Hell Bent

This very much should have been a good story. We're back on Gallifrey! We're doing cool stuff with Rassilon and seeing new places on the planet! The Doctor's president now! These things should make for an unforgettable episode. Instead, Hell Bent is best left forgotten, Most of the Time Lord stuff kind of feels like background to the main focus which is on Clara, the Doctor, and Me. What little we did get of Gallifrey felt muted in its creativity and execution.

Little details like Clara's growing horror at the situation, acted really well by Jenna Coleman by the way, or Peter Capaldi playing Clara's theme at the end - there are small hints of what could have been a quality story. Instead, it is an enormous faceplant after Heaven Sent. An embarrassing one only made less embarrassing by the Chibnall era.

Boy, did Maisie William's character go nowhere. She is SO awkward in these stories and it badly affects how I view the performances in Hell Bent. If I didn't know her from Game of Thrones I really would think she was a rubbish actress, and absolutely feels miscast for the role. Otherwise, the performances of Capaldi and Coleman really go a long way to provide some weight to an otherwise bizarre and disappointing finale. I still don't really get what the point of her, or the whole Hybrid story line was here. I doubt Moffat could even tell us.