Tell me, River, because I dont know: how do I say it?
The Doctor refused to say goodbye to River. She rather sadly pinned this on he doesnt like endings. She was already dead, and she could not stay forever. But goodbyes are important, and she wanted one with the Doctor. The Doctor could not have said goodbye to River before The Name of the Doctor. Even then, he avoided it. In the last year, weve gotten to watch the Time Lord grow, watch him come to terms with the fact that some of the universes immutable facts cannot be fixed. The Doctor got used to not knowing about Clara, and he re-learned through her how to care about people and their stories. So, at long last, he could let River fade. And what did he do, after she had finally died? He took a moment, he absorbed it
And then he stepped into the timestream, to save Clara. The answer to death is people, and the answer to loss is to connect with someone and keep going.
