Whatever my qualms with the Chibnall era may be, and they are innumerable, I cannot deny this is a pretty strong and impressive episode. I remember watching it and getting really excited and optimistic for Series 12. I don't feel those feelings ultimately are merited or would even pay off with Part 2 of Spyfall, but yeah, Part 1 does a pretty good job overall.

The idea of spies being killed around the world by alien stuff is interesting and feels like a great Doctor Who story. And unlike normally with the Chibnall era, the production actually does a decent job of executing the idea and creating a fast-paced story. Once again it feels like our companions and even the Doctor are non-characters. Ryan has a disability that never effects him, Yaz is a cop that never uses her experiences or lets it affect her attitude around anything, and the Doctor is here to carry us from one story to the next.

Graham is pretty consistently fun though, and that reveal of the Master might be Sacha Dhawan's take on the character at this best. From a production standpoint in particular, I found that impressive and they did a great job with the plane reveal and the dramatic music around it. This feels like a point where everything kind of goes downhill from here, especially in regards to the Master, but at least they had a good start.