The ending of Death in Heaven almost perfectly mirrors the end of act two of The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, a classic Christmas story. (skip to next paragraph if you are familiar) The story is of a poor couple at Christmas. The man’s only valuable possession is a pocket watch, for which he needs a fob, and the woman’s is her long beautiful hair, for which she needs some fancy combs (it is an old story. Presumable these are tortoise shell combs or something). The man sells his watch to buy the combs and the woman sells her hair to buy a watch fob, leaving both of them with very nice, but useless gifts, and the knowledge that they really, and I mean really, love each other. Of course the woman’s hair will grow back, and the man will still have no watch, but that is not the point.
Clara and the Doctor both think they are giving the other a gift by saying goodbye. Clara thinks the Doctor is returning to Gallifrey and doesn’t need her anymore, so she thinks she is saving him the awkwardness of kicking her out, and tells him everything is great. The Doctor thinks Clara will live happily ever after with PE, so he tells her he has found Gallifrey, to save her the discomfort of leaving him. So they have both given up their most precious things (After losing Danny, Clara needs the Doctor more than ever, and after the crushing realization that Gallifrey is still lost, and that he is again alone in the universe, the Doctor needs Clara more than ever as well). I am predicting that in the Christmas special, Santa Claus will point out to them, or better yet show them “Its a Wonderful Life” style, how much they need each other and the emptiness they have left in each others’ lives.
Its either that or Santa’s bag has a shiny new Gallifrey and a shiny new Danny in it, because however dark this series was, Moffat will kick everyone in the throat on Christmas. Christmas specials are always happy, expect for the end of time, and even that ended happily on New Years.
I think Clara and the Doctor realizing they need each other would be a perfect note because it could be a feel good happy ending without hitting a reset button again. I really liked that this series ended with actual consequences. Thoughts?