I'm hard-pressed to think of a time when The Doctor aimed directly for the bank-heist genre of entertainment. I mean, he's definitely tackled breaking into all sorts of places before, and there are a few audios like "The Selachian Gambit" and "Grand Theft Cosmos" that sort of have that vibe, but "Time Heist" is pure The Italian Job mixed with just a hint of the Saw films.

For the most part, it's a genre that fits Peter Capaldi's Doctor very well. He's part spymaster, part rogue, and really embodies the outsider element we've been promised. Tennant could pull that off sometimes, but Capaldi sells it naturally. As he himself states, being instantly and automatically put in charge is his superpower.

This go-round he's leading a team into the most well-guarded bank in the universe. Problem is, neither he nor the rest of his companions remembers why they're doing it in the first place. All they know is that they were sent by a mysterious mastermind who has helpfully left items and clues along the way into the vaults.

The revelation of who the mastermind -- who goes by "The Architect" -- really is is a rather predictable and ham-handed affair. They all but tell you the secret halfway through the episode, and by the time of the "twist," it really couldn't have been anything else. All in all, it was a pretty weak trick to drive home the long message of the episode.

What "Time Heist" is looking at is how well we confront ourselves when forced to examine who we are. This is explored from several inventive angles, everything from a shape-shifting mutant to a clone side arc that actually was an unexpected surprise. As in "Into the Dalek" and to a lesser extent "Robot of Sherwood," the Twelfth Doctor seems to be working through a terrible fear of self-examination. He's afraid to look himself in the eyes and see what's there.

Taking this internal journey as a whole in the past five episodes, it hints at something larger. It makes me wonder if the Twelfth Doctor has lost the thrill of victory his predecessor experienced in orchestrating the events of "The Day of The Doctor" and is now wondering whether Time Lords can really be trusted to return to the universe. It's an interesting question. Hints from "Night of The Doctor" do not show much enduring love for his own people by The Doctor. Certainly, Ten remained bitter over the machinations of Rassilon to the end. Before the hunt for Gallifrey can really start, The Doctor is on his own hunt for confirmation of himself as a good man.

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