Doctor Who S8E7 - "Kill The Moon" Recap

Clara tells the Doctor that Courtney, the student he let into the TARDIS, has gone further out of control because of his interaction with her. They enter the TARDIS and find Courtney cleaning after getting sick in there. She is hurt that the Doctor has claimed she isn't special so he offers to take her on a trip to the moon. They arrive in 2049 on a Space Shuttle. It's filled with nuclear devices and mere moments later, it crashes onto the surface of the moon.

The Doctor wants to know why the gravity is higher than is should be and meets Captain Lundvik along with two other astronauts. She eventually admits that they are on a suicide mission to blow up the moon because of a mass high tide years prior that wiped out a chunk of humanity along with many of the satellites. They're looking to find a Mexican colony that was on the moon and led them to believe they should take on this mission but upon arriving, they find it is covered in spiderwebs.

Lundvik sends one of her crew to set up the bombs but he is attacked while examining an opening on the moon's surface. The rest of the group find the Mexican colonists cocooned in spider webs. The Doctor's readings show that the moon's mass has increased by over 1 billion tons, which is why the earth experienced such drastic tidal changes. Another of Lundvik's crew is killed a large spider-like creature and nearly kills Courtney but she is able to kill it using the cleaning fluid she had brought on board the TARDIS. Courtney asks to be brought back home so the Doctor has her wait in the TARDIS, where she can stay safe.

The group goes to look at a crack outside and a spider leaps out to attack, before scurrying back in to avoid the sun. There are thousands inside. The Doctor also finds a large quantity of amniotic fluid and tells them all to get safe before diving into the hole, promising to come back.

Clara and Lundvik see the Shuttle fall into a crack and find the dead astronaut's body. The Doctor returns and says that the moon is actually an egg that is ready to hatch. The spider-like creatures are similar to the microbes found on the surface of the egg. Lundvik still wants to destroy the moon to save humanity from potential havoc from the creature. Clara is determined to find another way but the Doctor will not get involved in this. He leaves the three of them stranded on the moon and tells them to decide within the next hour and a half, before the egg will hatch.

They struggle to make the decision so Lundvik gets in contact with Earth and Clara tells the population via a television broadcast to make their choice by either turning off the lights to save the creature or keep them on to destroy the moon. Lundvik initiates the countdown on the nuclear devices. The lights on Earth go out but Lundvik won't stop the countdown until Clara stops her. The Doctor returns in the TARDIS and rescues them right as the moon begins to crumble. The Doctor allows them to watch what happens from Earth's surface. The moon hatches, the creature flies away, and the egg shell (the moon) disintegrates.

The Doctor tells them that because of this incident, humanity's interest in space travel is rekindled. They travel to the stars and spreads its way through the galaxy to the very edges of the universe. Lundvik will now have a real space program to lead. Also, the creature lays a new egg, so a new moon is there. Lundvik thanks Clara for stopping her.

Lundvik and Courtney are returned to their homes and Clara confronts the Doctor for forcing her to make this choice. She feels he has patronised her and becomes emotional. She says she nearly got it wrong by not pressing the button and that is on him. She tells him to clear off and not come back. At Coal Hill, Danny comforts her though he tells her it's not truly finished because she is still angry. You're never truly finished with someone when they can still make you angry. Clara heads home and looks out at the moon.

Doctor Who airs on Saturdays on BBC One.