The Doctor Falls - Reaction

This item contains spoilers from The Doctor Falls

Reaction to this year's Doctor Who finale, The Doctor Falls is overwhelmingly positive with most reviewers finding it a fitting end to the series.

A heartbreaking spectacular is how Digital Spy regarded the episode, singling out Peter Capaldi for praise "His "Where I stand is where I fall" speech is quite possibly the actor's finest moment on the series to date. With the Doctor, almost in tears, arguing why he always has to stand to fight, it just about pips even the famous anti-war rant from 'The Zygon Inversion'."

The Mirror felt the episode was an immensely satisfying conclusion with great storytelling and epic performances. "With all the teasers, build up and trailers it would have been so easy for The Doctor Falls to be a failure of a finale - but it really wasn’t. It was an immensely satisfying, packed, heart string tugging conclusion that comes together brilliantly for two simple reasons: clever storytelling and tremendous acting."

Radio Times also singled out the performances as one of the strong points about the episode. "Capaldi, Simm and Gomez are of course divine together. Peter Capaldi is magnificent as ever. This is truly his episode. His Doctor may fall but he stands tall among stiff competition. John Simm’s Master is an implacable bastard to the end but not the loon of seven years ago. Michelle Gomez is simply superb at the duplicity and the soul-searching and laughing at her own tragedy. Their dancing, flirting and backstabbing is to die for."

The the meeting of the two Masters and the Doctor is highlighted by The Guardian "I was overjoyed, on watching the confrontation between the three Timelords, that there was no soundtrack aside from the dialogue and some gentle birdsong. It was an example of less-is-more that I don’t think I’ve seen equalled in Doctor Who. As for that showdown, how else was it going to end? Two Masters stabbing themselves in the back (and front) was the perfect solution to evil coming up against itself"

The Telegraph also enjoyed the role of the two masters in the story "Together, Simm and the magnificent Michelle Gomez as Missy (who is a later version of the same rogue Time Lord) made a fantastic duo as they quibbled over whether to stand with the Doctor or continue their villainous ways"

IGN also enjoyed the dynamic between the two masters. "The way they’re sort of somewhere between brother-sister and boyfriend-girlfriend is suitably gross, and the Master’s presence and how it serves to draw Missy back to her old ways makes so much internal sense that Moffat doesn’t really even need to write it on the page"

Den of Geek paid tribute to Peter Capaldi's performance. "The majestic, wonderful, brilliant Peter Capaldi. If you needed a reminder of just how much he’s going to be missed when he finally departs Doctor Who at the end of the year, his outstanding work here was precisely that. When he was blasted, apparently mortally, and he kept holding off his regeneration , I found myself saying out loud “I don’t want you to go”."

AV Club called it s pitch perfect finale. "This is a Doctor who knows exactly who he is, played by an actor who knows exactly how he wants to play the part, facts that are ultimately absorbed into the narrative with the Doctor’s refusal to regenerate and turn into some new person. "

Vulture also paid tribute to the lead actor. "And then there’s Peter Capaldi. That speech! That grand speech he gives to the two Masters! If that doesn’t deserve to go viral, then I don’t know what does. That’s the speech we need for today, delivered with passion and vulnerability in the same episode that dares to name Donald Trump an inevitability. "

Slightly bucking the trend Ars Technica enjoyed the episode but felt it was a little cramped. "Plenty of action was squeezed into this hour of solid telly. But Moffat's decision to pack it so tightly, not only with the battle between Missy and the Master, but also with the onslaught of the Mondasian Cybermen, a heartbroken CyberBill (or RoboMop), and a small cast of country bumpkins living on a spaceship meant that the whole thing felt a little suffocating at times."

Finally Flickering Myth thought it was a fitting end to the series. "Everything about this final episode sums up everything that has been perfect about Series 10. Our main cast of Capaldi, Lucas and Mackie have been a fantastic trio within the four outer walls of the TARDIS. They’ve gelled exceptional well. Peter Capaldi is a magnificent Doctor, a person who captures the wisdom, madness, caring and frustration of a two-thousand year old Time Lord. Matt Lucas’ wit is spot on for the TARDIS, but when needed a look can make you wonder. And along with this we had the brilliant Pearl Mackie who is a blast of pure energy in the Companion line-up, with emotion, humour and humanity. All three have made Series 10 something wonderful to watch."