Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017: What ‘Twice Upon A Time’ Really Means
3. The Return Of The Impossible Girl
The complexity of Matt Smith’s final adventure, Time and the Doctor, was due to the sheer number of loose ends that needed tying up – the crack in the wall, the Silence, the fate of Gallifrey e.t.c. By contrast with the less intricate series 10 arc all but wrapped up in The Doctor Falls, Twice upon a Time had room to focus on the Doctor’s regeneration.
The one element in pressing need of a resolution was the Doctor’s memory wipe at the end of series nine. Revisiting the issue provided much needed closure for the Doctor. Many viewers expected Jenna Coleman to make a cameo based on Karen Gillan’s return for Matt Smith’s finale, but her appearance was far more significant.
The memory recall had been teased several times – from the Doctor seeing Clara’s face painted on the TARDIS, to the playing of Murray Gold's Clara theme as the Doctor considers wiping Bill's memory. But even after seeing Clara among the collage of faces as he almost succumbs to his regeneration in The Doctor Falls, that part of his memory remains inaccessible.
Clara’s return continued to be teased throughout the Christmas special (how many viewers expected to see Clara in the tower on Villengard?), even until mere seconds before her eventual appearance with the misdirection that Bill’s kiss was her gift to him.
Capaldi’s toothy smile certainly provides the payoff as we sense the Doctor’s relief and joy. The scene was slightly hampered by Jenna Coleman’s lack of availability, giving her a ghostly and standoffish quality compared to Bill, and robbing us of the ultimate payoff – a hug between the two, with all that such an act would evoke. Nonetheless it was a beautifully touching moment, one that enabled this Doctor to find healing at the end of his life.