mslavenza:

themagicofvenice:

Exclusive inside look at Dark Water – Clara Oswald

The Doctor allowed Clara to go through the motions of threatening him. It was something she needed to get out of her system – to scream, to cry, to get angry – and gave her the space to do that and played along.
The things she did and said were hurtful and extreme, but he just let her do it; he took every hit, probably because he knows better than anyone how much death hurts.

When the Doctor smiles as Clara cries in anguish having thrown away the last of the seven TARDIS keys, he is not gloating, even though he was about to prove to her that he was still in ultimate control. Rather, the Doctor is feeling joyous that he has broken through to whatever has been eating away at Clara. By manipulating her into a situation where she can cry the tears her Gran had unsuccessfully encouraged her to shed, the Doctor achieves a breakthrough.

This is what Peter explains in a few simple words, of great meaning. If his acting wasn’t enough – and it was really the epitome of expressiveness is every single look – Peter’s words tersely tell how much Clara means to his Doctor and how unconditional, beyond words, beyond labels, his care is.

Something that speaks louder than the never-said “I love you” of the Davies era ever could. Without resorting to any of the wide-eyed “go big” acting that Smith or Tennant would have used for it.
It’s a moment of unprecedented emotional depth in which all set up, so utterly perfectly, for the best line of the season – “do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?” – delivered with such a sublime calm that just Capaldi could, and that also demonstrates that the showrunner truly understands this Doctor.