Me: Yes, her name was Adelaide Brooke, and she killed herself because of what you did.
It'd be interwsting to see what Ashildr would make of that story when she gets that far...

Here she is Persephone, Mistress of the Underworld, no longer scared because she has learned the lesson that the Doctor refuses to learn.
Exactly. A counterweight, someone to hold him to the mark...

I almost got a hint of.... contempt? Or that she wasn't particularly impressed with him.
*nods* She was taking complete charge and basically telling him off. Which is what he needs sometimes. (Too emotional, poor thing.)

"I don't care if it's mean. Everybody's got dead people! But that's no excuse for letting everyone else around get killed along the way!"
Hear! Hear!

I definitely feel like this storyline was the ultimate reckoning with the Time Lord Victorious as far as Moffat's concerned.
And properly worked through and dealt with, talked out, analysed. A good job.

His immediate reaction on taking over was to fix Donna's story by writing Amy, a girl whose memory brings back the universe and the Doctor, where remembering is the most important thing she can do.
Good point, yes.

So he had to go through it - not just in this episode but the previous one. Having his memory wiped over and over again to a certain point... and then losing the memory of the one person he doesn't want to lose.
And also to have the person he wants to mind wipe turn on him, challenge his instinctive 'I know best'.

Of course he (unlike Donna) accepts his fate, but then (as he says) he brought in on himself, whereas Donna was just a victim.

Except Moff doesn't put any penalties on him remembering Clara like his head splitting open or fainting because he's not that mean.
Also problematic from a show perspective. ;)