Doctor Who has had a bit of a rocky road since Russell T Davies came back. It was hoped that after the Chibnall debacle, we were going to go back to the glory days of 2005 but Ncuti Gatwa’s first season was underwhelming to be kind. Thankfully this season has been a lot better with the occasion misstep. The final two episodes were seen at the cinema and this is the first time I have watched Doctor Who at the cinema since 2013’s ‘The Day of the Doctor’ which remains one of the best moments of my entire life. There are rumours that this might be the last episode of Doctor Who for a long time (possibly 2027) so it felt like a finale in more ways than one.
Wish World
This episode sees the Doctor and Belinda lead a domestic lifestyle where they have a child and doubt is seen as a bad thing. The Rani wants the date of May 23rd to keep going like a bad episode of Groundhog Day so that reality falls apart and the underworld appears and the return of a lost individual.
The idea of the Doctor not knowing who he is did remind me of The Family of Blood two parter and it's always interesting to see the Doctor acting human. The idea of UNIT being a weird office with Kate Lethbridge-Stewart like some tweed wearing office worker was one that I quite liked and thought that they could have done
If there was an issue with this episode it's that it is a builder episode in that it is building things up for the final episode. Don't get me wrong, its does it well but it's hard to really say that this was a great episode when it had a lot to do and so you couldn't really enjoy it as a single episode.
The Reality War
The bonus of seeing Wish World moments before this episode meant that there wasn't time to think things through but it was interesting to see how the Doctor would get out of this particular problem. Bringing Anita back from the worst Christmas special ever was a good idea and it got the Doctor out of the cliffhanger in a way that I genuinely didn't see coming and yet felt fine. She was made to feel like a companion even though all she did was keep a door open. Honestly Disney couldn't afford a doorstop. The idea that the hotel has doors to previous episodes of Doctor Who including a Dalek was one that I wasn't expecting and it was very good. If only they had done this during Joy to the World then the episode might have been more tolerable.
Varada Sethu plays less of a role in this episode then she did in Wish World. Its like the more Ruby gets involved in the story, Belinda gets pushed to the sideline which is a shame because I felt that Belinda was a better companion than Ruby. Sethu has been one of the strongest and most likeable companions since Freema Agyeman’s Martha Jones. Millie Gibson is better in the episodes that she has been in but I think that she has been let down by some less than ideal episodes. She never felt like a companion in the way that Belinda did.
The return of Jodie Whittaker was a genuine surprise. It felt like a lovely moment with her walking around the console room and it shows how good Whittaker’s Doctor could have been with better writing and how she was let down by Chris Chibnall. The idea that Yaz and the Doctor had feelings is something that some people have wanted for all of Whittaker’s time and it was crowbarred into the relationship in the latter episodes. Whittaker was a better Doctor than her episodes suggested and her meeting with Gatwa’s Doctor was a lovely moment.
Gatwa regenerating was sort of expected especially as the rumours had been doing the rounds and let's be honest here I dont think for a second that Billie Piper is the next Doctor. I think that this is just RTD having a bit of fun with the future of the show up in the air. There was a big groan when she appeared but I think it quickly subsided. As a Doctor I think that Gatwa’s second season has been so much better than his first although I won't miss his crying at the slightest thing. It’s the law of diminishing returns when he cries so often.
I was quite impressed with the directing. He did direct one of the worst Christmas Specials in ‘Joy to the World’ but the whole thing moves along at a pace that makes the story feel epic. Even though the Rani/Omega storyline was wrapped up with about half and hour left, it all felt like it was naturally paced and it ended the season on a good note not just on a creative note but on a technical note.
Regardless of how the Billie Piper things gets resolved, I thought that this was a very good two parter. The return of the Rani was well handled and well played by Archie Panjabi and the return of Omega didn't disappoint which I was expecting when it was revealed who the Rani was looking for. I didn't watch the previous episode when it aired a week ago so I could get the full cinematic experience. I liked the experience of going to the cinema to see it. The cinema was close to full and there were a couple of people cosplaying and the entire thing made it worth seeing something that aired on TV at the same time.
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