OK, between this episode and Lucky Day, I'm really struggling to come to grips with the possibility that I might have to start boycotting Doctor Who, because it's tragically clear that the neoliberal/centrist BBC is infecting what used to be a bastion of aggressively radical-leftist programming.

First things first, i get that people can enjoy something at face value based entirely off of the "vibes" of the episode, and yeah, i can't really fault it for being just a really fun, campy romp of an episode, nor can i fault it for pulling off the juxtaposition of going really dark in places pretty well. And the return of Carole Ann-Ford as Susan audibly made me go "OH s**t!" On the surface, it really is an episode that if you shut your brain off and enjoy, you'll get a lot out of it. Unfortunately, sometimes, there are things that are vastly more important than just how well the episode was pulled off from a mindless entertainment perspective.

My primary problem with the episode is that it falls into the same pitfalls as Lucky Day. Sure, Lucky Day tried to make itself seem nuanced in it's takes by pointing a giant finger at the fact that UNIT isn't in any way squeaky clean, but that's how they feel they can justify writing a story that smears anyone who dares to actually hold them to account as a lying grifter who's dangerously out of touch with reality. The Interstellar Song Contest is tragically exactly the same, it wears it's knowledge that the real life Eurovision is complicit in the Palestinian Genocide by way of continuing to platform Israel on it's sleeve (And don't try to imply this episode was written before the genocidal state of Israel became sheer poison, because Eurovision has been under fire from activists for doing this for a lot more years than you might suspect), and makes a suitable allegory in this story as well, with the evil Corporation that sponsors the event having devastated an entire civilization known as the Hellions, and it makes that the forefront of the Villain's motivations for revenge, a traumatized terrorist from that civilization. But ultimately, once again, that's just a way for them to pat themselves on the back for making the "brave" decision to be entirely open about Eurovision's crimes, and using that to make themselves feel justified in painting the villain as a creepy, psychopathic genocider himself who just uses it as an excuse to kill people.

OK, look. I'm well aware that there are people out there like that, but f**king hell, you couldn't have included representation of a protester who isn't a psychopathic monster to show that he's not indicative of the entire movement? And NO, Cora Saint Bavier doesn't f**king count. I'm not ashamed to admit that i absolutely loathed her, because she is the perfect example of what's wrong with this episode. This episode, once again, tries to be nuanced and show that she is indeed a sellout who left her people behind to work with the people who genocided them, and then she goes through this journey where she comes to terms with her heritage, and in the end, she raises awareness of the Corporation's crimes by unashamedly singing a mournful song of her people and trying to turn the tides from inside the system... and it works. All the people in the audience clap and we're left with the message that there is a right way to get justice for the people the Corporation has wronged, and you can do it if you'd simply be willing to put aside your grievances and watch and participate in this inherently flawed system. This resolution can get to f**k.

For one thing, Cora f**king IS a sellout, and no amount of trying to make me sympathize with her as "the good protester" is going to change anything about that. By the end of the episode, she's still choosing to participate in it, and the audience members who clap her bravery like good little fake progressives who like to think they're "#SoWoke" and then turn around and buy £150 worth of H*rry P*tter merch, guess what, they're STILL choosing to give this corrupt, genocidal organization that ravaged her home the time, traffic and money.

And The Doctor! I've thoroughly enjoyed Ncuti's performance in prior episodes, and i was willing to say he was giving Tennant a run for his money, but i hated The Doctor in this episode. I get that attempted genocide is a touchy subject for him, what with his own people, but christ alive, this is a betrayal of The Doctor's character. And i'm not talking about The Doctor's dark nature, New Who loves that s**t and does it to death every opportunity the can, and i've equally loved it when they do, it's just a part of The Doctor. It's because of this that i was really excited when i saw the news story that 15 was going to go really dark in this episode. Then came the actual execution of that scene. The problem i have with The Doctor in this episode is the reason WHY he goes completely apeshit on Kid, that's the part that ruins him here. Yeah, ok, The Doctor might be justified in brutally torturing an attempted genocider, but here's the thing, he's also torturing a genocide survivor, and then he gives special treatment to the Corporation, who are the real genociders. This isn't The Doctor taking a moral stance against genocide, this is The Doctor definitively deciding that one genocide is worse than another, and that, to me, makes him completely irredeemable. It actually makes me miss The Twelfth Doctor, because he would have reserved his anger for Kid, electing that he was just a symptom of this whole genocide business, and absolutely waged war against The Corporation, the actual disease, and anyone who continues to fund or promote it. But, no, as it stands, we now have a Doctor who has definitively taken the side of the Corporation, and brutally and angrily defended it's utterly horrid crimes.

On the whole, this was an episode where the BBC was clearly and cynically trying to get people to watch one of their other programs, and one of their more hard-to-defend ones at that. And, yeah, there are likely going to be a lot of people pointing out that i'm a fool of the highest order for looking for true progressive, socialist, leftist political leanings in a show being pushed by a neoliberal/centrist organization like the BBC, and that there are other episodes in the past that have had iffy politics as well, arguably done even worse than this one, but can you really say that that's a good enough excuse to tell me to switch my brain off and sleepwalk right into any centrist schlock that they try to shove into my face? To not kick up a stink about when they do something I find irredeemably, skin-crawlingly repugnant? To pretend that these issues just don't exist? Would you rather that everyone just lay down and took it, and unintentionally send the message that the BBC can make dangerous mistakes like the one in this episode with absolutely no fear of any kind of pushback? This is why, frankly, I'm starting to become a tad uncomfortable financially and vocally supporting Doctor Who any more.

Oh, and not exactly a criticism of the episode itself, per se, but that ending reveal was the most boring, predictable, uninspired, cliche'd, ill-thought-out conclusion to a story arc that literally every single f**king person and their blind grandmother had already made a half-arsed guess about one and a half year ago.