it turned out that the finale was one looooong goodbye to the Impossible Girl who quite frankly was not deserving of the effort. Her character began well but became too important and overshadowed the star of the show. The clue is in the name of the programme.

So we see Clara die in the first part of the trilogy but then she is in the middle bit which has to rank as the most tedious episode of Dr Who ever and then back for the finale. To some it was the best but I would cite Genesis Of The Daleks which had smart writing in every episode of that magnum opus of classic Dr Who and of course Blink that Moffat wrote in the new era.

Of course the defence of this 3 part garbage is that we who do not worship at the temple of Stephen Moffat do not understand his brilliance. But I liked the guy when he was there in the Tennant era which had some outstanding episodes and brilliant acting. But it seems that once Russ rode of into the sunset the lunatics really did take over the asylum.

Episode 2 of this nonsensical goodbye to Clara was made up of the Doctor walking around pursued by Quasimodo with a slight limp for 4 billion years. During which time he talked a lot and punched a 20ft thick diamond whilst dying and having his skull fall of a ledge and fill a huge castle moat. It felt like 4 billion years watching this episode and I am sure many cheered when the diamond died of boredom and let him into episode 3 and Clara's grand farewell.

The whole series had a story arc about a Hybrid which would destroy the Time Lords so we ended up back on Gallifrey. Apparently The Doctor fled Gallifrey as he was terrified of The Hybrid. So terrified he never mentioned it again for 2000 years.

So the Doc took up residence in a familiar hut and single handedly defeated the Time Lord leader by talking. Then his cunning plan was revealed. 4 billion years punching a wall and getting killed by hopalong Quasimodo was all for Clara. His plan was to save her from the death she had 4 billion years ago. Genius.

So after some pointless wandering around in The Matrix he escaped with a new Tardis and rescued Clara. Fast forward to the end of the Universe and we meet Me again who has a philosophical discussion about the Hybrid in which it could have been her, him or Clara. Basically The Hybrid did not matter as nobody seemed that concerned about it in the end as it was all about Clara. Never has a companion so overwhelmed Dr Who. She was given the most important roles of The Impossible Woman and now The Hybrid (perhaps). Maybe she and The Doctor were actually The Doctors parents. Stupid as it may sound this was what Me alluded to.

Then we do the Donna thing again but this time with a difference as the Doctor forgets Clara with a mind wipe that I am sure many of the audience actually envy of him.

So we end up with heartbroken Doctor Disco in a diner which is a Tardis used by a zombie Clara who has one heartbeat left of life and the Immortal Me.

And that is basically what the whole series was about. Clara Who. Perhaps in his next regeneration he will become Jenna Colman after all he became Peter Capaldi to remind him of the excellent Pompeii episode so why not?

Lazy writing for the Smith and Capaldi eras reached its inevitable conclusion with the stupidest episodes of Dr Who ever. And in an era where trees save humanity, the Moon is an egg and the most terrifying monsters were the Skovox Blitzer, which looked like a vacuum cleaner on crack, and The Mire who could not even beat some unarmed farmers, then this took some doing.

So what have we learned? Peter Capaldi is a fine actor who if given some smart scenarios could rival David Tennant as the best new era Doctor. But sadly like matt Smith, another good actor who gave a good Patrick Troughton style Doctor a go, he has been poorly served by the writers.

This whole series has been tedious with some of the worst rubbish ever served up. Looking at the Xmas trailer the rubbish seems like it will continue.

That is sad as Dr Who was one of the smartest TV shows ever on the telly. The new era showed that it could continue as such. But then came Steve Moffat who has dug a hole so deep with his idiotic far too clever for their own good story lines and arcs that it may not be possible to ever crawl out of.

Doctor Who was smart and even when silly did silly smartly. It has always had good acting which when coupled with good writing made you forget about the silly effects.

What the future holds is hard to say. If we continue down this path I fear the worst. First we need Stephen to stop digging and start giving us Doctor Who rather than a companion. I hope it happens as I love this show even after 50 years of it.

Yeah, I mean that title! Let look at the track record, The Time of Angels was epic, and while I still like Flesh and Stone, it was definitely the weaker episode. The Pandorica Opens was a super epic start to the finale, while the Big Bang was almost nothing but timey-wimey dialogue. The Impossible Astronaut was bold and awesome, Day of the Moon lost it's focus. A Good Man goes to War was super epic, Let's Kill Hitler was crushed under too many plot threads. Dark Water was great build up, Death in Heaven did not use the brilliant build-up efficiently, and felt like a bit of a letdown.

This year's Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar, did break away from this rule, and I hoped that that was the end of it, but no, Hell Bent has the same Steven Moffat rules as most of his two parters, Part 1 was better.

Hell Bent does what so many Steven Moffat part 2 episodes do, in giving us some exposition before getting to the main meat of the action. Here, he gives us a little plot twist that he can amaze us all by solving later on. Rachel Talalay's direction is once again, brilliant, the sets of Gallifrey are wonderfully realised and I absolutely freaking loved the classic TARDIS design, it was something I kinder hoped would stick around, but, never mind.

Peter Capaldi also gives a brilliant performance, on par with his one-handed performance from Heaven Sent. Jenna Coleman's wonderfully bad-ass but also emotional performance really tells us that she knows this is her last bow. The rest of the cast also give fine performances, but I feel they are nothing overly spectacular.

As for the plot, it's not really there, and if it is, it's not easily noticeable. Much of the episode feels like Clara saying goodbye to the Doctor, and telling the Time Lords what she thinks of them.

An old Matt Smith story arc is revisited, the Doctor has gone too far, risking the universe to save Clara, even is she doesn't want him too. You can physically see the Doctor's grief getting the better of him, refusing to accept that he may not be able to save Clara, travelling to the end of the universe running from the truth.

Maisie Williams makes her fourth appearance this series, and her appearance feels a little more important that in Face the Raven, where she could've been replaced by a nameless red-shirter, and it would've had the same effect. Ashildr is the one who tells the Doctor that he can't save everyone, and being told by the one who has felt his pain of being immortal, and was an important factor in Clara's death, would hit the Doctor harder than being told by someone completely unrelated. Although, what's she been up to in the last few billion years, never mind!

We finally get a answer to what exactly 'the Hybrid' is, and while it's kinder cool, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's established that the Hybrid is the Doctor and Clara, which makes Davros' speech about the Doctor leaving Gallifrey for fear of his involvement in the making of the Hybrid, either completely pointless, or completely senseless, you decide!

Clara's exit is beautifully handled, and the idea of not knowing who's memory will be wiped is pure genius, although, wouldn't the Doctor have wiped his own memory of himself?, hmm. The surprise of the Doctor losing his memory was awesome on a first viewing, as you'd never expect that the Doctor could lose his memory so easily, and makes Moffat's little plot twist feel super awesome.

Clara's theme is used beautifully here, when the Doctor was playing Clara's theme on his guitar, I had a small flashback to seeing Clara for the very first time in Asylum of the Daleks, then again in the Snowmen, then her reappearance in the Bells of Saint John, and spending the rest of Series 7 wondering how exactly could Clara have died and been brought back to life twice, and then feeling like the resolution to this story arc was a bit of a cop-out in the Name of the Doctor.

Clara has become a very memorable companion over her three years in the TARDIS, and I'm sure she'll be remembered for a long, long time.

So, why do I consider this to be inferior to Heaven Sent, well, Hell Bent is a great episode, but I just wish there was more too it. The plot is almost non-existent, and the action on Gallifrey is cut short way too soon. The president of Gallifrey, the legendary Rassilon, appears for about 10 minutes before being rather unceremoniously kicked off the planet by the Doctor, plus, the Doctor and Clara don't really have to overcome a lot to escape from Gallifrey.

The Doctor's plan to take revenge on the ones who put him inside his confession dial, which he manages to do pretty quickly, by stepping onto Gallifrey, kicking the president and the high council of the planet, bring Clara back, stealing a TARDIS and leaving, and that sums up the episode. With 65 minutes to play around with, Moffat really didn't do a lot.

Hell Bent is great, if hollow, fun that accomplishes what it set out to do, and then stops. It gives Clara a great exit, does a great job in bringing back Gallifrey, and shows the Doctor's true anger at losing his best friend, and the lengths he will go to to save her, but the revelation of the Hybrid, and the almost non-existent story, makes this the inferior episode of this two-parter, but standing up to an episode that lets Peter Capaldi completely off the leash, was always gonna be tricky.