We Stand Where The Doctor Falls: A Season Ten Farewell

By: Sharon Kurack

Back in April we began the highly anticipated Season Ten of Doctor Who after waiting a year and a half. Months before “The Pilot” came crashing into our televisions/devices, giving us tears of joy, we had come to find out that not only would this season be showrunner Steven Moffat’s last, but also Peter Capaldi’s last one. As fate would have it, Season Ten’s finale is also a farewell to Pearl Mackie, our relatable companion with a child-like innocence we haven’t seen since Amy Pond was a child talking to her “raggity man.” Needless to say, there is a lot of emotion surrounding this season finale, a lot of loose ends that are tied up and a lot of questions that will lead to the Christmas special, which will be the absolute last hurrah for Moffat and Capaldi. In homage of not just the Season Ten finale titled “The Doctor Falls,” but also those leaving the TARDIS afterward, let’s take a look at the journey of our four main time-traveling players starting with the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi.

With attack eyebrows (seriously, they could give Chuck Norris a run for his money), an anti-hugging stance, snarky remarks and retorts and snacks for journeys, Twelve has gone from the grumpy guy stumbling across the universe to an amazing and compassionate mentor in every aspect of the word. Capaldi’s doctor left last season angry and full of sorrow until both emotions were dull aches that evolved and healed slowly after Christmas. As a being that has lived for thousands of years, he’s seen a lot of death, especially the deaths of those dearest to him. He’s tired, but as we watched Season Ten’s events unravel, starting from Christmas, Twelve snapped out of his funk even becoming more jovial. Seemingly with a more “head out of the stars” mentality, the Doctor took up a “hobby” (or as we like to call it, a job) teaching at a local university. There’s almost an air about him of being at peace with his current situation, except we know better and expect the wanderlust to reappear (as it does in Episode 1).

What was the Doctor’s purpose this season? With a human-like life, quietly watching over Earth from behind the scenes, he seemed content—even with “permanently” grounding the TARDIS. As the season progressed, we were slowly introduced to his purpose of staying put, which is whatever is in the Gallifreyan vault. I’m quite glad the contents and purpose of the vault weren’t revealed right away, although I would venture to say that most Whovians knew that it was Missy (Michelle Gomez) inside. What we did not know; however, was why she was in there, how she got there and why the Doctor was watching over her. Nardole (Matt Lucas) hints at an oath for a few episodes, but I had assumed that it had more to do with River Song (Alex Kingston). As we find out, the oath is to watch over the fallen-from-grace Time Lord (Lady).

Perhaps, though, the Doctor’s defining moment in Season Ten for me was his “Where I stand is where I fall” speech. Throughout his time as the Doctor, Capaldi has delivered some harsh truths and wisdom in the form of beautifully orchestrated speeches and monologues. To me, this speech was not only Twelve’s defining moment all season, but also his best speech to date (in my humble opinion) with the “Talk to each other” speech from Season Season “The Zygon Inversion” as a close second. In this pivotal speech, Twelve explained to both versions of The Master (John Simm) why he continues to fight, even if the chances of his losing are high. Essentially to him, it’s the right and kind thing to do and he wouldn’t be who he was if he ran away to live. Like many, he will stand for what he believes in (kindness) and will fall fighting for it. This speech can even be connected to the repeated phrase of the season: “Without hope, without witness, without reward,” he is still kind; he is still The Doctor. And The Doctor will always fight when it’s the right thing to do. We can only hope that, despite all of the loss and exhaustion, Twelve will regenerate because the universe isn’t ready to give him up just yet. Thank you, Peter Capaldi, for bringing to life the tired, grumpy, war struck, yet snarky and jovial doctor in his twelfth form; you will be missed.

Speaking of another who will also be missed, Pearl Mackie was an amazing companion. Bill Potts was the newest and great addition to Team Time Travelers. Her innocent, child-like curiosity of The Doctor caused her to ask all of the questions that even the most veteran of Whovians wanted to inquire about. Since the first episode there has been a charisma about the plucky companion that makes it difficult to ever consider disliking her. From calling out The Doctor on his antics, to being an innocent, happy-go-lucky young woman trying to find her place, it is with Twelve that she finds a home, especially in our hearts. Beyond the amazing individual style and calm collectiveness; however, lies a complex and strong woman, whose loyalty may rival that of Amy Pond. (Ok, hear me out on this one.) The blind faith (pun intended) Bill places in the Doctor, believing that he’ll always have a plan, is astounding. Quite a few times this season alone has that loyalty been tested: first, with trading the fate of Earth to the monks for the Doctor’s sight in “The Pyramid at the End of the World” (She knew he’d get her planet back), next with being ready to sacrifice herself by taking his place, linking her mind to the monks in “The Lie of the Land” and finally waiting ten years for The Doctor to come in “World Enough and Time.” This loyalty is fierce and proven time and again up until the very end when The Doctor falls and Bill remains with him.

Since being introduced in the Season Ten opener, Bill has broken the mold of companions past. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED Clara and enjoyed Amy Pond, but there was something ultimately fresh about Bill that brought a nice, new dynamic of the Doctor/companion status. Being a mix of the modern woman with a geeky streak, we’ve found that Bill was a formidable companion. She also reflected (very well, I may add) the diversity of the Doctor Who followers and connected on some level with them, especially with being representative of the LGBT+ and POC following. What also struck me was how normal Doctor Who treated Bill’s sexuality without downplaying it. She’s gay, not shy or secretive about it, and to Twelve that’s normal (because it IS). There’s no controversy; and the dating experience is portrayed as any dating experience in your 20s—extremely difficult if you’re busy (or running around with a madman in a blue police call box). Of course, you have some tongue-in-cheek moments that are absolutely priceless (like the Pope date-crashing Bill and Penny), but everything revolving around the sheer complexity of Bill’s character was well done. Thank you, Pearl Mackie, for bringing to life such a needed character to represent and connect with all of us.

Perhaps Nardole, a character of who I was most unsure, gets the award for “most surprising development.” Part cyborg, Nardole (played by Matt Lucas) literally walked into our lives seemingly out of nowhere. His story revolved a lot around River Song, as he worked for her on Mendorax Dellora and essentially Twelve as that’s who he had bumped into while looking for a surgeon in “The Husbands of River Song.” Of course, after that (we know from the Christmas special) is history as The Doctor and River spend their final twenty-four years on Darillium. Nardole came into play as he was reassembled to keep The Doctor from being alone after River’s death, assuming the role of caretaker to Twelve. For someone not human, Nardole’s heart is one of gold as he constantly looked out for (and had the back of) both Twelve and, eventually, Bill. Keeping emotions in check, too; however, Nardole also served as The Doctor’s voice of reason and logic, always reminding him of his oath surrounding the Quantum Fold Chamber and Missy. His role became more complex as the season progressed, showing us just how badass and leadership-ready Nardole was.

Although he started out with the sole purpose of being Twelve’s social caretaker (via River’s request), Nardole ended up taking more care than we realized at first. He followed Twelve to a planet where Missy was to be executed and, at River’s request again, prevented the execution. It was not just Nardole’s presence that caused Twelve to delay the execution, but also his actions and words. This strength of strategy became more apparent (and useful) throughout their misadventures, both on and off Earth, and eventually helped save them and others from complete annihilation from the cybermen. From companion to leader, Nardole certainly has earned his stripes as he now resides on Floor 502 of a 400 mile colony ship, protecting the innocent descendants of the crew from any remaining cybermen. As far as any more Nardole sightings, we can only hope his story hasn’t ended on that ship, although he’d be quite content as a leader, I would think.

Finally, we say farewell to Missy. Or do we? I mean, let’s be honest, we’ve never really not heard from The Master. He’s too beautiful of a tragically insane mastermind to simply say goodbye. Regardless, you could argue that although you saw Missy take the fatal shot and not show regeneration energy afterward, this is The Master we’re talking about; he/she always finds a way to come back (hello, Quantum Fold Chamber). A character we love to hate and hate to love, Missy was (admittedly by Twelve) just as smart as The Doctor with matching snark and a flair for danger. The question of the legitimacy of her rehabilitation lies at the forefront of the questions since learning of being in the vault. Our golden two-hearted Doctor believed until the very end the Missy had the potential to be good and we had seen it when she made the conscious choice to stand with The Doctor. Sadly, because of the nature of…Well, it’s herself that may have cost her not only her current life, but any future generations. However, if Twelve’s speech did affect Missy, then perhaps that version of The Master had already made peace with the decision to stand (and fall) with The Doctor. How can we be so sure?

There were small, subtle hints of the change in Missy. Perhaps to anyone else they’d be too small, but for someone like Missy, hell bent on destruction, these changes had preserved life; they did not destroy it. For starters, let’s talk about how Missy listened to Nardole’s plea for help to get Twelve and Bill off Mars. If she truly had been faking everything, the Time Lord would have just stolen the TARDIS, disposed of Nardole and left Twelve to die while she wrecked havoc once again on the universe. But, she didn’t; Missy took the TARDIS and went to Mars. Or, how about when she slipped Twelve the dematerializing circuit to repair the TARDIS and ultimately escape the colony ship headed toward the black hole? Although at the time it seemed she was giving into her self-destructive nature, she was also self-sacrificing her own freedom to aid Twelve, to stand for helping her friend. If that change isn’t demonstrative of her inner transformation, I challenge you to find another example. Regardless, I do hope we may see a return of The Master or a flashback of Missy because Michelle Gomez is an absolute gem.

A few loose plot ends were tied and concluded in this tear-jerking, emotionally moving Season Ten finale. From how it appears, the Missy/Master story arc has concluded (for now), while Bill leaves the TARDIS alive and with the possibility of returning. She even has a companion to travel with, which makes my heart happy at the idea of two women who like each other traveling the stars (Stargazing, if you will). Nardole finds his place, protecting and caring for others while our Doctor…Well, that’s just it, isn’t it? That’s the loose end we need to tie up at Christmas; what will become of Twelve? Will he regenerate and, if so, into who? Will he give in to the fatigue and exhaustion of living for over two-thousand years and rest in peace? After the last season, we know that Twelve is tired and wants nothing more than to finally rest. However, wanderlust and adventure reside in his hearts as does kindness. The universe still needs a doctor and not just any doctor, The Doctor. In six months time we shall find out the choice and what the journey was to reach that choice. Until then, take The Doctor’s advice and “just be kind.”