Doctor Who - Hell Bent & Series 9 Final Review

:: Rated "S" for Spoilers - Read at your own risk ::

After the events of "Face the Raven" and watching Clara die and being trapped into the confession dial by the Time Lords in "Heaven Sent", the Doctor is back angrier than ever and will do anything to bring Clara back from the death.
Coming back to his home planet, Gallifrey, after being four and a half billion years trapped, no one expected his appearance there, as someone who knos him warms him with a "They'll kill you". The Doctor is seen in the same wood house shown previously in The Day of the Doctor and Listen (maybe this was his home?) and after a visit by the President of Gallifrey and surrender of the soldiers claiming he's the hero who won the time war, he exiles him from the planet. Back at the city, everyone tries to convice the Doctor to reveal information about the Hybrid, a creature, part time lord part dalek, who will stand after the end of Gallifrey.
He reveals there's only one person who knows this and that's Clara. Using some Time Lord's machinery called extraction chamber, they get the change to save her by frozing her in the last seconds before she dies by the raven. The moment of her death is frozen, having no pulse or breathing thanks to timey wimey stuff.

After that, he kills the general of Gallifrey and escapes with Clara revealing he was making everything up to save her. You can see the horror in Clara's eyes after seeing the Doctor killing a time lord. The end up in the Matrix, a place where they keep all the data collected, we get a small glimpse of a dalek, a cyberman and the weeping angels!
After a sentimental conversation between them and revealing how long he was kept in the confession dial, the Doctor steals (again) a Tardis and runs away with Clara to the very end of time itself trying to restore Clara's heartbeat. Nothing seems to work until someone knocks four times at the Tardis door in the end where no one should be there. The Doctor goes out and finds Lady Me. Now much older than the Doctor, she says the hybrid doesn't have to be two different parts of species but two different persons, revealing himself and Clara to be the mythical creature.

The Doctor reveals his plan to help Clara once and for all by erasing all her memories from him so she never meets him and the raven doesn't need to kill her. She's opposed to that option claiming doesn't want to forget all the adventures. The Doctor then offers a change to do it together so, at least of them forget her and she can have a new life. They push the memory eraser at the same time but only affects to the Doctor himself.
He wakes up in the middle of the dessert of Nevada (USA) and finds an american dinner in the middle of nowhere, he comes in and sees Clara working there. He tells her the story of his memories with a friend named Clara but claiming he doesn't remember how she looked or how she was.  Clara knows she can't tell but reminds him to keep going. She then disappears with the dinner revealing it was the Tardis stolen and runs away with Lady Me to find new adventures.

The Doctor is now alone and his old Tardis shows up in front of him. He comes in and the lights turn on revealing a blackboard with the phrase "Run you clever boy and be a Doctor". The the Tardis gives him a brand-new sonic screwdriver and the story goes on...

Season 9 has been a thrilling trip filled with surprises, a small let down and many emotions, this episode has been the perfect way to end it. Peter Capaldi's acting is superb as always, he may be the greatest actor ever to perform as the Doctor. It's very difficult to show so many feelings just in one look and he can do it better than anyone. Jenna Coleman's Clara is back one last time after revealing she's been saved by the Doctor once again.

While I hoped this episode to be more about Gallifrey and the Hybrid's myth, it has been quite a disappointing in the Gallifrey part. We get to see the city and how the Doctor is claimed as a hero, we also get the change to see the Matrix and some amazing cameos of the daleks, the cybermen and the weeping angels. But the episode is all about Clara one last time. The Doctor shows us he's angry the way Time Lords treated him by locking him up in the confession dial, still sad about his companion's death, he does even kill (for the first time) a guardian. It's nice to see Clara has a much happier ending but she already gave us a sad good-bye at "Face the Raven" and I think that shouldn't had to be changed.

The good thing is about the revelation of the Hybrid, while the Doctor claims Lady Me is the mythical creature (he surprisingly said it at the ending of Heaven Sent), she insists it must be him and Clara. It's a nice option to think he's the one who survives the Time Lords, it was a nice touch.
During the episode, we see the Doctor talking to Clara in an american dinner in the middle of the dessert explaining what happened to him and revealing at the very end he has forgotten how his dear friend Clara was. This entire conversation has been very inspired and beautifuly made, you cannot do anything else but feel sorry for the Doctor...

Many easter eggs, from the old house from the Day of the Doctor and Listen to the daleks and the weeping angels plus a Tardis in its original form outside and inside with the roundy things. Plus a small mention to Missy, who I really missed and expected to show up. There's also a small detail some people hasn't seen about Lady Me that may be linked to the great episode "Listen", she's the last one to stand in the universe, remember the four knocks? She does the same thing here at the Tardis door, this means she may be the one he was looking for during "Listen" in the previous series.

New sonic screwdriver!

Not only that but at the very end of the episode, when the Doctor is back at his Tardis, we get to see the brand new sonic screwdriver with a very nice blue-Tardis touch and more lights effects than ever, I really liked the previous screwdriver from the 11th Doctor but I must say this one is way better!

But not everything is good in this finale, I didn't like Clara and Lady Me run away with the working Tardis with that "Bonnie and Clyde" feeling, it's nice to see she has a happy ending and all that but, once again, Mr. Moffat shows us he's more on her side than the Doctor's. It's not fair the Doctor has a much sad ending than her while he has suffered so much because of her dying...and it's not like he has forgotten what the Time Lords did to him as he still remembers those things but the face and persona of her previous companion...

Doctor Who Series 9 ends with a bang filled with emotions and amazing easter eggs from the entire season. Peter Capaldi shines brighter than ever showing us he's the perfect Doctor, he has made us laugh, care and cry for him. Great and thrilling episodes made this the best season since the show started back in 2005!

· Quotes of the Episode: "Get off my planet"
                                         "Four knocks. It's always four knocks."
                                         "Stories are... where memories go when they are forgotten."

· What I liked most: Peter Capaldi's great acting and Jenna Coleman's final farewell - The entire plot about the Hybrid - The entire and final conversation between them.

· What I didn't like: Clara and Lady Me's escapade, doesn't fit that well after the previous events. - While the fact the Doctor forgets her is a nice touch, it's still not fair for what he's been through...

9.6

:: Doctor Who - Series 9 ::

1. The Magician's Apprentice (9.5)
2. The Witch's Familiar (9.5)
3. Under the Lake (8.7)
4. Before the Flood (9.0)
5. The Girl Who Died (8.5)
6. The Woman Who Lived (8.0)
7. The Zygon Invasion (7.5)
8. The Zygon Inversion (8.0)
9. Sleep No More (7.2)
10. Face the Raven (8.6)
11. Heaven Sent (10.0)
12. Hell Bent (9.6)

13. The Husbands of River Song (??)