I had my suspicions after the iffyness of the Rani in Wish World, but with the reveal of Omega in this, I feel I can safely speculate on this:

RTD made the Doctor 'the Last of the Time Lords' because he is incapable of writing for any of the others.

Like... you can talk about legends and myths all you want, but that is not Omega. He was not imprisoned, he was a victim of circumstance, cast away as a result of his greatest triumph. He's a tragic character, that's what makes him so good, whereas here, he's just relegated to being a generic 'kill everything' villain. Not impressed.

Beyond that, I like the main crux of the story: This is a children's show at its heart, so the idea of the Doctor risking this much just to save one child... yeah, that scans. I'm not massive on what had to be done with Belinda to make it fit (why is a show this gay being this heteronormative? I thought the whole point was to not make the world like that?), but as a send-off for the emotionally vulnerable orphan that is Fifteenth, I get the logic for it.

Oh yeah... there's also that to get into. At time of writing, I'm still coming to terms with that absolute haymaker of an ending reveal; where in the actual Hellion this is going, I can't even begin to guess. Thirteenth coming back was nice, and I liked Whittaker and Gatwa's chemistry together, but...

Okay, given the specific crediting for Billie Piper, it's still nebulous whether this really is the Sixteenth Doctor or if something even stranger is going on (after the hour preceding it, I am not discounting that possibility), there's a chance that Ncuti could come back. And I genuinely hope that's the case because, even without getting into the length of his tenure (no Doctor since Colin Baker has had only two seasons to their name, and with how short the seasons are now, that simply isn't enough for a modern Doctor), he should have gotten a better send-off than this. Character-wise, I still think it suits his specific incarnation, but story-wise? This is quite the mess, trying the same trick as Empire Of Death in zooming in from a universe-scale threat to something more personal, but not really doing as well with it. Plot threads are hastily tied up (Conrad got off way too easily; I'm already taking back some of the praise I had for Lucky Day's finale), the Rani just... disappears, and Omega is dealt with like he's nothing.

And yet... even with all that said, there's still two things here that I really liked, to the point where they might be the main reason why I rated this as high as I did. The first: Anita's back! Not entirely on-board with the romantic jealousy poking through the cracks of her performance, but between her actually taking part in the main action, and the hinting about her 'boss', I hope this isn't the last we see of her.

And the second: Time Lords are confirmed to be infertile. Lungbarrow is canon. The Looms are real! My fan theory combining Lungbarrow and The Timeless Child is more viable than ever!! Let's friggin' go!!!

Yeah, very mixed feelings on this one. The wait for what is even going to result from all this is going to suck, but y'know what? I'm game for whatever it may be. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Doctor Who is at its best not when it's 'good' but when it's interesting, and above all else, this is all highly intriguing to me. The episode itself, though? Eh.