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Doctor Who Season Finale Review: “The Name Of The Doctor” (Series 7, Episode 14)

It's been a long, long wait, but the Series 7 finale of Doctor Who is finally here, and it brings a whole bunch of answers and even more questions. Lots of things happened at once, and the episode just flew by rather quickly, leading up to one heck of a cliffhanger. It felt like a roller coaster ride with new information thrown at you every 2 minutes, with barely a moment to catch your breath and process it. And frankly, it was brilliant.

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Being a time-traveler and having traveled in time more than anyone else makes the Doctor’s grave the most dangerous place ever. Why? Because his grave contains scar tissue, or a time tunnel throughout his life. And anyone can go into it and change history, and ruin the Doctor’s life in the process.

And that’s exactly what the Great Intelligence is here for. Now who else thought for a split second that the Doctor’s real name might actually be ‘please’? I mean at that point, I thought anything was possible. But it’s River who whispers his true name to open the doors, and we never find out what it is. I’m sure some fans might feel cheated, but majority of them are surely relieved that his name was not revealed to us as that was never the point.

Moffat had teased this entire arc around the question, ‘Doctor Who?’, but the whole time it was never the actual mystery. It was never the big secret, it was just another part of this large story. The name was simply to open his own tomb, which contains the time tunnel through which history can be rewritten. And it’s to avoid getting there that the Silence tried to kill the Doctor in Series 6. The Silence were never the main villains like I thought they were. The secret at the center of this episode just happened to come out through the events of this episode, but we’ll get to that soon.

What the Silence didn’t count on was that Clara would be there to save the day. The Great Intelligence went into the time tunnel and spread across the Doctor’s life (hence his appearance in The Bells of Saint John), but Clara followed after to stop him every time. And that explains why she was all over time, she always was. The Doctor only noticed her now. In a fascinating revelation, she’s the one who encouraged the First Doctor to steal the TARDIS that he did instead of another one (so that’s what it looked like before it turned into a phone box!).

It all logically makes sense, and I’m sure lots of fans guessed at least one aspect of her mystery: that she’s echoes of one true self, spread across history. And it totally explains everything, from souffles to “Run you clever boy, and remember.” Her mystery didn’t turn out to be as brilliant as Amy Pond’s, but I still loved it. She really is just a girl, who saved the Doctor’s life time and time again, and that makes her as awesome as the rest of the companions. And in true Moffat fashion, it has a paradoxical nature to it.

The Doctor’s name on the other hand was a completely misleading arc. While it turned out brilliantly, it was hyped up too much to be something it was not, and I can see it irritating some fans.

So by now, all the main mysteries are wrapped. We got a goodbye to River (for now?), we know who and what Clara is, and we know why we were supposed to care about his name and we know what Trenzalore and the fall of the Eleventh means (wasn’t that big of a fall was it?). But the story it seems is just starting.

Despite the fact that she’s scattered across history (I wonder if she’s in the Doctor’s future too), the Doctor goes after her to save her in his own time-tunnel. He seems to accomplish that, but not before seeing someone else. It’s the Doctor, but not the Doctor. The Doctor is a name he chose, a promise. But this new person apparently broke that promise. This Doctor is played by John Hurt, who was confirmed to be in the 50th Anniversary Special a long time ago. ANOTHER DOCTOR?

What a fantastic revelation. I had no idea what was going on, and I was surprised that the episode was over. Is he an incarnation of the Doctor we didn’t know about, probably between the Eighth and Ninth versions from the Time War? Or a future incarnation? Then how does the Eleventh Doctor know about him? Why is he “the secret”?

Considering that Clara remembers everything from Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS, I’m sure she knows the Doctor’s name, and perhaps the The History of the Time War from that episode was a hint to who this version of the Doctor is. But then why wasn’t Clara a part of his history? I could certainly see that place at the end being a destroyed Gallifrey.

So many answers, but the episode ended with even more questions, and I completely lost it, in a good way. This had to be one of the best twists of the show in recent memory, and kudos to the Doctor Who team for keeping this a complete secret. That’s two major secrets kept well hidden this Series (the other being Clara’s introduction in Asylum of the Daleks), and in this day and age, that’s a very impressive feat. If they kept this well hidden, who knows what else they have in store?

Overall, this was a fantastic episode and finale. It had its flaws here and there, but in the end I had a blast watching it, and it left us on a huge cliffhanger with a very cinematic ending. It wrapped up Series 7 while continuing the saga that’s been going on since Series 5. I can’t even begin to imagine where this story is going, and who knows how it leads into the 50th, but I’m definitely excited for the Anniversary special now. The story is already exciting as it is, and knowing the Tenth Doctor will be a part of it makes it even better.

At first it’s hard to comprehend what’s happening, as we came in expecting something else. But rewatching it definitely helps you realize that the show has a purpose to it. Years worth of stories are now making more and more sense, yet it’s leading to something else entirely than what we expected and I love not knowing where it’s going. I mean seriously, who saw that end coming? In my opinion, the finale closed off Series 7 perfectly, and left you wanting more. The 50th couldn’t get here soon enough, what better villain than the Doctor himself (assuming that he is evil)? It’s all one big mystery indeed.

What did you think of the Series 7 finale of Doctor Who? Let us know in the comments as always.