I will start by saying I’m in the minority in saying I didn’t care for RTD1. Specifically, his season arcs. As a viewer, I started watching in Matt Smith’s run, then started to watch Eccleston onwards while also watching Capaldi’s early stuff. I think the Moffat style arcs, especially Series 6, with how they were incorporated into the episodes, really clicked with me, and so watching RTD1’s arcs which just consisted of repeated words or phrases like “Bad Wolf”, “Torchwood”, etc was underwhelming, with the exception being Series 3, I enjoyed the mystery of who Harold Saxon was, and why he was interested in Martha.

So when RTD2 was announced, I was apprehensive but nonetheless interested. After all, he did write great episodes themselves. I went in with low expectations of the arcs, and Season 1 affirmed how I felt. So going into Season 2, I was barely invested in the Mrs Flood mystery, although I did enjoy the “Land of Fiction” theory.

So let’s start with Mrs Flood. I have no issues with her being the Rani. I’m perhaps slightly underwhelmed but I have no issues with it, except maybe the assumption that the average fan will instantly know who she is. The Rani isn’t really explained in the episode except for “she’s a Time Lady”. Ok and? That doesn’t inherently mean anything, you need to explain who she is, not just name drop her.

But I think the worse criticism of the Rani here is that she was barely used! Like, you’ve had Mrs Flood since Season 1, maybe even the specials. She appears in half of Season 1 and every episode of Season 2, but then as soon as it’s the finale, she’s barely around. Mrs Flood is demoted to sidekick, then the new Rani dies halfway through the episode. I had to check the timestamp when that happened to see another half hour left. Why are you building up a character for TWO years just to do throw her aside? It’s especially infuriating when both actresses are so great in their role whenever they do get to do anything.

This doubles for Omega, as well. We are not told anything about Omega short of “the first Time Lord” which for starters isn’t even true in established lore? Like I know Doctor Who lore is pretty inconsistent but at least try. But again, we just don’t know what the stakes here actually are. Why is he locked away in the underworld? Who were the people chanting about him? Most importantly, what is his relationship to the Doctor? The Doctor asks Omega “remember me?” but we don’t. The average viewer has potentially but probably not seen that one episode from 1973 that ACTUALLY introduces Omega as a character, and again, as a threat he is dealt with in about two minutes.

Don’t even get me started on the design, like Omega has one of the COOLEST designs in 1973, but like last season’s Sutekh, they’re just a CGI beast now. Why are you taking away their uniqueness? Their originality? I literally thought it was Sutekh at first when Omega had a weird ass CLAW coming out from the portal. They’re literally just the same, but namedropped as pre-established antagonists in the hope that this will be enough to make people enjoy the CGI mess. It’s embarrassing.

For the finale, I was also expecting something with the Pantheon. Since that’s kind of the Fifteenth Doctor’s whole thing. We’ve faced three maybe four Gods by now? I was surprised, maybe pleasantly, by the lack of any Pantheon member. We do of course have some dialogue about Omega becoming a God anyway, I’m not sure if this means he was meant to be part of the Pantheon itself, or if they’re just hyping him up? I don’t see anything happening this episode to really “wrap up” the Pantheon arc. More Gods can theoretically appear in future episodes, no? If so I hope we have a better showrunner by then.

Next, I need NEED to talk about Ruby and Belinda. It’s so clear from this episode that RTD does not care about Belinda. Like, the villain is RUBYs neighbour and RUBYs ex-boyfriend. Belinda is just there. Sometimes I’ll joke and say characters are just standing around, but in this case Belinda is LITERALLY inside a box to separate her from the rest of the world while RUBY goes and confronts Conrad.

The episode then ends with Belinda’s timeline being reconstructed to retroactively include Poppy as a baby, a baby in which Belinda never met nor interacted with. A baby that RUBY had previously met and interacted with, and most importantly shared the theme of being a foundling and having abandonment issues. The episode was literally written for Ruby. Belinda deserved better.

Finally, the regeneration. Man. We just did this. The last couple regenerations have been controversial spectacles. People Didn’t like Tennant coming back as 14, then people didn’t like him staying around through a bigeneration. These issues, I’m mixed about. Like, it’s a 60th anniversary one-off, you want to get some viewers, I GUESS I can excuse it. But now it’s not a one-off. You’ve gone and done the exact same thing again. Like Tennant, I’m sure Billie Piper will be phenomenal in terms of acting. But the desperate attempt to get viewers through this nostalgia-baiting is at this point so embarrassing. It makes me wonder whether Piper will be a permanent, or “numbered” Doctor. We’ve had mini “half-Doctors” before such as Fugitive or War, and I love these characters, but I do think a bit more thought needs to be put into the mainline Doctors. Either way, I know I’m not going to be able to be invested in Piper, because it’s either too much of a gimmick, like 14, or she’s not going to be around long enough to establish any cohesive arc, like 15.

Overall, the finale is fine is the culmination of many issues that have plagued the show for the last two years. I will miss Ncuti, and I’m sad that there are like going to be so many dropped plotlines due to his surprise regeneration.

See my full Season 2 review over on serializd:
https://www.serializd.com/review/34868764