Dr. Who Season 6 Episode 12 ‘Closing Time’ Review

We’re one episode away from the Dr. Who season finale and The Doctor is doing a farewell tour, sans Amelia and Rory, in ‘Closing Time.’

We catch him almost at the tail end of a 200-year old journey where he’s decided to make a little stop to see his old roommate, Craig. Craig is interesting as a Doctor Who character, mostly because he is so vehemently despised by a great number of Whovians.


Personally, I love Craig. The thing about Craig is that he wasn’t a companion so his relationship with The Doctor was not based on them going through some massive dramatic adventure together spanning space and time. They were flatmates. They played football together. I’m assuming there was a late night popcorn and movie night at some point. That’s the endearing thing to me about Craig; he was a friend to The Doctor, a genuine friend for the sake of friendship, nothing else.

The Doctor’s visit ends up not only as a social call, though. Does it ever end like that for The Doctor? Derelict Cybermen are using spare parts both mechanical and human to try and rebuild their crew and commence their takeover of the Earth. Throw into that an even more scary situation, that of Craig taking care of his child Alfie (or Stormageddon) alone for the first time, and The Doctor’s social visit has turned into yet another life or death, edge of the end-of-the-world crisis which does not go unnoticed by The Doctor.

A major crisis saddles The Doctor. At times, he doesn’t want to stay. He repeats over and over that he “can’t keep saving them.”

But his devotion to the human race, and his love for Craig, keep him there. He comes across the classic comic book hero conundrum: are you a positive force because you are there to save the human race over and over, or are you the reason the bad guys keep showing up?

We do see a glimpse of The Williams’ as Amelia is confronted by a young fan asking for an autograph. It seems that she has become a model and the face of a major perfume line. The Doctor avoids them by running away and hiding, deciding that he is a danger to anyone he cares about or who cares for him. He’s resigned himself to his fate at Lake Silencio and after giving Craig a proper sendoff (which we find out where he gets the TARDIS-blue envelopes and Stetson from Impossible Astronaut), he departs for his final stop.

And then there is River Song. Shhh, spoilers.

‘Closing Time’ is a fantastic Who episode with a tight pace and dialogue. It servers as a glimpse into The Doctor’s mind and his heart (or hearts), but without too much of the whole Doctor/Companion drama. It’s now officially painful to wait for the season finale. We should be in for a wild finish.

– James Zappie

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