This is pretty standard fair for a Doctor Who episode. It's fun, but it's far from perfect. While I did come out of this episode having had a pretty good time, a lot of it falls apart a little under scrutiny, and this review will reflect that.

Let's start with the Eurovision concept. This event has never been one I was particularly interested in (though I do have a good amount of knowledge about it on account of a friend of mine loving it), so this episode wasn't one I was really looking forward to. I think the episode succeeded is striking a balance between being exciting for fans of the event without alienating people who don't care for it. I was a little disappointed with the selection of song snippets we got, all of them being very pop-y and only one not being in English (excluding the song at the end, which I'll get to). I would have liked to see rep for one of the countries that always goes for a heavy metal song.

Unfortunately, I don't think this episode really managed to strike a balance between the high energy, fun, campy Eurovision stuff and the darker, more political stuff. It kept bouncing between them, givingme a sort of emotional whiplash. I think it would have worked better if we got the initial shock of everyone getting sucked out into space and then stuck with that vibe until the end.

So let's talk about the darker, more political stuff. I don't know if the writer was trying to write an allegory, but I'd like to give them the benefit of a doubt, because the alternative is ignorance. Unfortunately, the allegory is not a great one to make. Sci-fi racism is always difficult to pull off, and while I appreciate that they didn't try to explain why people don't like the Hellions, their actions and the way the story treats them does exactly what I don't like about scu-fi racism stories.

The villains are flat (because a tragic backstory does not a good villain make). Their motivation is solid - revenge against the corporation that ruined their planet. But by making them take it too far and claim they only do it because they have evil in their heart makes it seem like the story - and the Doctor - is siding with their oppressor. Sure, Cora then goes on to have an emotional song that gets the crowd cheering, but that's not going to fix anything. People who hate Hellions will continue to hate them. Unfortunately, history has shown again and again that oftentimes violence is the best way to cause change. Maybe "acceptable" Hellions like Cora, who have their horns cut and can pass as human (or whatever humanoid species is prolific throughout the galaxy at this point) will be allowed to sing and have rights and whatnot, but ones that are unwilling to conform will continue to deal with prejudice. Or maybe I'm just thinking too hard about this.

Politics aside, I didn't really care for the side characters in this one. They were all extremely one-note. Lynn had no reason to actively save Cora if she hated her, and that thread was never resolved. Mike and Gary were relegated to plot devices, and their introductory squabble was left completely hanging; I think it's possible they were going for a "they remembered why they fell in love in the first place" thing with Gary watching Mike work for the first time, but they didn't continue with that and it's a plot I greatly dislike anyway because it never actually resolves the problem.

Even the stuff I like is tainted. We have another appearance of Catkind, but she's furless and (for some reason) French. The Doctor getting to go dark again and the fear he clearly inspired in everyone but the villain is great, but he talked about it like it was caused by Kid and the "ice [he] put in [his] heart", as if it hasn't been an aspect of his character since forever. Belinda finally got to stand out again, but she has completely lost her dislike for the Doctor - where's the woman who was so offended by him scanning her DNA without consent when he nearly electrocutes a guy to death? Why does she immediately go to hug him after that rather than ripping him a new one?

Then there are the two twists. I'm happy to finally see Susan after all the name-dropping in the last series, but her cameo comes out of nowhere and is incredibly jarring. It's - for lack of a better word - loud. It completely overtakes the episode at some sections.

The Rani reveal made me leap out of my seat and chear and pace across the room. I usually back out of an episode as soon as it ends because I like avoiding the next time trailers, so it was incredibly lucky that I caught a second of this post-credits scene and realised it was still part of the episode. It feels like a really weird choice to put it there. After I calmed down from the hype of my favourite Time Lord appearing on my screen again, I realised what it meant and started feeling dread. Now, my thoughts on this choice could change drastically depending on what actually happens with her during the finale, but I'm very far from optimistic. The Rani has never been interested in world domination or obsessed with the Doctor, and this feels like the way RTD is taking the character, which I'm very much against. The bigeneration was bad enough when the Doctor did it, but this "myth" happening twice in a row is maddening. Mrs. Flood immediately lost all her personality, which makes this reveal even less satisfying than if she had just regenerated normally - and I was so lookingforwardto seeing her take centre stage after so long.

Now come the nitpicks, of which I have two: one, people don't freeze instantly in space. So much of the resolution hinges on this happening which elevates it from a minor niggle to something more groan-worthy. The second is that Cora says she spent "all those years working on this song" and then the song is bad. It's terrible. It's a perfect example of everything I dislike about the genre. Maybe it's a metaphor but it seems to be about love from the few lines we got to hear so I don't think it is. Girl, stick to a language no one understands.

Anyway, my enjoyment of this episode (or lack thereof) is pretty tied to how the finale will end up going. As a standalone, however, the politics are pretty bad (still not as bad as Lucky Day) but it's overall a pretty fun romp, even if my review doesn't show it.