capalxii:

loversandantiheroes:

I am…I’m a little speechless.  There’s a lot I want to address about this episode, Clara’s actions chief among them, but I need to get this off my chest first.

Twelve was amazing.  Utterly and totally amazing.  It’s already been stated – and rather beautifully at that – that the Doctor was willing to go into Hell for Clara, to rescue someone on her behalf, someone that she’s intended to give her heart to rather than him.  That in and of itself is amazing, but that’s not what left me stunned, that’s not what hit me out of this episode.

What hit me is that he knew, right from the start, what she was doing.  How could he not?  If there is anyone in the universe that would’ve recognized the look on Clara’s face from the first second he saw her, or heard the barest tremor in her voice, it’s him.  If there is anyone in the universe that understands not just grief, but guilt and desperation, it’s the Doctor.

Please let this sink in for a moment folks, because at the end of Flatline we saw Clara grow to understand the Doctor a little better and in doing so we saw him catch a reflection of himself in Clara and react with a great deal of worry.  Here we saw the Doctor again see himself reflected very very clearly in Clara, in her guilt and her desperation.  The utter worst of him that he has been trying to run from and forget for so long, and he does not react with anger, but with understanding.  

She expects him to lash out, she expects to be cast out and cut off for what she’s done and instead she finds what she should have known from the very start: the Doctor has her back.

Yes, so much of this is born of love, and the simple fact that for the people he loves he will move mountains and planets and entire galaxies if he is able.  But I cannot overlook the fact that even after that betrayal, and he makes it clear he does feel it very keenly after all, the acceptance and understanding on his face when she asks why he would help her after what she just did, after what she just proved she would do…there is no indignation, there is no self-righteousness, there is no lesson to be taught to the fallen pupil.  There is love and there is understanding.

that opener was brilliant, wasn’t it? Clara was utterly broken (standing in the street staring into space!?) for who even knows how long, a few days at least, and was absolutely desperate—and Twelve knows because he has been there himself and because he knows her. What’s interesting is his reaction was telegraphed back in Time Heist, after he realizes why the Teller was doing the things it was doing, out of desperation to save a loved one. And so when he sees Clara breaking down sobbing, saying that she’d do it again in a tone of voice that made it sound like she was disgusted with herself—he’d gotten it before, had known something was wrong, but that just cemented it for him. His Clara was in pain and if he has the means to put an end to that, he will, even if it means literally going to hell to do it.