Well at least it generated content.

This is a late and long one. I took a trip to Prague the day after seeing the finale in cinema and I've just been left to seethe for a bit too long. It was nice to be in a city where no one really knew that Billie Piper was the Doctor, it felt validating.

I usually like to do a slight era review when covering the final episode of a doctor, but it just feels so premature to do it now. This, obviously, isn't the shortest tenure we've had but it for some reason it all just feels so un-finished and abrupt. But I'll get to that.

The episode starts out pretty strong, leading directly on from last week's journey into Ncuti's screaming mouth. The reintroduction of the time hotel and Anita was a pleasant surprise, although the initial visuals had me horrified of a possible TVA cameo somehow shoving itself into the canon of the show. RTD also managed to avoid his usually contrived solutions to impossible odds by actually using something that had some kind of establishment (so what if he's a professional writer, it's the little victories that count). I am also glad there was a pretty quick resolution to the brainwashing of the wish, even if it did leave Anita as a human doorstop for most of the episode, but we already have enough trouble with turning the ensemble into a hivemind of puppets so I'm not sure another speaking role would've done any favours for the script.

Ok right, so everyone is back and no longer homophobic, Mel's perm helmet has done its thing and Rose Noble is back so that Russel can trick himself into being an ally. Rose Noble (and by extension Yasmin Finney) has been done so unbelievably dirty in this period of the show. Her identity is utilised as a sci-fi plot point in her first outing, and then she's incorporated into the UNIT hivemind, only to exist as a form of expositing or demonstrating incredibly clumsy commentary. Not once is she ever treated as a character in her own right, she's a glorified literary device. I would've hoped that a show that is known for it's social commentary written by a man famous for his scripts that deal with LGBTQ+ issues and stories - but perhaps that's too much to ask for, after all we've got flashbacks to fit in! A part of me would hope for Rose (Noble, not Tyler) to come back to the show in some capacity in the hope that she gets some much needed characterisation. But then again, I don't really care because I haven't been given a reason to.

So after that, the Rani shows up for a bit - excellently performed by Archie Panjabi (would be a shame if anything happened to her). Then the big battle begins. The bone beasts (hilarious) storm the UNIT tower to keep everyone busy for a little while or - if you're Belinda - very un-busy. You know, it's quite an interesting choice to have your secondary lead of this season being rendered ineffective for the climax of the finale but I'm sure she'll have her big moment at some point.

Now, on first watch - I actually had a lot of anticipation going into the climax. The Doctor and Ruby were gearing up to head into battle and the Ranis seemed moments away from succeeding - classic stuff. Now, I actually quite like the moment between Ruby and Conrad, Lucky Day was my favourite of the season so to see the dynamic return and wrap up was a treat. I like that Ruby was the one to deal with him and she wasn't cruel about it, she used the upper hand that she'd gotten from spending that time with him in a sort of reversal of their roles. Great stuff. It's the Time Lord stuff that gets quite messy.

Omega is a character that is probably most famous for his design in the 3 Doctors - its creepy because of how hollow and rustic it is, a different type of feeling to the body horror of The Silence of the Khaled mutants. This new design completely abandons any of that. It turns Omega into a giant undead foetus thing with absolutely no reference to his original design. You can say what you like about Sutekh's CGI-ification but at least he was somewhat recognisable. Here Omega looks like a leaked boss from a new Resident Evil, which wouldn't be a problem - if this was used for a different character. Also, for some reason he decides to eat the last good character in this episode? There's that old saying, you are what you eat - but I think he was blasted to death a bit too soon for him to digest becoming an interesting character. And just like that, he's gone - barely a minute of screen time and the promised "big threat" has been neutralised back into his vault.

After all this though, the episode did slightly bring me hope again. The moments surrounding Poppy and her slow erasure from reality is incredible. Millie Gibson really is an incredible actor and I love the direction they've taken her character. It's a more tragic version of what happened to Rose. A character that was incredibly 'normal' and human in the beginning can't experience the world in the same way again as a result of their travels with The Doctor. It's an interesting consequence that differs from the usual death or death adjacent ending. However, as potentially tragic as this is, Ruby is not the only companion in this episode. Remember Belinda? You might not as she's been sat in UNIT's basement for the last 20 minutes or so. Belinda's ending is horrific. It's miserable. It's so f**king bleak. The Doctor saves Poppy, by sacrificing himself, but also Belinda as we knew her. The final scene between The Doctor and Belinda is so wildly off-putting and sort of contradictory to the messaging of last week. Why did Russel think it was a good idea to take the companion who started with so much self agency and turn her entire motivation into being a mother? Her reality is warped and her mind brainwashed into thinking this was always the case but it wasn't!! It's just so weird and dark to me that who we see at the end is not the same person we met at the beginning and she can't possibly know that. So what we end up with is a sort of 'Weekend at Belinda's' where the body of a character we know is being puppeted around but it's very clearly just an imposter wearing her face. I adored Belinda as a companion, and I think Varada did such a stunning job in the role - so it kind of hurts to see her character being stripped down. The problem is I like the whole sequence before this, The Doctor willingly sacrificing himself to save a child (that may not have even been real) is peak Doctor Who - that's him, that's the character. And the moment with Jodie is great as well. I just wish there was a universe where this could exist, without lobotomising Belinda, (maybe this universe could also make the space babies link make more sense, but what do I know? I don't run the show).

Then we get to the regeneration. The build up is brilliant, the speech, the score, the performance, the effects are all stunning. I'm glad they didn't blow up that very expensive set, and I'm sure Russel is too. But I was sad to see Nucti go so soon. His era doesn't feel complete enough for me. There was barely an arc, even 'The Boss' didn't get a complete resolution. A lot of his episodes are lacking in his presence because of how popular of an actor he was and it just feels like by the end I didn't know him as The Doctor. That being said, he had some of the best episodes in years and I will always treasure his performance and version of the character. The messes of his era are clearly the fault of uninterested suits who would only acknowledge the show if it'll allow them to buy their 8th house on the coast of Italy. I think that puts the show in a very familiar place to where it was in the early days of 2005, only this time Russel doesn't have enough Petrol in him to keep the faith. He's watched a few too many TikTok edits and thinks that's the sign of a good show. There's a reason why a lot of the dialogue in these last 2 seasons have sounded like they're clip farming. It's because they are. Aura farming and sigma edits do not make a good show. And neither does obscene nostalgia bait. Yes, I remember how good Billie Piper was - because I can watch her entire tenure on Iplayer. I thought that was the point? The show will change and regenerate, but if you're ever missing it the whole of time and space is available for you to watch. I'm sure Billie will be good in the role, she's incredible and I do look forward to seeing what she does with the character. Just please let her be a proper incarnation. Another gimmick might just be the final nail in the coffin.