Doctor Who S8E11 - "Dark Water" Recap

Clara rings up Danny, ready to admit everything to him about her travels with the Doctor and that she loves him. The line goes quiet and a stranger picks up the phone and tells Clara that Danny was hit by a car and is dead. She struggles to come to terms with his death and calls the Doctor, determined to have him help her change the past. In secret, she puts a plan together where she suggests they visit an active volcano, collects all seven of the TARDIS keys, and incapacitate the Doctor with a sleep-inducing patch after it has taken off.

The Doctor wakes outside the TARDIS and Clara begins to throw the keys into the lava, one by one, threatening to destroy them all if he doesn't help her rescue him. The Doctor warns her that it would create a time paradox and Clara destroys all of the keys, tearfully telling him he would do it again. The Doctor then reveals that she was only having a vision, a result of the patch she had intended to use on him. He knew something was wrong and wanted to see what it was and far she would go. He offers to take Clara to the afterlife to try to find Danny and bring him home.

The Doctor links Clara to the telepathic interface of the TARDIS in order to locate Danny. Danny has woken in an office, where is greeted by Seb. Seb tells him he's in the Nethersphere; a giant city inside a sphere where people go when they die.

The Doctor and Clara arrive at a museum containing tanks filled with human skeletons underwater. The Doctor explains that these are tombs of sort. They then meet Missy, who is putting an act as an android receptionist. She then introduces them to Dr. Chang, a scientist at the museum. Meanwhile, Seb is helping Danny to get adjusted to being dead. Danny still feels connected to his body, feeling cold, meaning his body is likely being kept in a refrigerated morgue.

The Doctor asks Dr. Chang about the skeletons not drifting apart and Chang says they are submerged in a substance called dark water, which allows organic material to be seen. These bodies are encased in a support exoskeleton. Seb has arranged a meet between Danny and a young boy Danny accidentally killed while a soldier. Danny tries to apologise but the boy runs off without saying anything to him.

The Doctor continues to ask questions about the facility. Dr. Chang says it's based on the discovery of voices of recently deceased folks in the white noise of broadcast signals but the Doctor continues to be skeptical of this. Seb and Danny are talking when Seb notices that Clara is trying to contact Danny, who doesn't know that Clara has journeyed to the Nethersphere. Clara and Danny are able to talk to each other while The Doctor leaves with Dr. Chang to further investigate the facility. The Doctor warns Clara to ask questions to Danny to ensure that it really is him.

Missy begins commanding the skeletons in the chambers to rise. First, they drain their tanks and stay standing tall. Dr. Chang tells The Doctor that Missy isn't an android, but his boss. Missy is disappointed with Chang and thus kills him. The skeletons are revealed to be Cybermen. Missy show the Doctor a spherical device named the Nethersphere, but it is actually a Gallifreyan Matrix Data Slice that holds the consciousness of the dead before inserting them into new Cybermen soldiers after their emotions are deleted. The Doctor questions Missy, trying to determine who she is. She appears to be a Time Lady, as she possesses two hearts which he had first noticed earlier. The Doctor runs outside and finds that they are still in London, inside St Paul's Cathedral.

Clara is still on the phone with Danny and promises that she will do whatever it takes to find him. Danny won't let her sacrifice herself so he gets her to end the call. Danny breaks down in tears and Seb offers him the option of deleting his emotions. Clara is still trapped in Chang's lab when she sees that a Cyberman is in there with her. The Doctor tries to warn the civilians to run away while Missy dismisses his shouting as the ramblings of a madman.

The Doctor asks Missy again who she is and she says he already knows. "Missy" is short for "Mistress," as she couldn't call herself "the Master" in her current form (what a load of sexist garbage writing that is). Danny is about to deactivate his emotions when he sees the reflection of the boy he killed in the screen's reflection.

Doctor Who airs on Saturdays on BBC One.