DOCTOR WHO RECAP: SEASON 8, EPISODE 7

Legion contributor Anastasia Washington recaps this week’s episode of Doctor Who, ‘Kill the Moon.’

Last week Clara’s two men finally came face to face with each other. The truth couldnt be denied anymore, and Clara brought Mr. Pink in on the secret part of her life that she leads with the Doctor. So maybe we will see more adventure with her two men soon! Well, not just yet. This next adventure is sans Mr. Pink.

We find Clara quite alone on her new quest. Her mission? As Courtney Woods stands by, Clara begs the people of earth to choose whether sacrificing the life of one person to save billions is worth it.

Back to the beginning. Clara is back at school scolding the Doctor for getting Miss Woods into a mess by berating her and calling her nothing special, which caused her to steal some psychic paper and cause issues. The Doctor seemed not to care about the theft, and instead is keen on taking Miss Woods on adventure to make her feel special. Destination: the moon. Miss Woods will be the first woman to walk on the moon. Woods is ready, anti-nausea pills packed, teen angst, check!

The Doctor gets a little turned around and doesn’t happen to land on the moon, but instead lands on a space shuttle with a very questionable amount of nuclear weapons and headed toward the moon!

In my opinion its the perfect time to leave, but the three stay bracing themselves and hoping against hope nothing sets off their nuclear companions.

We meet a NASA astronaut named Lundvik (Hermione Norris), and find out its the year 2049. The moon has changed and gained so much mass which has caused chaos on Earth as the water becomes unpredictable and dangerous killing many. Even cities have drowned. She and her crew have been sent on mission to try and end this all. Even blow up the Moon if they must!

After the usual exchange of how did you get here, the hostility is over. The crew realizes these people are willing and able to help with this moon problem. Time to suit up and head out to the Moon. And yes, Courtney does end up being the very first woman on the moon.

We find out that a Mexican crew was sent to mine, but the four have not been seen or heard from, except for the last transmission where only screams were heard. Mexicans did send back a final transmission that was nothing but screaming. Unchecked until now, the crew hopes to gain knowledge of what was discovered at the survey base camp. Maybe, just maybe it’ll help solve this moon quandry.

What they find instead is a deserted base, with lots and lots of cobwebs. As they search, we hear Courtney Woods scream. She has found a man, clearly dead, entangled in on such web! The plot thickens!

The power button is found and lights and life support begin running again thanks to one of the brave crew. With the lights on more clarity is found. The surveyors weren’t able to find any minerals, but instead hear cracking, proving that moon is in fact breaking apart.

Unluckily one of the crew is separated from the group and wanders into one of the spiders lairs, and is, well, dead. Back with the group , Courtney hears a strange sound and see’s something scurry accross the room. The orange jointed giant spider reveals itself. Oh yeah Big Spider on the Moon, you’re welcome arachnaphobics!

Here comes the Doctor to the rescue. Noticing that the spider can’t see unless someones moving they slowly move to the door. That doesn’t work out so well, so everyone runs for it. While some make it, one of the crew is lost and Courtney is also in the room with the spider!

Miss Woods has totally got this as she sprays the spider with a germ killer and it shrivels and dies. Not only ending the spider, but also Courtney’s desire to time travel and she wants to go home. Lundvik reminds them her whole crew is dead and she needs their help for the sake of mankind.

Courtney is put in the safety of the TARDIS, while the Doctor discovers something liquid on the Moon. Curious. The Moon has no water, and this is in fact amniotic fluid.

Moving on the discover the Mexican miners amongst a nest of huge spiders, or wait, not spiders, germs! This is the point where the Doctor steps out for something vague to do in a germ filled crevice in the moon. He’ll be right back, you guys.

Meanwhile Courtney is entertaining herself by posting pics of the Moon on Tumblr which makes Clara worry her time travel cover might be blown. Suddenly there’s an earthquake, causing the shuttle to fall into one of the crumbling moons crevices. Clara is nervous that falling into the moon might incur a law suit from Courtney’s parents against the school.

Enter the Doctor, assuring everyone is safe in the TARDIS. But, no pictures of him on the internet, for god sakes!

So what’s wrong with the Moon. Well it’s an egg. A 1.3 billion ton Dragon egg and its about to hatch!

Lundvik is eager to find out how to kill it. And the Doctor says that its mankinds decision whether to well abort the baby dragon, or the mission. The Doctor leaves, leaving behind Clara and Courtney. On the Moon, stranded.

Earth calls to check on the progress of the mission, as things are getting much much worse on earth.

This brings us back to the beginning. Clara sends a transmission to earth telling them about the quandry. To kill an innocent for the sake of many, or not. If they want to detonate the bomb they must turn off their lights in the next 45 minutes. Which of course they do. Lundvik begins to detonate the weapon but Clara stops her, and the Doctor is back to congratulate her on her wise decision and they leave just before we get to see the dragon hatch.

After dropping Courtney off, Clara unleashes hell on the Doctor for keeping her in the dark and making her make the decision alone. We finally get to see Mr. Pink while Clara tries to regain her composure. She tells Danny she’s done with Doctor. But somehow Mr. Pink knows this isn’t true. Clara stares at the Moon with a glass of wine in her hand.

A strange and creepy episode, with some underlying messages that might send some shock waves of anger. But hey, who doesn’t want the Moon to be a dragon?