History Recap / DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls

The Harold Saxon and Missy incarnations of the Master have joined forces not only with each other but with an army of Mondasian Cybermen the former helped bring into being, in a city on a gigantic colony spaceship ''still'' trapped in a black hole's event horizon. It is the Day of the Master at last, a day to destroy the Doctor for "good" and embark upon conquest of the universe...Or is it?

[[ForegoneConclusion Whatever happens, it ends with the Doctor alone in a snowy wasteland...]]

'''Nardol:''' Yeah, right.\\

'''Nardol:''' I heard you the first time.

* TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised: The "Twice Upon a Time" {{Novelization}} explains that Nardole lived for almost five centuries after this episode's events, and was successful enough at defeating later Cyberman invasions that he and the farmers only had to deal with Cybermat infestations in the spring by the time he died! More information appears in the Website/YouTube short "The Best of Days", released in 2020.

** Returning from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E6Extremis Extremis]]" mid-season is "Without hope, without witness, without reward."

Written by Creator/StevenMoffat and continuing on from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime World Enough and Time]]", this is the Series 10 finale of ''Doctor Who''. Its denouement continues directly into the 2017 ChristmasEpisode to form a three-part GrandFinale for Creator/PeterCapaldi's tenure as the Twelfth Doctor

-->-- '''The Doctor''' to '''Missy''' and '''the Master'''

Written by Creator/StevenMoffat and continuing on from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime World Enough and Time]]", this is the Series 10 finale of ''Doctor Who''. Its denouement continues directly into the 2017 ChristmasEpisode to form a three-part GrandFinale for the Twelfth Doctor (Creator/PeterCapaldi).

The one where [[DarkestHour the end is near for many]], yet a new beginning awaits for the lucky few.

The Harold Saxon and Missy incarnations of the Master have joined forces not only with each other but the Mondasian Cybermen the former helped bring into being, in a city on a gigantic colony spaceship ''still'' trapped in a black hole's event horizon. It is the Day of the Master at last, a day to destroy the Doctor for "good" and embark upon conquest of the universe...Or is it?

** The Doctor by the end; as far as he knows Bill is the ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven second companion]]'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent in a row he failed to save]] ([[Recap/DoctorWho2015CSTheHusbandsOfRiverSong and the third he lost after River met her destined fate]]), he knows Nardole has a hard road ahead of him, and he believes he failed to redeem Missy -- and his wanting to do that was how all this trouble began for the others. And on top of all that he begins to regenerate. Twelve, who went from a grumpy old goat unsure of his moral alignment to a much kinder soul who is ''most definitely a hero'', can't bear the thought of changing ''again'' and he simply ''refuses'' to regenerate -- he doesn't choose not to like the Master did in the [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E13LastOfTheTimeLords Series 3 Finale]], but rather uses his sheer willpower to stop the process as it begins repeatedly. ''Six times!''

[[caption-width-right:350:A Doctor with grey hair faces the Mondasian Cybermen in a final battle that will take a great toll on his life. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet Does that sound familiar?]] [[TheCameo It]] [[Creator/DavidBradley should!]] [[note]]From left to right: [[FutureMeScaresMe The Master]], [[HazyFeelTurn the Master]], [[TheHero the Doctor]] and [[UnwillingRoboticisation Bill Potts]].[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:A Doctor with grey hair faces the Mondasian Cybermen in a final battle that will take a great toll on his life. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet Does that sound familiar?]] [[TheCameo It]] [[Creator/DavidBradley should!]] [[note]]From left to right: [[FutureMeScaresMe The Master]], [[HazyFeelTurn The Master]], [[TheHero the Doctor]] and [[UnwillingRoboticisation Bill Potts]].[[/note]]]]

* ForTheEvulz: We have the return of everyone's favorite/dreaded [[ImAHumanitarian people-eating Master]] who [[KillEmAll destroys things for fun]], once employed a whole race of beings that did the exact same thing (the Toclafane), and is [[AxCrazy certifiably off the charts on the insane-o-meter]], and his future self, who has had time to grow BoredWithInsanity and may or may not have drifted past that line of thinking by now. As the main action begins, the Doctor's at their mercy and the two Masters are discussing how exactly they're going to kill him -- and taunting him about it.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: There's a racial subtext to Bill's UnwillingConversion, as she's literally dehumanised (Saxon calling her an "it") and told she's not allowed to be angry otherwise she'll harm someone, in a nod to how many black women are told to keep their emotions in check.

** The Twelfth Doctor offers a child a jelly baby from a paper bag, ala the Fourth Doctor. Twelve previously had a cigarette case full of jelly babies in "Mummy on the Orient Express".

* ResidualSelfImage: Although Bill has been converted into a Cyberman, she (and the audience most of the time) still sees herself as a human. The Doctor explains that her brain is coping with the trauma of conversion by acting as a perception filter over her body.

* ResidualSelfImage: Bill

* KnifeNut: Apparently, Missy is skilled enough with a knife that she can stab you and then give you a rough idea of how long you have left to live based on how she inflicted the wound... which gives Saxon just enough time to find his TARDIS and have a cup of tea.

** This episode serves as one to Missy's story. The Master kills Missy permanently, while Missy fatally injures the Master -- which leads to him eventually regenerating into her, setting the stage for her whole life's actions.

* BrickJoke: During the FinalBattle, the Doctor boasts to a Cyberman that he's the original Doctor. At the end of the episode, the First Doctor appears and sets him straight!

** The Doctor cites various examples of Cybermen throughout history, including [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet Mondas]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen Telos]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel Earth]] (specifically [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday Canary Wharf]]), [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion Planet 14]], [[Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine Marinus]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Voga]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E6TheMoonbase the Moon]].

** As in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]], the second part of the two-parter that brought the Cybermen into the revival series, an aircraft drops a rope ladder to rescue the protagonists from the roof of a Cyberman facility, and just like in that episode a Cyberman grabs onto the ladder as well, though in this case it's Bill.

** The Eleventh Doctor's grand finale [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]] saw him spend 800 years on Trenzalore keeping the farm town of Christmas safe from all the enemies attracted to him and the Time Lords' crack in the universe. The Twelfth Doctor now faces ''his'' end defending the Mondasians' farm town from enemies.

** The Master's last regeneration was caused by being killed by a woman. Here, he ends up getting being forced to regenerate by a woman again.

** For the second time, the Doctor states [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "Hello. I'm the Doctor."]]

* CharacterDevelopment: The 12th Doctor is a man who referred to Clara as his carer because "she cares so I don't have to". Compare that to his NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech, where he says that he does all this stuff ''because'' he cares.
* CardCarryingVillain: Saxon is, as ever, an unrepentant dick to the Doctor, and to himself as Missy, in whom he [[FutureMeScaresMe doesn't like the idea of developing empathy for others]]. In the end, he wounds Missy severely [[HeelFaceDoorSlam precisely so he WON'T turn good]].

** When TheMaster and [[GenderBender Missy]] are contemplating how to kill the Doctor, they're asking him questions how he's died in the past before. Drowned? Burned? Blade? Missy quips at one point she ''knows'' he's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis fallen]] once.
** The "burning" line could be the Master wanting to get his own back for what the Doctor did to him in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E5PlanetOfFire Planet of Fire]]".

** Once again, a Cyberman tells the Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel that Cybermen don't require doctors]].

** When the Doctor is by himself, facing off all the Cybermen, he lists all the times he's met them and beaten them.

* ContinuitySnarl: The previous episode contradicts [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet "The Tenth Planet"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E1AttackOfTheCybermen "Attack of the Cybermen"]] on the explanation of the Cybermen's origin. The earlier two serials state that they originated on Mondas (with "Attack" remedying a claim in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen "Tomb of the Cybermen"]] that they instead came from Telos by saying that they simply fled there once Mondas blew up), but "World Enough and Time" says that they were born on the colony ship. The Doctor explains these contradictions by saying that the Cybermen are not so much a unique culture as a societal pathology that any culture that achieves a certain level of IT and biotechnology is at risk of falling into. It ''also'' explains how the Cybus Cybermen have [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen a totally different origin in an alternate universe]] but are, well, Cybermen. ''And'' since Cybermen of different origins can look the same by technological convergence, especially given the ubiquity of HumanAliens in the Whoniverse, as proven by this ship having some of every kind of Cyberman we've ever seen, it explains any time any particular Cyberman variant was seen where it shouldn't have been.

* DarkestHour: The Twelfth Doctor faces perhaps his greatest challenge -- never before in the televised canon has a Doctor had to face two Masters at once, and multiple generations of Cybermen on top of that. The only comparable crisis he's faced was his own confession dial in "Heaven Sent".

-->'''Saxon:''' Now, that...was really ''very'' nicely done.\\

* {{Defictionalization}}: More of a sideways move from one fiction to another. David Bradley, who previously played Creator/WilliamHartnell in ''Film/AnAdventureInSpaceAndTime'', now appears as the First Doctor himself in this episode.

-->'''Doctor:''' You never could drive.
* DyingAlone: Both Masters are alone when they perish; while Saxon will regenerate, it is possible Missy will not. It's subsequently teased for both Bill Potts, who appears to be the last living thing on Floor 507 before its destruction until Heather returns, and the Twelfth Doctor, who comes ''very close'' to this two times over at the episode's end. The first time he faces being KilledOffForReal, the second it's simply the metaphorical death of his current self, which he puts off.

* EvolutionaryLevels: The Cybermen rapidly evolve through their various incarnations from the point of view of the protagonists, although from the perspective of the Cybermen this is happening across several generations. As ever with this trope, this is NOT how evolution works in RealLife and these Cybermen should have neither the resources nor the vision to turn into their modern day versions just because a lot of time has passed, but it's what the show runs with regardless.

* ExactWords: When Saxon arrogantly declares that he can deal with the Cybermen without assistance, the Doctor responds "Knock yourself out!"... which Missy does, via a TapOnTheHead to Saxon.

'''Doctor:''' I'm not ''a'' doctor. I'm ''the'' Doctor. The original, you might say.

** Saxon considers turning good to be this -- so much so that he kills his future self, Missy, to prevent her from having a HeelFaceTurn. He even gives her a full laser blast so she can't regenerate, apparently killing her permanently.

* ForegoneConclusion: From the beginning of "World Enough and Time", the audience has known that this is the story of how and why the Twelfth Doctor regenerates...[[DyingAlone alone]]. But upon reaching that point, it's then revealed first that he is ''still'' able to put it off, and second that he isn't as alone as he thinks.

** Missy tells the Saxon-Master that she doesn't really remember her regeneration into her current form. The Saxon-Master later remarks that it's weird she doesn't remember any of the current events, and she points out that due to both of them being present, the "timelines are out of synch", meaning that he won't be able to retain his memories of whatever happens, so she doesn't have them. This clues in the savvy viewer that the Saxon-Master's regeneration into Missy will happen during these events.

** The farmhouse, a normal-looking structure surrounded by a gray (stone) exterior parallels Bill, who see her inner self as "normal," but has a gray (metal) exterior.

* ContinuitySnarl: The previous episode contradicts [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet "The Tenth Planet"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E1AttackOfTheCybermen "Attack of the Cybermen"]] on the explanation of the Cybermen's origin. The earlier two serials state that they originated on Mondas (with "Attack" remedying a claim in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen "Tomb of the Cybermen"]] that they instead came from Telos by saying that they simply fled there once Mondas blew up), but "World Enough and Time" says that they were born on the colony ship. The Doctor explains these contradictions by says that the Cybermen are not so much a unique culture as a societal pathology that any culture that achieves a certain level of IT and biotechnology is at risk of falling into. It ''also'' explains how the Cybus Cybermen have [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen a totally different origin in an alternate universe]] but are, well, Cybermen. ''And'' since Cybermen of different origins can look the same by technological convergence, especially given the ubiquity of HumanAliens in the Whoniverse, as proven by this ship having some of every kind of Cyberman we've ever seen, it explains any time any particular Cyberman variant was seen where it shouldn't have been.

** When the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration begins, there's a montage of all his revival-era companions (barring Adam, Mickey, and Rory) saying his name - a ContinuityNod to them ''and'' to the Fifth Doctor hallucinating past companions in his final moments.
** First Doctor's appearance...

* ContinuitySnarl: "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and the previous episode both contradict "The Tenth Planet" on the explanation of the Cybermen's origin. "Tomb" said the Cybermen came from Telos, "World" says they were born on the colony ship and "The Tenth Planet" said they originated on Mondas proper. The Doctor explains these contradictions by says that the Cybermen are not so much a unique culture as a societal pathology that any culture that achieves a certain level of IT and biotechnology is at risk of falling into. (It ''also'' explains how the other dimension's Cybermen have a totally different origin but are, well, Cybermen. ''And'' since Cybermen of different origins can look the same by technological convergence, especially given the ubiquity of HumanAliens in the Whoniverse, as proven by this ship having some of every kind of Cyberman we've ever seen, it explains any time any particular Cyberman variant was seen where it shouldn't have been.)
** Sixth Doctor story "Attack of the Cybermen" explained that Telos was not the Cybermen's homeworld - after the events of "Tenth Planet" resulted in their homeworld of Mondas blowing up, the survivors escaped to the planet Telos, where they enslaved the native Telosians into building cryonic chambers for them (Telos and Telosians were famous for their refrigeration technologies), and ultimately wiped out the Telosians. Any Telosians that the Sixth Doctor did save in that episode were very probably doomed to die eventually or flee to other worlds.

'''Master:''' I suppose, what we're ''really'' asking, [[FoeYay my dear]], is... Well...\\

** Moffat's first and last two-parters for the modern series have a CharacterActionTitle about the Doctor, which are explored in the episodes as vital character beats with Rose inviting the Ninth Doctor to dance with her in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]] and the Twelfth Doctor declaring to both the Master and Missy that where he stands is where he falls.