Doctor Who Episode Recap, Season 8 Episode 12: Death in Heaven

Episode Recap of Doctor Who, Season 8 Episode 12: Death in Heaven

This episode picks up where the last episode left off, with a Cyberman finding Clara. However, she claims that there is no Clara Oswald, and that she is in fact the Doctor.

Meanwhile, outside, people are taking selfies with the Cybermen, who are just standing around. Missy shows the Doctor on her phone that Cybermen are now standing around in every city around the world. Then Osgood comes up and offers to take a picture of the Doctor and Missy, distracting her for a moment, which allows Kate Stewart and UNIT to arrive on the scene to take Missy into custody. The Cybermen on the scene suddenly fly into the air. Then the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral opens up, and more Cybermen fly out from there. They figure out there’s one Cyberman for every town. Suddenly, there’s an explosion in the sky. Missy explains that the Cybermen are pollinating.

In the Nethersphere, Seb tells Danny that it looks like they may be going home. He explains that this place is more of a data cloud of recently deceased minds. They’re going back to their bodies — and there’s been a bit of an upgrade.

Missy tells the Doctor that the dead are coming home, and that in 24 hours the human race will cease to exist. UNIT sedates both Missy and the Doctor. But before the Doctor passes out, he tells Osgood to guard the graveyards. The black cloud from the Cyberman explosion goes over the graveyard, and it begins to rain, but only inside the graveyard. However, some water leaks outside of the graveyard and goes to a funeral home. There is banging from inside the morgue, and a Cyberman rises from a table. It looks in the mirror and crumbles a piece of paper that says “Danny Pink.”

The Doctor awakens handcuffed to a chair,  and we see that UNIT has the TARDIS. The Doctor tells Kate that he wants Clara found and brought to him. They all board a large plane. Kate informs the Doctor that he is the President of Earth, and that every world leader is awaiting his instructions.

Down in St. Paul’s, Clara is trying to convince a few Cybermen that she is the Doctor. Another Cyberman walks up and insists that she is Clara Oswald, then zaps her, making her pass out. The other Cybermen observe that no order was given to do that, and that the Cyberman who just walked up is not under Cyber control. Then the new Cyberman shoots the other Cybermen, causing them to explode. We see that the Cyberman is holding the slip of paper that says “Danny Pink” on it.

Missy wakes up in the underbelly of the plane, tied to a chair, and with the Doctor talking to her. She claims to know where Gallifrey is, but won’t tell the Doctor where it is. The Doctor gets called back above. Before he heads up, Osgood has already guessed that Missy is the Master. She tells him that the clouds have not dispersed yet, and that maybe they should be looking up instead of below the clouds.

The Doctor goes up, and meets with the other officials. Kate shows them video of news feeds from around the world, where the dead are rising from their graves as Cybermen.

Clara wakes up in a graveyard all alone. We see that the ground is starting to shift in front of graves, and silver hands starting to come out. Then all around Clara, Cybermen start to arise from the graves.

The Doctor explains that it wasn’t rain, it was Cyber pollen. He realizes what Missy was up to, and thinks it’s all over, wondering how you can win a war against an enemy that can weaponize the dead. At this point, though, the Cybermen aren’t attacking, they’re just wandering around. The Doctor says it’s because they’re newborns, and to give them time. He goes on to explain that Missy has been upgrading dying minds to a hard drive for a long time, with the help of her TARDIS.

Down below, Missy tells Osgood that she has something to tell her, but to come closer because she has to whisper it. Missy whispers that she is going to kill her in a minute. Osgood tries to get back to work, but Missy gives a countdown to her death. Missy has managed to get her handcuffs off. She uses a device to obliterate her two guards, and then Osgood.

The Doctor looks out the window and sees a Cyberman. Then they look at the monitor and see that Missy has escaped. The Doctor goes down below to investigate.

Clara finds the Cyberman who brought her to the graveyard. We see that he still has that piece of paper in his hand. When the Cyberman asks where the Doctor is, Clara says that she would never give up the Doctor, because he’s her best friend, the closest person in the world to her, the one man she will always forgive and trust, the one man she would never lie to. The Cyberman removes his face mask, and Clara is devastated to see that it’s Danny. He asks her to help him, and says that she needs her to switch his inhibitor on, because he can’t do it himself. The inhibitor deletes emotion.

Meanwhile, the Cybermen are all over the plane, pulling it apart. Down below, the TARDIS phone rings. Missy reveals that Clara had gotten the TARDIS phone number from her. She’s the one that put Clara and the Doctor together, and kept them together. He answers the phone. It’s Clara, who tells him that she’s with Danny, who is now a Cyberman. He tells her not to turn on the inhibitor, because if she does, he’ll become a Cyberman and kill her. She tells the Doctor to either help her or leave her alone.

Kate comes down below to report that the Cybermen have gotten in, and the plane is going down. Missy uses her device to shoot a hole in the plane, which sucks Kate out. Missy teleports herself away to the Nethersphere before the plane explodes. She and Seb watch as the Doctor falls out of the plane, hurtling toward the ground — which Missy thinks is boring. But then he uses his sonic screwdriver to call the TARDIS toward him and save him. Seb gets excited, so Missy uses her device to explode him.

Clara has been unsuccessful in turning on the inhibitor, when the Doctor arrives in the TARDIS. He warns her that Danny will kill her if she succeeds in turning it on, but Danny says he will not harm her. The Doctor tells Danny that he needs him to tell him what the Cloud is going to do, what the plan is. Danny says that he can’t see properly because the inhibitor needs to be activated. Clara asks for the sonic screwdriver from the Doctor. Then she points it at Danny, tells him one last time that she loves him, they tell each other goodbye, and she turns on the inhibitor. She runs to him and hugs him, despite the Doctor’s warnings. Danny tells the Doctor that the rain will fall again, and all humanity will die — and rise again a Cyberman. Danny says they cannot be stopped.

Just then, Missy floats down holding an umbrella. The Doctor takes her device from her and throws it. Clara picks it up. Missy then instructs the Cybermen to do a series of commands. She then hands over her bracelet to the Doctor that commands the Cybermen, and presents the army of Cybermen to him as a gift. The Doctor says he doesn’t want an army, but Missy insists that he does. When the Doctor asks why she’s doing this, she says that she needs her friend back. She tells him that with this army, he can determine the outcome of every war in the universe.

The Doctor has a flashback of moments throughout the season, and has a sudden epiphany. He thanks Missy, and kisses her, then exclaims that he is not a good man, nor is he a bad man — he is an idiot, just passing through, helping out, learning. He doesn’t need an army and never has. He points to Clara and Danny and says he has them, and that love is not an emotion, it’s a promise — and Danny will never hurt her.

The Doctor throws Missy’s bracelet to Danny, and points out to Missy that Danny was the one soldier not obeying her orders. Danny tells Missy that the rain will not fall because the clouds will burn. He commands all the Cybermen to help Earth out in its darkest hour, then they all fly into the sky and explode, burning the clouds away, all around the world.

Missy gives the Doctor the coordinates for Gallifrey, telling him it has returned to its original location. Clara points Missy’s device at Missy, but the Doctor stops Clara from killing her, and takes the device. He points it at her, about to shoot it, when a Cyberman zaps her, and she disappears. Then they discover that Kate Stewart is laying nearby, alive. She mentions her dad, and the Doctor figures out that the Cyberman standing nearby is Kate’s father, who saved her. The Doctor salutes him, then he flies into the sky.

Later, Clara awakens in her bed to the sound of Danny’s voice calling her. There’s a bright light at the end of her hallway through which Danny is talking to her. She tells him that the Doctor has told her that Missy’s bracelet allows her to travel between worlds, and that the bracelet can bring him home. He says there’s only enough power for one trip. The boy that Danny killed steps through the light, and Danny’s voice tells her that she needs to find his parents. Danny apologizes, and is gone.

Clara and the Doctor meet up in a cafe. The Doctor assumes that Danny figured it out about the bracelet, and is back, and she doesn’t contradict him. She tells him that she has some news for him, and it’s not good. But the Doctor jumps in and guesses that her news is that she and Danny are together, and that Clara no longer has room in her life for him anymore. He says that it’s fine, because he has found Gallifrey. We then see a flashback to the Doctor going to the coordinates that Missy told him — but when he gets there, Gallifrey isn’t there. He continuously punches the TARDIS console in frustration. Back in the present, the Doctor tells Clara that he’s going to go home now. She tells him not to worry about her and Danny, and to go home. She convinces the Doctor to share a hug with her. While hugging, she asks him why he doesn’t like to hug. He replies, “Never trust a hug. It’s just a way to hide your face.”

They say their goodbyes, and thank each other for making them feel special. Then the TARDIS disappears, and Clara walks away.

In a post credits-scene, the Doctor is in his TARDIS, and hears knocking on the door, and a voice saying it can’t end like that. Santa Claus comes in and asks him what he wants for Christmas.