Doctor Who: The Well Review - 8 Ups & 2 Downs
1. DOWN - Shaya Goes Down The Well
Having seen the Doctor pull off an incredible rescue a few moments earlier, The Well runs dry, placing the Doctor, Bel, Mo and Shaya in a hopeless situation for which the only solution is... Shaya shooting Belinda in the heart before throwing herself down a big hole.
Two weeks running now and we've had a supporting character give their life to save the Doctor and Belinda, but Shaya's sacrifice doesn't have any build-up. At least in Lux, Reginald Pye had a tragic backstory that informed his sacrifice. The only solution being self-sacrifice smacks of a writer who doesn't believe that better things aren't possible.
This hopelessness reflected in Shaya's Cybermanesque mantra “hope is irrelevant” and the episode confirms this with a final twist that heavily suggests Mo was the Midnight monster's host all along. It introduces a chilling new level of manipulation from the creature, and proves that Shaya's sacrifice was completely pointless.
RTD's very first season of Doctor Who in 2005 relied heavily on characters sacrificing themselves for an easy climax so the episode can clock in at around 45 minutes.
20 years later, and it seems he's still very happy to return to that particular well.