This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Project: Nirvana

I'm a big fan of stories like this that are fairly small scale while still managing to pull off massive stakes. A really great example is Five Twenty-Nine. This story is pretty much that for the entire first part and it's really effective, particularly with things like the constant radio broadcasts and general grounded feeling. It's infinitely more immersive when you aren't hearing the planet Glorb 9 being blown up and instead the quaint little cottage of an elderly English couple.

It's because of all that that I'm slightly disappointed by the reveal that this was all some elaborate scheme by the Doctor to trap two elder gods in a time loop where they die over and over. Don't get me wrong, I think that's really cool (and it gives off Human Nature vibes) but I can't help feeling that it's too extreme. I just don't see how the Doctor could have set it up no matter how much of a chessmaster he is, especially with the flashback scenes that explain how it all happened. I also don't see how he wouldn't have accounted for the Gods lying to get out or the other TARDIS being drawn in instead.

I still think it's a really compelling story with brilliant performances, but there are way too many odd bits and plotholes to give this a full 10/10 in my opinion.

Next Story: Black and White