It's been a while since an antagonist has made me this willing to see terrible things happen to them. I'll admit that I got fully sucked into the rom-com tone at first, but once that switch happened... pure, unbridled loathing for this little twerp.

But the worst part? Like all the greatest villains, he is right about one thing. UNIT, ever since the Pertwee days, has been dodgy. The Brigadier's attempted genocide of the Silurians is one that always comes to mind for me, and while my remembrance of this sector of the canon isn't as obsessively catalogued as others, I'm doubtless that other instances exist. All the rationales involving security and fighting the battles that ordinary people shouldn't have to bloody their hands with are the same ones put behind world governments who commit (to put it gently) awful things under the pretence of protecting their own. It all comes back to the age-old question of what you're willing to give up for your safety.

As a handling of UNIT's Neutral-adjacent morality within the Doctor Who universe, it's quite murky, both in the actual morality displayed and the subsequent dealing with it. Jemma Redgrave does a fantastic job of toeing the line as far as the necessity for UNIT as it stands, and how much its tactics differ from that of the Doctor. I'm sure that the recurring line about what taxpayer money is being 'wasted' on is a thinly-veiled pushback against critics of the show itself, but in terms of UNIT specifically... well, it's complicated. Kate is right that all that advanced technology would be catastrophic in political hands, but the need for secrecy doesn't do much to instil trust, and bear in mind that this is the same organisation that was (briefly) shut down during the Chibnall years from lack of funding. And for as much as I have my own issues with UNIT and the paramilitary complex it represents in this fictional universe... I'm just here to write about things that interest me, and a writer taking this much effort to avoid easy answers for dilemmas like that is quite interesting. Even with the gradual improvements he's shown since his debut, I still find it hard to believe that this is all from the same writer as the (far as I'm concerned) morally bankrupt Kerblam!

Beyond the UNIT-specific stuff, I like how it approached the notion of a Doctor-lite episode. There's bits of Love & Monsters in its fascinated focal point character, and as a look at the life of a companion post-Doctor, this hits harder than most others... mainly, because we don't usually see them at this stage, save for Sarah Jane in her spin-offs and Charley in her audio series. Like with the recklessness of Rose's continued adventures, and Clara's addiction to the thrill of TARDIS flight, seeing Ruby struggling with a (seemingly) quieter life where she isn't in active danger every other day is palpable. I liked Ruby well enough during Season 1, but I honestly like her even more as shown here, fighting against her own fight-or-flight response that, after all those adventures, still hasn't switched off. There's real character drama throughout which, aside from just showing more of Ruby, feels like they made the right choice to bring her back for this. She basically goes through the same dilemma that the Doctor did in Dot And Bubble: Knowing that this person just flat-out hates you, and that you have no good things to say about them in turn... but also knowing that saving their life is the right thing to do. She really learnt from being with the Doctor all that time, and I like that touch.

And then there's Conrad. Little weasel of a human being. I've seen many a thinkpiece and video essay to do with the 'red pill' community, but I can't recall any that explored what that really entails like this does. That inherent denial of how the world actually is, and how it should be, because even when it's staring directly at you, you still can't see it. It doesn't match how you see the world and yourself within it. And anything that doesn't fit... isn't even there. Except for your own biases, prejudices, long-seated resentments; those are all totally real, because hey, your own mind is the only thing you can be truly sure about... right?

The way McTighe plays around with Manosphere talking points about the nature of reality and who controls it felt like it hit on my own fight-or-flight response because, as a man, I always feel incredibly condescended to whenever I see people genuinely trying to push this kind of nonsense as worthwhile life advice. Just endless spewing of their own neuroses, with the odd sprinkle of genuine understanding that there are problems with the modern world to make it every statement, even the ludicrous ones, appear factual once they've taken hold. John Hauer-King does almost too well at embodying his character, as the level of denial and unadulterated ego on display is maddening both as a villain worth getting riled up over, and as someone that's far too easy to believe actually exists.

But no matter how accurate that one good point may be, it doesn't justify being this much of a human-shaped ringworm. He's not Neo, he's not Morpheus, hell, he probably wouldn't even make it as Cipher. He's just pathetic. Despite everything written above to do with UNIT, even I got my hackles up when Conrad disrespected the Brigadier like that, and while it was great to see Ncuti dress him all the way down by the end, Conrad's reaction... honestly, pretty aggravating, but if it ended any other way, it likely wouldn't have worked. There's so much romanticising about defeating illogic with logic in modern media, it's strangely refreshing to see that, no, some people aren't fixed that easily, or even at all.

Beyond the finer points of the story, the pacing during the rom-com parts is breezy and inviting, and the more thrilling moments are proper "oh dear, I didn't realise my hands were sweating that much" material. I was fully invested from start to finish, albeit for starkly different reasons at times. I was already looking forward to how this Season ends, but after that conclusion... don't let me down, RTD, this better lead to something good.