Warning: There is no way to discuss this episode without going over some of the giant reveals in this episode. There will be spoilers.

Here's your quick recap: Danny gets hit by a car and passes away after Clara professes her love to him. Dealing the with loss, Clara decides to take the Doctor hostage and wants to go back to save Danny. The Doctor says it will create a paradox, so they cannot. The Doctor decides to find the afterlife in order to retrieve Danny.

The Doctor and Clara find a weird tomb where dead bodies are placed in water on chairs with windows for people to see the bodies. Somehow there's a connection to Danny there. In the Nethersphere, where the dead go, Danny comes face to face with a child he killed in war. Clara talks to Danny on the other side.

Spoiler mania: The woman who runs the place drains the water from the tombs and reveals Cybermen. She reveals herself to be a time lord. The woman turns out to be The Master.

Onto the review! More spoilers ahead!

Wow. A lot is dropped on Whovians in this episode, but is it done in a clever way or is it pandering to fans? That's the question I've had the entire time in my mind since the reveals. I'm a huge fan of the Cybermen and an even bigger fan of The Master, ever since I watch Anthony Ainley portray the character, when I was a kid, during the final years of the series. It'll be hard to judge a lot of what's going on here until part two of this two-part story airs next week, but as of right now, it feels like this episode is trying to give the audience everything they could want, and at it's core, this episode is just another super-villain team up. After Missy explained to the Doctor she was a time lord, I thought to myself "are they finally going to do it? Are they finally going to bring Susan Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter, into the show?" Alas, they did not, but they did reveal that Time Lords can change sex when regenerating, even though the Master ran out of regenerations more than 35 years ago.

One thing that made the two-part "Impossible Planet" story amazing is that every culture has this idea of evil and many have an "ultimate evil," which made the "devil" character from that episode so appealing. He was infecting the universe. Here, the same idea is played with, in a way. Moffat decides to focus on the idea of an afterlife and how all cultures have an idea of an afterlife (they don't) and we all go somewhere when we die. Don't get me wrong, the idea is cool, but it feels very rehashed, added with a side of Clara and Danny struggling to reconnect.

Did I miss something? What's the point of the water that doesn't show inorganic material? More importantly, why can we see the chairs?

Another HUGE inconsistency is the fact that the Doctor is telling Clara to be skeptical but he's totally on board with the idea of an afterlife. When they find out there is some form of afterlife, it's beyond the Doctor's belief. The writing is a mess and characters are constantly saying one thing than going back on it a scene later. It's aggravating. As always, Moffat, conceptually, is pretty brilliant, even in this episode's case which is a bit contrived in many ways, but the execution is super-rough.

So there are a couple pretty big problems with this episode that overall make the story feel a bit uninspired and unimaginative, but the episode was still a ton of fun and kept me on my toes the entire time. It's not the best of the season and it's far from the worst, but the overall story was incredibly interesting.

As always, Capaldi delivers a fantastic performance. He does well with what's given to him. The acting is pretty stellar throughout the cast as a whole. It's a fun journey, especially with Capaldi, whose vision of the Doctor is a quite different from Smith's or Tennant's.

Yes, there are a TON of problems with this issue that make this a poor episode, like taking ideas from previous stories and reimagining them and poor writing, but as a fan, I really did love the episode. It was an incredibly fun journey and while the episode can't really be judged as well as it should until the second part comes out, on it's own, this was a hit and a miss. Fans will love what's going on here, but a second look at everything reveals a mess.

I loved the concept, but yeah the overall writing did seem rather sluggish.

It would have been weird if Missy was The Doctor's granddaughter. She gave him a massive snog on the lips for goodness sake, would have made things even more creepy if they revealed it to be her. But I'm beginning to see the flaws in this episode based on your review. Conceptually, Moffat does have some entertaining ideas but it's the little things where he mucks up. Still, the whole "consciousness after death" idea did have some chilling potential to it. I wish Moffat would just stick with writing Sherlock, his writing for that is vastly superior to his Doctor Who stories.

Here's hoping that the Master's return actually makes sense and isn't nonsensical or just completely glossed over. To be the honest I'm a bit confused on where everything stands with the Time-Lords these days, especially after Day of the Doctor and Time of the Doctor.

It probably doesn't help that I rarely watch anything twice until quite a while after the first time, so I may be lacking perspective.

I preferred the episode to last week's and I did not expect Missy to be the Master, plus I thought the beginning but where Clara tries to beat the Doctor was good, but I wasn't blown away and I'm hoping it picks up a bit. By the way, is it wrong that I didn't feel sad when Danny died? I'm not really a fan of the character.

You know for a minute there I thought Missy was Romana. Time lady, one you left behind did you never think I would get back (from e-space).

Not watched this series past episode two and I'm not impressed with the revelation of Missy, which I see as sloppy and and as predictable as River Song's origin. I won't be watching the show again until the departure of Moffat, which I only hope will be very soon indeed.

I had hoped Missy was Romana....The Master seems to predictable...

The main thing I took from this episode was that we're at the end of the season, and they still haven't settled on a personality for Clara. While the opening scene was definitely cool, that cold, calculating, near-sociopathic behavior is just not something that the character would ever do, even if she were depressed.

Anyway, the Cyberman twist was clever, and not something I saw coming (well, I mean I figured it out halfway through the episode because they went overboard with the foreshadowing by making all the windows and the company logo look like Cyberman eyes), and its a twist that still makes sense in retrospect. The idea has thematic ties to many of the episodes we saw this season. I'm looking forward to seeing how this concept plays out.

I'm not big on Missi being the Master, though, and I hope its just a fakeout. The show's history is overflowing with great characters they could bring back, but instead they keep bringing back the same small group. Since Gallifrey has been somewhat restored, I got excited about Missi possibly being The Rani, or maybe even Romana turned evil, but nope... its just the Master again.

Let the insanity being? Let it be what?! TELL ME!

I feel like it was more of a 4/5.

So no one noticed the building full of skeletons in the middle of London, or this crazy 3 Words company?
And why do they need people to go to the nephesphere and delete their emotions. Can't they just take the bodies and turn them into cybermen, cutting out the massive fake afterlife thing?
I get the feeling I missed something major.
Finally did anyone notice the 'Dr Skarosa' very familiar....

I would give these episode an 4/5.

the last 15 min made up for the episode and cannot wait for the conclusion next saturday

@earthsmightiest:

I was thinking/hoping the same thing as well!

My theory is that the Master may have taken over a Time Lady's body. It wouldn't be the first time.

I HAVE TO KNOW TOO!

it seems some questions need to be answered. first off the master revealed in season 3 that the time lords gave him a whole new set of rengerations to fight in the time war. and yes most cultures have an idea of an afterlife, and its obvious the afterlife idea for the cybermen was thought up by the master to give them something new to try and to really mess with people. the master probably thought it would be funny. the point of the water was to hide the cybermen and if it wont show inorganic material doesnt that explain why you cant see the chairs. of course the doctor is gonna play along to find out more information and whats going on just cuz he acts like he believes it doesnt mean he does. the doctor has done this countless times over the last 50 plus years. also we found out in the doctors wife time lords can change sex. i think it was a pretty brilliant and messed up plan to trick ppl with an afterlife to get them tp become cybermen. its different then their many failed attempts of trying to force people into like they usually do. oh and he has to tell clara to be skeptical he doesnt know whats going on and she is in a desperate and emotional wreck where she would not think and just do whatever she had to in attempt to get danny back which she showed earlier in the episode. im not trying to be rude because i do agree some parts were a little underwhelming and we wont really see how well this all plays out until next week

Now that you mention it, it would be weird if they chose that name without having any further significance to it.

Honestly this season has been a hit or miss for me, I've been trying to give it a chance both with the new Doctor and the new direction of the show, but ultimately I've found myself enjoying some episodes while other times found myself questioning whether I should continue watching it. It's something I'm very torn about. :/

@doctowho415:

I'm pretty sure the chairs the skeletons sat on were wooden, the water concealed non-organic material.

As for the building full of skeletons being in the middle of London, I'd say that the whole Nethersphere was made out of TARDIS tech, meaning they could hide it anywhere/when and the door they opened was just to access London for the final phase of the Invasion.

I loved the episode, the Dr's big fakeout of Clara at the start, Danny's war trauma & being made to face the consequences of it, Missy being revealed. It was great.

I was thinking and kinda hoping that Missy was gonna end up being The Rani.

I did enjoy this episode a lot. Didn't saw Missy's identity coming (I guess I didn't thought about it, I just thought she was new) and really liked it. And about people not understanding why Cybermen are going for the dead now... well, it makes a lot of sense actually. They've failed time and time again at forcing people to become Cybermen, now they have step up their games, tricking people into thinking that they are giving them one last option. Also, dead people are easier to hide since no one's going to look for them.

Clara acting all psycho was great, although I do think it's pretty obvious by now that this is her last season as a companion. I mean, she has betrayed the Doctor, sure he still is his friend but how can she travel with her now? how can he trust her?

This review is spot on, thank you!!!!

I'm so closed to walking out that I'm seething inside. So far the show is 50/50 on good to trash episodes and Moffat's buildups keep falling shorter and shorter each season. I've lost all optimism for this show to the degree that I have to pretend that the show is only for children and it has to have dumb plots so the kids can enjoy it. Capaldi is the only good thing about the show and I can't go on hearing how it's still good because the graphics are pretty and he's an amazing actor. If we need to lower the bar that much than it's time to reevaluate what we call 'good tv.'

Wow I really thought it was going to be River.I was completely wrong, I thought Charles Dance would be the next Maste.

I was really hoping Missy was The Rani, but damn damn...I LOVE this development.