I don't think there's been an episode since I started watching in 2005 where there has been so much uncertainty on what form Doctor Who's future will take. Obviously fans who grew up with the classic series would have had a similar experience with Trial Of A Time Lord, Survival, and the 1996 TV Movie, but for those of us who have been watching since 2005, all we have ever known is being sure that the next episode will be a Special, or that there will be another full series the following year. Even with The Power Of The Doctor, it was known that there would be three 60th Specials, followed by a Christmas Special, two seasons with Ncuti Gatwa and a spin-off. It's obvious that Doctor Who will continue, but the format of the show is less clear.

The Reality War, as expected, is a heck of a packed episode. It not only has three companions, but pretty much the entire UNIT team, two Ranis, Omega, and a regeneration, plus the surprise returning Doctor. I actually think it manages to balance these elements quite well. Some will complain that the Ranis and Omega are dealt with quickly, but that story strand still takes up around 40/45 minutes of the episode, and the point of the story is clearly more about Poppy, and who she is in relation to the Doctor and Belinda. I like that this Doctor's last stand is to save a missing child who has been forgotten by everyone except Ruby, as it feels very in-character for the Doctor and speaks to his humanity and compassion.

The reveal that Belinda's motive for wanting to go home is because she actually did have a daughter called Poppy is great too. It brings added context to her desperation to return to Earth, as she has responsibilities regarding her daughter, but it's also such a devastating twist for the Doctor. The poor guy spends the entire adventure because of Wish World thinking that he is Poppy's father, only to find out the Dad is someone else. That must be soul-crushing, and it actually makes Wish World seem quite cruel. Conrad and the Ranis made him believe the child was his, only to strip it away from him.

Belinda is at her best here as a companion also. We get more of that fiery determination we saw from her in The Robot Revolution, through her steely resolve to keep her daughter safe. Belinda shows some real agency away from the Doctor, basically being the one who demands that UNIT put her in their Zero Room, despite the Doctor advising it would be better if Poppy was in there alone. I prefer this Belinda who does what she thinks is right, staying in the Zero Room with Poppy, than what the Doctor thinks should be done.

As said before, I love these incarnations of the Rani. Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson are such a great pairing, and brilliantly convey the aura of a Time Lord. The fact that they want to rule over this new Gallifrey when they bring it back feels in-character for the Rani as depicted in Time And The Rani with the way she had taken control of the planet Lakertya. It's great that her obsession with bringing back Omega is what ultimately leads to her downfall, with Omega gobbling up Archie Panjabi's incarnation and Anita Dobson's Mrs Flood iteration taking the coward's way out by fleeing the scene completely. I don't even mind that Omega is underused and defeated quickly. He could always come back in the future, as all the Doctor really does is push him back into the Underverse, and I think it would be better to have a finale in the future where Omega is the main focus. I'm relieved the leaks that he would be a giant CGI claw/crab were wrong, and I hope if he does return later down the line, he has his iconic Three Doctors look next time around.

One thing I really wasn't expecting was Jodie Whittaker's return. Seeing the Thirteenth Doctor in the TARDIS again was a real thrill, and Jodie Whittaker seamlessly slips back into the role. There's even a mention of Yaz, and how she never got to tell her that she loved her, which is a neat touch as Thasmin became a strong talking point around fans during her era.

It is sad to see Ncuti Gatwa leave, but not surprising. It did feel inevitable with the long delay from Disney renewing the streaming rights, but this is a strong end for his Doctor. His final words being 'Joy to the world' are a beautiful callback to Steven Moffat's recent Christmas Special, just as it was great to see Anita return earlier in the episode. Billie Piper's casting as the Sixteenth Doctor (as much as some are suggesting there's a twist, I doubt it) is obviously controversial, but I think people just need to give her a chance. If anybody can pull off a previous companion returning as the Doctor, it's Billie Piper. She is an extremely talented actor, and I think she has the ability to make her incarnation feel distinct enough from Rose.

My only real disappointment with The Reality War is that there's no reunion between the Doctor and Susan. It's a confusing move to not feature Susan in this episode, given all of the build up in Season One, The Interstellar Song Contest and Wish World which appeared to be leading something. People can say they're clearly keeping it back for a third season all they like, but as awful as it is to say, Carole Ann Ford isn't getting any younger. She's 84 years old, and we have no idea when Season 3 will even be filmed,never mind when it will air. I'd rather they had focused on Susan and kept Omega back for Season 3, whenever it may happen, as Susan's return had been teased already, whereas the Omega tease was somewhat left-field in Wish World.

Overall, I'd give The Reality War a 10/10. It's an action-packed finale that goes at a brisk pace, and a wholly satisfying conclusion to both Season Two and Ncuti Gatwa's era as a whole. His regenerative sacrifice being to locate Poppy feels heroic and worthy of the Doctor character, and its surprise return of the Thirteenth Doctor is the icing on the cake. Billie Piper's casting as 16 will ruffle a few feathers, but she's a talented enough actor to pull it off, and it seems crazy to me that this happened in an episode that also featured two fantastic incarnations of the Rani, an Omega who thankfully is not a CGI crab or claw, and Melanie Bush, whose face-off with the Rani carries all of the emotional weight of their previous clash in Time And The Rani. The Reality War is a vast improvement over last year's Empire Of Death, with the only real downside being that Susan's teased return still hasn't been paid off.

In terms of the era as a whole, I think it's a crying shame that 15 is the first Doctor since Paul McGann to not face the Daleks on TV or in expanded media during his era, as I think a Doctor's first encounter with a Dalek is often one of their defining Doctor moments, and it does feel like he has been robbed of the opportunity somewhat. The Eighth Doctor did eventually get to meet the Daleks in Big Finish audios, so hopefully the same is true for the Fifteenth Doctor, and Ncuti Gatwa records some audios at some point. 15 has at least met one of the big three in the Cybermen in expanded media, but if you had told me this Doctor battling the Toymaker, Sutekh, the Midnight Entity, two incarnations of the Rani and Omega would be events that happen in his TV era and not some later Big Finish audios, before Russell T Davies returned as showrunner, I would never have believed you.