#18 (2.8): The Reality War.

The new Doctor Who themed "Souls-like" game is looking really weird...

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 66 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed by: Alex Sanjiv Pillai. Produced by: Chris May.

Note: This review contains spoilers.


THE PLOT:

The Rani has won. As the clock sounds midnight on May 24, 2025, Earth hurtles towards its destruction, with the Doctor helpless to stop it.

Then a door opens. Anita (Steph de Whalley), the hotel manager the Doctor spent a year with before getting her a job at the Time Hotel, uses the hotel's capabilities to rescue him. The doors to the hotel also allow reality to disrupt Conrad's "wish," meaning that the Doctor can quickly restore the memories of Belinda, Ruby, and UNIT.

Conveniently, the Rani needs one more cycle to gather the energy to let the first Time Lord, Omega, into reality, so she has to reset the Earth to May 23 once more before the end. This gives the Doctor and his friends time to zap a bunch of CGI before he returns to her Bone Palace to try to stop her.

But it may be too late for that. The Rani's plans come to fruition (on May 23, squashing any significance to the May 24 date). Omega is returning to reality - but the wish has transformed him as well, and not for the better...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: In a confrontation with the Rani in which he appears to come out the loser, he actually tricks her into providing data to bypass the Bone Palace's security. He tries to argue against the Rani's plan to bring back Omega, reminding her that the Time Lords of that era were despots, but Mrs. Flood silences him with a single question: "Don't you want to see him?" - and he has to acknowledge that yes, he does. He draws on all his ingenuity to try to protect his and Belinda's "wish" daughter, Poppy, from being overwritten when the wish is broken.

Belinda: The Doctor/Belinda partnership has been a joy, with Belinda's mix of enthusiasm for and wariness of the Doctor helping to make many of this year's episodes sparkle. Her reward... is to spend the finale sidelined, right down to being locked in a cupboard for the climax. I don't object to her being protective of her "wish daughter." Belinda as a mother would be fiercely protective. I object to her entire personality being reduced to only that and nothing else.

Ruby Sunday: Internet rumors suggest that Millie Gibson's Ruby was meant to be the companion for both seasons, with Belinda's presence in Season Two being a change of plans. I don't tend to put much stock in Internet rumors... but if it's true, it makes a lot of sense with regard to how this episode plays out. Belinda, the season's actual co-star, is sidelined, while Ruby plays a key role in resolving the crisis. After the wish is broken, it's not Belinda - Poppy's mother - who insists on the child's reality, but Ruby, with Millie Gibson doing the emotional heavy lifting for the early epilogue scenes. The story would make more sense, both in terms of emotion and plot, if Ruby was Poppy's mother... and given that Ruby was more prominent than Belinda in both of the final episodes, I'm not sure why that wasn't the case.

Recurring Cast: The UNIT crew are all there... and that's most of what there is to say about them. Kate barks orders to facilitate the Doctor's plan and gets a slightly bizarre mini-speech in which she refers to them all as the Doctor's children, while UNIT's role is basically to add to the CGI activity by breaking out big guns to zap monsters that serve no actual narrative purpose. Mel probably gets the best bit, reacting to the Rani with a loathing that would suggest the existence of a much more interesting version of Time and the Rani than the one that aired. All of these characters could be removed entirely. Not only would the story not be harmed, I think their removal would help the episode to feel less overloaded.

The Rani: In one of the few clever bits of scripting, she fully anticipates the Doctor's attempt to trick her. As a result, she's ready when he arrives at the Bone Palace to confront her. She goads him about his compassionate nature, sneering that all he's armed with are "dazzling words, maybe a pun, and then... platitudes." She's eager to use Omega's power to recreate the Time Lords of old...

Omega: ...Except that Omega is a CGI monster who looks like he stepped out of a Dark Souls game. Kind of like Empire of Death's Sutekh. This episode isn't as bad as that one, but the treatment of Omega is actually worse than that of Sutekh. At least the Egyptian god had always been portrayed as a monster devoted to destruction. Omega's main ambition in his two Classic Series stories was basically just to live. Now he's a parasitic creature who wants to "feast upon this world." Sure, there's the excuse that this Omega has been twisted by the wish into the mad titan of legend - but when the character (if you can call him that) bears no resemblance to the original Omega, then I'm left wondering why the script bothers to even call him that. Other than empty fanservice, that is. Oh, wait - I think I just answered my own question.


THOUGHTS:

The Reality War has a few good moments. I enjoyed the Rani and Mel sniping at each other, even if that scene doesn't actually lead to anything. The acting is generally good. Though there's the usual RTD finale "frenetic activity" going on, it is competently structured and is legitimately telling a story, albeit badly, and that's more than enough to make it a step up from Empire of Death.

Which doesn't change that I'd still rank this as a bad episode.

It repeats some of the same mistakes as Empire of Death. When Omega finally appears, he's a cannibalistic CGI monster that looks like it stepped out of a video game. When it speaks (briefly), it's not to bemoan its fate. Instead, it boasts of how it intends to feed. The Doctor doesn't defeat it through cleverness. Instead, it conveniently turns out that the Vindicator gadget he's been playing with all season just happens to double as a big gun. Because nothing says Doctor Who quite like watching the Doctor zap a CGI beastie with a ray gun, right?

Bizarrely, I think the best part of the episode is the epilogue, much of which consists of reshoots that were hastily thrown together after Ncuti Gatwa opted to leave. There's an excellent scene in which Ruby watches the Doctor and Belinda giddily debate their next destination while they forget something that should matter to them.

The scene is pulled off through the simplest techniques: a series of edits, a shift in the performances of Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu, and Millie Gibson's horrified nonverbal reaction. It's by far the episode's best moment, and the follow-up scene in which Ruby persuades the Doctor, Belinda, and UNIT that her memory isn't at fault is almost as good. It's as if Russell T. Davies is able to create something reasonably involving when he's forced to put down his CGI toolbox.

The 13th Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) shows up for the outgoing Doctor's sendoff.

A REGENERATION, A WELCOME CAMEO, AND A MASSIVE MISJUDGEMENT:

In October 2024, while guesting on The Graham Norton Show, Ncuti Gatwa briefly confirmed plans to shoot Season Three in early 2025. Disney delayed making a decision about renewing their co-production deal (as of this writing, they still have not handed down their verdict), and the remarks were edited out before broadcast. By February 2025, Gatwa had decided to exit the role. He publicly cited the physical toll of being the Doctor, but his October remarks indicate that he would almost certainly have done a third season had the show been renewed promptly.

Regardless of the exact reason or combination of reasons, February saw last-minute reshoots that resulted in the surprise regeneration of Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor in an epilogue that was very much bolted onto the end of the episode.

As I've observed, many of these scenes are better than the episode itself. While he's contemplating sacrificing this incarnation, the 15th Doctor receives a visit from Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor. I thoroughly enjoyed the interplay between Whittaker and Gatwa. I wouldn't have minded a proper multi-Doctor story with these two, as they're a natural contrast: Thirteen was arguably the most emotionally guarded incarnation, while Gatwa is the most emotionally open. He blurts out that he loves her, which stuns her: "I never say things like that."

The cameo does have one unfortunate knock-on effect, however: Whittaker's appearance makes me realize that I feel more of a connection with her Doctor than with the one who is actually departing. I think Gatwa really needed that third season. He's been good to great throughout Season Two, and for all my issues with this episode, his second season has been generally quite good. But I came into Season Two feeling zero connection. Ultimately, eight episodes, even with most of them being of high quality, were not enough to make up the difference.

The regeneration sequence is mostly decent on its own terms. My issues with this episode's treatment of Belinda aside, the Doctor's goodbye to her is enjoyable in its quietness. I also rather like him choosing to look out into the Vortex as he regenerates.

Then all of that gets overshadowed by what I consider to be a serious misjudgment.


A MISJUDGED ENDING:

The regeneration ends with another surprise cameo, this one seemingly designed to get viewers talking. It worked... if you don't mind that many viewers vocally wondered if the show was disappearing so far up itself that it might just create a singularity.

The credits fudge the exact nature of the cameo, and RTD has indicated that even he isn't completely certain what he's going to do with it. I wish I thought he was just baiting people, as he's done multiple times in the past... but in this case, I believe him. I suspect much of what comes next will be down to one actor's availability whenever the show gets back into production - which doesn't strike me as a recipe for quality or even internal consistency.

Say what you will about Chris Chibnall, but he had the right idea for how to handle a regeneration in the face of a potential gap. Initially, The Power of the Doctor was meant to end with the regeneration in longshot, with viewers not seeing the new Doctor. This allowed freedom for the next showrunner to properly cast and plan, allowing them to either pick up at that moment or well in the future, maximizing creative freedom while maintaining unbroken continuity. It was a good plan, one that became unnecessary once Davies came back to helm the next era... and it was exactly what should have been done here.

Wherever this final turn goes, it cements one of my fears about RTD's return: Looking backward. Doctor Who is at its best when it puts a new spin on its own tropes. "RTD 2" has done this multiple times - in midseason standalone episodes, such as Dot and Bubble and The Story and the Engine. Unfortunately, its event episodes have leaned on the series' worst tendencies, creating empty spectacle that relies on fan buzz in response to references to characters last seen decades ago!

When Doctor Who returns - and I believe that it will, and likely sooner than Internet rage-baiters believe - I fervently hope that the series focuses on moving forward again.


OVERALL:

The Reality War is a bad end to a good season. I almost wrote that it was a "disappointing" end, except that it was pretty much what I expected: lots of activity, urgent pronouncements that the actors seem to be barely managing to utter with straight faces, and too much CGI. The most involving part of the episode is the epilogue, which mostly consists of last-minute reshoots!

It's a poor finale for Varada Sethu's Belinda, who helped to make this season better than the previous one, and who is rewarded by being reduced to a plot device while being upstaged by her predecessor. As if to make that upstaging a theme, the 13th Doctor pops into Gatwa's extended farewell just long enough to make me realize that, for all of her era's flaws, she feels more like the Doctor to me than he does.

The very good set of episodes leading up to this is an excellent argument that Doctor Who has plenty of life left in it... but I have to admit that it's hard to cling to that in the face of this dreary final episode. Ncuti Gatwa deserved better. Varada Sethu deserved better. This season deserved better. And the viewers certainly deserved better.


Overall Rating: 3/10.

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#17 (2.7): Wish World.

The Doctor confronts the Rani (Archie Panjabi).

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 44 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed by: Alex Sanjiv Pillai. Produced by: Chris May.


THE PLOT:

John Smith (Ncuti Gatwa) is a normal man who has a normal job at an insurance agency. He has a normal, happily domesticated wife, Belinda (Varada Sethu), and a young daughter, Poppy (Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps). They are making plans for tomorrow's holiday: May 24, 2025, while on the television set, Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King) presents a commemorative story about "Dr. Who."

A strange woman comes to John's door. Ruby (Millie Gibson) swears that he is actually "The Doctor" and that nothing about his life is real - but she flees when Belinda picks up the phone to report her for having doubts.

Doubt is contagious, however, and both John and Belinda find themselves doubting their perfect world. Belinda realizes that she can't even remember when Polly was born, while John finds that he can't quite conform to the society in which he's supposedly so happy.

Above London, in her Bone Palace, the Rani (Archie Panjabi) prepares for her victory. She isn't worried that the Doctor might remember who he is and bring this artificial world crashing down. In fact, she's counting on exactly that...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He's all but disappeared into the "John Smith" persona. None of his old self is visible when he rejects Ruby's assertion that he's the Doctor, with him mainly just responding with indignation and confusion. It's only in the little slips in which his old personality emerges, such as when he's casually urging Ibrahim to ask Kate out on a date or when he dares to wonder who the Rani is. Even with no memory, he remains protective of Belinda, attempting to shield her when the Rani has them both picked up for "doubting."

Belinda: Somehow, she's less fully enfolded by the illusion than the Doctor is. My pet theory is that he longs for a place to belong, and so this fake world fulfills some of his desires, while Belinda has no great urge to cosplay as a submissive 1950s housewife. The Doctor has small slips at work, but Belinda has a full-blown freakout when she realizes that she can't remember the birth of her supposed daughter.

Ruby Sunday: She's partially insulated from the false memories thanks to her experiences in 73 Yards. She doesn't quite remember the real world, but she perceives snatches of the truth, as if she's seeing them out of the corner of her eye. She has no conscious memory of Conrad, but an instinct has carried over that he cannot be trusted.

Conrad: Lucky Day ended with him being rescued from prison by Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson). The "wish world" of the title is his: a pseudo 1950s utopia that feels less like the actual 1950s than like the product of someone who watched too many Leave It to Beaver reruns. Ruby and the group of outcasts she joins refer to him as the god of this fake world, but he seems to still be a prisoner. He spends all of his time in a single room, perpetually exhausted by the mental energy required to keep this fake society running. When Mrs. Flood brings him a sandwich, he seems on the verge of tears at receiving this simple comfort. All told, he probably would have been better off in his cell.

Recurring Cast: There are cameos for all the members of the UNIT crew. Kate is "John's" no-nonsense boss at the insurance company, reacting sternly when he's merely on time for work instead of early. Col. Ibrahim is one of the staff. Mel, a single middle-aged woman, can't possibly work in Conrad's wish world, so she spends her time in contemplation. Wheelchair-bound Shirley has no place at all, so she is the leader of the outcasts Ruby joins. They're all present long enough to register, but only Shirley receives any real attention, sharp enough to wonder how she could afford medicine for her spinal condition and a high-quality wheelchair and pointing out the inconsistencies that riddle this world.

The Rani: Archie Panjabi's Rani is less the amoral scientist of The Mark of the Rani than the "female Master" of Time and the Rani and Dimensions in Time, which I find to be the less interesting choice for the character. On the plus side, if this Rani is just a camp villain, at least Panjabi makes her a fun camp villain, throwing herself into the role with gusto. Russell T. Davies has retained the character's intelligence. She doesn't underestimate the Doctor - quite the reverse, given that her plan actually requires him to break through the conditioning. Thanks to bi-generation, her previous incarnation, Mrs. Flood, remains at her side - and Mrs. Flood seems ever-so-politely annoyed at being treated like a servant by her own successor.


THOUGHTS:

I ended my review of The Interstellar Song Contest by praising this season as a whole - something I did in no small part because I had low expectations for Wish World. Thankfully, I ended up mostly liking this. It's enjoyable and well-paced, and it gets a lift from some very good performances.

The plot is familiar stuff. Thematically, there's more than a touch of Pleasantville, with a 1950s utopia that is actually a dystopia. The "regulars in a fake world" plot has been used by multiple science fiction series. TNT's The Librarians ran through variations of this plot twice!

Still, it delivers a nicely creepy vibe. My favorite scene is the one with Belinda's mother and grandmother, the women cheerfully recounting the full female life cycle according to Conrad Clark: perfect daughter to perfect wife to perfect mother. No wonder she runs out screaming. I also appreciate how completely the Doctor falls into the John Smith persona. The Story and the Engine showed how much he longs for a place to belong. As twisted as Conrad's world is, it gives him that - so completely that it takes external force to start snapping him out of it.

The story weakens in the final Act, when it starts to feel as if writer Russell T. Davies is copying himself. The scene between the Doctor and the Rani feels very close to the Doctor/Master confrontation at the end of The Sound of Drums, right down to it taking place on a vessel above London, and it even includes the Rani dancing. At least we're spared a "Gollum Doctor" moment, but the entire sequence amounts to an extended exposition drop, with the more interesting aspects of this episode mostly forgotten in the setup for the next one.


OVERALL:

I have noticed that Season Two repeats the general structure from Season One. Wish World occupies the same slot as last season's The Legend of Ruby Sunday and it fulfills the same role: setup for the finale, ending on a cliffhanger that teases the return of a foe first seen in the 1970s.

Judged as an episode in itself, I like this Wish World better. It makes better use of the characters, Ruby included. It also has a story of its own, of the Doctor and Belinda gradually breaking through the fake world, which makes it feel like an actual episode and not just extended prologue.

I would place this on the weaker end of this season's offerings. Still, it's never less than entertaining, and it is much better than I had expected.


Overall Rating: 6/10. Would be a "7" if the last ten minutes wasn't a step down from the rest.

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#16 (2.6): The Interstellar Song Contest.

A terrorist takes control of the Interstellar Song Contest.

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 47 minutes. Written by: Juno Dawson. Directed by: Ben A. Williams. Produced by: Vicki Delow.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor needs one last Vindicator reading to break through the barrier to reach May 24, 2025. This  brings him and Belinda come to Harmony Station, a space station in the distant future. It is the site of the Interstellar Song Contest, hosted by a cryogenically preserved Rylan Clark (as himself) - leading the Doctor and Belinda to instantly decide to stay and enjoy the show.

Something is happening in the control room. Hellion terrorist Kid (Freddie Fox) and his accomplice, Wynn (Iona Anderson), have taken over, determined to use the broadcast to take revenge against the corporation that devastated their home planet. They open up the arena's dome, sucking everybody in the main area out into space - including the Doctor!

Belinda manages to get out in time, along with contestant Cora Saint Bavier (Miriam-Teak Lee) and her tech-savvy assistant, Len (Akemnji Ndifomyen). She believes the Doctor is dead. However, thanks to his physiology, he is able to retain consciousness and find a way back onto the station. He connects with two other survivors, engineer Gary (Charlie Condou) and his husband Mike (Kadiff Kirwan), a medic. With their somewhat befuddled assistance, the Doctor sets to work thwarting Kid's plans.

Kid has already moved onto the next stage of his operation - and if he succeeds, it will mean the deaths of every one of the more than 3 trillion people watching!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He's delighted to see Belinda truly enjoying herself at long last. His joy turns to ash when he believes that she's dead. He blames himself, noting that he had taken on the role of her protector. He blames Kid even more. His anger comes to the surface when he finally talks to his adversary over the intercom, with him threatening Kid in a decidedly un-Doctorish fashion. When he's reunited with Belinda, his anger recedes, but it doesn't fully go away, with him warning his vanquished foe: "You have put ice in my heart... I think it'll be there forever now. So you take care."

Belinda: She spends the first part of the episode staring at the show like a wide-eyed little girl, and she shares with the Doctor chidlhood memories of staying up to watch Eurovision with her parents. After the disaster, she melts down, dissolving because she has no idea where she is and she knows that she isn't up to solving this kind of problem. When she hears the Doctor's voice on the intercom, you can see the wave of relief pass through her - replaced by horror at his rage. Her gasp of, "That's not the Doctor," recalls the line from Face the Raven, when a furious Twelfth Doctor shouted, "The Doctor is no longer here, you're stuck with me!"

"Kid": When Nina (Kiruna Stamell), the director of the contest, calls him a monster, he sneers back: "That's what people have said to me my whole life... I'm only doing the things you expect of me." His resentment is valid. We see that Hellions face rampant discrimination, and we learn that their world was devastated by the Evil Corporation (TM) that sponsors the competition. But the Doctor is also right that Kid is a psychopath. The plight of his people gives him an excuse to kill, but he would probably have found a reason for mayhem regardless.

Cora: The singer favored to win the competition, she survives thanks to the surreptitious intervention of Kid's accomplice, Wynn. She is compassionate, doing all she can to help Belinda come to grips with her situation. She also hides a secret, one that's entirely predictable but that does help the plot to fit snugly within its running time.

Mrs. Flood: I mostly haven't mentioned her ongoing appearances, because those amount to Russell T. Davies winking and nudging at the audience that something will eventually be done with her. Over the course of two seasons, I've started to find her quick cameos to be slightly annoying, as RTD's past form guaranteed that no actual information would be forthcoming until just before the finale. This episode is just before the finale, though, so it's now time for the big reveal - which I'm afraid I found to be the worst scene in the episode, though I'm sure many fans were excited by it.


THOUGHTS:

Juno Dawson, who had written the 13th Doctor novel The Good Doctor and the podcast series, Doctor Who: Redacted, graduates to television with this episode. The brief for it was reportedly, "Die Hard meets Eurovision," and it sticks closely to the Die Hard template. This is no bad thing, as it provides a reliable structure to create tension and to keep the pace moving.

This episode moves fast. The setting allows for multiple musical numbers, mostly glimpsed in the background on the broadcast as the characters try to thwart Kid's plans. Dawson's script manages a few effective tonal shifts: Belinda's wide-eyed wonder mixed with nostalgia as she watches the competition while recalling her childhood; then terror during the disaster spectacle of the spectators and contestants being pulled, screaming, into outer space; then a funny set piece involving the Doctor's unique conveyance back to the station; and finally to the Doctor's rage at Kid, which becomes genuinely unsettling. One of the strengths of Doctor Who is its ability to shift on a dime from silly to serious and back again, and this episode does that repeatedly.

For most of its running time, I was planning to give this an "8." It's consistently entertaining, with excellent character scenes for both the Doctor and Belinda and a good use of a reliable story template. There's only one problem: the last Act feels rushed.

The Doctor's confrontation with Kid ranks among Gatwa's best individual scenes in the role. But he gets there too easily. After his intercom conversation with Kid, the Doctor doesn't face any serious threat or obstacle. Kid sends two robots, which the Doctor disables with his Sonic Screwdriver without even looking up from what he's doing, and... that's it. I think the episode needs one last Thing for him to overcome in order to build more tension, and that Thing simply isn't there.

What is there is more "arc stuff" packed in at the end. This is the last standalone episode of the season before the 2-part finale - and as with The Robot Revolution, I'm left wondering whether the individual story was weakened in order to make room for setup. The Doctor defeats Kid with several minutes still remaining. A few of those minutes are devoted to tidying up loose ends. Then we get The Big Reveal, a scene that goes on a bit too long and that is clearly meant to get us excited for the season ender.


AN EXCELLENT SEASON - WITH SOME APPREHENSION FOR THE END:

I liked this episode on its own, and I've been impressed by this season. I've enjoyed 5 of the 6 episodes (I absolutely loved The Story and the Engine). Even the one that underwhelmed me, The Robot Revolution, wasn't so much bad as a bit slapdash. Ncuti Gatwa, whose performance was already good, has been outstanding this season, and I find Verada Sethu's Belinda to be a better foil for his Doctor than Millie Gibson's Ruby (and I liked Ruby).

As of this point, I'd rank this as my favorite of Russell T. Davies' Doctor Who seasons, and I think I'll hold to that regardless of the finale. As for why I'm choosing to make this statement here, just before the ending two-parter... well, that's because my expectations for the finale are lower than the floor of the Grand Canyon at its deepest point.

I was rarely a fan of RTD's finales even in his first go-around, and I thought last season's Empire of Death was abysmal - and that wasn't burdened with unexpected last-minute reshoots. I wish I was excited for the last two episodes. But if I'm honest, I expect a repeat of last year, with the final shows caving in on themselves.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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#15 (2.5): The Story and the Engine.

The Barber (Ariyon Bakare) goads the Doctor into telling a story.

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 46 minutes. Written by: Inua Ellams. Directed by: Makalla McPherson. Produced by: Vicki Delow.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor comes to Lagos, Nigeria to visit Omo (Sule Rimi), an old friend who runs a barber shop. Even before he reaches the shop, he can sense that something's wrong. The street outside is deserted, adorned with "Missing Persons" flyers and signs warning people to turn back. Inside the shop, he finds all the missing people and Omo, but none of them can leave. They are prisoners of "The Barber" (Ariyon Bakare), a mysterious figure who has taken control.

The Barber's technology allows them to exist in two places at once, Lagos and outer space, where his engine propels them toward a destination. The engine is powered by stories, the stories that Omo and his customers tell while receiving haircuts. After each cut, their hair instantly grows back so that they can continue feeding the engine.

Omo offers up the Doctor to his captor in hopes of freeing himself and his customers. Because after all, who has more stories than an immortal traveler in time and space?


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: I think this is Ncuti Gatwa's single best performance as the Doctor. He is nothing short of magnetic from start to finish. He stands up to the Barber and tries to rally the others against him, declaring in the style of a defiant protest leader: "We will leave here!" When the Barber declares his power, the Doctor responds by laughing and poking holes in his claims. He reacts with genuine emotional pain at Oma's betrayal of him. He reveals to Belinda that, in this regeneration, people in certain places and times respond very differently to him than to his white predecessors... but not at Oma's shop. "I'm accepted. I'm able to forget. We... laugh, we tell stories." Oma didn't merely use him - he took away a place the Doctor has thought of as a home.

Belinda: "Hurt people hurt people... The difference between good and evil is what we do with that pain." When her story gets told (by the Doctor instead of her, one of the few nitpicks I have), we see her compassion and dedication to helping others, with her sacrificing her grandmother's birthday in order to save an old woman from what would likely have been a fatal misdiagnosis (in a blatant tipoff that this is science fiction, the hospital doctor actually listens to a nurse telling him that he's wrong). She has no time for the Barber's self-justifications, loudly dismissing his actions as motivated by ego.

Omo: Omo is not in any way a bad man. He genuinely cares about the Doctor, and his guilt at betraying his friend is tangible. At his core, he's likable, as are his customers. When the Doctor realizes that he's been used, the entire group gangs up on him to drag him to the barber's chair to fuel the engine... and the scene is all the more effective precisely because these aren't evil people - They're just desperate.

Abena: The Barber's assistant, Abena (Michelle Asante) is devoted to seeing him achieve his ends. Despite her closeness to their captor, the customers see her as a savior, because she treats them nicely while bringing them food from the outside. Abena resents the Doctor, and we eventually learn that in a prior incarnation, the Doctor abandoned her to a life that she hated. She truly believes that she's serving the greater good by helping the Barber, insisting that when he gains power he will rule with wisdom and justice. 

The Barber: Ariyon Bakare is a compelling presence, the rage that's simmered for centuries visible in his eyes as he glares. He speaks and moves with slow deliberation, the low pitch of his voice adding weight to each syllable. There's a scene in which the Barber tells his story twice: first a lie, as he moves to center stage and loudly proclaims himself to be gods such as Dionysis, Loki, and Anansi while cutting his own locks and dropping the hair deliberately to the ground. Then, after the Doctor calls out his lie, he slumps against a wall and tells the truth, in a quiet whisper that's every bit as captivating. There are multiple moments, including this one, in which he becomes almost sympathetic, mainly because his anger is understandable, which makes him all the more fearsome as a villain.


THOUGHTS:

"It does not matter what I am called. It matters who I am, what I do... I begin all things. I am the voice in the empty void. I am the spark, the seed, the dark nucleus, the lie that tells the truth... And this, Doctor, this is my domain."
-the Barber traps the Doctor for the power of his stories.

A glance across the web tells me that The Story and the Engine is a divisive story, with no shortage of people both singing its praises and sneering at it as pretentious and dull. I fall firmly on the side of those that loved it. I think it's my favorite of Ncuti Gatwa's run.

Just like the engine, this narrative is carried by the stories the various characters tell, both in and out of the barber's chair. The teaser is arresting, as Oma tells the story of how he first met the Doctor, with stylized images similar to those in a published version of a folk tale appearing on the glass as he speaks. The Doctor's only story when he's in the barber's chair is about Belinda, emphasizing the importance of an ordinary life. When he sits again, it's for Abena's tale, a story of defiance in the face of oppression.

Just as crucial are the stories told away from the chair. Right after the credits, the Doctor tells Belinda about his love for the shop. The Barber first lies about his origins, then tells the truth. Abena and the Doctor shared a past moment in which their separate stories intersected. Oma and his customers relate the parts of their lives they're missing as they remain trapped in the shop, from the athlete who came for a haircut before a relay race to the father who was getting a trim for his child's naming ceremony. These individual little stories are bound together by the setting and the themes, the strong individual moments each forming part of a hypnotic whole.

The episode is also visually beautiful. The illustrations on the glass would be worth publishing in themselves. Not only are they good art, they vary in tone according to each story. Oma's is like the illustrations of a book of folk tales. When the Barber tells his untrue tale, the images are ominous, threatening. The strength of the Doctor's storytelling is reflected by the glass showing moving images rather than static drawings.

Memorable images aren't restricted to "money shots," but also include simple two-shots and close-ups: the Barber urging the Doctor to tell a story while wielding the clippers like a weapon; Oma, sitting in the chair as he tells his story; the Doctor, loudly defying this self-proclaimed god with the others visible in frame behind him; the Barber, glaring balefully in one shot and staring exhaustedly into space in another. Not to mention a close-up of a haircut that is artful both visually and narratively as it transitions to the next scene. It feels as if each moment has been precisely composed to maximize impact.


OVERALL:

I could nitpick a few things. I really wish Belinda sat in the chair to tell her own story, rather than the Doctor telling it for her, and there's some questionable continuity regarding the Doctor's memories of Abena. But these don't lower my score, because I was too swept away.

I loved this episode. I found it a brilliant testament the the power of storytelling, both oral and visual. Time seemed to stop while I was watching, and I was left feeling transported not only by the narrative, but by the multiple smaller stories inside of it.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

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#14 (2.4): Lucky Day.

Ruby Sunday has a classic "meet cute" with podcaster Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King).

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 46 minutes. Written by: Pete McTighe. Directed by: Peter Hoar. Produced by: Vicki Delow.


THE PLOT:

When he was just 8 years old, Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King) had a chance encounter with the Doctor that shaped his life. He later observed the Doctor again, this time alongside his companion Ruby Sunday, as the two stopped a threat from "The Shreek," a creature that marks its prey so that it can hunt it down in the future - and on that occasion, the Shreek marked Conrad.

Now the host of a podcast about extraterrestrials, Conrad arranges an interview with Ruby. She's been struggling to adjust to a normal life after her time with the Doctor, and she's charmed by this awkward but kind young man. After he tells her about the Shreek, she arranged for UNIT to give him an antidote, so that he need never worry about the creatures again.

Conrad and Ruby begin dating, and one weekend he invites her to his hometown to meet his friends. While enjoying drinks at a pub, Ruby notices the lights flickering, which is one of the early warnings of the Shreek's approach. This should be impossible - Not only is the creature in UNIT's custody, they would only be tracking them if Conrad hadn't drunk the antidote.

Then Conrad reveals that he did not drink the liquid - a mistake that appears to have put him, Ruby, and his friends all in imminent danger!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He makes an indelible impression on young Conrad simply by materializing the TARDIS in front of him. He's kind to the boy, giving him a coin and telling him that it's his lucky day before leaving again as quickly as he came. He has three appearances in the episode, and all of them happen "out of order" from his perspective: He meets young Conrad while taking another Vindicator reading with Belinda; his second scene is, from his perspective, well before that, when he was traveling with Ruby shortly after the events of The Devil's Chord; and his final one is set between seasons, when he was traveling alone.

Ruby Sunday: She's been struggling with PTSD since leaving the Doctor. Conrad appears to be just what she needs: a simple nice guy who's supportive and willing to listen. She's appalled when he reveals that he didn't take the Shreek antidote, and she's quick to take charge when the pub comes under siege. Millie Gibson's last two episodes as a regular were also her worst, with weak scripts that resulted in generic performances. Lucky Day gives her much stronger material, allowing her to show restlessness, fear, happiness, and anger. It's a reminder of how good she can be when she's actually given something to work with.

Belinda: She's present only for the opening scene, in which she's still anxious to return home. The Doctor introduces her to child Conrad, which results in a closed circle when adult Conrad asks the Doctor about Belinda when he hasn't yet met her - which might =be the reason that he was searching for her at the start of The Robot Revolution.

Conrad: Jonah Hauer-King presents Conrad as instantly likable: just nervous and insecure enough to be appealing without seeming clingy or useless. We know early on that he's not telling Ruby everything about himself. He presents his relationship with his dead mother as a positive one, while the opening indicated that his mother was abusive and cruel... though in fairness, that's not something you're likely to bring up on a first date. These tidbits, his insecurity and the past that we glimpse at the episode's start, make it believable that he would engage in an ill-conceived effort to be fearless for Ruby.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart: When Ruby calls her with her worries about the Shreek, she takes her concerns seriously, running a check both on the power grid and on the Shreek that she has confined. When both come up clean, she gently suggests that Ruby is "constantly on alert" (read: paranoid), and she manages to make the observation sound kind rather than judgment. She expresses concerns that the UK ministers would be only too happy to turn on UNIT, and she worries about the organization's technology leaking out if that happens. Jemma Redgrave gets possibly her series-best scene near the end, when Kate grows grim and angry while dealing with the mess of this situation.


THOUGHTS:

I managed not to be spoiled for The Well, which enhanced my enjoyment of that very good episode. Lucky Day is also a good episode... but unfortunately, this time I was spoiled about the big reveal. Ah, well: Such are the perils of waiting on new episodes until after the full season has dropped.

I enjoyed Lucky Day. It does a good job of playing with expectations. The opening deliberately echoes Love & Monsters, with Conrad - like that episode's Elton - encountering the TARDIS by chance and even stretching out his fingers toward the door before observing the end of an unseen adventure involving the Shreek. Like that episode's Elton, his brief encounters with the Doctor have clearly shaped his life - though Conrad has turned his enthusiasm into a podcast rather than joining a fan group.

All of this, and his amusingly clumsy "meet cute" with Ruby, prime us to like him even before the main story properly gets going. The point-of-view then shifts to Ruby and her difficulties with normal life. This also works, with us seeing her relax and enjoy herself again with Conrad as her family cheers her on. All of which builds effectively to the weekend, with the tone turning darker as the lights flicker and the first glimpses are caught of the monster outside...

The second half makes one more switch in viewpoint, with Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT taking center stage as the story moves toward its conclusion. I could gripe that UNIT's security appears to be poor enough to qualify them for service on the starship Enterprise, but I can handwave that because the story remains engrossing. The climax is effective, as Kate takes actions that she knows and states the Doctor would disapprove of in order to neutralize the threat, and Jemma Redgrave is outstanding when Kate shows her full fury. With the story resolved, I was preparing to award a strong "8."

...And then came the Doctor's third appearance. I like the idea that an offhand remark from Conrad accidentally guides the Doctor to find Belinda, essentially setting the stage for the entire season. I'm less fond of the scene's centerpiece: a heavy-handed speech in which the Doctor lays out The Moral of the Story. I appear to be in the minority in not liking the speech. It's good as a speech, and I agree with almost every word ... but the episode's themes had already been conveyed by Kate and Ruby. This is pure heavy-handedness, hammering it home on the theory that we're too dumb to have gotten the point.

Since I don't particular enjoy being lectured, even when I agree with the lecture, this was enough for me to deduct one point from my final score - leaving Lucky Day still at a solid...


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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#13 (2.3): The Well.

Wary soldiers hold Aliss (Rose Alying-Ellis), the sole survivor of a disaster, at gunpoint.

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 48 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies, Sharma Angel-Walfall. Directed by: Amanda Brotchie. Produced by: Chris May.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor and Belinda find themselves on a mining planet in the distant future, in the midst of soldiers under the command of Shaya Costallion (Caoilfhionn Dunne). Contact was lost with the miners, and Shaya's mission is to find out why and rescue any survivors.

When they reach the facility, the workers are all dead - half of them shot and the other half physically assaulted. All mirrors have been shattered with deliberate efficiency, and there is only one survivor: Aliss (Rose Ayling-Ellis), the cook. Aliss indicates that the crew went mad, all except for her, and that she was forced to kill her best friend to defend herself.

Belinda does her best to treat Aliss's wounds with guidance from Mo (Bethany Antonia), a compassionate trooper who acts as the team medic. Meanwhile, the Doctor retrieves what he can from the facility's corrupted logs. He hears one of the dead miners moaning, "We don't know what it is!", which jogs his memory.

To his horror, he realizes that he's been on this planet before. He knows exactly what enemy he's facing - and he's not prepared for it...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He behaves seriously and compassionately when they find Aliss - and except for that, he spends the first half at his most arrogant. He calls the second-in-command, Cassio (Christopher Chung), "babes" and, when he objects, switches to "hun." He crouches by the mine shaft and yells, "Hello," into it to hear the echo. Upon entering the facility, he removes his and Belinda's protective gear. Cassio calls this out as a bad idea, but the Doctor shrugs that he's just "not loving the look." This comes back to haunt him, the need to stop and put that gear back on slowing the escape at the end... which I love, because while arrogance is part of the Doctor's character, it should sometimes come with a price.

Belinda: She is the first to see the creature's shadow in the background, before it begins wreaking havoc among the troops, and she makes the mistake of dismissing it as "nothing" a couple of times more than is plausible. She gets the standard companion role of being compassionate toward Aliss, trying to reassure her while the Doctor investigates the base. She still wants to get home, and she wistfully recalls her parents' pleasantly mundane routines, but she's also starting to enjoy the adventure... though one wonders if the events of this episode will knock that right back out of her.

Shaya: The commander of the team, she initially comes across as single-minded and mission focused. She directs the squad to draw weapons on the Doctor and Belinda until they explain themselves, relenting after the Doctor uses his pyschic paper to pass himself off as a high-ranking official. When Mo notes that the lack of lifesigns doesn't mean anything given radiation interference and that there is still hope, Shaya instantly replies, "Hope is irrelevent." She defers to the Doctor's judgment when their enemy is unveiled, however, even when that creates tension with Cassio.

Aliss: The Doctor puts her survival down to her deafness, which saved her from hearing the creature's whispers. She is appropriately traumatized after seeing half of the people she worked with murder the other half. She just wants to get back to her daughter - even if that means concealing information to keep the soldiers from leaving her behind. Rose Ayling-Ellis is very good, managing to convey Aliss's fear without ever threatening to make her one-note. She's neither noble nor pathetic; she's just an ordinary person who desperately wants to go home.


THOUGHTS:

The Well benefits from a very strong script. Things are casually planted early that are remembered and utilized later. The Doctor removing protective gear, a seeming throwaway moment, ends up costing the characters precious time at the end. Elements of Shaya's backstory make her into a more rounded character, but they also figure into the resolution. In terms of sheer construction, this is the best script so far this season.

The episode is extremely well made. The first half focuses on building atmosphere and mystery, and shot choices lean into this. There are striking images: the Doctor and Belinda, surrounded by the squad; the squad shot from above as they approach the mining facility; the Doctor, standing at the edge of the vast mine shaft; and the soldiers gathered around Aliss in a semi-circle, seeming as frightened of this single, small woman as she is of them.

Shots are allowed to linger on screen for a second or two longer than most episodes would allow, which makes them register in the viewer's mind. Also, when cuts don't necessarily occur at the moments we're primed to expect, the extra seconds help to enhance the unsettling vibe of the piece.

Everything speeds up once the enemy is unveiled, and there is an action scene that is memorable in its chaos. As Aliss says of the incident with the mining crew, what happens ends up happening fast - only for it to end just as abruptly, with the characters left to process what just occurred. This is extremely effective, all the more so because it follows a clear logic without ever being overexplained.

I was fortunate enough to remain unspoiled about the episode's major reveal, and that unquestionably enhanced the viewing experience. If anyone's reading this who has yet to watch The Well... don’t read anything else about it before watching, because it is best viewed without extra information.


OVERALL:

A couple of moments near the end keep this shy of full marks. There's one moment that would have worked well with just action and music, but it gets slightly overegged with the addition of unnecessary voice-over. There's also an ending sting that I think the episode would have been stronger without. These are minor blemishes, but they're just enough to keep me from awarding a "10."

That said, The Well is an excellent episode: tightly constructed, well-acted, and extremely well made.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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#12 (2.2): Lux.

The Doctor and Belinda meet Mr. Ring-a-Ding (Alan Cumming), a cartoon come to life.

1 episode. Running Time: Approx. 44 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed by: Amanda Brotchie. Produced by: Chris May.


THE PLOT:

A barrier is preventing the Doctor from returning Belinda to her own time, so he attempts to outmaneuver it with a doohickey and some technobabble. This leads to the TARDIS materializing just outside a movie theater in Miami, Florida, 1952.

It's instantly obvious that something is afoot. The theater isn't just closed; its doors are chained shut, and there is a memorial outside. They learn that three months earlier, 15 people attending a screening disappeared without a trace. After multiple searches, the police have given up, leaving the building empty save for its projectionist/caretaker, Reginald Pye (Linus Roache).

A quick pass of his Sonic Screwdriver is all it takes for the Doctor to access the theater, where he discovers the entity behind the disappearances: Mr. Ring-a-Ding (Alan Cumming), a cartoon brought to life. Mr. Ring-a-Ding is now the embodiment of Lux Imperator, the Chaos God of light. The Doctor resolves to defeat him; but before he and Belinda can do anything, they find themselves trapped in celluloid - and themselves transformed into cartoons!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He's determined to keep his promise to return Belinda to May 24, 2025, not least because of his growing concern that something has gone very wrong. He tries to hide that worry from Belinda by cranking up both energy and charm even beyond his norm. His enthusiasm for materializing in 1952 Florida is tempered when he stretches out his hand to remind himself of his skin color, with him remarking that going unseen "might be wise." When Belinda absorbs those same implications, the Doctor tells her that it's not his role to change human history, not even for the better: "I have toppled worlds. Sometimes I wait for people to topple their world. Until then, I live in it, and I shine."

Belinda: So far, I like Belinda. Unlike Ruby, she's a reluctant traveler, and her willingness to push back against the Doctor rather than just wholeheartedly embrace his enthusiasm adds an extra layer. She doesn't complain about her unwanted travels, and it's clear that she's far from immune to the Doctor's charm. She's a compassionate figure, as shown when her resistance to investigating drops away after she meets the mother of one of the people who vanished. I wouldn't say there's particularly more to her character than there was to Ruby. But I'm feeling connected with the Doctor/Belinda team in a way that I struggled to feel with the Doctor and Ruby for the first third of the previous season.

Mr. Ring-a-Ding/Lux: This episode wouldn't work if its animated "monster" didn't. Mr. Ring-a-Ding's design is perfectly judged. He looks like a 1950s cartoon, with comically exaggerated features that include oversized hands and an impossibly wide grin. Those same exaggerations become menacing when he steps out of the screen. Alan Cumming adopts a nasally voice for the character that's reminiscent of (but not a duplicate of) some of the Looney Tunes voices. He's also able to turn from amiable to sinister with a very slight drop in pitch and the tiniest slowing of vocal pace. The character remains bound by cartoon logic. When his theme is played, he has to stop to sing and dance to it. When he heads to the booth to pursue the Doctor and Belinda, he has to comically pull his rubbery legs up each stair while complaining that he never should have learned perspective.


THOUGHTS:

Lux shares a lot in common with The Devil's Chord from Gatwa's first season. Like that story, this is set in the past, with the Doctor facing off against a threat bound to art - music in that episode, animation and movies in this one. In both cases, the opponent is superficially comical. Both episodes also invoke the Toymaker's giggle to let the Doctor know that these are Gods of Chaos.

I find Lux to be the better of the two. The Devil's Chord had a splendid first half but became more slapdash toward the end, while Lux feels both controlled and unified throughout. The word "lux" directly refers to a unit of light, and the teaser shows moonlight bringing the Chaos God to life in the form of Mr. Ring-a-Ding, an animated celluloid character who is brought to cinematic life through the light of the projector. Lux forces the projectionist to keep playing movies in the empty theater because the light from the projections "feeds" him. Both the manner of his creation and his "feeding" are consistent with the way in which he's ultimately defeated. Not all the rules are explained, but the internal logic holds.

The episode plays with the divide between reality and fiction. This starts from the teaser, with the fictional cartoon, Mr. Ring-a-Ding, emerging from the screen to the horror of the audience. In the second half, the Doctor and Belinda are trapped on celluloid and transformed into two-dimensional cartoons - a transformation that follows multiple references from them to Scooby Doo, with the Doctor teasing Belinda by identifying himself as Velma and her as Fred. There are a couple of direct fourth wall breaks, including a mid-credits bit that I found amusing.

I quite like how this episode addresses the issue of how certain points in history might not be ideal for a nonwhite Doctor. It isn't dismissed condescendingly, as happened in The Shakespeare Code. The Doctor notes that in this time and place, it might be best for him and Belinda not to be seen, and he fills Belinda in on "the rules" of their interactions with others at a diner - but he also cuts short her outraged reaction, instead focusing her attention on the task at hand. The issue is addressed with suitable directness, but it never threatens to interfere with either the story or its pace.

This aspect is also effectively folded into the narrative. The brief exchange at the diner about breaking "the rules" of segregation to get information effectively parallels the way the Doctor uses "the rules" of the pantheon of Chaos Gods to get information from Lux. The idea of light recurs throughout the story, and that motif is referenced when the Doctor observes that it's as well that he and Belinda have arrived late at night and can go unseen. When the story ends, in the light of morning, he combines both the ideas of light and of rules as he declares that it's time to leave: "According to the laws of the land, babe, sunlight doesn't suit us."


OVERALL:

Lux is a fine episode, with a tightly constructed script that makes full use of both its themes and plot elements. The villain is particularly strong, mixing the comical and the frightening to excellent effect. The live action and animated elements mix seamlessly, and this is one of the few episodes that visibly benefited from the Disney partnership.

Overall, a very good episode, one that raises my hopes for the rest of the season.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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