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

By Mary Ogle /

3. The Mother Figure

Ohila is the exasperated parent dealing with a selfish, irresponsible boy lashing out in pain and frustration. For a being of great age this is the Doctor at his most childish. Ohila is there to point out the Doctor€™s idiocy. She reprimands him with stern authority and he plays the recalcitrant adolescent. This is a Doctor out of control. He is perhaps closer to the Master in these moments than he has ever been. The Cloisters is a techno-hell, a place where beings are kept alive and slowly harvested by the database they are trapped in. The moment in which the Dalek begs to be exterminated is chilling. Of course the Doctor€™s spent time there before and discovered the way out of the room. It€™s Clara, however, who is attempting to show him the way out of his head. She too begs for an end not due to her own suffering but in order to stop the pain others may endure if she is not allowed to go.