Given my recent review of the first Doctor Who film, it's only right I inflict some of my thoughts on this blog for the current season of the show, which ended over the weekend. With the exception of an upcoming spin-off, the chances of the series returning anytime soon doesn't look too promising. Therefore, I've indulged in a personal rundown on the recent season of the show and the short tenure of its Fifteenth Doctor, as played by Ncuti Gatwa:
The Robot Revolution
AKA, 'Planet of the Incels'. Kicking off the season premiere with a prologue which introduces the Doctor's new companion, Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu). A certificate naming a distant planet after Belinda is given to her by her controlling boyfriend, Alan. Years later, she's abducted by giant robots and taken to that very same planet, Missbelindachandra. When the villain is revealed to be Belinda's ex, 'The Robot
Revolution' serves as a topical warning over A.I. and the abusers who wield it. Al is
reduced to a microscopic embryo in the final act, and effectively killed by the
comical cleaning roomba which sweeps him up. Bizarrely, the Doctor celebrates Al's demise with a joyful high kick. The season premiere also begins the mystery as to why the Doctor can't return Belinda back to Earth on 24th of May.
'The Robot Revolution' is a fairly so-so episode, but a notable improvement over the previous season's woeful opener, 'Space Babies'. Varada Sethu playing the reluctant companion is reminiscent of Tegan Jankova from the classic era of the series. Which makes her at the very least an interesting character, initially. The retro look of the robots and the rocket ship give off vintage sci-fi aesthetic, but the rest of the production resembles an MCU film. As a result, it all looks a and feels like a cartoon. Rating: 4/10
Lux
Speaking of cartoons, here's a literal one and another instance of Russell T Davies's driving obsession with god entities, AKA, the Pantheon of Discord, from the previous series. 'Lux' is the God of Light possessing Mr. Ring-a-ding, a Max Fleischer style cartoon character come to life in a Fifties cinema, somewhere in Miami. A device known as the vindicator is this series' macguffin in helping Belinda get back home. Obviously, it doesn't work too well as they come here instead.
As tedious as all this Pantheon of Discord is, this might be a rare instance where it isn't so irksome. The whole meta concept of the Doctor and Belinda being trapped in a celluloid film is at the least, a novel situation for the time lord. What's more, the episode's antagonist becomes more terrifying as he evolves into being three-dimensional, so there are elements of horror there, too. Sadly, RTD's writing lets this episode down as both the Doctor and Belinda aren't the ones who save the day. It's Linus Roache's cinema projectionist that does, robbing our main characters' sense of urgency; resulting in an underwhelming ending, where the villain expands into nothing in space.
There's some unintentional comedy once the Doctor and Belinda meet a sad looking bunch of Doctor Who fans. Is this how RTD envisions Doctor Who fans to look and behave? Nevertheless, it leads into some eye-rolling meta commentary regarding the actual show; including an obvious dig at the show's haters with its addressing of #RIPDoctorWho. Rating: 5/10
The Well
Set on a mysterious planet, half a million years in the future, 'The Well' is the most traditional sci-fi episode, harkening back to RTD's first tenure as show-runner on the series. More accurately, 'The Well' is a sequel to a beloved episode of his 'Midnight'.
Disabled cook, Aliss Fenly (Rose Aylling-Ellis), is the sole survivor of a mining colony slaughter. She is discovered by the Doctor, Belinda and a squad of Marines investigating the mining base. It's not long before the kills start happening again.
Easily, a return to vintage Nu-Who, and that's largely because it carries that dark, sci-fi horror atmosphere which was once synonymous back in the day. That's all thrown away once the Doctor boosts into bombastic action to resolve the situation and Murray Gold's upbeat score; completely changing the sci-fi horror element which initially made it so engrossing. Yet again, it's a secondary character who saves the day (or maybe not) with her sacrifice helping the Doctor and Belinda to escape from the mining world.
Nevertheless, the episode does manage to end on a positive note, thanks to its twist ending and the possible suggestion of another future story involving the Midnight entity. The highlight of the season, in my opinion. Rating: 6/10
Lucky Day
We catch up with the Fifteenth Doctor's first companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson, no relation to Mel), AKA the show's very own Rey Skywalker as revealed by RTD. She's found true love with popular podcaster, Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King).
Sadly, it turns out Conrad is a slime ball, and has been exploiting Ruby to fulfil his own personal agenda in exposing U.N.I.T (Unified Intelligence Taskforce - should be U.I.T., innit?).
'Lucky Day' serves as the show's critique on the rising influence of fake news and the increasing popularity of alternative media; as opposed to traditional fake news, I suppose. It's a Doctor Who-lite episode, yet the Doctor does manage to turn up near the end. His words, an obvious extension of RTD, via his disciple, this episode's scriptwriter Peter McTighe, and their critique on populism and the alternative media.
"You have to be invited into my TARDIS, Conrad. To be special. But you?
You're special... for all the wrong reasons. You see, I am fighting a
battle on behalf of everyday people... who just want to get through
their day, and feel safe, and warm, and fed. And then along comes
this... noise. All day long, this relentless noise. Cowards like you,
weaponising lies, taking people's insecurity and fear and making it
currency. You are exhausting. You stamp on the truth, choke our
bandwidth and shred our patience. Because the only strategy you have is
to wear us down. But the thing is, Conrad, I have energy to burn and all
the time in the universe."—The Doctor
This is an episode where the plot holes become more apparent the more you think about it, e.g. Conrad knowing about the Doctor, yet still determined to expose UNIT as scaremongers and deceivers. Still, despite the flaws, 'Lucky Day' is one of the highlights of the series, thanks to Millie Gibson's performance and being able to carry an episode on her own (like last season's '73 Yards'). There's also Conrad's smug retort to the Doctor, "I don't respect your reality, Doctor. I reject it. So put me back in my prison and get off my world." which I found surprisingly based for a villain who's been told by the Doctor he'd be kicking the bucket at the age of forty-nine in a prison cell. Rating: 5/10
The Story and the Engine
While setting another course point for the vindicator in Lagos, Nigeria in the year 2019 (why that particular year, it's never explained), the Doctor decides to get a haircut. It's also where he feels ethnically comfortable in his current incarnation. Our protagonist finds himself trapped with the fellow patrons inside the barbershop. This particular barber shop happens to be riding on the back of a giant spider travelling through space and fuelled by the telling of folk tales and stories.
It's Doctor Who meets Desmonds (1989-1994) in yet another episode which is more fantasy and magic than science fiction. Which makes this one of the less appealing episodes of the series, personally.
The potential of giving a folk horror story a sci-fi spin, a la the amazing Third Doctor serial, 'The Dæmons', is completely squandered here, making this an underwhelming and largely boring watch. What's more, the villain of the episode, who is determined to sacrifice the universe to kill the Pantheon of Discord, is treated with more sympathy than some of the other rotten eggs featured in this series. Which makes Gatwa's Doctor such an inconsistent character and difficult to get a grasp of.
Written by playwright Inua Ellams, responsible for creating a theatrical production called Barber Shop Chronicles, which also shares the theme of various barber shop patrons telling their stories, this is effectively an adaptation of it shoved into Doctor Who (no pun intended). It might have worked given a bit more development, but the sci-fi element is largely missing here, despite having a giant spider in space. As a result, I was bored and mentally checked out around twenty minute mark. Rating 3/10
The Interstellar Song Contest
The Doctor is still struggling to return Belinda back home, but they've wondered hundreds of years in the future on a space station hosting the annual Interstellar Song Contest broadcast across the galaxies.
A play on the kitsch value of the current Eurovision Song Contest, that's nothing but a blatant vote rigging tournament where various countries vote for their bordering neighbours. Vapid brainlets are equally performative in their cultural politics as their rancid stage number.
Fortunately, beneath the camp and excess, there's a half decent plot here, where a terrorist threatens the lives of trillions as revenge for his home planet being pillaged and destroyed for its honey. Obviously, comparisons to current events in the world are intentional, but at the very least Kid (Freddie Fox), the horned antagonist of the episode, has a bit more depth to him in comparison to some of the other recurring characters on the show; including the Fifteenth Doctor.
Plot conveniences, like a couple who happen to be the very people able to resuscitate the Doctor after he experiences flying in the freezing vacuum of space with a confetti cannon, and who are also able to pluck the thousands of audience attendees in zero gravity in next to no time while Bucks Fizz plays in the background, robs the episode of the horrendous atrocity committed by Kid. However, the Doctor torturing our villain is an unexpected turn; one that's genuinely interesting, as it conjures the possibility of the Valeyard, the dark future incarnation of the Doctor, potentially making an appearance (he doesn't). The Doctor is stopped from causing further pain to the terrorist after a vision of his grand daughter Susan Foreman (Carol Anne Ford) begs him to stop. Can't wait to see her again! The vindicator finally has the necessary information to get Belinda back home, but once they arrive in the TARDIS, the ship's doors are detroyed. Can't wait for a viable explanation!
The prolonged mystery box that is Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) is finally revealed as the Rani (like we predictably suspected); hilariously in a mid-credits scene. It's followed by the mythical bi-generation occurring for a second time in two years and introducing a more dominant Rani (Archie Panjabi). Can't wait to see her in action. Rating 5/10
Wish World
This is it, the penultimate episode of the series. The pawns are all in place and the game is set. Not before we see the Rani galloping to some nineteenth century shack in Bavaria and abducting some newborn baby able to grant wishes from his family. More magic!
Thus, the newborn, Conrad and the Ranis are the Unholy Trinity. They've created an Orwellian world, where an obedient and traditionalist society dwells beneath their floating bone palace.
The Doctor and Belinda are a married couple and they even have a young daughter called Poppy. Ruby is unaffected by this new reality and attempts to convince the Doctor all is not right in this world. She manages to sow the seeds of doubt which tend to result in cups falling through tables in this world. The fact that giant bone dinosaurs walk around London like AT-AT walkers ought to have been convincing on their own, don't you think?
This really ought to have been called 'Wishy Washy World' as it's a poorly written episode that really goes nowhere for much of its run time. The scenes where the Ranis are on screen are the rare positives about this penultimate episode. Having one of the Rani's providing a giant exposition dump and telling the viewer that it isn't exposition, isn't going to convince anyone.
To highlight how underwhelming this episode is, last season's penultimate episode, 'The Legend of Ruby Sunday' had at the very least revealed the return of the powerful villain Sutekh from 'Pyramids of Mars'; albeit as a giant CGI dog that looked like Roland Rat on crack, who'd been squatting on top of the TARDIS. Nevertheless, it was an incredible cliffhanger which left me genuinely excited for the finale. This time, the writing was horrid. So many elements and questions which needed answering, and yet nothing resolved for this episode; in fact more questions like the revelation of Poppy being the Doctor's daughter were introduced. Rating 2/10
The Reality War
It's the big one! Will RTD answer those all important questions and mystery boxes he introduced in the show since his return? Will he explain the bi-generations. Will the Doctor find Susan? How come Poppy is the Doctor's daughter? How will the Doctor defeat the two Ranis? Will Rogue be rescued from the Hell dimension? Will we get an explanation for all those immersion breaking fourth wall breaks? Will Russell answer all of these important questions in a little over sixty minutes? Short answer: He doesn't.
Made the rookie mistake of watching last season's finale, 'Empire of Death' completely sober. Thus, it wasn't even drunkenly hilarious seeing Sutekh being dragged on a leash in the vortex. On this occasion, I'd already downed a few glasses of Jamieson's before The Hit List had even ended.
Overall, this was a dreadful finale. Perhaps the biggest gaffe, was how the antagonists were dispatched so swiftly during this complete dross. Archie Panjabi's Rani being eaten by Omega was a huge anticlimax; even worse, is Omega conveniently being sent back to his dimension after only two minutes of actual screen time. An even worse fate is Conrad Clark working as a kitchen cleaner in South London restaurant. Much of the episode being boringly spent on Poppy, who effectively proved to be an anticlimactic non-entity, (just like Ruby Sunday revealed as an ordinary human being in the prior season finale, despite possessing the power to make it snow) forced the episode to tick by at a crawling pace. Why invest so much time towards such a fundamentally disappointing subplot?
The one potentially redeeming moment in this diversionary subplot, is when Belinda and Poppy are isolated inside the hastily constructed Zero Room. Naively thought this was Russell ingeniously leading up to the discovery of the Timeless Child being found by Tectuen, from Chris Chibnall's controversial episode. Turned out it wasn't, along with Belinda being robbed of any further development and essentially being written out as another forgettable companion.
As well as the alcohol, the advanced knowledge regarding the outlandish, online rumours of the Thirteenth Doctor's brief cameo and the Doctor regenerating into Billie Piper, cushioned the crushing cringe for me. Although, I didn't instantly recognise Piper's face at first with all that filler and botox used on her face. Both of these scenes screamed of reshoots, and cemented the rumours of Ncuti Gatwa's abrupt departure from the series.
In conclusion: This was an abysmal mess and a terrible finale; one that any self respecting exec over at the BBC would want to call an emergency board meeting. Time to give it a rest while some new blood and fresh talent can be found. A better prospect than having to endure Russel T. Davies squatting over a cult series and defecating all over its legacy for another season. Rating 1/10
Won't pretend I enjoyed Gatwa's portrayal of the Doctor. He was far closer to playing
Mindbender Futurama than an ancient Time Lord from the distant world of Gallifrey. He hardly got to do anything during his short stint in the role; other than be vain, smug and cry on cue. More critically, he lacked the convictions in his performances as the Doctor. Hence, he came across as rather shallow. There were rare moments, where he showed some potential, but it was always offset with him being just loud, annoying and superficial. What we got was Ncuti Gatwa being Ncuti Gatwa. That's not to say he was completely to blame, however. If anything, much like Jodie Whittaker, he was horribly miscast for the lead. A stunt cast; like every other actor who has followed Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor.
The real blame is undoubtedly, Russel T. Davies. The same man who breathed new life into the property in 2005, has suffocated it with an unchecked ego, soap operatic writing and revisionist retcons. The focus on grand spectacle, mystery boxes, and nostalgia bait rather than cohesive plot lines, satisfying character arcs and a sense of responsibility towards this beloved property, have been catastrophic. This was a show that desperately needed rescuing after Chris Chibnall's incompetence as its previous show runner. If anything, RTD doubled and tripled down, which resulted in the show's even further decline in quality; reflected in a massive drop of viewers.
Hopefully, a lesson might have been learnt from all this. Who knows?
