Timelessly amazing episode. There was a big gap between me starting nuwho and me getting back around to watching 12, and this episode drove home for me how much I was missing. The whole thing is so well crafted, well written, well acted. It's the kind of story that stands so tall on its own, independent of any context of the series it's in.

I recently rewatched this episode as I wanted to see if it was as good as I remembered it. The short answer is: it wasn't. The performances were just as good as I remember, Capaldi can literally do no wrong but there was just something about the story that wasn't as good as I remembered it, I can't quite put my finger on what that was. Perhaps it was that we saw the monster a tad too early than what I would've like, perhaps it was some of the gravitas that had been lost as this was a rewatch with slightly older eyes. Whatever it was though, it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the story it just means that sadly I cannot give this any higher than a 7 because there was just something that wasn't as good as I remember about this story.

Overall, this is a solid story with a fantastic performance from Capaldi which would probably have to go down as the finest in all of his tenure

The best Doctor Who story of all time? It really could be. It’d be terrible if the show was like this every week, it would be an even worse introduction to the show, but for Moffat to give over one episode to present our little children’s programme as an art house theatre production is truly electrifying.

Capaldi is in his element. It’s just him being his absolute brilliant best. A puzzle box of a story with a satisfying conclusion and an amazing character actor at the centre of it. The tension ratchets up and up and up until a big cathartic payoff at the end. One hell of a bird!

I went in with an open mind as I always do on a rewatch.

Still don’t see why it’s a 5/5 or best thing since sliced bread. Sorry. For me it’s a 3/5 at most and I’m wavering into dropping that to a 2.5.

I can recognise the good elements but for me it is definitely less than the sum of its parts.

The direction is excellent (if not particularly groundbreaking). The imagery is striking. Capaldi is good (but there are a couple of bits he mumbles through which frustrated me a bit). The Veil is properly scary (I did actually jump when it appeared behind the garden door).

But…

It’s just not very interesting. The Doctor walks round a castle talking to himself and then punching a wall whilst a monster kills him over and over again. I know I’ve joked about that previously but, it’s true.

It might be a good piece of ‘art’ in terms of performance, direction etc, but I really don’t think it’s a very good Doctor Who story. I definitely don’t think it bears rewatching once you know the truth.

I’d put this alongside Listen. Two episodes which are designed to examine the character of the Doctor and his response to fear in particular. Maybe that’s what fans like about it, but for me it just leaves me cold and not a little bored. I just suppose that isn’t what I’m here for. I think I definitely need my Doctor interacting with other characters; I need some gags; maybe I want a more ‘obvious’ adventure.

Heaven Sent is just a bit too serious for my tastes. Oh and I really didn’t like the mind palace TARDIS scenes. They didn’t work for me at all. The other thing I would say - and I think this is true of Listen as well - is I think this is an example of an episode that has forgotten this is a family show. I don’t believe there is enough here working on the different levels that a really good Doctor Who story works on. I just don’t see what in this story would appeal much to the children in the audience and I think that’s a shame because I think it misses the point of the show.

But I think I can see why people like it and that’s great because we all come to the show for different reasons and take away different things. I didn’t hate the episode and I can pick out individual elements I liked (the main one being the Veil, I think) but, nope, not really what I'm looking for in Doctor Who.

What is there to say that hasn't been said? Capaldi puts in the best performance the show has ever had, the mystery is amazingly teased (and INCREDIBLE on rewatch when you have all the facts and see the solution from the start) and the pacing is just right. Only minor criticism is that the cliffhanger is a little cringe, doubly so when you know what it means!

We have Heaven Sent and if I’m being honest, if I were judging this on its own, not only would this be the best Twelfth Doctor story, but it’s frankly the best single episode in the entire show’s history. Do I even have to explain why this is considered one of Doctor Who’s ultimate highpoints. Moffat was once mine, and a lot of fans, favourite Doctor Who writer and I think we needed an episode like this to remind us why. It’s no debate that Moffat’s writing got steadily worse as his showrunner tenure went on and a lot of his weaknesses were starting to become more and more prominent. Heaven Sent however completely does away with Moffat’s tired tropes and manages to be a tight and focused story that’s clever, complex and a beautiful metaphor for conquering grief. What truly elevates this is Capaldi’s performance which to me is the single best performance Capaldi has delivered in his entire acting career. The man was clearly born to play the Doctor and sadly throughout most of his run he was handed a lot of shoddy material that made him appear like an older Matt Smith or an embarrassing dad going through a mid-life crisis. But Heaven Sent thankfully plays to Capaldi’s strengths and truly brings out the Twelfth Doctor we should’ve had more of in his three-year run. Capaldi may not be my favourite Doctor, but here for one hour he was undeniably the best Doctor of all time.

New Who Review #128

Heaven Sent

This story was amazing. It captured the feeling of Grief & Death itself within 50 minutes. This is one of the greatest pieces of doctor who ever and it works so well with capaldi. Having an episode centred around grief and sadness of losing your loved one is so touching and so relatable to me. I lost my dad in 2022 and it still hurts even now, I still feel the pain now the same if not worse than I did back then so I'm gonna run you over what I got from this story and why it touched me so personally.

The constant looping. When you lose someone you expect that you will be sad for a long time and while that is very true there is way more to it. You will loop every day after day after day after day the same as the last. You will do everything the same and fall into a deep dark pit of grief and it takes a long long time to get out of It. Just like it took the doctor 2 Billion years to break through his grief. Breaking the wall of grief and despair can take a while and it took me until 2024 to fully accept and break out of my grief. I like how they translate this over into an episode of doctor who and show the process of grief because like I said its very touching.

The constant talking to yourself. When I lost my dad I kept talking away to myself like he was still here. Replying with reply's that I knew he would reply with I fell into a habit of it and I still do it even now. When I'm thinking of something or when im sad I always look up and chat to myself and picture that he is standing right in front of me answering back. Of course he's not and when I open my eyes he isn't there and it hurts. Much like the doctor when he realised that whatever he did clara will never be there again. When he realised that he almost gave up which is very true with grief, it's so easy to just give in and let it take over but you must fight it and win or else you will be stuck there for way longer.

The constant loneliness. When you lose someone another key factor is you feel isolated and alone. Even though you have family and friends there to comfort you you still feel empty and lost. You will wish they were still there with you and want it more than anything. A wish so hard that it hurts when you realise can't possibly come true. Which is why I think the constant loneliness of this episode feels so real and sad. It's not just a case of the doctor being trapped in his confession dial while yes that is the story there is more to it I feel. The loneliness also works as the empty void inside the doctor. The part of him that no one except clara can fill and that won't happen anymore because she's dead.

As you can see all these parts play a very crucial part in the episode as much as they do death itself. This episode is the closest thing to experiencing a death than actually experiencing a death. To me nothing else will come close to beating the pure and raw emotion of this story and for that it has gone down in doctor who history. Heck not even doctor who history but television history itself

The beauty of heaven Sent. 9/10

Ps: I realise this is more of an analysis than a review but it's a one off and I had so much to talk about. No more of my reviews will ever be this long so enjoy this longer review.

This is exactly what it's like to grieve the loss of someone you care about while desperately trying and failing to not blame yourself: living in what is explicitly your worst nightmare, a (metaphorical) dead body following you around that will kill you when you let it get to you, escaping into your own head when things get tough and imagining a world where they're still alive, a self-imposed torture cycle that you refuse to break because maybe this time when you punch the wall it'll fix everything, only for the dead body to reach you anyway. For (what feels like) more than two billion years.

When i first watched this in 2015 i just thought it was "doctor who monologues at the audience (extreme mode)" but now that time has passed and things have happened, this episode is far more resonant and deserves all the praise it gets. Stevieboy you may have some glaring writing problems sometimes, but other times you really nail it.

Hands down the best nuwho episode ever, I don't need to explain my reasoning if you've seen it you understand.

Best episode in the whole show, there's my review, bye.

Yeah, really not a fan of this one. Like it was so boring? All he did was talk. #RIPDOCTORWHO Would be so much better if the he was being shot at by daleks the whole time.

pretty awesome episode that really reminded me of the house in fata morgana.... so therefore its peak