Doctor Who Review: Hell Bent – How To Succeed At Death Without Really Dying

A brilliant beginning that fails at the moment it refuses to kill its darlings.

By Mary Ogle /

WARNING! SPOILERS: This post contains spoilers and speculation for the Doctor Who series nine episode €œHell Bent€. The Doctor Who series nine finale €œHell Bent€ is a giant fake out and that is both a good and bad thing. The often referenced hybrid is an enormous red herring soon rendered meaningless in a cloud of clever dialog and determined misdirection. The true series nine arc is the Doctor€™s descent into selfishness and his unhealthy obsession with Clara. €œHell Bent€ briefly masquerades as a war story but soon turns into a narcissistic romance where our heroes are so busy admiring their own reflection in the other person€™s eyes they ignore what€™s going on around them. It€™s brilliant up until the point the script falls in love with its own cleverness. The power of Clara€™s death is undermined for the sake of a sly and convenient happy ending and the episode falls to pieces. It€™s fitting Clara is left without the pesky bodily functions that signify life as her character was never truly allowed to breathe. Instead of a fully realized human being we are left with a second-hand copy of the Doctor€™s path and personality. Clara may be one of the longest running companions but in the end we still don€™t know her.