Who View (5) : S8 E10 - In the Forest of the Night + Missy Dominance

Title: In the Forest of the Night

Written by: Frank Cottrell Boyce 

Directed by: Sheree Folkson

Air Date (UK): 10/25/14

One morning in every city and town in the world, the human race wakes up to face the most surprising invasion yet. Everywhere, in every land, a forest has grown overnight and taken back the Earth. It doesn't take the Doctor long to discover that the final days of humanity have arrived.

BEWARE! THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS AS TO IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT (S8 E10). DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE THE EPISODE!

No hate, please because I'm intending to be honest, sharing my candid opinion. I do not mean to be degrading, however, I do think the script writing's getting weaker and weaker. It started with the first episode which was, the way I see it, one of the meh-est openings of New Who. (I've never seen Classic Doctor Who therefore I can't talk about that.) Afterwards, it seemed to be clambering upwards a bit, only to head in the opposite direction again. I'm not saying I hate these episodes and into the dumpsters with all of them, but they don't get me as thrilled as the previous seasons. I don't feel this overwhelming urge to watch the episodes over and over again. It's not even the new Doctor. It's true his not my favorite - or at least not yet -, however, it's just my taste and at the same time, I do respect him and enjoy seeing him as the Doctor. He is a great actor and his quirkiness is brilliant.

On the other hand, besides the numerous deaths and a tad more "violence" in certain episodes, season 8 is shredding some controversial, yet rather relevant topics of real life. And it's doing it well! Trust - one of the main issues of the season - is important to people and Clara and the Doctor get a sample from every side of it - even betrayal. I've seen not one pretty wise views of theirs.

In this last episode, we had Maebh, a little girl whose sister had gone missing the year before and it inflicted a type of post-traumatic stress disorder on her; she had heard voices until she was given medication and the voices stopped. She appeared to be seeing things as well. I loved how the Doctor paid closer attention to her than anybody had the past year. That the tempered Doctor, who doesn't believe in fairy tales and such sillinesses is the single person who actually listens to Maebh. I also found the idea of the trees protecting us from the Sun Flares entertaining. It was a great one!

It was exciting to see Clara and Danny work together. We hadn't seen much of them over the past few weeks before In the Forest of the Night and I was curious where they stood. I'm beginning to agree with the people who say they are cute together. They really are. Moreover, Danny is not as crude or stupid and not even as weak as I used to think first. With Clara, I'm also starting to get him and his motives, but I'm still waiting for the big bum when we find out what action precisely made him quit the army and later cry. (Okay, crying is a bit of an exaggeration. Rather let a tear slip.)

Moffat also entertained the idea of Clara leaving the Doctor. I very much hope it's not an innuendo!

Overall, it was an okay episode for me. I enjoyed it, but nothing special.

And now, let's move on to Missy and the shocking next time trailer.

Missy graced the episode and to my astonishment, she seemed surprised! She always seems to be in control as if she's arranged everything ages ago. Maybe she has. And maybe this is what induces her advancement after so much time? That things have gone astray for her?

But here's an even bigger question: who the hell is Missy? Who? Who is she?

I've seen numerous theories since she first appeared on the show. Too many to type out all of them now, or even to search them back. However, fundamentally, there are people that think she's a female Master, there are people that believe she's the Valeyard (my personal opinion until Flatline), there are people that say she's a Time Lady or the Rani, and there are people that say Missy is Clara in some form. It varies whether it's a one of her "clones" when she became torn apart in the Eleventh Doctor's time vortex or Clara in the future. The only undivided opinion is that she gave Clara the Doctor's number back in the Bells of St. John. Personally, out of these hypothesis, I'm inclining towards her being a Time Lady. Who else would call the Doctor her boyfriend? Surely not the Valeyard a.k.a himself and it's unlikely that the Master thinks of him as such. Clara could do so if it one of her other selves or if it's her future self who has broken up with Danny at some point, but for some reason that doesn't seem very probable to me. In fact, I would say none of these. Or at least not entirely.


As for Clara's sudden change of heart, it's a common presumption that - again - it's one of her selves. Or that she's always been just a puppet for Missy. Here, my theory deviates completely. In the next time trailer, Clara mentions that time can be rewritten. What if Missy rewritten time and with it, she caused something in the past that affected Clara in this way? We know that Missy is quite out of ordinary, many think she has special powers hence it could be possible. The problem (with my own theory, what's that? o.O) is that it has nothing to do with the whole season's Missy-related actions.

Anyway, maybe I'm simply reading too much into nothing, but don't the flames and the color of the whole place look so similar to the ones in the Eleventh Doctor's time vortex? Even the smoke...

I would love to hear about YOUR Missy & Clara theories so let me know about them in the comments! ;)