“Heaven Sent” is episode eleven of season nine of the new Doctor Who.
In the previous episode, “Face the Raven”, Clara had made a very bad decision which resulted in her dying. Is she permanently dead? Companions don’t die very often (although Clara has now died three times admittedly; although that could show it doesn’t tend to take with her) and that’s normally the sort of thing that happens in a finale.
This episode opens with the Doctor talking about something that is born when we are, and always follows us. When it meets us, we die. It sounds like he’s talking about death.
Then the Doctor teleports into an unknown location, the one that belongs to the people that Ashildr made a deal with. A hand is seen operating the teleporter, then it crumbles to dust.
The Doctor is now in a strange castle, apparently in the future, but he knows it isn’t. Following him around the castle is a slow moving creature that always catches up with him eventually, and what it sees can be seen on various screens scattered around. There are various clues to follow, but it seems the castle in some sort of torture chamber, and it looks like the Doctor is by no means the first to be there.
There’s an awful lot of talking in this episode, considering the cast consists of the Doctor and a silent creature. The Doctor is still talking to Clara, even though she’s dead. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like a lot of talking.
More is revealed about the hybrid, which is the theme for this season.
The story concludes in the next episode, “Hell Bent”.