Doctor Who Series 8 Finale Update

So part one of the Doctor Who Series 8 finale was tonight, and it was pretty cool. It tied up a lot of the loose ends that have been left unraveled through the Missy ending scenes of several episodes since the start of the series, and even revealed the identity of the mysterious character. I will not be reviewing the episode here, but will be waiting for part two and reviewing them together. I will talk about a few interesting things from this episode, however, after the jump. As always, spoilers ahead.

1) Missy:

First of all, let's get Missy's identity out of the way. I think everything can be summed up by one exchange between Missy and the Doctor near the end of the episode:

Doctor: "Who are you?"

Missy: "You know who I am. I'm Missy. It's short for 'Mistress'. After all, I couldn't keep calling myself the Master."

That's right, kiddies, probably the most common theory out there was right, and the Master is returned! Personally I'm glad that this is the case. I love the Master as a villain, in all of his (and now her) incarnations. This also explains why the Mistress would call the Doctor her boyfriend. Anyone who has seen The End of Time knows how...close the Doctor and the Master sometimes seemed during the course of those events. The two had obsessed over each other so much for so long that they had each become intimately familiar with the other. Reborn as a Time Lady, it makes sense that those feelings of obsession could turn to something more akin to a romantic fascination in the Mistress' sick, insane mind.

I love the idea of exploring this angle, and I look forward to how this reveal affects the titular Time Lord going forward into part two. Missy's identity as the Master/Mistress also justifies her ridiculously insane plan (which I will discuss in detail next week), as it is insane, yet effective, and is very similar to something that the Master tried once before.

2) Jenna's Acting:

Clara experiences something awful this episode, and Jenna does an amazing job of playing through that and making you feel for the character. Her range of emotion this episode from happiness, to sorrow, to desperation, to horror, was perfectly realized. Clearly this girl has a lot more talent than some of us viewing the show initially realized, and I can't help but think that whatever program gets her next will be a lucky one.

3) The Doctor's Heart:

Throughout this series, the Doctor has seemed more cold than previously, and it has made some fans wonder if he hasn't lost some of the emotion and compassion which made him who he was. Tonight we learned for sure that this is not the case at all, he's just too Scottish to show it as often anymore. Put simply Clara betrays him, badly, in an attempt to force him to help her fix the awful situation above. She knows that the Doctor will refuse, because it is impossible to do without creating a paradox. Yet despite her betrayal, and despite the fact that helping Clara is practically impossible, the Doctor still agrees. As he put it, did she really ever think that a little thing like betraying him would keep him from helping her? After all, she's his friend. This scene was touching and moving, and visually interesting, and it was the best scene of the episode, even including the wham line mentioned above in section one.

And that's all that I'll be talking about this week. This episode was really just all setup, and I don't want to fill the review will idle speculation out of lack of content to discuss. Reviewing the entire story together just seems the better plan. So, on that note, I urge you to come back next week for the complete review!