[quote=Magic Magnum]

[/quote]

[hider=Spoiler]Oh, I'm well aware of the reference to Flatline. It's not like it was something that happened a good handful of seasons ago, and I'm fairly certain it's pretty fresh in everyone's memories. In fact, looking back on it, it's pretty clear build-up to this episode - as Flatline established that Clara is kind of already turning into the Doctor, as his personality traits are starting to rub off on her. Therefore, she can imitate him very well.

However, one could also argue that Flatline would make the whole Clara-is-the-Doctor thing more convincing at first, since it has been shown that she can pull off the Doctor so well - well enough to actually be him. That's one of the things that was running through my mind when I was still debating whether or not I could believe what had just happened.

[i]Also[/i], and this is the part that I think is slightly annoying... They've kind of pulled the exact same fake twist twice so far. Like, the "I'm the Doctor" line was used with pretty much zero context in a teaser trailer for Flatline. That got me [i]really[/i] interested in the episode, and I kind of praised it for being a fantastic teaser trailer since it did [i]exactly[/i] what that sort of advertising is supposed to do - get people interested. [i]Really[/i] interested. Granted, what actually happened in that episode was far from any of the barely-fleshed-out theories that my imagination came up with right off the bat. [i]But[/i], the episode was still really enjoyable and, given the circumstances, it was fun to think of Clara as the Doctor, even if it was made clear that she wasn't [i]really[/i] the Doctor, just... a close substitute. So, I didn't feel like the trailer was being misleading. 

But then in Death in Heaven, it was really clear that Moffat wanted us to think he was being for-reals this time. The dramatic pause immediately after that line as they cut away to the opening credits, and the fact that the animation for said opening changed to show Clara's face instead of the Doctor's showed that pretty heavily. It was almost like Moffat actually thought to himself, "Hmm... we can't trick them with that line alone. We already did that, so they'll think we're just bluffing again. How can we [i]really[/i] trick them? Oh, I know, we'll change the opening theme. They won't think that we did that just for a trick like that. Especially not in a season finale!" ...But they did.

Like, part of me wants to be annoyed with the fact that they felt the need to mindfuck us that hard when it didn't even have nearly as good of a payoff as what happened in Flatline, as this was just Clara bluffing to a bunch of Cybermen and Moffat trying to play it off as something bigger. ...On the other hand, another part of me wants to laugh at the fact that they went to such great heights to try to trick us into thinking that was a thing, [i]especially[/i] since they changed the opening credits. Part of me thinks that is just the most hilarious thing ever. ...So yeah.

In all seriousness, though, I'd like to state that the finale [i]did[/i] still sort of continue the theme of Clara kind of being the Doctor in terms of personality. He definitely has rubbed off on her. Like, let's look at what they have in common now... 

-Loving adventure to the point of coming off as almost addicted to it. 
-Being [i]fucking terrifying[/i] when angry. 
-Plotting elaborate schemes to get what they want.
-Acting like they own the fucking universe and all its rules sometimes when they really want something.

And probably the biggest thing of all...

Lying. So. Much. Lying. Not only does Clara lie a lot now but she's [i]good at it[/i]. Just as good as the Doctor, probably. And she lies for a lot of the same reasons as he does: to get information, to manipulate others, and to make people think that she's totally ok when she's kind of dying inside. 

It's honestly really concerning.[/hider]

Edit: You know I assumed you'd have fixed your broken hider by the time I finished typing all that. You might want to get on that, bro.