Warning contains spoilers for series 8 up toDark Water, and speculation onDeath In Heaven.
So what are big, head-scratchy questions were hoping will be answered byDeath In Heaven?
And what puzzlers have been left in place byDark Water, and the episodes before it?
This seems like a good place to start.
Hell, it turns out, is the long-teased Nethersphere, the heaven we first encountered inDeep Breath.
Its also found at St Pauls Cathedral, given the last shot ofDark Water.
What it clearly isnt is a heaven or hell in any religious sense.
Its a Cyberman factory, by the looks of it, although more may yet be revealed.
So where is it?
How does a body die, and it magically appear there, ready for its soul to be uploaded?
How do the Cybermen via cyberspace come along?
How does a Gallifreyan hard drive work anyway?
But there are still questions remaining.
Its geographical location being one.
InWhoof old, The Masters TARDIS was also a bit more effective at blending in.
Might Heaven be something to do with that?
Or maybe Belinda Carlisle had it right years ago.
Maybe its on Earth, although via what transmission methodology the souls/bodies people get there is unclear.
Time Lord technology though would at least cover the transportation problem…
Well, yes.
Weve seen Missy inside it, and weve seen her outside it.
Its clearly not quite the binding, final place that it may seem.
Unless Missy has some special sonic Nethersphere unit or something… Heres the shot…Crucially: this is the last shot of the episode.
After the cybermen reveal.
And after Missys reveal.
Dont know, but it was nice to see her.
Also, we dont believe in mere coincidences when you get to series finale stories.
Theres clearly some link there.
I have chosen well.
So then: my Clara.
Theres a big clue.
Which begs the question why has she chosen Clara, and just as interestingly,whendid she choose her?
Was Clara a pawn of The Master/The Mistress from the moment she appeared inAsylum Of The Daleks?
Weve no context for that, so it may be just a trick being pulled in the episode itself.
But what if it isnt?
We thought the big mystery of Clara may have all been sorted in series 7.
But there might just be a bigger one about to be revealed…
This may yet be the biggest question of series 8.
And that she couldnt remember the Doctor?
So which Clara is this, the one who weve been spending time with all the series?
And was Clara ever real?
Oh, another thing: she needed Post-It notes at the start ofDark Waterfor her chat with Danny.
Or did she simply have a list of what she needed to say?
Was there more subtext to them?
More on that, here.
And Clara stopped him, by heading into the Doctors tomb on Trenzalore is your head hurting yet?
and by spreading herself and the Great Intelligence countless times through the Doctors timestream.
But what if it wasnt?
The tactics being used this series certainly have a crossover… As such, he was seemingly drawn back in the time lock with all the other Time Lords.
And presumably he would have regenerated at that point.
Chances are then he got off Gallifrey with no trouble whatsoever.
Wed suggest that thats being kept in the back pocket for a potential series 9 arc.
After all, we know the Doctor can now go home.
So why hasnt he been yet?
Why hasnt he been actively trying to find Gallifrey?
But might there be more to it?
Well, shes clearly pivotal, not least because she keeps being mentioned.
But who was she?
Clara doesnt look at Missy and recognise her, interestingly, so possibly not her.
So is it someone weve seen a River Song or someone like that?
Or does the Missy story start there in some form?
Doesnt look like it.
It didnt help that her two stories were, er, not great.
The introduction of a female regeneration of The Master seems to make The Rani as a character rather redundant.
But thats never really been denied.
In fact, weve had one once before, when Joanna Lumley briefly became the occupier of the TARDIS…
But were not the right people to ask.
Regular readers will know we dont and wont make a habit of this.
Its only for long pieces, to help with load times particularly on mobile devices.
Without further ado, more questions and speculation…
Now thats an interesting one.
He certainly used to be able to.
In fact, Claras done it.
Maybe it depends on if the Doctor has a TARDIS key in his possession?
Or maybe it was all part and parcel of the dream sequence itself?
It was, and was presumably a River Song reference.
Help yourself to two extra points from the geek jar.
You know what, it might be.
However, neither of them put the message there.
The assumption would be that its Missys doing, but what if its not?
We were just coming to that.
Just a nice Easter Egg, then, or is there a deeper link there?
Theres no sign of Sophia Myles returning toDoctor Who despite rumours…
Hes the founder of 3W.
When Skarosa died, Missy took over 3W.
His body is still there, in the late Dr Changs office.
But its looking more like red herring at the moment.
The Master, the Cybermen and the Daleks all converging at once?
Missy and Seb are currently key personnel.
They have lots of branches too.
Its looking possible, though.
Well, thats where it gets interesting.
With that in mind, we know that Danny and Clara have at least one descendant.
So, theory time.
Never in a squillion years.
But hed tell you that himself…
