History Recap / DoctorWhoS34E1DeepBreath

* NoodleIncident: Vastra has met Marcus Aurelius, last of the Five Good Roman Emperors, saying he was "a superlative bass guitarist. The Doctor really knows how to put a band together."

Written by Creator/StevenMoffat. The first episode of Series 8 and the first episode to fully feature the [[Creator/PeterCapaldi Twelfth Doctor]]. Touting a feature-length run time of 76 minutes, this premiere is the most likely reason why Series 8 has only 12 episodes as opposed to the traditional 13, almost taking up the time of two normal-length episodes. It also featured the return of the Clockwork Droids, first seen in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace The Girl in the Fireplace]]" (albeit in a somewhat different form).

* ExtraLongEpisode: The story clocks in at a solid 76 minutes, appropriate for an episode that show cinematic releases. For a time, it held the record of being the longest single episode in the Revival Series until the 87-minute [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor "The Power of the Doctor"]] beat it out eight years later.

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: The dinosaur in the first part of the episode is fairly accurate for a ''T. rex'', but two or three times the size of any therapod that ever lived. This is lampshaded when [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything Jenny and Vastra discuss this very issue]], with Jenny claiming that the fossils she's seen don't measure up to the living thing before them, while Vastra then points out that she was there and that they were generally that size.

* ArtisticLicencePaleontology: The dinosaur in the first part of the episode is fairly accurate for a ''T. rex'', but two or three times the size of any therapod that ever lived. This is lampshaded when [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything Jenny and Vastra discuss this very issue]], with Jenny claiming that the fossils she's seen don't measure up to the living thing before them, while Vastra then points out that she was there and that they were generally that size.

* BorrowedCatchphrase: The password used by Clara to bring the Paternoster Gang into action happens to be the Eleventh Doctor's old CatchPhrase, "Geronimo". The Twelfth Doctor even correctly guesses it.
* BreakTheCutie: Clara gets put through the proverbial wringer in this one. Having to deal with a regenerated Time Lord is one thing, but she also has to deal with killer robots, being nearly abandoned by the Doctor, and Strax being Strax. She also has to put up with quite a lot of insults, both from Vastra (who is, admittedly, performing a SecretTestOfCharacter on her) and the Doctor (who appears to have got a lot more blunt in his new body).
* BrickJoke: In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]", Clara calls up the Doctor saying in a panicked tone that he is her boyfriend and the Doctor agrees with much glee. Here, the Doctor bluntly tells her that he is not her boyfriend.
* BriefAccentImitation: Vastra, who already speaks with a slight Scottish lilt, exaggerates it for the Doctor's benefit. Clara briefly (and poorly) attempts a Scottish accent at the end.

-->'''Half-Faced Man:''' [[ICannotSelfTerminate "Self-destruction is against my basic programming."]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' "And murder is against mine!" ''(A few minutes later)'' "I think one of us [[ImpliedDeathThreat was lying about our basic programming]]."

-->'''Half-Face Man:''' "I killed an ancient, beautiful creature for ''one inch'' of optic nerve. What do you think you can accomplish, little man?"

-->'''Vagabond:''' "I don't like it!"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "What?"\\
'''Vagabond:''' "Your face!"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "Well, I don't like it either! Well, it's alright up until the eyebrows -- then it just goes ''haywire!''" ''[points two fingers at his brows]'' "Look at the eyebrows!" ''[wiggles them]'' "These are ''ATTACK'' eyebrows -- you could take ''bottle tops'' off with these!"\\
'''Vagabond:''' "They are mighty eyebrows indeed, sir."\\
'''The Doctor:''' "They're '''''CROSS!''''' They're crosser than the rest of my face. They're ''independently'' cross! They probably want to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} secede]] from the rest of my face and set up their own independent state of ''eyebrows!''"

-->'''Vastra:''' "It is our intent to leave. If it is your intent to stop us, then I suggest we get down to business."

--->'''The Doctor:''' "You can't patch up a spaceship using human remains. [-This is really [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace ringing a bell]].-]"

-->'''The Doctor:''' "I was being chased by a giant dinosaur, but I think I've given it the slip!"\\

'''The Doctor:''' "''You'' have a dinosaur, '''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint too]]?!!'''"

-->'''Half-Face Man:''' "Your friend is intelligent. He'll know better than to follow me."\\

'''Clara:''' "Sorry. Did I hit something?"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "Oh, [[FreudWasRight the symbolism]]".

--->'''The Doctor:''' "Clara, I'm not your boyfriend."\\
'''Clara:''' "[[BetterAsFriends I never thought you were.]]"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "I never said it was ''your'' mistake."

-->'''The Doctor:''' "So you've got a whole room for not being awake in. But what's the point? You're just missing the room."

-->'''The Doctor:''' "Sorry! Sorry, it's all my fault! My time machine got stuck in your throat, it happens! I brought you along by accident! That's mostly how I meet girls."

-->'''The Doctor:''' "You can't see me, can you? You look at me and you can't see me. [[{{Tearjerker}} Do you have any idea what that's like?]]"

-->'''The Doctor:''' "Everyone, take five!" ''[splat]''

-->'''The Doctor:''' "[[LastOfHisKind I am alone.]] [[TheDreaded The world which shook at my feet]], and the [[DoomedHometown trees and the sky, have gone]]. And I am alone now. Alone."\\
'''Clara:''' "Are you translating?"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "The wind bites now, and the [[AlienSky world is grey]], and I am alone here. Can't see me... Doesn't see me... Can't see me..."\\
'''Clara:''' "Who can't see it? I think all of London can see it."

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: Mancini's family restaurant turns out to be a front for the clockwork robots' organ farm. T

* AccidentalPervert: "May I take your clothes?" Oh, Strax.

* AlienSky:
** When the unconscious Doctor seems to translate the dinosaur's cries, including that the wind bites coldly and the sky is all different. Although it's later implied that it's ''himself'', not the ''T. rex'', that he was really speaking for.
** Used for a BaitAndSwitch when the episode opens with the T-rex roaring against a primeval sky... which turns out to be Victorian London.

-->'''Half-Faced Man:''' [[ICannotSelfTerminate Self-destruction is against my basic programming.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' ''Murder is against mine!''...'' (A few minutes later)'' I think one of us [[ImpliedDeathThreat was lying about our basic programming]].
* AmbiguousSituation: Lampshaded with the Half-Face Man's death. When he suddenly appears in a place called Paradise, Missy asks if he was pushed out or jumped of his own free will, since that part isn't shown, only the landing. Either way, it cannot be denied that the Doctor was at least highly culpable in his death.
* AmusingInjuries: Strax asks Clara if she wants him to send up the paper. When Clara says yes, from the first floor window, Strax pitches it up at her and nails her in the head. (She doesn't appear to be hurt, as a short while later she's seen walking around just fine. She doesn't even scold Strax about it.)

* ArcWords: The Promised Land, alternatively known as Paradise.

* ArtisticLicencePaleontology: The dinosaur in the first part of the episode is fairly accurate for a ''T. rex'', but two or three times the size of any therapod that ever lived. This is lampshaded when [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything Jenny and Vastra discuss this very issue]], with Jenny claiming that the fossils she's seen don't measure up to the living thing before them, while Vastra then points out that she was ''there'' and ''then'' and that they were generally that size.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: The Half-Face Man, despite getting impaled on the Westminster Palace Clock Tower (the one which has Big Ben in it), wakes up in Paradise unharmed.

* AnAssKickingChristmas: From Clara's perspective, the events of the preceding episode, "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]", the regeneration, the unseen events leading to the TARDIS being swallowed by the dinosaur and heading to London, the dressing down by Vastra, and witnessing the death of the dinosaur as the Doctor vanishes, all take place over the course of ''a single Christmas Day''. (Her Boxing Day is no less eventful.)

-->'''Half-Face Man:''' I killed an ancient, beautiful creature for ''one inch'' of optic nerve. What do you think you can accomplish, little man?

** Hinted to be the reason why the Doctor previously assumed younger faces -- to be accepted in society. Twelve is a rare case where the veil comes off and the Doctor shows his true age and merit. This also harks back to River Song calling the Eleventh Doctor a centuries-old god with the face of a twelve-year-old, which perhaps means she would love the new face.

** Jenny lampshades how, although her role as Vastra's maid is ostensibly a façade to conceal their lesbian marriage, she somehow ends up being the one who pours the tea even in private.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: For something unimportant, anyway. Marcus Aurelius, last of the Five Good Roman Emperors, was, according to Vastra, "a superlative bass guitarist. The Doctor really knows how to put a band together."
* BerserkButton:
** In the same scene, Madame Vastra calls out Clara for her crush on the Doctor, which pisses her off to the point where she gives a pretty awesome ReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech to Vastra for assuming she knew everything about her.
** Jenny makes it into a Crowning Moment of Funny by applauding. Presumably, very few people have the nerve to put the missus in her place.
** She then gets just the tiniest bit jealous when Vastra flirts with Clara for losing her temper.
--->'''Jenny:''' OI! ''[[[DopeSlap smacks Vastra in the head]], who hisses in response]'' Married!

** Played with; the Paternoster Gang arrive at the lower level of Mancini's and proceed to kick ass and take names. Vastra and Jenny gracefully arrive by descending to the floor on ribbons like circus acrobats, while Strax fails to pull it off quite as stylishly and crashes straight to the floor. Vastra tells him to stick to taking the stairs.

-->'''Vagabond:''' I don't like it!\\
'''The Doctor:''' What?\\
'''Vagabond:''' Your face!\\
'''The Doctor:''' Well, I don't like it either! Well, it's alright up until the eyebrows -- then it just goes ''haywire!'' ''[points two fingers at his brows]'' Look at the eyebrows! ''[wiggles them]'' These are ''ATTACK'' eyebrows -- you could take ''bottle tops'' off with these!\\
'''Vagabond:''' They are mighty eyebrows indeed, sir.\\
'''The Doctor:''' They're '''''CROSS!''''' They're crosser than the rest of my face. They're ''independently'' cross! They probably want to [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} secede]] from the rest of my face and set up their own independent state of ''eyebrows!''
* BigShutUp: The Doctor gives one to the homeless man, [[FunnyBackgroundEvent who promptly clamps his own hands over his mouth]].

** Clara's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn first]] and last interactions with the Eleventh Doctor are over the phone. In fact, it's the ''same'' phone.

* BorrowedCatchphrase: The password used by the Doctor and Clara to bring the Paternoster Gang into action happens to be the Eleventh Doctor's old CatchPhrase, "Geronimo". The Doctor even correctly guesses it.
* BreakTheCutie: Clara gets put through the proverbial wringer in this one. Having to deal with a regenerated Time Lord is one thing, but she also has to deal with killer robots, being nearly abandoned by the Doctor, and ''Strax''. She also has to put up with quite a lot of insults, both from Vastra (who is, admittedly, performing a SecretTestOfCharacter on her) and the Doctor (who appears to have got a lot more blunt in his new body).
* BrickJoke:
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]", Clara calls up the Doctor saying in a panicked tone that he is her boyfriend and the Doctor agrees with much glee. Here, in what is later revealed to be the most Blatant of BlatantLies, the Doctor bluntly tells her that he is not her boyfriend.
** Toward the end of "The Time of the Doctor", before entering the TARDIS the last time, Clara notices that the phone handset is hanging from the TARDIS door. At the end of the episode, the 11[[superscript:th]] Doctor calls Clara from Trenzalore and asks her to look after his future self. Clara realises that that's why the handset was hanging there; the Doctor had called her one last time.
** At the end of the episode, Clara puts the Doctor [[YouGetMeCoffee in charge of fetching coffee]]. She gets it [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek three weeks later]].
* BriefAccentImitation:
** Vastra, who already speaks with a slight Scottish lilt, exaggerates it for the Doctor's benefit.
** Clara briefly (and poorly) attempts a Scottish accent at the end.

-->'''Vastra:''' It is our intent to leave. If it is your intent to stop us then I suggest we get down to business.

--->'''The Doctor:''' You can't patch up a spaceship using human remains. [-This is really [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace ringing a bell]].-]

** The Doctor mentions the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn phone call which first led Clara to Eleven]], then asks how it is she was given the number to his TARDIS when it was supposed to be for a tech support line.

* TheCameo: A very weak and tired [[Creator/MattSmith Eleventh Doctor]] returns to bid Clara goodbye before regenerating on Trenzalore. He tells her he's just as scared as she is about the new guy and to help out his regenerated self. But he's not too keen on becoming older or, worse, ''grey''.
* CatchPhrase: The Eleventh Doctor's "Geronimo" gets one final outing when Clara borrows it as a code signal.

* CharacterDevelopment: The Doctor's conversation with the Half-Face Man does a good job at lampshading the Doctor's shifts in attitude since meeting Clara, and all the events that followed. In contrast to his impotent raging at the unfairness of life in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]" ("...and this is my reward!") and his cold, simmered-out surmise that "the universe doesn't care" how much work he puts into it in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen The Snowmen]]", he now tells us that he long since stopped "expect[ing] to reach the promised land" or any sort of gratefulness or reward, but [[TheAntiNihilist presents this not as a reason to give up on the world, but as a reason why it would be wiser not to cross him as he has nothing to lose or gain but the relative safety of the humans below]] and already endured (and destroyed) so much for their sake that nothing that he and Half-Face-Man could do to each other would make a difference.
* ChekhovsGunman: Courtney Woods is introduced as the insolent child in Clara's flashback memory.
* CliffhangerCopout: The cliffhanger of the previous episode (TARDIS crashing, the Doctor unable to remember how to pilot the ship) is switched out for a new one, the ''T. rex''. It's implied that they crashed into Vastra's home era (or thereabouts) and either landed in the ''T. rex'''s throat or were swallowed shortly after.

** The Twelfth Doctor's first moments are this as he suffers regeneration insanity to a greater extent than most of his predecessors. He mistakes Clara for both ''[[CompanionCube Handles]]'' and Strax (after initially thinking Strax to be one of the Seven Dwarves). Later, he rants incoherently about the pointlessness of bedrooms and thinks everyone with an English accent has developed a ''fault''. He also tries not to flirt with a dinosaur (although that, like his conversation with a cab horse, might just be an "all you Earth creatures look alike to me" thing). He gradually calms down, and by the end his final personality, while not without eccentricities, seems a lot more grounded and down-to-earth than his previous incarnation.
** Strax is in fine form. He throws a newspaper at Clara's head (hard enough to knock her over), bathes in slop-water which he graciously offers Clara when she says she's thirsty, mistakes Clara's eye for her mouth (remember, he's supposed to be a ''nurse'') and her hair for a hat, and plans to melt the Doctor with acid when he comes back for the TARDIS. When challenged about the acid thing (force of habit!) he clarifies "we will ''not'' melt him with acid" with exactly the same villainous relish.
** The police detective who witnesses the dinosaur barfing a blue police box and then suggests she just laid an egg.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Even Victorian Britain had them, as Alfie is convinced the government is somehow behind the Attack of the Fifty Foot Dinosaur. The neck is totally unrealistic!

** An amnesiac Twelfth Doctor tries introducing Clara to Vastra's posse, getting ''everything'' wrong, until he ends up mistaking Clara for [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor Handles]]. ("You've really let yourself go.")

** He has a Ninth Doctor moment on the bridge when the ''T. rex'' is killed and a human mob comes to gawk at the scene. "Why can't I find a decent species? Planet of the ''pudding brains!''"
** When Clara drops the sonic after they're both tied up and her legs aren't long enough to reach it, Twelve mutters, "Times like this, I miss [[Creator/KarenGillan Amy]]."
** When Twelve redecorates the TARDIS, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E1TheThreeDoctors Clara doesn't like it...]] [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor and Twelve mentions he wishes there were more round things on the walls]] -- [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild he had a lot of round things once]].

** Also, some of the Half-Face Man's clockwork components look like Roman handiwork to the Doctor, which means Rory wasn't the ''only'' man/construct hybrid to have been hanging around London waiting for a device to work since that era.
** Twelve's starter wardrobe seems to intentionally evoke the First Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild An Unearthly Child]]": fingerless mittens, a black overcoat, and (later) a black tailcoat.

** Twelve's delirious murmuring that "the world is grey" is reminiscent of the despair he'd experienced while ascending the mountain for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E5TheTimeMonster his childhood encounter with The Hermit]].
** Strax's repeated "melt him with acid" ''might'' rate as this: some of the last Sontarans to appear in the classic series were, themselves, melted with acid ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors The Two Doctors]]").

** Clara has the Doctor fetch her coffee, as she did during her first (apparent) encounter with Eleven in "The Bells of St John".

* CovertPervert: A scene opens with Vastra supposedly painting Jenny, who's in a low-cut dress and in a pose that displays a fair amount of cleavage. It's then revealed that Vastra is actually working on a pinboard of the Half-Face Man's murder locations and only had Jenny posed and dressed as such because she "brighten[s] the room tremendously". Suffice it to say that Jenny is upset. Vastra lamely tries to excuse it as "[[ItsNotPornItsArt art]]". Then, when Clara comes in, Vastra tells her to put her clothes on the stool.
* CrazyHomelessPeople: While rummaging through junk in an alley, the Doctor terrifies a genuine homeless person (drunk, not crazy) with his fearsome eyebrows, manic babbling and demands for the man's coat. (Fortunately, it's later revealed that the Doctor bartered his watch for it.)

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Inverted with the Half-Face Man, a robot who is implied to have ''gained'' a soul as he replaced old parts with human parts. Either that or he had one the whole time.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The Doctor makes several seemingly mad and self-depreciating statements about his new face being more aggressive, wondering what he's trying to tell himself by regenerating into such an aggressive-looking person, and his personality is a lot more confrontational than Eleven's (though this might be him adjusting to his new personality; regeneration trauma you know?). Later, he abandons Clara in the room full of human-harvesting robots with no reassurance that he'll come back for her (though he does get around to it). He later grapples with the Half-Face Man after announcing his regret at the possible need to kill him and may have (it's left ambiguous) thrown him from the escape pod to his doom.

* DidIMentionItsChristmas: It's been months for the audience (and several centuries for the Doctor), but to Clara only a day has passed since the beginning of "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]", meaning from her perspective it's Boxing Day.

* EEqualsMCHammer: The doctor scribbles equations all over the bedroom floor and walls. See RoomFullOfCrazy, below.
* ExactTimeToFailure: {{Defied|Trope}}. Strax has acquired a new medical contraption that lets him gauge the prospective lifespan of whatever he scans. ''Strongly'' disturbed by this, Clara refuses to know her potential expiry date. Nevertheless, Strax says, "Oh [[IronicEcho you're going to do quite well]], but watch out for fluid retention later -- it's going to be spectacular."
* ExtraLongEpisode: The story clocks in at a solid 76 minutes. For a time, it held the record of being the longest single episode in the Revival Series until the 87-minute [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor "The Power of the Doctor"]] beat it out eight years later.

-->'''The Doctor:''' I was being chased by a giant dinosaur, but I think I've given it the slip!\\

'''The Doctor:''' ''You'' have a dinosaur, '''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint too]]?!!'''

** Moments after regenerating, the Doctor suddenly drops like a lead weight after feeling himself blacking out. He does it several times more off-screen as he keeps waking from his bed and passing out repeatedly, then gets rendered unconscious by a backfiring psychic piano drop on Vastra.

* FieryCoverup: The Half-Face Man burned the bodies of anyone he took body parts from, leading to the newspapers reporting a rash of cases of "spontaneous combustion". Vastra points this out.
* FlashbackEcho: While being threatened by the Half-Faced Man, Clara flashes back to her first day as a teacher, when she threatened to have the whole class expelled, and a girl[[labelnote:*]]Courtney Woods[[/labelnote]] dared her to go ahead and do it. This gives her the key to dealing with the Half-Faced Man.

** The Doctor chose his new face for a reason. However, at two-thousand plus years old, and with his brain still cooking, he can't remember for the life of him what that reason was. The reason for the face is later revealed in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]". It ties back to "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii The Fires of Pompeii]]"; to remind himself that being the Doctor means saving people's lives, first and foremost.

** The Doctor describes whoever put the ad in the paper as an "egomaniac, needy, game-player". Clara is offended, but it turns out that the person who ''actually'' placed it fits the description far better than Clara ever could.
** Clara says that she doesn't have a boyfriend. She gets one this season.
* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Due to them both being tied up, the Doctor has to get Clara to awkwardly pass the sonic screwdriver to him using her feet so that he can free them, causing the latter to quip that the former should have installed a voice-activated function into the device. The Doctor's reaction causes Clara to realize that the sonic ''does'' indeed have such a feature and that he forgot all about it.
* FreezeFrameBonus: The mask the Doctor was wearing while hiding among the androids bears a striking resemblance to his previous incarnation, especially noticeable when he's pulling it off.[[note]]Because they cast it from the statue of Eleven at the Doctor Who Experience.[[/note]]
* AFriendInNeed: At the end of the episode Clara is still very uncomfortable with the Doctor's new personality and is on the verge of leaving. She then gets a temporal phone call from the Eleventh Doctor, asking her to fulfil this role for him once again, as the Twelfth Doctor is more frightened than she is.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

-->'''Half-Face Man:''' Your friend is intelligent. He'll know better than to follow me.\\

* GorgeousPeriodDress: Madam Vastra and Jenny Flint in this story wear period dresses as well as in their appearances in other episodes.

'''Clara:''' Sorry. Did I hit something?\\
'''The Doctor:''' Oh, [[FreudWasRight the symbolism]].

** When Vastra accuses Clara of seeing Eleven as her dashing young gentleman, "your lover, even," Clara dismisses this with an unconvincing laugh.

--->'''The Doctor:''' Clara, I'm not your boyfriend.\\
'''Clara:''' [[BetterAsFriends I never thought you were.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' I never said it was ''your'' mistake.
** When the Tardis phone rings, Twelve says "Better get that, it might be your boyfriend." Clara replies somewhat curtly that she doesn't have a boyfriend. It's the Eleventh Doctor.
* HesBack: The Doctor steadily regains his senses while upgrading his wardrobe: pilfering a nightgown from Vastra, a coat from the tramp and a tailored suit from one of the clockwork drones; it is when he finally dons that last (and symbolically removes a face mask [[FreezeFrameBonus resembling Matt Smith's face]] that he finally gets back up to speed. Then, at last, he goes back to his TARDIS and cements his new outfit as an indigo-toned suit with a red velvet lining and is fully aware of who he is. The hard part is getting Clara to see the Doctor underneath the new look.
* HellBentForLeather: Jenny breaks out her battle suit for the third time. As it turns out, Vastra has an identical leather outfit to her wife's which is seen for the first time.
* HiddenInPlainSight: A message is left in the local paper: "Impossible Girl: Dinner on the Other Side". Knowing the Doctor doesn't have the attention span for a complicated riddle, Clara holds the message up to the light, revealing the restaurant it's referring to on the other side of the paper.
* HideYourLesbians: The kiss between Vastra and Jenny has been edited out in some international broadcast (even though it technically is no more a kiss than artificial respiration is) but the nature of their relationship is still clear without it. Even if you haven't seen any of the previous episodes that they appeared in, they explicitly speak of themselves as married and in love so this might technically be a case of ButNotTooGay.

* InUniverseFactoidFailure: The policeman who thinks a dinosaur vomiting up a large blue box with "police" written on it has ''laid an egg''. Vastra is concerned about his grasp of basic biology.

-->'''The Doctor:''' So you've got a whole room for not being awake in. But what's the point? You're just missing the room.

* IntimateArtistry: Subverted. Jenny poses in her underwear while Vastra is working at an easel. Vastra then turns the easel around, revealing she’s not painting, but rather [[StringTheory compiling information on the Half-Face Man’s murders.]] When Jenny exasperatedly asks why she had to stand there in the first place, Vastra lamely offers, “You brighten up the room”.

** The Doctor criticizes the primary android by telling it "You probably don't even remember where you got that face from!", holding up a silver tray to reflect him. Of course, when the android takes it, the Doctor sees his own reflection, having earlier forgotten where he got his own face from (Quintus, "The Fires of Pompeii").

-->'''The Doctor:''' Sorry! Sorry, it's all my fault! My time machine got stuck in your throat, it happens! I brought you along by accident! That's mostly how I meet girls.

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: Mancini's family restaurant turns out to be a front for the clockwork robots' organ farm. Try the veal.
* {{Leitmotif}}: The Twelfth Doctor's theme, "A Good Man", is heard for the first time.

** The Doctor requests that everyone forget that he assumed the Half-Face Man placed the advertisement arranging the Doctor and Clara's meeting upon learning that the Half-Face Man has no knowledge of it. "I hate being wrong in public."
** Clara being clocked by Strax's newspaper is not spoken of when she meets him a few minutes after the fact.
* LikesOlderMen: During an angry confrontation, she is goaded by Vastra into admitting that she hasn't "the slightest interest in pretty young men" after she initially appears upset over the fact the Doctor (who she openly admitted to fancying in the previous episode) has regenerated into an older-looking man.

** A humourous application. Strax throws a large rolled-up newspaper at Clara's head with enough force to knock her down, but she seems none the worse for wear.

-->'''The Doctor:''' You can't see me, can you? You look at me and you can't see me. [[{{Tearjerker}} Do you have any idea what that's like?]]

* MoodWhiplash: Strax considering suicide was noted by fans and reviewers as sticking out during what was otherwise a generally lighthearted story.
* MythologyGag: The episode's title is "Deep Breath". Coming immediately after the cataclysmic events of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor The Name of the Doctor]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]", its relatively ''non''-epic storyline offered audiences their first chance to ''catch'' their breath in some time.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The sonic screwdriver has a hitherto unrevealed voice-activated function that could have easily gotten the Doctor and Clara out of their predicament of being tied up. Inverted in that the Doctor [[ForgotAboutHisPowers completely forgot]] that the device even possessed such a function.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: Twelve makes it clear he isn't much of a hugging person in this incarnation. In the latter case, though, Clara says it's not up to a vote, as she hugs him anyway. The Doctor continues to be anti-hugging for the remainder of the season, only to start embracing Clara's hugs (pun intended, plus the rest of her) in Series 9.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Everyone, take five! ''[splat]''

* TheNthDoctor: Creator/PeterCapaldi makes his debut as the Doctor, while Creator/MichelleGomez makes her debut as [[TheMaster Missy]].

** We never do find out how the Doctor and Clara regained control of the TARDIS and ended up inside a dinosaur. Or the events that led to both being considerably disheveled (especially Clara) upon their landing.

-->'''The Doctor:''' [[LastOfHisKind I am alone.]] [[TheDreaded The world which shook at my feet]], and the [[DoomedHometown trees and the sky, have gone]]. And I am alone now. Alone.\\
'''Clara:''' Are you translating?\\
'''The Doctor:''' The wind bites now, and the [[AlienSky world is grey]], and I am alone here. Can't see me. Doesn't see me. Can't see me.\\
'''Clara:''' Who can't see it? I think all of London can see it.
* PhoneCallFromTheDead: Not long before his demise, the Eleventh Doctor places a telephone call to Clara in the future to beg her, essentially, not to abandon him once he regenerates.
* PimpedOutDress: Clara is all abustle in her bustle dress. (Made even more impressive by the fact she somehow manages to put it on without any help right after being knocked cold by a thrown newspaper.)

** Subverted when Clara and the Doctor meet at Mancini's Family Restaurant after Clara finds the riddle in the newspaper. Clara asks him what sort of person he thinks would place a cryptic riddle in a newspaper to invite a friend to lunch instead of just asking them to lunch. The Doctor's response is "an egomaniac, needy, game-player sort of person", and Clara agrees, until she finds that he wasn't talking about himself, because he thought ''she'' made the cryptic advert.
* SerialKillerKiller: Madame Vastra is having a child poisoner for dinner. [[ColdBloodedTorture After she's finished interrogating him.]] Jenny advises Clara to [[IAmAHumanitarian stay out of the larder.]]
* ServileSnarker: Vastra tells Clara that she and Jenny are married, and they only pretend to be maid and mistress for appearances' sake. Jenny asks why in that case she still has to pour the tea in the privacy of their home.

* ShipTease:
** It's suggested the Doctor's younger look was to make himself attractive to Clara (and the rest of the universe since he did it before he ever met her). However AnchoredShip (and some suggested ShipSinking) also applies, with the Doctor adopting an older face and [[NoHuggingNoKissing more staid personality]], perhaps for this reason. When he talks of fixing his mistakes, [[HeIsNotMyBoyfriend he immediately tells Clara he's not her boyfriend]], though in such a way that confirmed the ship existed, at least in one direction. Future events paint this in a new light; mainly that both Twelve and Clara had feelings for each other, but Twelve thought Clara would only prefer Eleven, so he was letting her down easy, while Clara would want to be with him regardless and thus was hurt by this seeming rejection, leading to the following lines:
--->'''Clara:''' [[BlatantLies I never thought you were.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' I never said it was ''your'' mistake.
** Then, moments later, a supposedly brand-new character is introduced who claims the Doctor is ''her'' boyfriend.
** The Doctor tells Clara to answer her phone as "it might be your boyfriend." It's Eleven. Keep in mind that the Twelfth Doctor remembers that he made the phone call before he changed.
** Vastra fires across the "ship's" bow when she suggests to Clara that the reason why the Doctor "lifted the veil" and adopted an older face was because he truly trusted her. (After stating outright that she believes Clara saw the Eleventh Doctor as "a lover", something Clara does ''not'' deny.)
** There's a LastSecondWordSwap implied when Clara asks (in reference to the Doctor) "...if Vastra changed, if she was different, if she wasn't the person that you... [[TheILoveYouStigma liked."]]
--->'''Jenny:''' I don't like her, ma'am. I love her.

** To Trigger's broom from ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' when the Doctor tells the Half-Face Man it is like a broom that keeps replacing parts, meaning the original is gone.

** Strax throwing (i.e. ''heaving'') the rolled-up newspaper at Clara's face and knocking her to the floor. It's also worth noting that technically speaking Sontarans have no gender distinctions anyway.

* StealthHiBye: When Clara heads to the restaurant, she takes a seat at a back table and waits for the Doctor. Then she smells something awful, looks over, and the Doctor is sitting at the table.
* SteamPunk: The gauntlet Jenny uses to scan the dinosaur. The cyborgs are more [[PunkPunk Clock Punk]].
** Vastra has a Sonic Hatpin, which she uses like a modern key fob to lock the carriage door, and Strax has a Sonic Lorgnette he uses as a medical scanning device.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Although we've seen past companions freaked out or suspicious over a post-regeneration change, this is the first time a companion has seriously considered not traveling with him further. Even after Vastra's WhatTheHellHero speech, it's only a temporal phone call from the Eleventh Doctor that convinces Clara to give Twelve a chance.

* TimeSkip: When Clara joined the Doctor at the midpoint of Series 7, she was said to be 24 years old. In this episode Strax says Clara is 27, confirming a time jump of some sort occurred along the way (most likely between the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor end]] of Series 7 and "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]").

** The Doctor appears to be going to rob a homeless man of his coat, but it's revealed he traded his valuable watch for it.

** But then we're faced with the unanswered question -- did the Half-Face man jump, or was he pushed?
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil:
** Some trailers for the episode show the dinosaur's spontaneous combustion.
** Averted, in that the editing for most trailers suggested the Doctor and Clara's "Where are we going?"/"Into darkness" exchange occurs in this episode (it happens in the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek next one]]).
* TrueCompanions:
** When Strax can't hold his breath any longer, he prepares to shoot himself rather than betray his comrades. Vastra shouts for him to stop, betraying her own position instead.
** The Doctor (with his BigDamnHeroes) and Clara (by deciding to stay with Twelve) show they are [[AFriendInNeed still there for each other when it counts]].
* TwoFaced: Half-Face Man, as per his idiom, is half flesh and half metal.
* UnexplainedAccent: As the Doctor himself notices, his new incarnation inexplicably has a Scottish accent.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: From Clara's perspective, the last time she was on modern-day Earth it was Christmas Day and she'd just run out on her family in the midst of Christmas dinner. This appears to be forgotten about, as the episode ends with the Doctor returning Clara to the present, both at the wrong end of the UK and clearly ''not'' on Christmas Day 2013. We never do find out what happens with Clara's family (we don't see any of them again until her grandmother appears towards the end of Series 8).
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Clara tries to say something in a Scottish accent at the end but comes out with something... else.

* YouLookFamiliar: InUniverse, as the Doctor wonders why his face invokes déjà vu. Been to Pompeii recently, Doctor?
* YourOtherLeft: The Doctor experiences this trope ''all by himself'' while trying to verbally direct his stolen horse. He blames his confusion on having brand-new hands, which is making it hard to tell his left from his right.

* UnexpectedCharacter:
** The Eleventh Doctor makes one last cameo after his last episode. Although it had been rumoured for months that he would appear, the fact Matt Smith actually filmed a scene during production of his own finale a year earlier was successfully kept a secret until broadcast.
** Missy makes her début much earlier than the BBC itself had publicised, making this the second season premiere in a row to do this after Oswin (Clara) Oswald's surprise debut at the start of Series 7.

* IntimateArtistry: Subverted. Jenny poses in her underwear while Vastra is working at an easel. Vastra then turns the easel around, revealing she’s not painting, but rather [[StringTheory compiling information on the Half-Face Man’s murders.]] When Jenny exasperatedly asks why she had to stand there in the first place, Vastra lamely offers, “…Art?”

** "[[Creator/WaltWhitman Captain, my Captain...]]" Also happens to serve as an ''incredibly'' well-timed unintentional reference to the late Creator/RobinWilliams, who died only twelve days before this episode aired.

** The Half-Face Man is a patchwork of misshapen and unwillingly salvaged body parts, not unlike [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife Auntie and Uncle]], and comes from the SS ''Marie Antoinette'', which is the sister ship to the SS ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E4TheGirlInTheFireplace Madame de Pompadour]]''.

The one where the Doctor calls a dinosaur sexy. ItMakesSenseInContext.