Well that was a whopper of the first part of a Cyberman story. Like with World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls, you really got the sense of the Cybermen as an unstoppable threat and no idea how Yaz and Graham are going to survive. Only criticism is that Jack really needed to be there, because his warning about the Lone Cyberman linked him too closely with the Cyberman story. He has to be in the eecond part, otherwise his warning makes no sense; you have to know about something in order to be able to warn about it in the first place! (NB: Jack did not return in The Timeless Children).

I wish I could say I had fun with Ascension of the Cybermen, but I barely get anything out of this episode. After all the high energy of The Haunting of Villa Diodati, everything sort of fizzles out here before face planting hard with the Timeless Children.

I do like the almost procedural way we set-up the battle against the Cybermen, that's a good example of where the Chibnall era could have some energy and fun to it. But then the drones, Ashad, the supporting characters, all the intrigue, it all kind of just falls apart. The planet this takes place on looks interesting enough but the budget around the Cybermen and the battle in general felt pretty underwhelming - all build-up and no substance. That disappointment, unfortunately, is what I take away most from the Ascension of the Cybermen.

Ashad's performance was the only one I found interesting here, and even then, he felt underused. Yet another Chibnall era episode that is just a big nothing burger of story.