I started writing these articles because of my love of how uniquely Doctor Who could connect storylines from episode to episode, season to season and decade to decade. I thought I’d use that to help explain a bit about this season. Bear with me—wibbly wobbly.
I had two problems with Peter Capaldi’s reign as the Doctor, Clara and his sudden fixation on getting to Gallifrey. I think I have finally wrapped my head around both of these in one neat bundle...by going back to his first appearance. In “The Day of the Doctor,” he saves the planet and all of the inhabitants by placing them in a picture, essentially a pocket universe. Due to the crossing of timelines, The Doctor couldn’t realize this until his 11th incarnation. Instead, the Timelords hid away and allowed him to believe he had destroyed them. Soon after that, they forced him into a sort of prison on the planet “Chistmas” as he simultaneously protected them from the hoards of evil monsters and prevented them from returning for hundreds of years. Once again, Clara saved his life and bargained for a new set of regenerations for him.
Fast forward to “Face the Raven,”and he can’t prevent the death of Clara after all of the times she has saved him. Not only could he not protect her, but her death was in a way at the hands of the Timelords. Realizing what was going on, when he was teleported in “Heaven Sent,” he used her memory to keep his sanity for over 4 billion years and formulated a way to save her and hold Rasillon accountable for her death.
The next season is spent, in large part, protecting Missy, whom he now understands more and sees as his last chance at a family. The Doctor also takes on Bill as a companion when he sees a spark in her, however we don’t know how many years he spent as a professor before he accepts her. We can assume it took him a very long time to trust himself again. Suddenly, yet another is taken from him by the very person he was sworn to protect. Yet another failure in his part.
We can finally understand his not wanting to regenerate again. The Good Doctor has failed a loved one again. He had always sworn to bring his companions back safely and now has had multiple losses. He is done, but in seeing his previous incarnation, he gains hope for trying again.
However, this hope includes a complete break from the past. New everything, with no direct connections to the past. And seeking a new family, not necessarily companions but a family the (s)he had lost so many times.