This isn't the complete disaster that some people will tell you it is. Make no mistake the final act is a complete disaster. Everything with the Absorbaloff is horrifically bad. But there are some good things before that, and I'd like to throw some compliments this episodes way before I talk about what I dislike.

Firstly I think Marc Warren is very good as our lead for this Doctor-Lite story. This episode is something of a mess in terms of tone and characterisation. But no matter how inconsistently written or unlikeable the script makes Elton Pope, Marc Warren's performance always makes him easy to sympathise with and root for.

I also have to say that I'm quite fond of LINDA. This group of loveable misfits make for a sweet and charming group. They're initially bonded by a curious obsession with the Doctor. But they grow into something more, becoming genuine friends in a manner that feels natural and heartwarming. The story seems to acknowledge that they perhaps need the group at first, due to a sense of loneliness and perhaps even trauma (Elton & Bridget are explicitly having to deal with their own personal trauma). But they learn that they can help each other and fill the holes in each others lives without having to focus on the Doctor.

Speaking purely from a narrative perspective, I think this story is at it's most successful when the guys and girls of LINDA stop caring about the Doctor and just get to know and enjoy each others hobbies and interests. This is ultimately a problem for the episode though. The less this is an episode of Doctor Who, the better it is. The more Whovian the episode becomes, the worse it becomes. There's a good episode of television about a lonely fandom coming together in here. It's just that as an episode of Doctor Who it falls short, and the more it leans into being about the Doctor and his world, the worse the episode gets.

The best thing about this episode though is Jackie Tyler. Camille Coduri has had good moments in the show for sure. But I'm not sure she's ever had a great episode as an actor or for Jackie as a character. She is wonderful here. The broad comedic strokes she's often relegated to giving are still there. But at times they're geuinely very funny (the scene in the laundrette springs to mind). The times when the broad comedy starts to look like it might become cringe-inducing (I'm thinking of her heavy-handed seduction of Elton), the episode and the performance manage to smartly pivot away from comedy into something a little heartbreaking. Yes Jackie is a little desperate, but she's clearly in a place of intense loneliness since Rose (and now Mickey) have left her. This part of the episode is probably the best performance Coduri gives in the show. It starts of as a screwball sex comedy, then turns into a somewhat sad and tender human drama, before Jackie has a fierce confrontation with Elton. She may not like Rose going off on her adventures, and she's always been somewhat ambivalant in her feelings towards the Doctor. But, she is still Rose's mother and she will protect her and even the Doctor with her life.

But as good as some of this episode is, for me the good doesn't do enough to compensate for the Absorbaloff. Peter Kay is OK when he's playing Victor Kennedy, but his performance once he's revealed as an alien is horrendous. It feels like a terrible impression of Mike Myers playing Fat Bastard in the Austin Powers movies. The design of the monster isn't very good and it looks even worse with the CGI faces uncannily moving around on his body. His logic behind wanting to absorb the Doctor is thin, but I can accept it. I have no earthly idea why he decides to absorb most of the LINDA gang though. It doesn't seem to help him in any way.

And again the tone of this episode is all over the place. The ending I find especially jarring tonally. Elton gives a triumphant speech to camera about this experience. But my dude, you were almost killed, all of your friends died and your girlfriend is now a paving slab. I don't care that you got to meet the Doctor or how good Ursula is at giving head, this was not a joyous turn of events that you should happily reminisce about.