Doctor Who "Kill the Moon" Review: Who Is the Doctor, Really?

Doctor Who S08E07: "Kill the Moon"

For most of the episode, "Kill the Moon" was a fairly silly, generic stand-alone adventure of Doctor Who and I was prepared to say as much. There were a lot of interesting and divisive ideas buried in the episode, which focused on a story about the moon actually being an egg—the largest egg in all of the universe, apparently—and the Doctor and Clara deciding whether or not to blow it up to save Earth or let the unique creature live. But it was the last five minutes in which Clara found agency and called the Doctor out for leaving her alone to make a decision that could have potentially determined the fate of humanity that saved the episode for me. It's probably also the only part of the episode fans will remember when they look back on "Kill the Moon" years from now.

Despite the fact people on Earth voted to kill the creature, Clara made the decision at the last second not to go through with the nuclear detonation. And honestly, it didn't really matter what humanity voted to do, anyway, because it was Clara's finger on the button and it was always going to be Clara's decision. By giving humanity the appearance of a vote, Clara was attempting to hand over a responsibility she didn't want, but in the end she was the only person who could actually decide what to do. It's a role the Doctor has played time and again, and he essentially handed it over to Clara this week for reasons that I don't think even he understands (he claimed it was respect, but Clara didn't see it that way), which continued to play into Season 8's ongoing theme of the Doctor not understanding Clara, and struggling to know who he is and what his purpose is meant to be.

Some of you have suggested there was pro-life subtext here, but I don't watch Doctor Who for possible political agendas, and whether or not the creature lived was not really the point of the episode at all—it was just a means to an end. If you read more into the show's decision to let the creature live, that's your prerogative, but the episode was actually about the Doctor letting Clara down and the subsequent fracturing of their relationship. I didn't even see Clara's hostile reaction coming, but I realize now that it was something I've been waiting to see for years.

Clara felt abandoned this week, and to be abandoned by someone you trust with your life is a horrible feeling. Clara believes in the Doctor because he's the person who always swoops in at the last second with the save—he always has her back, which was the entire point of "Deep Breath"—but that wasn't the case here. He shouldn't have left her alone, but he did, and now he has to deal with the fall out. Having Clara, someone who's always had unwavering faith in him, turn on the Doctor in the episode's final moments was a great moment for her, but an even greater moment for the series. She spoke not only for herself, but for all companions over the years, and if you don't like Clara after all the writers have actually done to give her a life, a personality, and a purpose beyond the Impossible Girl, then you probably will never like her, and you probably found her speech to the Doctor off-putting. But I've come around on her quite a bit since the beginning of Season 8, and those final moments are some of my favorite the show has ever done. Jenna Coleman absolutely nailed the entire scene.

The Doctor—especially this incarnation—is patronizing, and I think it's something fans have really struggled with this season. The Doctor has always been a hero, but he came back different this time, and I personally think that this turn in the story is one of the best things the show has done in awhile. When Danny called the Doctor out last week for being an officer, a lot of fans didn't care for it. They found Danny's attitude off-putting and out of line, but I loved it. I loved that Danny stood up for himself and that Doctor Who finally introduced a character who didn't immediately fall all over themselves to defend the Doctor or his actions, who didn't just believe in him because he's the Doctor. I loved that there was finally a character who didn't go out of their way to please him or listen to him just because it's what everyone has always done. And I like that Clara has also made that leap, because she's also the person who risked her life to save all of his. She existed solely to save the Doctor for a very long time, and now she's questioning him.

The Doctor sometimes tends to think of himself as being more important than or existing separately from the humans he so often protects, and on some level he's not wrong to feel that way. After all, he's a Time Lord with the ability to regenerate, which obviously sets him apart, but he's also extremely intelligent and clever, he's lived for thousands of years, and he has knowledge and experiences that no one else on Earth has or will ever have. He's earned the right to feel and act certain ways, but it doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't call him arrogant when he's acting that way. Having saved Earth countless times doesn't give him the right to act as if he's better than everyone else, but does it mean he always has to be that person? It's a difficult call. Just as Clara pointed out this week, the Doctor walks amongst humans and he breathes the same air that we breathe, which means our moon is also his moon, our world is also his world. He should care about what happens to Earth and its people as much as Clara should and does care, and he shouldn't have left Clara to make a decision as monumental as this one on her own. This entire season Clara has acted as the Doctor's conscience, and it's interesting that she's finally reached her wit's end just when he needs her more than ever.

This version of the Doctor is different from those we've known before, and yet he's exactly the same. He's not any more dark and dangerous than the previous versions of the character—he's still the same man who made the extremely difficult decision to sacrifice his people to end the Time War (let's just ignore the fact that he eventually saved them for now, because even by doing so it doesn't erase his previous actions or make him a different person)—but Twelve is more willing to give in to those darker parts of his personality than his predecessors were, and it's probably a result of having been given more regenerations, something no one has ever experienced before. He's looking at and questioning life in a new way. Does the Doctor even want to be a hero? We've made him into this character who rushes in to save the day at the last moment and we've placed him on this pedestal, but why? He doesn't really know, but do we? The real overarching storyline this season isn't who Missy is or what her heavenly realm is supposed to be but this: Who is the Doctor? He's acting more and more like the humans he thinks are silly, tiny, and predictable, he's making mistakes and letting Clara down, and that's probably more human than anything else he's ever done. The status quo is changing right now, and I think it's setting things up for a nice final arc in Season 8.

NOTES

– "Tell me what you knew, Doctor, or I'll smack you so hard you regenerate."

– Is this the most divisive season of Doctor Who to date?

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