Well, that was a very Russell T. Davies finale, putting my in mind especially of “The End of Time”, a story in which the central action-adventure plot wraps up leaving a solid 15 minutes or so for emotional wrap-up and goodbyes. Not having entirely thought things through, I wasn’t really mentally conditioned to be approaching the episode in that manner, and so as it kept going on and on, I was increasingly astonished as the finale still seemed so far off. And it was. It also felt a lot like previous showrunner Chris Chibnall’s swansong, “The Power of the Doctor” in that it tried to use an awful lot of fan service to bring up the energy of lapsed and waning WHO fans. And like that episode, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
So that writes finito to Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, and I can’t help but feel just a little bit cheated by the limited duration of his tenure. His is the shortest tenure in the role since Colin Baker, working on only two seasons, one Christmas episode and a couple of specials. Much as was the case for Peter Capaldi’s Twelveth Doctor, it felt as though it really took until this season for people, Russell included, to figure out how to best write for Gatwa’s performance, and so I feel as though we never truly got to experience him in full flower to he degree that I would have liked. I’ll admit that I never entirely clicked with Gatwa’s Doctor to the extent that I wanted to. I think mostly that comes down to the scripts continuing to fall into the trap of forgetting to make the Doctor the hero and the story driver in many situations. Like Peter Davison and Jodie Whittaker before him, his Doctor seems just a bit hapless, stumbling into situations and only coming through them by either sheer luck or the sacrifice of other characters around him–and yet, constantly being told by everybody just how amazing he was. None of this was Gatwa’s fault, he always did the most with what he was given. But it’s been a relatively consistent problem in my eyes.
The actual plot of much of this episode is complete and utter bonkers nonsense. While it was lovely to see the actor back, the sudden appearance of Anita from the Christmas episode functioned as the sort of Deus Ex Machina delivery of the Doctor out of his troubles that I’m talking about. If the Doctor his falling into the Underverse, I want to see him find a way to cleverly save himself rather than having a magic happenstance save him from oblivion. So that felt like an obvious cheat, and one that Davies hoped would be carried off by the audience’s love for Anita and her brief appearance in that Christmas Special, in which she was clearly the standout character. The Rani’s plan and the way she goes about achieving it doesn’t really hold up to the slightest bit of scrutiny, and her undoing also has nothing to do with the efforts of the Doctor. Had Gatwa’s character perished in that balcony fall, the Rani still would have ended up eaten by Omega when she opened that doorway and released him. Speaking of Omega, his use here feels like the squandering of a potentially great addition to the mythos, much in the way last year’s finale turned Sutekh into something of a piker after being regarded as a classic adversary for decades. Bit of a waste, that.
That all said, there were some specific moments that I liked. In particular, the Doctor using the hidden-in-plain-sight Vindicator to force Omega back into the Underverse seemed clever and earned, even if the Doctor wasn’t the one who set it up there in the first place. The Doctor stripping off his restrictive suit and coming back to his true self was also a good beat, as was Ruby’s empathy for the up-till-now Conrad. This show is always at its best when it promotes the concept of empathy and understanding, even for its villains. Clearly knowing that they were going to be aiming this episode at cinemas as well as streaming, the production team seemingly spent an awful lot of money on skyscrapers engaged in firefights with dinosaur skeletons and the Doctor riding a flying glider across the city–all of which looked pretty good, but somewhat felt empty to me.
But really, the 45 minutes of story feel as though they were really just there to set up for the final fifteen minutes, in which Russell attempted to hit emotional beat after emotional beat. The frequency of them, and the fact that characters would change perspectives (from “nobody is taking my child” to “what do you mean I had a child, you’re mad, woman!”) so rapidly gave be a bit of emotional whiplash. Also, the Doctor’s regeneration felt a bit underearned, though I did like in principle that he uses up all of himself to restore the proper universe and to restore his daughter to existence. That at least was a novel way for a Doctor to go out and spoke to the more outwardly emotional nature of Ncuti’s incarnation.
And speaking of incarnations, the surprise return of Jodie Whittaker as Doctor #13 was a legitimate surprise, even though it also felt a bit like gilding the lily. But I will say that her interactions with Gatwa were really very delightful–sort of a shame that we didn’t get a proper full two Doctors adventure, but possibly things were better this way. And Whittaker was a good as ever, and seemed a bit more put together under Russell’s watch than she often was under Chibnall. I did like the nasty little momentary sting of “I should tell Yaz that/You never do.” The whole sequence was complete fan service and the story would have been exactly the same if you simply cut those five minutes out of it–but if DOCTOR WHO may be off the air for two more years, as the rumors suggest, it was nice to go out with a moment like this one.
I did feel a bit cheated and bait-and-switched by the fact that Carole Ann Ford’s Susan didn’t make so much as an appearance in this episode, after having been teased so relentlessly in the prior two. And I think that may have been a terrible error, especially with a prospective production gap coming. Ford is not a young woman, and I’d hate to see the show fail to give her her final bows before that becomes too late. With all the energy revolving around Poppy as the Doctor’s daughter (and thus clearly being set up as Susan’s mother) I was caught off guard by the fact that Susan wasn’t so much as mentioned in the broadcast. And looking back, it feels like you could have cut Ford’s moments from the prior two episode without affect their trajectory all that much as well, which points to the promise of her return being used as weaponized nostalgia. I’m there for a callback, but you need to follow through on it and make sure that there’s a payoff, otherwise, you’re simply toying with my affections and I’ll walk away unsatisfied.
And speaking of weaponized nostalgia, the show’s last gasp seems to be exactly that. I was braced for the new Doctor to be Billie Piper prior to broadcast, having heard the rumors for a number of weeks from sources that have proven to be impeccable. And I can certainly see the wisdom of it, a way to tap back into the love viewers had for the program in those more halcyon days without suiting up poor old David Tennant one more time. The jury is out on what sort of a Doctor Piper might end up being, but I see the wisdom in the choice, even though it simultaneously feels very, very strange. But that’s a question to be answered at another time–a time that is probably at least two years away at this point.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
It’s badly written activist rubbish with zero fans. There are literally more haters watching than people who genuinely like anything about the current show and its ratings are confected out of estimates. It’s time for cancellation and a long break.
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Ugh! I can’t get Disney+ to load on either PC or my Chromebook!
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Finally got to see it and yes, it was bonkers. Marvelous bonkers too! I did think Poppy would be Susan’s mom too (and she could be still as bonkers rules might still apply) but don’t so much mind since I have no real attachment to the Hartnell era, never having seen much of it. I’ll miss Gatwa even if never came close to supplanting Capaldi or Davison as my favorite Doctor. Rose Tyler ties with Amy and Peri as my least favorite companion ever so I am not happy to see the actress back. I even liked Mel and Ruby more. Oh well, I found things to enjoy in Whitaker’s badly written but so well acted tenure so I suppose Piper’s lisp may not annoy me as much this time. I think they should pretend they don’t notice the resemblance since Capaldi was in a previous ep before ascending and Amy and Gwen had parts before joining the main casts as well with no explanation that I recall.
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They did reference the earlier roles of both Capaldi and Eve Myles (Gwen) and provide in-story explanations for the “resemblances”, just as they did this year with Varada Sethu’s character from last season. I don’t think they bothered to do so with Karen Gillen’s pre-Amy role, though.
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I agree with your assessment of the plot being “absolute bonkers” but I found myself engaged regardless, much more so than the previous week’s set-up. I was also disappointed that there was no follow-up on Susan, but it was offset by the welcome return of Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and Nicuti Gatwa’s touching final moments. It would have been nice to have a few more seasons with his incarnation, but such is life. I had heard Billie Piper might be the next Doctor, but thought that was too weird to actually happen. Turns out I was wrong, but hopefully we’ll all get a chance to see how she’ll fare in the role.
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I also liked Jodie Whittakerās reaction to the redesigned Tardis: āI donāt like it.ā A nice callback to the Second Doctorās dislike of his successorās Tardis.
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It was a bonkers storyline that was still a whole lot of fun. And it hit all of the right emotional beats. I think I’m going to cry now.
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“His is the shortest tenure in the role since Colin Baker.”? Setting aside Paul McGann and his one-off TV movie, surely that distinction belongs to Christopher Eccleston.
Oh, and as long as I’m here: Yes, it was completely bonkers. And I loved every minute of it.
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Well, you can’t say that episode wasn’t jam-packed with…stuff. Some good, some bad. My favorite bit was Ruby and the others stepping up to remind the Doctor of his mission statement — that he’ll move Heaven and Earth to save one person. And the whole business with Poppy was very emotionally powerful (although the idea of the Doctor and Belinda somehow parenting a baby without either of their consent is kind of gross if you think about it too long…).
The Rani and Omega felt like wasted opportunities. Neither of them were interesting or memorable in the slightest.
Delightful to see Jodie Whittaker again. I agree, we need a full-blown 13/15 team-up. Get on that, Big Finish.
Very mixed feelings about Billie Piper’s return. She’s a fine actress, but this feels like a real desperation ploy (much like dragging Tennant back for those 14th Doctor specials) — practically begging old viewers who have wandered off to please please please come back. Of course, it may be a moot point if the cancellation rumors are true…
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Guess I’m in a minority ā saving the magically created baby that didn’t exist before the previous episode didn’t work for me at all.
I enjoyed the Rani and Mel squaring off and the Rani’s speech mocking the Doctor’s inspirational speeches. The UNIT with that steering wheel made me think of Monty Python’s Crimson Fidelity Insuracne Company.
Loved the Whitaker/Gatwa interactions.
Piper could be fun. Yes, it’s a Hail Mary promotional play, but it could still work.
The Susan bits do indeed seem pointless.
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Yeah, I didin’t understand also why they didn’t go with a team up between the Rani and the Master instead of Bigenerating the Rani into a copy of the Master. Not every villain need to be loudsome and stirring.
Sadly the show is not in his best days, but I agree that is more a fault of the scrips rather that the main actos. Anyway I will keep watching unless something terrible happens.
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I agree with with many of your points Tom, and the non-speculative fiction fan who has watched with me since the 60th anniversary specials found the plot unfollowable. However I loved the episode and my brain was spinning in a million directions for hours afterwards.
I like to go in blind as much as possible but I had to wait a day to watch the finale and the fact that 15 regenerated was spoiled for me. Even so there were still wonderful surprises throughout.
Hopefully Gatwa and his supporting cast will all return at some point (and record audio dramas) as even though those characters feel incredibly well established we have been somewhat shortchanged on time with them.
The Reality War served as incredibly effective finale to the last couple years of Doctor Who and/or the modern era if needs be. With that said, I’m looking forward to The War Between Land and Sea!
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But will Piper actually be The Doctor? She pointedly wasn’t credited as such. I’d love to see what that looks like, but I’m afraid this is actually going to be some version of Rose and that she’s going to be paired off with the Doctor that’s been living in Donna’s back yard.
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I’m still not convinced that Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor has gone, with the series on hiatus it gives him the opportunity to do what he wants to do without the media scrutiny and rumours while at the same time the cliffhanger ending leaves it open-ended enough should he wish to film one more season or a Christmas special.
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Omega was probably the classic villain I most wanted to return, but I had trouble seeing him as the same character we see in The Three Doctors and Arc of Infinity, just because they want completely different things and we never get to see Omega’s iconic melodrama. There’s also no mention of him being made from antimatter.
Also, minor correction: I believe Christopher Eccleston and Paul McGann had shorter tenures than Gatwa. That said, I know what you mean. I never really took to him as the Doctor until his second season when I really think his characterization hit its stride (to be precise, the first one I particularly liked was “Joy to the World”), so I see what you mean.
I hope Billie Piper isn’t actually the new Doctor. I think the series is getting a serious nostalgia problem at this point, and I would prefer to see an actor craft a new path in this universe without quite so much baggage of the past, and the fact remains that Rose is just one companion from twenty years ago, and I don’t really see the point of bringing back the same actress as the Doctor when typically regeneration has been a method for the show to have something of a fresh start. Also, people familiar with the character of Rose will be comparing her performance as the Doctor to Rose twenty years ago, and it’ll probably be difficult to look at Billie Piper in the TARDIS and see her as anything else. I don’t knowājust my thoughts
I liked to see Anita again as I enjoyed her character in “Joy to the World”. I think Archie Panjabi does a decent job at building from Kate O’Mara’s iconic performance, although I wish the Rani had received a little more introduction. The return of Ruby and the cameo of Joy’s star were solid, in my opinion, and in my mind, justified. Still, overall, the narrative, in my opinion, relied too much on nostalgia and the structure was a bit off. We didn’t get much of an explanation for why Gallifrey being nuked in Spyfall led the surviving Time Lords to be sterile, for example. And the Doctor’s choice to give his life to save Poppy, at least for me, didn’t hit as hard as, for example, the Fifth Doctor giving up the bat’s milk for Peri or the Tenth Doctor getting into the radiation chamber to save Wilfred, just because it didn’t establish the personal attachment between the Doctor and Poppy as much, not helped by him not remembering her.
You’re free to disagree, but this story (and the latter half of this season) didn’t really work for me. I’m wondering if Doctor Who could use a break to unburden itself from all this lore.
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