"Doctor Who is a hugely emotional show, oddly enough – that's unusual for a science-fiction show, it's massively emotional." Steven Moffat

There was a hell of a lot riding on 'The Doctor Falls' – it's a climax not just to series 10 but also, in a way, to the Peter Capaldi era of Doctor Who as a whole, with writer Steven Moffat hinting at this episode as the finale proper, with his and Capaldi's swansong at Christmas serving as more of a final coda.

Faced with an intimidating list of boxes to tick – providing a resolution to last week's epic cliffhanger, plus delivering four major character exits and setting up a crucial fifth – Moffat wisely opts not to complicate things further.

Instead, he strip things back for a story that more or less sticks two fingers up to logic and goes straight for the heart, which is, really, what Doctor Who should always do.

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Despite the hour-long running time, the plot of 'The Doctor Falls' is deceptively simple, telling the story of a quaint village under siege from various forms of Cybermen. Early scenes have a zombie movie vibe – Night of the Living Dead meets Darling Buds of May – before events escalate to provide huge spectacle in the episode's second half.

But while the action is spectacular, it's window dressing. This episode is all about rejecting the Cybermen's ethos of cold logic and embracing humanity, with Moffat making a seriously strong case for his argument that Capaldi's Doctor, though operating under the guise of being aloof and severe, is actually the most emotional.

His "Where I stand is where I fall" speech is quite possibly the actor's finest moment on the series to date. With the Doctor, almost in tears, arguing why he always has to stand to fight, it just about pips even the famous anti-war rant from 'The Zygon Inversion'.

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Like the best of series 10, 'The Doctor Falls' feels like Moffat's retort to his critics. It's light on convoluted time-trickery and seriously heavy on sentiment. Even when the episode does dip into time paradoxes and sci-fi gubbins, it's all laced with emotion.

Take the sequence wrapping up both Missy's fate and the Master's – the terrible twosome eventually turn on each other and, in the process, we learn how the Master became Missy, and also why she has no memory of the event.

Early on, the episode nods to an established rule involving two versions of the same time-traveller experiencing the same events. That explains why Missy remembers none of this, neatly setting up her killing of the Master.

It's clever, but what's really important about this scene is how Missy wants to change but just can't resist her own nature – the mutual suicide which seals both her and The Master's fate is proof that his/her ability to be self-destructive knows no limits.

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When it comes to Bill's fate, some had feared that her transformation into a Cyberman in 'World Enough and Time' was too severe a demise and so was certain to be reversed this week.

And while the episode does engage with the consequences of what's happened to Bill, with Pearl Mackie superb as her character confronts the true horror of having everything she was stolen away, it does ultimately wave something of a magic wand to restore her to (something approaching) normal.

But is that really such a bad thing? Bill was a character so good-natured and earnest, who wanted nothing more than to learn, that to have this be her final fate would have felt unnecessarily cruel. Not only that, but she was a character with great potential whose journey felt cut short by necessity. It'd be great to check back in on her some day.

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So again, Moffat prioritises heart over logic, and thank goodness. Having Bill travel eternity with Heather (Stephanie Hyam), with the possibility of returning home, or even to the Doctor, one day, is a much more fitting end. Even if, with a fake death followed by a second chance to see the universe, it's a little too thematically similar to Clara's exit.

Even Nardole's final scenes are tear-jerkers – and who the hell ever thought that would be the case? It was always his job to care for the Doctor, now he's been promoted – taking on the much larger job of caring for the ship's villagers. He's even found a family.

But this finale's emotional apex is reserved for the final scenes, as an already ailing Doctor undertakes a suicide mission, annihilating the entire village and taking as many Cybermen with him as possible.

BBC

Returned to the TARDIS by a departing Heather and Bill, he begins to regenerate in a sequence that plucks at our heartstrings and plays on our fondness for Doctor Who as a whole about as thoroughly as possible.

The Doctor's exhausted, determined to finally rest in peace, and has to be convinced to fight on. So, the TARDIS takes him back to the scene of his very first regeneration. The original, you might say. Everything comes full circle.

'The Doctor Falls' might not satisfy everyone – those hoping for an episode that sustains the creeping horror and sense of doom of 'World Enough and Time' will probably come away disappointed.

But it's an absolute emotional maelstrom of a finale, and any piece of television with the ability to make you feel this much, this frequently, has to be considered something pretty special. Heart over mind, always.

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