My thoughts on Clara’s cameo in Twice Upon a Time
We fortunately did get to see Clara and the Doctor together one last time. Unfortunately, Jenna had such a tight schedule filming the Victoria Christmas Special (which is absolutely amazing btw), that she couldn’t film that scene together with Peter. Clara’s cameo was actually the last scene Moffat filmed as a showrunner. I think it just shows what great actors Peter and Jenna are, that they were able to pull that scene off so brilliantly despite not actually being able to interact, or even see one another at all. I think they (and Moffat) did the best job they could have done under these conditions.
There are quite a few parallels between Twice Upon a Time and Hell Bent. Both are about people being extracted from the end of their lifetimes, so that they may keep on living (at least for a while), until they are returned to their time of death. In both episodes, the Doctor goes down an atypical path for him (disobeying his own rules, or trying to avoid regeneration). But then he meets Clara, finally changes his mind, and renews himself.
I thought it was very fitting for Bill to give the Doctor his memories back. Bill only became the Doctor’s companion, because he didn’t erase her memories. He only decided to spare her memories, because he knew what it was like. It’s a nice closure for Bill, that upon ending her time as his companion, she returns his memories back to him. And the Doctor getting his memories back is a beautiful way to finish his time as the Doctor, especially because of how important Clara was to him when he still remembered her, and how she still had a substantial impact when he couldn’t remember her at all.
So then he remembers Clara, and everything she said and did. And what is his reaction? He smiles from ear to ear. I don’t think the 12th Doctor ever looked happier than in that moment. He finally remembers how much he loved her and the adventures they had together.
And then he sees Clara again, one last time. I’ve seen many people state that she was also one of the glass people, implying that she was extracted from the end of her timeline again. But I don’t think so. It’s not clearly stated, but to me it is pretty obvious that he sees her as a hallucination, just as how the 11th Doctor saw Amy as a hallucination right before he regenerated. We witness how the Doctor sees Clara in that scene; she’s smiling, teasing him, her hair blowing in the wind, with golden light radiating from (behind) her. She basically looks like a goddess. He loves seeing her smile, and now he’s had the chance of seeing her smile one last time. He completely forgets everything else that is happening around him. The battlefield, Bill, everything just disappears, and all he sees is Clara. And one more thing: he imagined her significantly taller than she actually was. He looks straight ahead at her face, despite their significant height difference. That could be a parallel to Last Christmas, where Clara dreamed of Danny being taller than he actually was. Or it could be a metaphor suggesting that she now is an equal to him; her character development of becoming more like him has completed.
Throughout the entire episode he maintains his position of not wanting to regenerate ever again. But then he does regenerate. So what changed at the very end, that made him change his opinion? Well, it’s pretty obvious, it’s his memory of Clara. He always listened to her advice, even when he was just imagining her. He literally died billions of times for her in Heaven Sent, and his only consolation was his memory of her. And she already convinced him to renew himself and be the Doctor again twice (after the Siege of Trenzalore in series 8, and on Gallifrey in Hell Bent). So it makes perfect sense that his memory of her would be enough to convince him of the necessity of his regeneration. His final monologue before regeneration even begins with his final message to Clara, before he forgot her: “Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never ever eat pears!”
I would have liked to see an actual appearance of Clara sometime through her adventures with Ashildr. It would have been brilliant to see her travelling back to Gallifrey at the same time as the Doctor was regenerating. But what we got was also amazing, and in typical Moffat style, left lots open to interpretation. Despite the difficulties in filming it, it was a magnificent conclusion to my absolute favourite (and arguably the best) companion-Doctor relationship.
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