Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has indicated there are tough choices ahead for Clara and Danny, warning that “one of the watchwords we have this year is there are consequences for choosing to live like this.”
With that ominous statement in mind, what are the options for the end of the season?
Danny dies and Clara leaves
Moffat has warned that there is “quite a strong emotional story” in this year’s finale, stating that “it’s about Clara and the Doctor and the fact that the way they interact might not be healthy for everyone around them.”
Now Danny Pink is clearly the heroic sort, as proven by his acrobatic actions distracting the Skovox Blitzer in the resolution of ‘The Caretaker’. If he should die facing the Doctor’s enemies, with or without the Time Lord trying to save him, might Clara find it impossible to forgive the Doctor and continue her travels?
Moffat has also teased that the finale will feature “old friends and old enemies manoeuvre around The Doctor, and an impossible choice is looming over him.” Perhaps he will be forced to sacrifice Danny, or allow Danny to sacrifice himself?
Clara dies and the Doctor asks Danny to join the TARDIS
Another interesting notion is that it might be Danny who ends up travelling with the Doctor without Clara. If Clara was taken out of the picture, seemingly killed and taken to the Nethersphere perhaps, we could imagine some form of quest narrative to get her back.
For all his criticism of soldiers, the Doctor has been willing to be backed up by an army of sorts before, like his team in ‘A Good Man Goes to War’ or even Captain Jack.
Then again, the Doctor still has a Gallifrey quest lurking in the background; are we really likely to see him saddled with another one?
This is all, of course, completely guesswork, but a ‘The Big Bang’-style happy ending for the couple seems unlikely. So watch this space, but keep a hanky close by too… just in case it all gets a bit ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’.
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What do you think will happen to Clara and Danny? Let us know below…