romanticzomedy:

idreamtofmanderleyagain:

kathrynmckinnons:

“Did you seriously think that that was going to work on me?”

#so a thesis#clara is the sort of person whose emotions are kept so far beneath the surface#especially the intense ones#that when they come bursting out they’re usually raw and bitter and ugly#and that’s to her credit#because she’s still an incredibly compassionate and kind woman#but she also is fully capable of being cruel and destructive#and the doctor is ALL OF THESE THINGS#he’s all these things and we love him for it#clara is all these things and people hate her for it#but the doctor understands that in this moment she has to be brutal and bitter and seething#and she has to do a terrible thing (or so she thinks) because#that’s the only way she’ll reach that last shred#that tiny final scrap of breaking apart#so she can build up again#‘i’d say i’m sorry but i’d do it again’ is that breaking point#and that’s when the doctor slowly pulls her back to her feet#and we need to remember#that she’s doing all this for LOVE#she’s doing this out of love/grief for danny#and she’s doing this to the doctor because of love and grief for him#and his ability to do the impossible#he’s her impossible hero#if anyone could bring back the dead#and give her a chance to say she’s sorry#it’d be him#but he can’t and she knows it#so she grieves and breaks all over again

OMG @romanticzomedy , your tags,  but also:

when I initially saw this scene, I didn’t like it. I felt like the whole “I’m in control!” “NO, I am!” argument was…not great, because it almost seemed to paint Clara as this tantruming child while the Doctor had everything all cool and under control, and I wasn’t fan…but looking deeper at it in retrospect, I actually love it? 

Because what actually happened here was that the Doctor caught onto the fact that Clara was about to have a full-on destructive breakdown. The scene wasn’t about how much more mature and sensible the Doctor was being. It was about Clara needing to have that breakdown and the Doctor catching her and giving her a safe space to have it in. Clara needed to lose control, and the Doctor gave her a safe non-destructive bubble where nothing could really go wrong, where he took the real wheel for her, so to speak. And that’s…actually really lovely.

YES YES YES, I mean, this scene is ugly and brutal, but in the larger perspective of their relationship it’s actually quite surprising in how tender it is underneath it all. Not on the surface, not at all, but at the heart of it, it’s Clara needing to break down after an entire series of denial and lies and repression, and it’s the Doctor knowing she needs this and letting it happen. And it has to happen, because to deny her that would be even more cruel. It’s like lancing a wound to drain the pus: something ugly has to come out so the healing can begin. And yeah that’s pretty gross, but so’s grief and sometimes, so’s love.