As much as it ends up throwing the entire Trial into question, I like the wrinkle this adds to the larger arc in making the Doctor and the audience question what they're seeing. I mentioned this when writing about The Timeless Children, but I like it when the show plays around with its own status as fiction, and drawing attention to the notion of truth in a story that isn't real scratches a certain cerebral itch for me. Having Sil and the human caps lock himself BRIAN BLESSED! on board helps, as do the visuals, with the surface of Thoros-Beta looking like a proto-vaporwave album cover.

There is a pretty big fault to this one, and that's the treatment of Peri. Beyond the actual torture, which sadly feels like par for the course for how worrisome her and Sixth's pairing is as a whole in the TV stories, her departure here is... not handled well. Strictly on the basis of recognising that, without this, there'd be no Peri And The Piscon Paradox, I'm willing to show some leniency with the latter. But for a companion who arguably got the shortest end of the stick of all the classic era companions, even more so than Sara Kingdom, it still sucks seeing her go out like this. Or, rather, not seeing her go out.