Oh boy here we go.
I won't hide spoilers, because there are just a lot.

Now I can safely say that RTD is running out of ideas.

This episode tries to be the S4 finale so hard that I can't help but laugh.

I mean:
- The setup of the universal threat? Check.
- Return of everyone everywhere all at once? Check.
Except this episode fails not only to reach the impact of *The Stolen Earth* (because it's just the same thing again but worse), it fails even to reach *The Legend of Ruby Sunday* (because it's just overloaded with exposition, the entire episode is just exposition), which I - the number one *Empire of Death* hater, consider genuinely good.

Anyway, I was excited about the Rani's return. I haven't reached any of her episodes in Classic Who yet, but I was curious. And just what I was worried about happened - RTD turned her into the Master. Seriously, she behaves just like him here - the manneurisms, the plan of resurrecting the ancient deity, the relationship between her and the Doctor.
I swear, can we have a classic who villain not being corrupted by RTD for five minutes? However I will say that I'm glad that we were shown the dynamic between the two Ranis - with Mrs Flood mockingly discussing the Rani's orders.
And the Omega, oh DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE OMEGA
Not only it seems that RTD is about to retcon him with another one of his childhood headcanons, but after what RTD did to Sutekh, I do not trust him a single bit. I like Omega way more than I like Sutekh, and I'm fully expecting to receive a bucketful of crap.

And another thing - dialogues.
They are really over the top, and that's my problem with 15's era as a whole. As if BBC realized that the kids are watching and just went YouTube - made everything as kid friendly as humanly possible, explaining everything like the viewers don't even know how to walk yet. Who let the child of Mary Whitehouse run the show? The enemies to lovers arc is crazy.

Also the topic of ableism.
I'm not disabled in any way nor am I educated in the topic, but... what the hell?
The only time when something was shoved that hard towards the viewers was *The Star Beast*. I hate that episode with my soul, because it basically told me to get lost.
Here it is the same - the topics get shoved in and RTD doesn't even try to hide it.
Ruby asks a genuinely logical question - "Why are the girls on the wheelchairs spies?", only to get slapped with "Ew, ableist!". Twitter must've loved this scene.
The idea of the disabled people being able to resist Conrad would've made sense, if:
a) It wasn't shoved that hard
b) Conrad was an ableist
*Lucky Day* didn't show us whether he was, so this feels kind of out of nowhere. Maybe I don't remember him behaving like that, correct me if I'm wrong.

As for the story itself - there is no story.
There is an interesting setting that is kind of reminds me of *Human Nature* or *The Natural History of Fear*, which isn't a bad thing. The family sections were actually pretty sweet.
But then it gets overloaded with exposition. BOOM - Conrad, BOOM - Susan's cameo, BOOM - Rogue, BOOM - the Ranis capture the Doctor, BOOM - the exposition dance where the Rani doesn't even try not to behave like the Master, BOOM - flashbacks, BOOM - the god of stories who isn't even explained, BOOM - Omega who is retconned, BOOM - Earth goes BOOM, BOOM - dramatic "To be continued" which solidifies the status of this episode as *The Stolen Earth* wannabe.

And the episode tries to behave as if it is self-aware, with the Rani commenting on the exposition, but it doesn't work. It feels like a mockery and that the writer is running out of ideas.

Russell... get out. Just get out. Go publish your fanfics on AO3 or something.
Leave the chair for new people who know what they're doing.