There are no (intentional) spoilers for Death In Heaven, but many from Dark Water and the earlier episodes of Series 8.
1. Who exactly is Missy?
Although she revealed herself to the Doctor during the closing moments of Dark Water, is she really the Master? It would likely be a difficult stunt for Steven Moffat to pull off, to go back on himself like that, but director Rachel Talalay recently told Radio Free Skaro that there is more to come regarding Missy, stating that in Death In Heaven "You find out who Missy is". So did we not already?
Also, Michelle Gomez spoke with MTV about episode 12:
"Oh, just watch it, it’s very good. You wont be disappointed – and nothing that you think is happening is happening… Nothing."I'll be quite pissed if this all turns out to be a dream that Matt Smith is having. Surely Steven Moffat wouldn't go all Dallas/Bobby/Shower on us would he? Nah...
But maybe Missy is someone else playing mind games with the Doctor. After all you'll remember that she said the Doctor left her for dead, well he didn't really ever leave the Master for dead, did he? The Master chose to sacrifice himself during The End Of Time. And where did this whole "boyfriend" thing come from? Clearly there are more revelations to come regarding Missy. And more speculation from moi throughout.
2. Who is Seb?
Let's go with the idea that Missy definitely is the Master. Does that mean that Seb is her assistant? Her traveling companion? Her Clara? Do the initials S.E.B. stand for something?
Or could it be that Seb is actually the Master? And Missy is his Mobile Intelligent Systems Interface. Seb is talking to the Doctor through Missy. Bit of a long shot that, but there is likely much more to Seb than we know.
3. Who is Clara?
This could be the biggest question of them all. Watch the trailer above where Clara states that "Clara Oswald has never existed"... What the what?
Clara has been so important all season, yet going in to it we all thought the mystery of the Impossible Girl had been resolved and we were going to have some uncomplicated assistant, just like the old days. Clearly not!
There were always loads of unanswered questions about her. We still don't know why those years were missing from her diary, and who gave her the TARDIS telephone number? Was it Missy? Did she deliberately plant 'Clara' into the Doctor's life? After all, during Flatline Missy watched her on her iPad (thanks Mr Jobs) and stated: "Clara, my Clara. I have chosen well".
Or, as discussed in more detail here, is Clara a version of someone we met during the Tenth Doctor's era? (Scan the post-it notes above for a possible potential clue)
One more thought, at the end of The Name of the Doctor, did Clara Oswald ever come out of the Doctor's time stream? Or did Matt Smith rescue someone/something else? The Great Intelligence perhaps?
Crikey, imagine a finale with the Doctor, the Master/Missy, the Cybermen and the Great Intelligence!
4. How does the Nethersphere actually work?
We know it's a Gallifreyan hard drive. Which is used as a storage device for the souls of dead Time Lords (as featured in The Deadly Assassin and The Ultimate Foe). But how are these souls being transplanted into physical Cyberman bodies? Is it something to do with this...
There really is an App for everything these days!
Also, going right back to Deep Breath, Missy's first 'victim' was a robot. Did he have a soul that could be placed inside a Cyberman? Seems unlikely. And exactly how is Missy harvesting them all in the first place? Does she materialise her TARDIS around them just prior to death (a'la the Doctor and Journey Blue during Into The Dalek)?
Whilst on the subject of Missy's TARDIS, is St. Paul's Cathedral? It was hinted at it being the red phone box outside, but I've been in St. Paul's and the last time I checked there wasn't a mausoleum full of dark water tanks!
5. What's going on with Danny Pink's 'secret'
Thanks to Dark Water we discovered the 'truth' behind Danny Pink's tears at the start of Into The Dalek. During his time as a soldier he shot and killed a young boy. A terrible weight to carry around, but clearly something that is vitally important in Death In Heaven.
You see, we had the Cybermen reveal themselves.
We had Missy reveal herself to be the Master.
Two amazing potential cliffhangers BUT the final shot of Dark Water was the image above, with Danny considering the 'Delete' button, and the faint reflection of that young boy visible in his iPad.
Does everything happen for a reason, or has something been planned?
6. What's with all the colours?
Although this theme kind of disappeared during the second half of series 8, it seems more than a little co-incidental that in many episodes we had people with colourful names. Danny Pink, Journey Blue, Morgan Blue, Will Scarlet, Vastra "the green one", ....er Murray Gold?
We've discussed it in more detail here, but Steven Moffat rarely does something like that without it ultimately meaning something, and with the Doctor's 'silver' nemesis involved in the finale what is the connection?
7. What's up with the Doctor's appearance?
We've been promised that Russell T Davies had an idea to explain why Peter Capaldi looks familiar, and it will be included at some point. Could that be during Death In Heaven? After all, there was a subtle nod towards his time in Pompeii during Dark Water, when the Doctor spoke about lava - "It's rubbish".
8. Who is Doctor Skarosa
The scientific genius and deceased founder of 3W was sat in a tomb of Dark Water in Dr Chang's office. It can't have escaped anyone that Doctor Skarosa's name contains the word Skaro! Coincidence? I think not.
Which scientific genius from Skaro is usually found sat down?
Crikey, imagine a finale with the Doctor, the Master/Missy, the Cybermen, the Great Intelligence and a newly cyber-upgraded Davros!
9. Is the Doctor a good man?
A big theme in the series, and it could be the clue behind it all. What if Missy is the evil side of the Doctor personified. Split during regeneration, the Doctor knowing he is not complete but unsure if he is the good half or not.
It could explain why they both refer to Clara the same way - "Clara, my Clara". And it could be explained that Missy believes herself to be the Master as it's the only way she can make sense of the insane situation. Another long shot, but the Master and the Doctor really are two sides of a coin. So this idea could in theory work.
10. Will Danny be rescued?
Initially my first thought on this was yes, of course. After all Orson Pink showed us that Clara and Danny must have at least one child, so they're going to have to get jiggy wit' it, and I don't suppose there is an App for that (not yet anyway). But on further scanning of those post-its I'm now not so sure that Clara and Danny will have their happily ever after.
When Clara called P.E. at the start of Dark Water she said "Things to say, not all of them good", and we had a brief shot of a post-it saying 'THREE MONTHS'! Then later the Doctor scanned Clara and found her to be "quite the mess of chemicals". So can we assume that she is three months pregnant?
I think Danny may end up being the hero of the hour (literally, Death In Heaven is an hour long - boom, boom). I'm only guessing here but I think Dan Dan the Soldier Man may save the young boy from Cyber-conversion but in the process end up converted himself. Eventually coming face to face with the Doctor and Clara, after scanning her he discovers she is carrying his child, which triggers a memory. CyberDan then sets about neutralising the whole Cyberman/Missy threat. I think the course of action will cost him his life, but he has some kind of redemption in saving the young boy, along with saving the world, the Doctor, Clara, and his unborn child.
With it being heavily rumoured that Jenna Coleman is leaving the show during the Christmas episode, this could be a very good way to write the character out. After everything that has happened in series 8 it would be very difficult to come up with a reason believable enough for Clara to want to stop travelling with the Doctor. Motherhood would work though. Single motherhood.
There are likely loads more things that need resolving, so feel free to chime in with your pressing questions, and possible solutions.
But will any of these questions be answered during Death In Heaven?
I sure hope so!
Geek. Lover. Fighter. Dwarf. Follow Wil on Twitter.
