Season 9 of Doctor Who was meaningful in every sense of the word. The twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) never failed to transform every little event into something of deep insight and importance. The season finale, “Hell Bent,” was no exception. Every line made the audience think about the recurring themes throughout the whole season: kindness, bravery, life, love, and most of all, loss.
Season 9 has seen immense character and relationship development. The Doctor has become less stern and perhaps as whimsical as The Doctor who came before him, played by Matt Smith. He’s developed his identity into a serious yet silly time traveler who likes to wear sonic sunglasses, play the electric guitar, and save people with cleverness instead of harm. Like Oswald, his thirst for adventure is ongoing.
As the final episode emphasized, this isn’t the only thing that Oswald and The Doctor have in common. They’re clever, stubborn, adventurous, and kind. And they both don’t want to lose each other, to an extent that’s dangerous enough to destroy the universe and time, itself.
This illustrates the growth of their relationship since the time Oswald first met the twelfth Doctor. She didn’t trust his new face, and his fatherly love for her was nonexistent. But as their relationship progressed, the two became dependent on each other. They created strong, almost familial connections. That dependency was heavily explored in the last episode. To what means would someone go to save themselves the torment of losing someone they loved?
The storyline of the episode was told from the perspective of The Doctor telling the story to Oswald as if the two have never met. This dynamic is explained later on, but it serves as an enticing way to unfold the episode, for the story isn’t the only mystery: it’s also the way in which that story is told.
As the episode progressed, it became more emotional. Capaldi and Coleman treated their final moments with each other with respect, fully capturing the love their two characters shared for each other.
The score was also pivotal to the storyline. The music representing Clara Oswald wasn’t just played over the action; it was in the actual story, being played on The Doctor’s guitar. It symbolized the strong relationship between the characters and gave the last few scenes more emotional depth and meaning.
“Hell Bent” was a brilliantly orchestrated episode with only one minor flaw. In the fourth episode of season 8, “Listen,” it was implied that an astronaut that Oswald met at the end of time was some sort of great-great-great-grandson of hers and her previous boyfriend, Danny Pink. However, “Hell Bent” implies that Oswald’s time with The Doctor is over, so thus it’s unlikely that Pink will ever see Oswald or The Doctor again. This episode invalidates the possibility of Pink and Oswald having children.
Regardless, Clara Oswald ended her time with The Doctor properly. What is likely her last episode was filled with emotion, action, insight, and a great sense of closure.