The Doctor Falls has had the exact same impact on me that Hell Bent did back in 2015.
There’s something about that bittersweet triumph has had me on a week long high, it’s got so much thematic and narrative substance in it (as
the culmination of three years worth of television) that I’ve been digesting.
Most importantly, it really feels like a piece of media that I, as a fan, can feel proud of. It has something to say. Something really worthwhile saying about the value of kindness and compassion that, at the end, makes me feel like I have an example worth living up to.
It’s what media does at its best, and it certainly helps that it’s told through the lens of Bill and her character arc – her strength and resilience, her grasp on her identity, and getting the happy ‘ending’ that she deserves.
As it was with Clara, it’s not really an ending – it’s an origin story.
A superhero origin story with an immortal LGBT+ heroine that gives a thoroughly satisfying middle finger at the Bury Your Gays trope in favour of a future with infinite cosmic possibilities.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for ‘love conquers all’ stories (I absolutely am), but Moffat’s fundamental approach to Doctor Who (“I’ll be damned if Doctor Who is going to join in with the general chorus of despair”) has made for stories that are going to stick with me to my grave.