Pete Mctighe I'm glad those writing lessons worked out mate. We'll call the other 2 a first draft.

really good episode, im usually not big on doctor lite ones but this one did really well. very much succeeded in making me hate the antagonist. all in all, every moment of the episode had exactly the effect i think it was intended to

I like ruby in this episode more than in a lot of season 1. I like how they show that Ruby is paranoid after travelling with the doctor. I like the reveal that Conrad is part of Think Tank (the organization in Robot) and is a horrible guy. I think the shreek is cool. Kate Stewart was good in this episode and I thought UNIT was the most interesting it's been for a while. I like seeing the doctor at the end and it explains how the doctor knows to look for Belinda.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode a lot and its another great episode to this season.

Cheers, I guess, to Lucky Day for doing something new with a recently departed companion. It was nice to see Ruby again, and I liked her characterization as someone who was knowledgeable about aliens but also dealing with trauma. Also, less politically noxious than I was worried about when I saw Pete McTighe was coming back. Unfortunately, I felt like I was watching a PSA about misinformation from our friends at Bad Wolf Studios. Conrad was such a crap villain; evil because he sucked, and the episode needs to constantly remind us of how much he sucks. Maybe if they did something with what Think Tank believed (are they the same guys as in Robot? I hope they are, shame they’ve been shed of all BRAT characteristics though) it would have been interesting. Also, all the shots of UNIT’s cool guns and planes with the dramatic music made me cringe. Maybe spend that time making your villain interesting or the Shreek scary instead.

Oh boy, here we go again. After a solid run of episodes we run face first into the dirt of bad politics. And, almost worse, a boring story.

My first thought as I finished the episode was, "Who was that for?". The main point of the story seems to be about misinformation and the alt-right pipeline, and how that's bad. But the Conrads of the world aren't watching this; they're too busy complaining on Xitter and in YouTube comment sections about how Doctor Who is too woke now. The people who are watching the show are likely already aware that misinformationis bad. It doesn't help that the message is incredibly heavy-handed, with the Doctor looking directly at the camera and saying Conrad is a terrible person.

I don't tend to speculate while watching, but Conrad was putting up a lot of red flags from the beginning. He got caught by the Shreek's marker and after hearing the Doctor tell Ruby exactly what it does he didn't immediately run out of his hiding place and ask for the antidote for himself; he took a very stalkery picture of Ruby and plastered it all over the internet; and while I don't watch many romcoms, it definitely read to me as off how much he pushed to get a date with Ruby after having her on the podcast. Safe to say, I wasn't exactly surprised when he turned out to be a prick, especially since we already had that twist earlier in the series (done a lot better, I might add).

Ruby is ostensibly the main character of this episode. Unfortunately, stopping the momentum of this series in its tracks to focus on a previous companion doesn't really warm me to Ruby, especially when she's one of the blandest companions to date in my opinion. After a full series and an extra episode I still don't feel like I know her, and that's made even worse in comparison with Belinda, who had only one or two lines in this episode which were already so full of personality. They tried for depth with Ruby discussing life after the Doctor, but her thinking she has PTSD felt very scripted and really fell flat for me.

UNIT is back in all its messy RTD2 glory. They didn't introduce any new child soldiers, which I'm grateful for, but they have yet to do anything with the existing characters, either. Shirley is back, but she only gets a handful of lines and is once again reduced to a punching bag to make a point about how terrible the villain is. Ibrahim has no character or personality beyond being Kate's boyfriend, and while I don't have very strong opinions on Kate's sexuality, I would like to say that at least dating a subordinate would be out of character for her - if only she had a consistent character in this era.

A big part of what bothers me with this episode is how entrenched in real life it is. Doctor Who, as a sci-fi show, has always commented on current issues, but usually with at least a few layers of metaphor. Darker episodes have always been set either in thepast, the future, or some alternate reality, being more character-driven. Episodes set in the modern day, even heavily political ones, always cussion it by either making the bad guys aliens or splicing in lots of jokes, going for a more lighthearted tone. This one is set in the modern day, in a world that is identical to our own except for the clear existence of aliens. None of it is played for a joke, the tone is sombre, and it just feels far more real than anything we've seen from Who before (maybe except for The Green Death, but that was before my time and as such I can't comment on how similar it felt).

And that leads me to my main problem with the episode, which is, of course, the politics. Setting aside the implicit racism of the fact that this is Fifteen's third Doctor-light episode in already short seasons and our new WoC companion getting sodelined for an old, very white one, the optics of the actual episode are terrible.

Because UNIT is, first and foremost, a military. They come in with uniforms and guns. Maybe the basic premise of the prank (make UNIT look stupid for reacting to fake aliens? Make it seem like UNIT are the ones who put those guys in costumes?) is kind of senseless, but everything around it is what actually makes UNIT look bad, not just in universe, but for the viewers as well. In our current political climate, you'd be hard pressed to find someone watching this episode who doesn't at least know someone who knows someone who ended up in conflict with the police during a protest, if they haven't been in that situation themselves. The imagery of armed soldiers taking away civilians, manhandling them and pointing guns at them while the civilians film or livestream it is one we are all familiar with from real life, and it paints UNIT as very much in the wrong.

The episode refuses to engage with that, however. It compares UNIT more to the WHO, a scientific organisation constantly under threat of being defunded. But scientists don't go around pointing guns at people. Usually, if you know where to look, you'll find exactly how much taxpayer money they receive and what tey do with it. Now, I don't know if Conrad is telling the truth about UNIT being completely opaque with that stuff (they don't dispute him, but it's also a high tension situation), but if he is he's making some really good points. Sure, he's doing it for attention and personal gain, and that makes him a bad person, but him being terrible doesn't automatically make UNIT the good guys.

But this darker side of UNIT isn't explored here. Maybe this episode was designed as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff, but a backdoor pilot doesn't work if the show it's in grinds to a halt. I'm not more interested in watching the spinoff because I want to see what's gonna happen - I'm just annoyed at this episode leaving me hanging.

The climax, while exciting, leaves a lot to be desired. I like this darker side of Kate, but it falls flat within the context of the episode. The Shreek is scary and the tension is good, but after seeing the Shreek costumes earlier in the episode the CGI version is obviously digital and lacks weight - it doesn't interact with the world the way the "fake" ones did. The highlight of the episode was Conrad's quick switch from begging for his life to once again being sure of himself, but when a single acting moment is the best part it's more telling on the rest of the episode.

Then comes the Doctor's speech. At first, I thought it was part of this darker UNIT, and they somehow projected the illusion of the TARDIS and the Doctor around Conrad's cell or into his mind as we've never seen a materialisation quite like it, but I don't think that's actually what was happening there. While Gatwa's acting during that scene was fantastic as always, the writing felt incredibly ham-fisted, and honestly, somewhat out of character. I'm interested in a darker Doctor, but I find it hard to believe that he would be perfectly alright with UNIT jailing someone for life (let alone the non-sapient aliens they appear to be keep in cells). The whole thing felt off.

Once again, I find Mrs. Flood to just be another Susan Twist. Whether Conrad return in the finale or not, this episode has proven itself to not be able to stand on its own. Its only purpose is to introduce a spinoff and deepen existing mysteries without giving us any new clues.

All in all, this was a boring waste of an episode in an already short series, with poor politics and even worse optics. The more I think about it the more it annoys me and the more I lower my rating of it. It's especially disappointing after a pretty solid run of episodes, and I can't say I'm looking forward to the spinoff.

Ahh, a political episode by Pete McTighe. Here we go again. Political stories tend to be the ones I dig my teeth into the most so bear with me and we’ll see how long I go for.

I have seen a lot of people say that this episode is a redemption for Mctighe after the less than loved episodes of Kerblam and Praxeus. And this is definitely a step up, it's the best episode he's written. But it still bears the giant unmissable stain that has defined the failures of all 3 of his episodes in my mind, and that is his compulsion to default to authority, in ways that distort reasonable plots into outright harmful messaging that seems to be indicative of a very authoritarian politics.

Taken in isolation, the story of Conrad and his followers could make some sense. If you consider every time throughout the show's history that the Earth has been invaded by aliens, often within plain sight of the majority of the population, a propagandist spreading a false narrative about how every invasion and sighting was faked for a secret agenda of supposedly making people scared and submissive could work. But that only does work if this was situated in a world with an established continuity about public perceptions of UNIT and more broadly alien life. There is no sense of that having been established either within this era of the show or within this episode. It seems that every time we return to present day Earth everyone has forgotten or covered up previous alien incursions, and this is sometimes even addressed directly in the past. Which is fine and allows for tension to be maintained and for new viewers to be welcome without needing to be aware of how the Earth in universe differs from our one. But what it does mean is that the possibility of this episode's premise goes out the window. Previous alien encounters barely get a mention here and so we are only left with UNITs recent behaviour to judge what the general public perception of them might be that Conrad is railing against.

And that behaviour is a UNIT that does act in a very shady manner. Hiding what they do from the general populace, holding technology far beyond what is available to anyone outside, being seemingly unaccountable to anybody or elected for their position by anybody, stuffing people into dark vans while running around with guns and military wear. Why exactly are we supposed to be entirely on board with the idea that criticising this institution is evil, or at all comparable to far right conspiratory behaviour we see in the real world? Because the fact that the episode wants us to map Conrad's behaviour onto far-right figures is not subtle in the slightest. It whacks us round the head with it, especially in the final scene between the Doctor and Conrad. Which would be fine, if the analogy landed in the slightest. Instead, the messaging seems to be muddied more towards something that says that scepticism towards powerful state institutions is evil and that these institutions always act with your interests and humanities interest in mind. Which I fear is the reason that McTighe created this analogy, as in Kerblam he believes that institutions of power should be defaulted to for morality and that societal issues come down to individuals wielding power in the wrong way, rather than any problem being a systemic one. This is even shown on the opposite side of the conflict in this episode when once Conrad is deposed of, everything seems to go back to normal. If we get rid of right-wing figureheads, another one just takes their place and martyr hood would often await someone like that. Not to say this is particularly offensive since the focus is on Conrad himself and the 45 minute episode doesn't have the scope to deal with the entire structure of conspiracies, but it is another aspect of a very simplistic, surface level politics that McTighe holds.

As for the characterisation of a conspiracist himself in Conrad, McTighe actually does pretty well. According to Michael Barkun there are 3 principles of conspiricism and 2 of them are very clear in Conrad- nothing happens by accident, and nothing is as it seems. The third principle, everything is connected, feels like it is missing from his characterisation, but that can be put down to the limited runtime. There probably was not time to delve further into Conrad's beliefs, into why he believes that UNIT would want to fake all these aliens. It would've been nice to explore Conrad's other likely unsavoury beliefs to round out how this narrative fits into his wider worldview. I enjoyed the fact that even in the face of overwhelming evidence at the end, Conrad does not change but he changes the conspiracy to make it fit to what he’s just seen. Which is very accurate to real life and shows how debunking conspiracy theorists is never a worthwhile effort unfortunately. It was also a very nice touch that Conrad was made to feel like he didn't matter by his mother at the start of the episode, it was a nice nod to how his conspiracies served an identity that made him feel like he did matter. Although I do wish that this was touched on again later so that it could be tied back into his character arc later on.

You might have to bear with me for a second on this one, but I can't help but think that the reason that McTighe manages to nail this characterisation is that their thinking ironically shares a lot of similarities, not in the messaging but the underlying thought process. McTighe is not a conspiracist, but like McTighe, conspiracists are often never able to place blame on institutional power structures. Instead to a conspiracist issues are always caused by unambiguously evil people with evil plans orchestrating evil plots in a very black and white power struggle of 'elites' vs 'the people'. McTighe consistent style of characterising villains in this way plays to his advantage here, and he was able to create a very dislikeable villain.

With all that being said, there is some fantastic character work in this episode. I think I liked Ruby the most I've ever liked her in this episode, more than I ever liked her during her actual run. The PTSD she is left with is very believable and I felt so sorry for her that when she was finally able to get some stability that she needed, but she was manipulated at her most vulnerable and that whole pillar was torn away so quickly from under her and revealed to all be false. Poor woman, I did feel so sorry for her. And I looooved the darker side to Kate's morality. I think UNIT should be somewhat more antagonistic to the doctor's morals. Both fighting for the defence of humanity, but UNIT in a more militaristic, ambiguous role. Willing to sacrifice people for its interest because it is more removed from personal emotions and ethics, as real life militaries are. If you get in their way, they will steamroll over you without second thought. If that's the direction that UNIT is taken in during the upcoming spin off that this episode is setting up, I am so down, strap me in. However I'm not sure whether that is the case or whether this darker moment is just another personal flaw in Kate herself. McTighe's writing record would have me believe the latter, but we'll have to see.

Contrary to past appearances, the final scene with Mrs Flood here does actually gain my interest, since it's not just a simple cameo with little substance, she is beginning to play more of an active role in the narrative, which is nice to see. I am reasonably excited to find out what role Conrad could be playing in the finale, as seemed to be alluded to. Last season's teasers were a huge let down, but I have higher hope for this season, because it feels like we're getting a little bit more substance to the teases now and Mrs Flood is clearly playing an actively villainous role rather than someone who is just a tool. But how Conrad could be a returning villain? I'm not sure but I hope his character is expanded upon further outwards, building on the base of his conspiracism into his wider worldview. This is just wild speculation but I'll spoiler anyway, if perhaps Mrs Flood is some sort of God of stories, maybe she has use for Conrad because of his power in the way he yields fake stories into something real? Which could be made literal in the process of manufacturing a false reality for the doctor. That could be fascinating and possibly again tie back into our political climate and the false narrative presented by much of our media.

So for me this is an episode that was built around a real life analogy that did not land in the slightest. And yet within there is some beautiful character work. I think it does continue the poisonous trend in McTighe's writing of sucking up to authority and creating stories that essentially end up as copaganda. And it is an episode that definitely struggles in a world where UNITs role in the world is not well established, and that murkiness is not helped within the episode: It is jarring that within this single episode UNIT is almost deified by a narrative that refuses to acknowledge their shortcomings, then later on has them committing such a morally ambiguous act through Kate.  It's an inconsistency that means I'm left unsure what impression of UNIT it wanted to leave, but I hope that can be established further and fleshed out in the spin off. I personally hope we get more of the morally ambiguous UNIT, one that does make tough decisions when it has to. Maybe as a spinoff it could go to those darker roles that the main show can't, and it could fill the same role Torchwood did in that way. The episode very nearly told an extremely relevant and potent story about far right conspiracies, but UNIT was undoubtedly in my eyes the wrong vehicle to be telling this story through. My mixed feelings mean that it's an episode I had a gut negative reaction to at first because of the taste the messaging left in my mouth, but one that had big potential that was at least partially realised given a second thought. I hope this set up for both the finale and the upcoming spin off pay off!!!

Prerequisites: Season 1 (not Series 1)

I actually ended up liking Lucky Day quite a bit. It's no masterpiece, but it lacks many of the flaws I can point to in the previous episodes. The twist with Conrad genuinely surprised me, and while I think his heel turn was a little clumsy in a few ways (it works less when you consider that widespread alien invasions have happened quite a few times before), it also worked very well. As 73 Yards showed, Ruby works pretty well as a solo protagonist, and I liked her here. Plus, that scene with Conrad and the Doctor at the end might just be my favorite Ncuti moment so far. For once, he felt like a distinct character, and I really liked his anger.

Damn! I shouldn’t have read the other reviews.

I loved this episode first time through (although happy to admit it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny the second time around) but then I read some of the negative reviews and realised they all had very valid points and the carefully constructed fortress is made out of cards

So 4/5 for first viewing 2/5 once I gave it any thought.

Is 3 out of 5 fair?

Está bien, pero simplemente Conrad es lo más sólido del episodio.

When it was announced Pete McTighe was returning to Doctor Who, I was very happy. Whilst I found his last episode Praxeus underwhelming, Kerblam! was a brilliant instalment in the Chibnall era and his work on the Collection minisodes has been impressive. Even so, I didn't really know what to expect from Lucky Day. This episode, and The Story And The Engine are the two stories from this season that have seen the least amount of leaks. Lucky Day could have been about literally anything, and what we did get was great.

The main focal point of Lucky Day is the romance between Ruby and Conrad. Millie Gibson and Hauer-King have a lot of chemistry, and it really helps to sell you on their relationship before the twist regards Conrad's true intentions. You see how much Ruby falls for Conrad, and trusts him.

It makes the reveal that Conrad was just using Ruby to learn information about the Doctor and manipulate the public against UNIT hurt all the more. Conrad is easily one of the most unlikable characters in Doctor Who. He's one of those people you just love to hate, especially because of how endearing Millie Gibson is as Ruby. This awful excuse for a human being not only leads Ruby into believing he has feelings for her before cruelly labelling their relationship a "chore," but purposefully spreads misinformation that UNIT create fake alien invasions, and even implies Shirley is a benefits scrounger. He's such a brilliant antagonist, as he shows that sometimes the threat isn't always alien but can be closer to home.

It leads to easily the Fifteenth Doctor's best scene, when he rants at Conrad about how he purposefully spreads misinformation to profit from it. This moment in the TARDIS is one of this incarnation's darkest so far, even going as far as to tell Conrad he'll die at only 49 years of age in his prison cell, and Ncuti Gatwa performs it fantastically. My personal view is that Ncuti Gatwa is at his best in these scenes where he can show the Doctor's inner darkness, and I hope we get more of these going forward into the Fifteenth Doctor's run.

I don't think Kate has been better either. Previously, I've seen her as a bit of a bland UNIT leader, defined more by the connection to her father than her own personality. Here, however, she really shines. Her decision to let the Shreek loose to show Conrad and his followers the 'truth' as opposed to the lies they are spreading is a superb way to demonstrate how far Kate will go when the Doctor isn't around. She will take the kind of measures the Doctor would not, to protect UNIT, her staff, and her friends. Hopefully we see more of Kate's more brutal methods in The War Between The Land And The Sea.

If there's one drawback to the episode, I do think it's a shame we see so little of Belinda. Whilst it's nice to have the mystery of who told the Doctor about Belinda resolved, it feels a bit random that Conrad brings her up. He only met Belinda once as a child, and it seems as though Conrad knows somehow that the Doctor hasn't met Belinda when he meets the Doctor again. It could be his own educated guess if he brought Belinda up to Ruby and Ruby said that she never met Belinda Chandra, but it would have made it clearer how Conrad was able to tease the Doctor about whether he's met Belinda if there was a scene showing Conrad befriending her. Alternatively, one of the most interesting aspects of Varada Sethu being confirmed as a companion last year was when the announcement teased a TARDIS team of 15, Ruby, and Belinda. So why not meet the audience halfway, and show Belinda as being a friend of Ruby's? Especially as one of the promotional pieces of the episode involved Millie Gibson and Varada Sethu discussing the episode together.

Mrs Flood's cameo feels random this week too, posing as the prison governor. It's not clear as to why someone as powerful as Mrs Flood seems to be would even be remotely interested in Conrad (although this could be answered in the finale) and it feels shoehorned in as set-up for the two part Season Two finale. It's a strange choice when Mrs Flood is already established as Ruby's neighbour, giving her a natural place for her to cameo.

Overall, I'd give Lucky Day an 8/10. It's a great character piece, showing Ruby's love for Conrad and ultimate tragedy when he turns out to be a manipulative conspiracy theorist. Conrad is one of the most detestable human villains, and Ncuti Gatwa shines brighter than ever in the final scene. However, the episode is let down by Belinda's disappointingly brief appearance, and Mrs Flood's cameo feeling forced rather than a natural part of the story.

Continues a great run of episodes.

The first thing to mention has to be Ruby - another incredible performance from Millie Gibson. After 73 Yards last year, I was so impressed, and this just continues to show it. This story also works so well in adding some great depth and complexity to her character. Throughout, she blew me away, and I couldn't start my review in any other way then praising that.

Conrad throughout I loved as a villain, such a slimy, nasty character performed so well - the hatred for him by the end is testament to how well the story utilised him. As a villain alongside the Shreek, this story really grabbed me in.

I am aware of some people's concerns with the story, and I do acknowledge the optics - yes, I can see how some people perceive it as a story telling people not to question authority - and I can see why some people are critical of this, and it did take me out of it for a split second. But, as I thought more, I do see how clearly that this was not the intent. This was entirely a criticsm of the spreading of misinformation to develop a platform when you know that it is misinformation - and this is such a rising problem, that I am pleased to see it addressed in the story. I do think the RTD2 era stance on UNIT has made this presentation more messy, especially with the increasingly less ethical practices of Kate, but I know the message this episode set out to portray, and just like McTighe's other misunderstood episode, Kerblam!, I do think that it's an unintended but misfortunate handling.

This does perhaps sound like I wasn't a fan, but I absolutely was. I was gripped throughout in an episode handling things so uniquely, in a story that I am so happy with. And I am excited how this is going to lead into the finale.

What an odd episode; the optics of this one are botched at best.

UNIT, a heavily militarized organization that mirrors real-world military and police, was simply not the correct vehicle to tell this story. In-universe, it makes sense! Because aliens are real, and they are a threat—thus the right wing conspiracists are pushing the agenda that aliens are not real. But as a viewer, it was quite uncomfortable to be expected to immediately and easily side with the armed military organization that literally was pointing guns at unarmed people in a village. Kate’s decision at the end was an attempt to add a bit of challenge to the expected audience reaction (siding with UNIT and Ruby) by offering a moral quandry: should Kate kill this man? That was one of the better parts of the episode, and my favorite Kate moment in the show (this is actually the only episode where I’ve actively enjoyed her presence). That was a genuinely interesting beat in the story, and I wonder what the end result of that scene would have been had Conrad not been livestreaming. However, that single scene does not outweigh the poorly thought-out delivery of the story as a whole.

I did, however, love the character work in this one. The depth and texture given to Ruby was excellent. Her explicitly bringing up PTSD, and having those feelings and reactions be clear and obvious in the choices she makes, was really refreshing to see. I appreciate when the Doctor’s impact on past companions (and others) is brought to the forefront; it really makes the story and characters feel more tangible. Millie’s performance was great as always, too.

I also loved the Doctor’s speech at the end of the episode, absolutely one of 15’s best moments for me. Ncuti has been shining this season, really hitting his stride in this role—which is why I am disappointed that this was the third Doctor-lite episode in his currently short run. But he was incredible for the few minutes he was onscreen in this one.

Overall, there’s a decent amount to like about Lucky Day, but its muddled messaging and the bad taste of its optics sours the experience.

A brutal watch, poor Ruby deserved far better

McTighe does it again! (derogatory)

A story that has it's heart in the right place accidentally ends with a pro-establishment/government message with almost no self-reflection on the message it's sending out. In short, it's Kerblam 2.0. Enjoyable though

Rated based on all other Fifteenth Doctor episodes

Characters: Everyone seemed really out of character here? I mean maybe that was js me but like The Doctor js stealing someone and giving them a good talking too doesn't seem that believable but, eh, whatever. I can't tell if Kate releasing that alien to attack it is in character for her but maybe this is setting up her spin-off and it'll be about her slowly going extremist. Although, I would have the same reaction if someone disrespected my father, who saved the world multiple times (love you Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart).

Conrad tweaked me out to no degree? Man child who refuses to believe the genuine truth no matter what happens. But I couldn't really tell if he believed in aliens and just wanted power, or genuinely didn't believe in aliens? I liked the exploration of Ruby having possible PTSD, better than her becoming a soldier for UNIT like most of his previous companions.

Costume & Set: Again, really not much to say. Can't tell if I'm a fan of Ruby's haircut or not.

Story: Was that Conrad being abused? Didn't expect to see that. Classic child meeting The Doctor and following sightings of him across their adult life. The scene of Ruby and The Doctor seemed like a episode that could've been, hoping for more episodes next season. Ruby's family appearance, not much to say but like I enjoyed it.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart appearance AHHHH ILY KATE. Although I think it is too soon to have her appear again, especially with her about to be in a spinoff. But whatever, her (basically) confirmed being in love with a man has ruined my day /exag. Where's osgood. Make her lesbian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"There are no shreek, no cybermen, no sycorax, no yeti in the underground." Are you so fr right now?? How much proof does one need?? Conspiracy theorists are gonna say this is silencing them or something. There are actual valid criticisms about UNIT but yeah okay fake aliens I guess? Not the limitless funding and little oversight it has, makes sense to me /sarc.

AND PEOPLE AGREEING WITH THIS GUY?? Calling him innocent and saying he should be freed, nobody would fall for this irl (Actually, yeah, people would). God how stupid can the general public be. And releasing UNIT employees adresses, that's grounds for arrest? Why'd nobody arrest him?

Insulting Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart is crazy? I'd crash out too Kate and release that monster on him, it should've eaten him. Public sentiment turning in UNIT's favour is also pretty insane but okay we'll move. Ruby needs that break geez, and once again Ms. Flood's episode appearance.

Comparison: So much better than the other Ruby Sunday centred episode (73 yards) oh my god. Probably also one of the best Fifteenth Doctor episodes, they are on a roll with these.

All the dots were in the right place, but joining them up left an odd-looking picture.

At its most simple, Lucky Day is a story about how young white men fall down the far-right rabbit hole online and become angry and disillusioned, sometime to a fatal degree. Its told with all the subtlety of tossing a brick through a window, but that's not necessarily a bad thing nor without precedent in Doctor Who.

The issue is the context. In this episode, Conrad is a bit of a bigot, but the motives behind his actions aren't the standard far-right talking points. Instead, he thinks UNIT are lying to the public about aliens and alien technology existing. He disagrees with the idea of an international quasi-military organisation that has little if any oversight and yet remains well-funded and fairly powerful. And so we, as the audience, find ourselves on the side of UNIT.
Hey everyone!, McTighe seems to write. Isn't it awful that the baddie in this episode thinks there shouldn't be an international quasi-military organisation that has little if any oversight and yet remains well-funded and fairly powerful?

I really vibe with this story. This is the kind of drama I feel like Chibnall tried to do in "Arachnids in the UK" but failed at, a corrupt, horrid little blemish on the boot of humanity given spotlight without feeling overly preachy. I got bad vibes from the get-go about that Conrad guy, so seeing my gut feeling prove correct, combined with the unexpected terrestrial motivations, made it an intensely satisfying watch. A completely unexpected gem, especially considering I didn't necessarily vibe with Ruby during her first season.

i had to just sit and think about everything after this

My brother watched "Lucky Day" with me, and afterwards he told me that he'd always thought that Kate's a lesbian. Honestly? I see the vision.

I enjoyed seeing the psychological impact that traveling with the Doctor has on Ruby, because that's not explored with former companions very often. Conrad is further proof that uninformed conventionally attractive white male reactionaries with podcasts will contribute to the destruction of the world /hj. Conrad being the antagonist was the most predictable "twist" I've ever seen. I am sick of the RTD2 era constantly uncritically praising UNIT, and I would like a break from them unless the writers stop glazing them.

Companion epilogue stories without the Doctor are some of my favorite stories from the EU, so it's great to see one on the show proper. It helps that the episode is incredible, as well. Millie Gibson is still amazing.

S.

I am glad to see that many love this Episode, for me, it didn’t do all that much despite having high Hopes considering how much I really like (even with its Flaw) something like 73 Yards.

It’s probably the one that gives me the most Headaches to discuss. I can see why one would really like this Episode, it’s by no means a bad one. Millie is great as always and you feel for her. Touching on her having a hard Time to move on, while it could do with fleshing out was great. And so was any Scene with her Family, my favorite Part of the Episode really, it’s nice to see her having more Scenes with them. I think Actingwise Conrad and Kate were really strong too, even if I have my Issues with the latter.

Part of me wonders why I just am not connecting with the Episode much, but I am taking a Guess it has to do with its Use of UNIT. I make no Secret in disliking the Confusion that is RTD2 UNIT, Part of me feels like as if RTD is trying to mix the Style of a ‘UNIT’-Family and a more darker cynical Approach from his Era together and those two just really don’t mash as much as I would like to. I think you could do it well, but so far I don’t think the UNIT Cast is strong. Ibrahiam is a Nothing-Character. Shirley hasn’t been seen much for me to properly form much of an Opinion of her. The Vlinx exists. And Kate. Oh Kate, if there is one Thing that RTD2 is bafflingly at it, it’s the Confusion of Kate. While Redgrave is a great Actress and gives it her all, I feel like this Era, like with all of UNIT, is indecisive if they should lean into a more gray morally dubious one or not. I liked the ending with her, but I wish I could see a Commitment to it.

Then there is the Political Commentary of this Episode, which I think is a great Message but kinda stumbles on its Execution. It’s an ambitious Concept, and one that at times feels too easy for Conrad and his Followers. There is a lot that this Episode wants to cram in, at times the pacing can feel all over the Place because of it. While I think Conrads Actor and the Idea of pretending to be Rubys Boyfriend, while obvious, was done as well as it could, at times it felt fairly quick and other times too slow. It’s weird, and I am not sure if I explain it correctly, but the Pacing just felt really off. The Commentary itself makes me feel indifferent. I think Who can and should tackle it and if anything I can appreciate a Character for Conrad for feeling very much “real” (in terms of the Believability, since I have known people who act and think just like him, sadly), but I am still not fully sold on it. At the end, I think it was handled in a very mixed bag manner.

Even the directing wasn’t too great here, I mean it’s decent and nothing against Peter Hoar, but I thought the Night Scenes didn’t have all that great Lightning.

I do like some Scenes with 15, the ending, while the Dialogue is just summarizing its Message, I thought worked due to seeing 15 being angry. I especially liked his Moment where he just told Conrad how he would die, felt very 7 to me. The Flashback Scene was also quite fun.

I am fairly certain that some Thoughts weren’t as well articulate as I would hope, but I hope I come across not the wrong Way. I cannot stretch enough how glad I am to see or read that People enjoyed it or even loved it, but for me at least, this Episode was just all over the Place and not in the best way.

I SWEAR I'M NOT CONSERVATIVE, I JUST LIKED THIS EPISODE

Doctor Who: The Gatwa Years Series 15, Episode 4

Didn't expect a grifter nutjob to be a Doctor Who villain.

A bit underwhelming in comparison to the other episodes but the second half is so good I don't even care that much. Not much to say besides that we truly need these types of commentaries with how society is going rn, f Conrad, and love love love Ruby and Kate! Honestly, already knew the twist bc it was pretty obvious, but nevertheless you don't expect it to be so... SO MUCH. Loved 15s last scene and hope we can get more of this protective side.

This episode was no fun. It just felt so mean-spirited and conservative, and I am not a fan of 15 being given yet ANOTHER doctor-lite episode when this is only his 14th. I just kept thinking, Why is this even an episode of doctor who? Unsurprising that it was written by the same guy that wrote the pro-amazon episode from 13's era.

I really expected this to be a mid-season filler episode. Boy, was I wrong.

This episode hits hard. Fantastic writing, brilliant acting, mindblowing twist. Not at all what I was expecting.

I thought it was really interesting to see Ruby adjust to a live without the Doctor and thought this would be the main plot point for this episode until the reveal. Conrad was an amazing villain for two main reasons: 1. He comes off as extremely likeable at first and the twist is a real gut punch and 2. He is someone you know exists in real life. You probably had a conversation with someone like him either IRL or online. The last scene with the Doctor felt really cathartic for exactly that reason and I can't remember the last time a Doctor had such a grand moment in a Doctor-lite episode. Hats off to Ncuti (Like in every episode this season).

UNIT was great. Loved seeing Kate go real dark at the end, after her Father was mentioned. The Brigadier get's name-dropped a lot in the new series, usually holding him in really high regards. But as far as I recall, this is the first time his name is actively dragged through the mud by someone and that was a real gut punch. So Kates reaction, even though the Doctor would not approve, was oddly understandable. I felt like this episode also laid some breadcrumbs for the upcoming spinoff, with Kate apparently having some sort of relationship with Colonel Ibrahim and Mel being in Sidney because "Something weird is happening in the harbor". I really dig these interconnections, teasing us for the next Whoniverse release. Hope to see more of this in the future.

To finish this unstructured rambling, I'm just really relieved we got a decent Pete McTighe episode, as he is obviously the number one contender for Showrunner when RTD2 inevitably comes to an end. After Kerblam I had my doubts, but this gave me hope for the future.

I felt that Lucky Day started really strong, and managed to maintain this quite well. Around a third in (just before the twist), I felt it was starting to slip, but it recovered really well (due to the twist, which caught me completely off guard). I think that this is the most interesting way they could have done an episode with UNIT, and I enjoyed watching it.

I felt that there was some really nice directing throughout this episode, and I also thought that it all looked great in general. The special effects worked really well, and the music was largely good in my opinion.

One of the main issues, for me, come from some of the mixed political messages of the episode. I think that conspiracy theorists and missinformation are really dangerous, and the episode conveyed this well. However, it did also deliver the message that all authority is here to keep us safe and should not be questioned. Sometimes, this is very true. Other times, not so much. I think that it's interesting to note that the episode's writer, Pete McTighe, also wrote Kerblam!, another episode somewhat infamous for messy politics.

I also felt that the episode was not very subtle at points, and I'm not sure I liked how they did the social media short-form video segments. I also felt that some of Conrad's characterisation was a little inconsistent considering the twist.

On the whole, I enjoyed this and it far surpassed my expectations, but there are a few things holding it back from the top ratings.

Please, do never make a conservative Doctor Who episode ever again...

I disliked this episode; it really disappointed me. Doctor Who is an escape from this world, usually, but there was no real story around aliens or time-travel… in fact, this barely felt sci-fi. The sci-fi vibes were mere undertones, in my opinion. The episode hit too real and too political–I am not against adding in real world tripe; I actually think it’s important to include… but not like this. This episode showed real evils in this actual world up front and in your face but with no positive outlook on the human race. The messages were negative and the way they portrayed UNIT made me upset. I miss the guns-are-bad messages, I miss problems being solved with cleverness and cheek and care for every being no matter what. This episode was not kind and does not reflect the show that has given me so much and that I’ve come to love with all my being… This episode was not Doctor Who. 

absolutely adored Kate's performance in this and the doctor appearing at the end was brilliant. him going off at Conrad was well deserved

There's a lot I could love in this episode, with standout performances and characterization for both Ruby and Kate as well as a scene near the end which I absolutely loved, but sadly becomes incredibly muddled in their handling of UNIT (which I already care little for this era) and ends up becoming far less than the sum of its parts (even if some of those parts could have formed a far better episode)

Lucky Day - a review based on first impressions:

I place great value in the title of an episode. The connotations, ideas and imagination spurred from a combination of words is often far in excess compared to what the episode results; perhaps the mark of a strong storyline is an episode that least diminishes away from its potential. “Lucky Day” suggests this could be a pivotal, fairly friendly good episode of Series 15, a rarer enjoyable well-crafted piece of entertainment. Well, to that end it is rather, and elsewhere, less than it strives.

The now-expected traditional “Doctor-lite” episode, Lucky Day focuses on Ruby Sunday, the companion from the previous series, rather unexpectedly. The Doctor is hardly in it, but very alike to Love & Monsters, in his absence can one sense the power of his presence. One may easily draw such comparisons (also to 73 Yards last year, especially with the pub crawling activities present in both). The entire episode basically revolves around Ms. Sunday and her new boyfriend, Conrad, a name somehow incredibly fitting to his character. It is apparent fairly early on that Conrad must be the antagonist, since there is little room elsewhere to which the plot may manoeuvre, reducing the surprise of the occasion. Perhaps this predictability adds to the overall themes of the story, concerning the uprising of people in opposition to the common view, the more challenging, anti-consensus populous, just like the conning, radical Conrad. For all one may say and infer from the simple story, there is little else going on here, meaning if one is not drawn in by the plot and characters, there isn’t much to consider or praise. The episode is more magnetised to analysis and discussion than producing an exciting, interesting piece of escapist fiction.

The aliens themselves, when they have little time to feature, reminded me of those from the film “Attack the Block” (featuring Jodie Whittaker), except using a different colour, red instead of blue. The Shreeks differ, however, in being worthy of even less time considering them, for they appear emblematic of any Doctor Who monster - Cybermen, Daleks, Ice Warriors, Shreeks, any threat terrorising the land, seen as a fiction to the general population. This idea was set forth clearly back in Series 1, World War Three, with the “hoax” newspaper article. Such themes were very heavy in the following years, such as the Master commenting on the invasions in Series 3. One gathers RTD must have had quite a hand in developing this concept, or inspired, since those old episodes are now over two decades old. Ruby being escorted in a car is another similar call-back. I quite liked seeing such beats in the story, cutting to news programmes, seeing Trinity Wells, even if it does strike in the usual self-indulgent, distracting manner. One suspects that lift shot from Series 1 and 2 could have been re-used here, too. At least there was a variety of setting and pacing, even virtually, more than can be said for the preceding episode. In the rapid montage, as well as the naturally dynamic relationship between Ms. Sunday and the surnameless Conrad, a fun momentum builds, which I enjoyed.

Much as with some recent efforts from the Revived Series, such as Praxeus, this episode has a very definitive theme that less distracts from the story, more-so grows from it, and takes it over entirely, which produces the same positive boon as in a caterpillar when a parasitoid wasp intervenes (for more information, see The Ark in Space). Exploring this idea could prove insightful, making one question the reality of UNIT, whether the aliens are real, perhaps suggesting that many stories in Doctor Who act in a fictitious meta-narrative, unreliably set-up stories. This may push some motivation towards the inexplicable dates of the UNIT stories, set in some unestablished paradoxical time around the “near future” of the ‘70s, ‘80s and beyond.

But Lucky Day does little to really dig into these themes. It presents ideas most topical to this time, about denying reality, yet by presenting these anti-establishment views as wholly misguided and leading to evil, is unlikely to really convince anyone of anything, good or bad, about how to think. The Doctor himself shows up at the end to scold Conrad, and basically inform the audience of the lesson - the notion that the Time Lord can effectively appear at will and know basically everything indicates his vast comprehension beyond humanity; adding to that his simple click that makes the TARDIS disappear, as if it, too, were but a fantasy, shows his true abilities above humanity. This last scene simplifies the story too much, makes the “lesson” of the parable all-too evident, ironically denying much thought besides its idea as the “good” option. It appears utterly reduced in power as old Mrs. Flood returns to free Conrad, although one could argue gains a greater realism in allowing him to live on free, really was just a feeble decision, tying into the series’ tedious mystery as a whole rather than letting this narrative to reach its conclusion.

Much like 73 Yards, this incarnation of the Doctor is insistent on enabling any life, even those who disagree with his ideas of the universe, to live (and even prosper? Sadly no one says “I deny this reality”, like in The Deadly Assassin). One simply wishes for one of the “old” Doctors, and may happily imagine Tom Baker’s brief interaction, rather like his treatment of Scorby in The Seeds of Doom, or better yet, Conrad, meet Colin Baker and a coincidentally-placed acid bath. The Doctor’s assertion that Conrad is “exhausting” and “choke(s) our bandwidth” is completely contemptible and laughable, in total defiance of the whole concept of the Doctor being above humanity and just sounds ridiculously absurd, as if he’s just irritated at this conniving little man. Attempting to raise our morality a step towards the deistic heights of perfection, in combination with complaining about “bandwidth” size, is a brave choice; it takes courage to write the words that totally undo a story’s purpose and power in seconds, but Pete McTighe pulled it off.

The author himself can be seen regularly stating his own love of the Classic Series in non-specific ways, on the Behind the Sofa features. Lucky Day fits rather well with the idea of what a man as he would write - an attempt to be challenging and provocative, while continuously repeating the same looping notions that refuse any thought against themselves. A half-witted satire. As the thematic aspect’s shadow looms throughout, the plot falters to accommodate: UNIT just happen to have a Shreek right next to the main office, which just so happens to only be hunting Conrad, and doesn’t care about or attack anyone else. All aspects must correlate in contrivance to prove what McTighe wants the world to be; perhaps it is impossible to not be hypocritical when attempting a story of this kind. Having Conrad beg for forgiveness was completely unrealistic; then it transpires he was lying and the Shreek bites his arm, which amuses briefly but reveals how irrelevant the Shreek really are in the story. At least in using them for costumes in his fake invasion, a kind of reference was made to The Rescue, and the “Think Tank” is reminiscent of Robot.

Lucky Day entertained, more-so as it preceded, and much more-so than last week, gaining momentum as it gathered the puzzle pieces, but by its end, with the plot crumbling into dust, the Shreek made irrelevant and even the Doctor incapable of ever acting tough, just a pathetic shell of his former self, the episode falls apart, leaving a broken jigsaw of an empty painting frame.

I'm torn cause I think the messaging in this episode absolutely sucks. It's just very clunky and ends up going for a "actually the government establishment are the good guys facing evil injustices from the evil podcasters". It just absolutely fails at delivering the right message and it really proves that even without the Chibnall era production issues he struggles with this kind of thing.

HOWEVER, Jonah Hauer-King smashes it as Conrad and I really hope he gets more roles in the future as smug, obnoxious assholes because he is insanely good. That twist scene where it's revealed it was all a set-up was brilliant and he's really good at making you hate his guts.

Still, the episode is riddled with plotholes (Conrad breaks into UNIT, shoots a guy and starts pointing a gun at multiple people and he still thinks he can paint himself to be the good guy?? really??? after breaking that many laws?? also the fake Shreek scene just makes no sense cause he's trying to say that UNIT have a bunch of costumed monsters but the only costumed monsters there are the one's he hired, they're literally recording the whole thing. How does that in any way prove that UNIT is faking monsters????).

Anyway little ramble over I sincerely hope Pete McTighe doesn't get to go anywhere near the showrunner role but this episode tried it's best despite him.

Written by the guy who wrote Kerblam… and it shows.

Honestly, I see the intent. I understand. I’m bright enough to see what this was supposed to be (or maybe I’m just being too charitable). But I feel like making UNIT, a huge, overfunded military organization with a history of violence (rewatch the Sontaran Strategem and The Poison Sky if you don’t remember) the unequivocal victim in this situation is such a major misstep. It kind of ruins the message and may even give people the exact wrong impression. The way the idea of UNIT (which is, again, a super overfunded military org) “stealing taxpayer money” is framed as an insane thing to say is also just stupid as hell, ESPECIALLY since Kate ADMITS no one in the public knows what their government funding is used for! It’s all so stupid!

I also wish Belinda was getting more of a spotlight in her own season, they’re already short enough… whatever. I don’t like this one. Could’ve gone with a bit more thought put into it.

The man who destroyed torchwood unit edition

For an episode that owes a lot of it's success to the message it's trying to convey, it's infuriating that an entirely separate message that slips through the cracks is what absolutely ruins it for me, because hardly anyone has managed to look past the extremely heavy-handed message in the forefront, to see a really ugly one lurking in the background in plain view. Don't get me wrong, the message at the forefront is one the world sorely needs, and it makes me happy that this episode is doing so well because they dared to say it with their whole chest, it's the message it's tied to like a ball on a string that I find absolutely repugnant. I'm, of course, talking about this episode being sickeningly pro-military.

This episode has many moments that explicitly tell you that UNIT, a *military* organization of which the show has previously been critical in the past, are unquestionably the good guys. The main character of the episode is even a part of it, and to criticize them is to put the people that they bravely protect on a daily basis, in jeopardy. This is why, according to the episode, Conrad is a dangerous, foolish, practically MAGA-level delusional scumbag who will bring ruin to the world with the disinformation he's propagating about things he can't even begin to fathom.

This comes at a time where an anti-military argument is sorely needed in the world. Disney have streaming rights to Doctor Who, and they've made it painfully clear their stance on the Israel genocide, and the last thing we need is to see an episode that shares their view on certain military organizations that have at least once in their history tried to commit genocide (See Doctor Who and the Silurians) getting absolute rave reviews. This is why, despite the fact that I'll freely admit that when i watched it, on a base entertainment level, in a switch-your-brain-off-and-watch kind of way, i was captivated by every second, i just can't look past the extremely problematic message that I only recognized when looking back on it with analytical brain.

P.S. For these reasons, for the love of Christ, can we please stop suggesting that Pete McTighe should be the next showrunner, or is likely to be the next showrunner. We really don't want to be willing that into existence, because you know RTD is likely to be listening.

my escapism show is making me think about depressing modern day controversy too much. if i wanted that i would open twitter. this episode has some good ideas and good stuff in it though

I can already tell that this is going to be a controversial one. Pete McTighe's confused politics strikes again. However, I can understand what he was going for here, even if I think there's some serious issues with how he went about it.

In this episode, UNIT is set as a parallel to the WHO, climate scientists, and other organizations that help to prevent catastrophic existential threats to humanity. Conrad and his <THINK_TANK> buddies are clearly parallels to COVID deniers, climate deniers, etc. "I didn't take the antidote," anyone? Pretty cut and dry, then, that UNIT are the heroes of the tale, and the evil podcaster is the villain.

However, UNIT cannot be analyzed by this story alone, and in previous stories, especially modern RTD stories, they've been pretty blatantly a paramilitary organization with some pretty awful tactics; I haven't forgotten how they shoved a journalist into an unmarked van in The Star Beast, e.g., and Kate's tactic of siccing the Shreek on Conrad is pretty indefensible. She didn't have any good options, to be fair, but I really think she would have let him die without the intervention of the others. UNIT is deserving of critique and scrutiny in and out of universe, and that should've gotten more of a discussion than one line about Kate going too far.

It's a bit of a morally grey muddle, but honestly? I appreciate that. I wish that they had brought up more legitimate grievances about UNIT's methods, but it was a decent start at accepting that UNIT is both necessary for the continued security of the planet, but also a profoundly flawed organization.

Anyway, politics out of the way, I really liked this episode. I went into it being extremely suspicious of Conrad, but I let the narrative carry me away to the point where his betrayal really hurt. Hauer-King did an excellent job at portraying him both as the kind boyfriend and as the conspiracy-poisoned gaslighting traitor. I felt awful for Ruby.

Talking of Ruby, I really enjoyed Gibson's performance here as well, and the depiction of a companion after their travels with the Doctor are over. She has fond memories of it, but the PTSD she got from the constant danger of her adventures is going to be something that haunts her for a long time. Also, love that we got to see her family again, that was really cute!!

I was a little hesitant at first about this being a Doctor-lite, but I think it really worked. I do wish we'd had more time with Gatwa's Doctor, of course, especially given how short the seasons are these days, but given the nature of this episode as a post-Doctor story, there was no place for him in this one. Also, his speech at the end was incredible. Flinty eyes and a smile barely concealing his rage and disgust. Chef's kiss.

8.75/10

I love Kate and Ruby so much.

In this episode, we take a detour to follow Ruby and get more development for UNIT. It's overall a solid story, but you can't help but feel like what's going on with the Doctor and Belinda is more important. It takes overcoming that initial hesitancy to real get going, mainly when Ruby's adorable klutz boyfriend Conrad turns out to be a far-right provocateur in disguise. Things pick up more from there as the tensions ratchets up with UNIT under fire, and then we get what is probably Jemma Redgrave's finest performance as Kate. She steals some of the spotlight from Ruby as she lets an alien monster (can we not do better than Shreek?) loose. The best part comes from one of Ncuti Gatwa's finest performances as he dresses down Conrad.

Overall, it's fine. I do like Ruby a lot as a character, but we honestly don't get too much farther than 'life after the Doctor can be difficult'. It was good to see the UNIT gang again, but in only eight episode I wish we could've kept some of this material for the spin-off. At least we know who told the Doctor Belinda's name!

Fantastic episode. Truly captures the vibe of unhinged conspiracy theorists and easily manipulated masses. I would've easily given it a 5/5 if it wasn't for the unconvincing UNIT media control. Kate, pay more attention to the internet leaks please? And the Doctor's speech at the end, despise being very good, felt somewhat unnecessary. It felt deliberate and I'm somewhat disappointed by the fact that the Doctor didn't do anything besides giving him a lecture about his atrocities.

Also I wish Conrad a really unpleasant end. The man insulted our dear Alistair. NO ONE GETS AWAY WITH INSULTING ALISTAIR YOU LITTLE - (proceeding to crawl into the screen and beat up his snug face)

PS. I just reviewed the episode and found a little plothole. How did Conrad and his fellow ThinkTank members knew what the Shreek looked like? Yes, he caught a glimpse of it back when he first saw the Doctor and Ruby but it was hardly enough for him to make up costumes that were realistic enough to cheat both Ruby and UNIT. Oh oh Pete we caught you slipping.

Season Two (Series 15); Episode Four - “Lucky Day” by Pete McTighe

Pete McTighe is a name that can strike fear into the heart of many a Doctor Who fan. Apart from those weird teasers for the Collection box sets, McTighe is best known for his work on the episode Kerblam!, which is an… interesting ride to say the least which somehow manages to stumble into the message of capitalism being fine and worker’s revolts being the true evil. He also did Praxeus, but all I remember of that story is that I found it boring and preachy. However, many see these as simple stumbles from Mr. McTighe and anxiously awaited his newest episode. Unfortunately, he tried to do political commentary again.

Since the Doctor left, Ruby’s been living her day to day life in relative mundanity. However, she finds comfort in podcaster Conrad, who actually seems to be willing to listen to her stories of the TARDIS. Unfortunately, Conrad’s link to a violent alien species might just doom their blossoming relationship.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I was in two minds before watching this episode. On one hand, Pete McTighe wrote one of my least favourite episodes of my least favourite era and despite that being up until now his only true claim to fame, I still found his name to leave a bad taste in my mouth. On the other hand, knowing his newest effort was an episode that centred entirely around Ruby was interesting to me. I really dig the idea of a companion becoming a recurring character after their departure, which Russell toyed with with Martha but didn’t really follow through on; it really makes the world of the show feel more alive and interconnected, whilst also making room for some interesting exploration as to what happens when a companion leaves the Doctor. Anyway, whilst I do have some problems with Ruby’s character here, Gibson is still great and slips effortlessly back into the role.

As for our new addition in this episode, we are introduced to Ruby’s new boyfriend: Conrad, who meets our ex-companion through the podcast he runs and immediately alarm bells should be sounding everywhere because in this day and age that’s rarely a good sign. And turns out I’m right: halfway through the episode it's revealed he’s a wannabe revolutionist and is trying to publicly humiliate UNIT into closing itself down. This twist actually did get me the first time I watched it and was a good left turn but after that things pretty much barreled downhill. One positive I can say though is Conrad is suitably detestable and the actor does a really good job at portraying a smug bastard, he’s a very love to hate kind of villain. I also like that the episode didn’t feel the need to try and redeem him and he refuses to change at the end when given the chance because yeah, some people are just irredeemably douchebags and that’s the way of things.

But then we get onto the actual meat of the episode, which concerns fake news and fear mongering on social media. My first takeaway is that this is actually a pretty interesting thing to look into and works as commentary, which might sound like the bare minimum but after Kerblam! is a godsend. However, I always find that when TV shows try to tackle social media and modern misinformation, it always falls into the pit trap of trying to capture internet culture and feeling like somebody who is incredibly out of touch is writing the script. The actual sections of social media reacting to the anti UNIT movement just rubbed me the wrong way but I think that could be entirely personal. It’s just a trope that seems to always annoy me.

But colour me impressed that I didn’t hate the political commentary in Lucky Day, well done Pete, you’re moving up in the world. However, this script is still as dumb as a sack of bricks. The ideas behind this story had some merit but jesus christ the execution was awful. This might be the most ridiculously unintelligent story of the entire revival, it is riddled with so many blatant plot holes and unnuanced moments of sheer stupidity that it left me slack jawed, eyes glued to the screen like I was watching a car crash. First of all, there’s so many gaps in logic here I would be convinced it's a first draft. Why does a massive, clandestine, military organisation do zero background checks on its highest ranking members? Why does Ruby not look into Conrad’s podcast for one second and realise it's a radical conspiracy theory machine? How the f**k is Conrad not in prison for one, wasting government resources by calling the army in on a prank and two, doxxing an entire government organisation publicly? I’m not an expert on law, but I think that maybe it's illegal to do that. Imagine if somebody tried to do this to the CIA or any actual government institution. Also, the climax is egregiously dumb, even outside of the surprisingly poor CG. Why does Conrad have any reputability after nearly fatally shooting a man on live social media? Why does the incredibly violent alien creature spend a millenia slowly crawling towards its prey so that the other characters can monologue and then defeat it? Why does a nationwide public scandal arise up out of nowhere and then literally disappear overnight based on one person being outed as a liar? It’s so utterly stupid and just takes away any enjoyment I might have of it whilst simultaneously diluting its message by being blatantly unrealistic.

But you know what, I’m not actually mad about this at all. I don’t even care. I feel bizarrely apathetic towards Lucky Day and I think I know why. It’s just such a pointless episode. This is a doctor-lite story, leaving behind the Doctor and Belinda for an episode and following Ruby. As I said before, an interesting idea but it fails to really justify itself. Ruby doesn’t grow much as a character except for having a little more trauma, UNIT is completely unphased because the entire scandal has gone full circle by the end and all it does is completely break the pace of the season. I was wondering why it felt so out of place for a while, especially compared to, say, Blink, which does a similar thing but feels a lot less sudden. I think it's because this is placed directly after three episodes that take place in consecutive narrative order one after the other, whilst Blink was in the middle of a bunch of unrelated monster of the week type stories. Also this was written by Pete McTighe and Blink was written by Stephen Moffat, which probably contributed a lot to how well the concept worked. However, the result is the same, I’m left unsatisfied and untouched by a number of underbaked ideas ruined by pacing and a failure to execute.

Lucky Day felt like a speed bump, an annoying intrusion on a straight line that only caused the momentum to drop. McTighe certainly writes a little more competently than his previous efforts, but that bar was in Hell, it was pretty easy to jump over. It had a lot of ideas but none had much meat to them and only a few felt well realised, the rest bogged down by a muddled script. It isn't an egregiously bad piece of TV, but it’s only worthy of a single sigh.

5/10

Pros:

+ Interesting format for an episode

+ Conrad is a wonderfully hateable antagonist

+ Had some decent commentary to make

+ The halfway twist was a genuinely fun left turn

Cons:

- Astoundingly stupid script

- Episode feels like a pointless side step

- The CGI is a little too ambitious

"At least your special effects are improving."

Certainly solid. Feels like it needed maybe 10-15 minutes longer to really nail down its characters and story without being too rushed, but it's a fun concept.

Some of the writing is a little surface level, things like Ruby coping after leaving the Doctor needs a little more exploration I think. It's nice to have Kate and UNIT involved again, especially Kate as a stronger, even motherly figure without the Doctor here. Adored UNIT being in a little sleepy village, just like the 70s.

The villain is pretty fun, but again fairly surface level aims and motivations. With some fun monster costumes too.

Still with 8 episode a series now, we shouldn't be getting Doctor-Lite episodes.

God there is so much wasted time in these episodes, I honestly can't remember that last time I saw a tight script, must have been last season, what the hell happened between the last season and this? There's like 5 things that happen in this episode and all of them are drawn out to the point of tedium, breaks and pauses and endless reiteration, a bloody flashback to a scene from less than 5 minutes ago!? What the hell is this?
Yet again this episode fall prey to "tell don't show". Ruby tells us that she has PTSD, that she's struggling with all of the things that she has seen and done and been done to her, but the moment the episode calls for it she's a badass action hero who tases the monster and says "go to hell." I don't know enough about PTSD to know that people suffering from it aren't able to do both, but they seem completely incompatible as a layperson, so as a writer it is your job to show us why they aren't, not just have two tell-don't-show heart-to-hearts where she says she's affected by these thing, let me see it, let me feel it, 'cause as it stands, I don't.
As with several of the first season episodes, I have problems with Millie's acting, to be blunt, I just don't believe a word she says. I don't see Ruby Sunday saying these things - especially with the forced stuttering - I see Millie Gibson, the actress, saying lines.
The ending dialogue between The Doctor and Conrod is pretty good, if a tiny bit on-the-nose.

Also, I didn't really like Ncuti in the first scene, why was he yelling? Just giving a kind of energy that really didn't match the scene, the other people aren't yelling, so weird choice.

Box standard, boring, wasted potential. Also, the village should have been Upper Leadworth /j

5/10

Im sorry but this is LEAUGES ahead of Lux and The Well

Review #28

Exposing The Truth

This episode was different than the other stuff we've had this season. It followed Ruby Sunday who is dating a man called Conrad Clark. Conrad met the doctor back in 2007 and is Obsessed with him. He gets a relationship with Ruby and then betrays her. He then tries to bring unit down. I thought it was cool to see someone challenge unit. We don't really see that happen. The acting from Millie Gibson was good this time round but in my opinion the real star of the show was Kate. Jemma gave a really good performance this time round. She got in a really dark phase near the end which we rarely see from Kate. This isn't going to top Lux for me but it is still good. 8/10

I didn't have much hope for this episode but holy s**t, I finished it 15 to 20 minutes ago and my heart is still racing. Not much else to say, I just loved this episode. THE ENDING, CHILLS.

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Kate being fed up with conspiracies and going ape-s**t crazy, I love it. 

I don't care how nice your coat is Conrad, you're still a right-alt c**t

Go on Shreeky, bit his other arm off, good Shreek.

I really thought the Doctor would throw Conrad out of the TARDIS to a black hole or smth, but I really liked how controlled he looked there. 15 your 13 is showing.

The phrase "this is your Lucky Day" was said multiple times so this story is a 5/5 and McTighe is certifiably not the hack I feared he would be going into this.

Seriously though, this is a great episode. A great episode that I can't appreciate as much as I'd like to because of one thing: "Ruby gets a new boyfriend and he's secretly evil" is the most obvious twist of all time. It's no exaggeration to say that I rolled my eyes and groaned at the reveal. I didn't even see the leaks and I still went into the episode expecting this, so having it happen is a huge letdown and annoyance - especially when up until that point the episode had successfully set him up as a naïve toxically masculine buffoon who was maybe just a little too interested in The Doctor despite how small an impact 15 had on him as a kid. I thought that this was a more interesting interpretation of the character than just him being a flat baddie, so I was frustrated as hell. But I acknowledge entirely that this is an issue of my own creation; caused by my expectations alone.

I think the fact that I got so annoyed at the above though goes to show that the execution was really good. I was truly convinced by the first half of what was going on that when it happened I elicited a response, even if not necessarily the one McTighe wanted. And that's good! That's a great twist!! That's a great reveal!!! Even if it's one I didn't want to happen!!!

Okay. Fine. Let's move on and talk about everything else with the episode.

What did we do to deserve Millie Gibbo? She's such an incredible talent, as we learnt last year, and she further shows that here. While I did find her character flat in spite of her amazing performance in season 40, here we get a lot of depth and we get to examine something NuWho's done a few times: what happens to a companion after The Doctor leaves? What is their mental state? And I love love love what we get here. Yes, The Doctor improved Ruby's life significantly. But he also ruined it. She's got PTSD. She's paranoid. And she feels alone. Yes, she has 100 mums (great gag from Shirley btw), yes she has a great support network, but she feels alone with him. And like she's unable to have a normal life and process what's happening. It's a natural extension of 73 Yards and it's fab! It's fantastic character writing and development for her, played beautifully by Gibson.

This is Kate's best episode on TV by far. She has a lot of depth and so many layers to her, and Redgrave puts in her best performance in the role yet. I loved her in Legend of Ruby Sunday and everything I loved there is on display here in spades. She is cold. She is angry. And she is willing to go to any lengths to defend her duty, and her father's legacy. And what she's doing might not be morally correct, but have UNIT ever been truly the good guys? They have an important role in the universe, and they're fundamentally more good than bad, but they are still a military complex! They still have wrongdoings! And she plays that moral ambiguity and greyness perfectly. And I love that the script does go into this and explores that! I feel like sometimes Doctor Who forgets that UNIT aren't just 100% good guys.

I also love that this episode criticises the manosphere, and in such a real feeling way. Conrad was a truly believable villain, and I think it's fundamentally important he didn't learn his lesson. He didn't get a redemption. Sometimes people are just bad people. And brilliantly performed too! He felt so real.

But of course the stand out of the episode was the scene with 15. I've always wanted more angry 15 because the few glimpses we get have been amazing, and here it was: unsubtle and unafraid to call out toxic people. And fantastically performed by Gatwa. The sheer rage he felt towards Conrad was palpable. And the way it was shot! I loved the darker colours of the TARDIS to reflect the mood.

I came out of this episode immediately thinking it was the weakest of the series so far. But considering how much positive I have to say.... I think maybe it was actually kinda great, and I'm just mad that the premise was so predictable - even if the execution was brilliant and took it in a direction I never expected.

Fine. I'll give it to you. It's your Lucky Day, McTighe.

First half of this was amazing loved Ruby and Conrad in it,the twist was pretty good and i really liked that however it kind of goes nowhere and i wish they did more with unit,but those last 5-6 minutes were great with The Doctor yelling at Conrad.It definitely feels Mrs Flood and Conrad will team up.Ruby was also great in this episode and finally we get badass Kate. - 6/10

McTighe has redeemed himself! (tbh I did like Praxeus but Kerblam mama…) However, that being said I need the straight workplace romance with Kate to end!!!

I really liked going back to Ruby and the UNIT lot for this bottle episode, super tense and well done. Pacing was fab too! My main issue with this story is that set photos when they filmed out in public spoiled the monsters being Conrad’s friends, which is the major twist of the episode. So from that aspect it felt a little predictable.

It's been a while since an antagonist has made me this willing to see terrible things happen to them. I'll admit that I got fully sucked into the rom-com tone at first, but once that switch happened... pure, unbridled loathing for this little twerp.

But the worst part? Like all the greatest villains, he is right about one thing. UNIT, ever since the Pertwee days, has been dodgy. The Brigadier's attempted genocide of the Silurians is one that always comes to mind for me, and while my remembrance of this sector of the canon isn't as obsessively catalogued as others, I'm doubtless that other instances exist. All the rationales involving security and fighting the battles that ordinary people shouldn't have to bloody their hands with are the same ones put behind world governments who commit (to put it gently) awful things under the pretence of protecting their own. It all comes back to the age-old question of what you're willing to give up for your safety.

As a handling of UNIT's Neutral-adjacent morality within the Doctor Who universe, it's quite murky, both in the actual morality displayed and the subsequent dealing with it. Jemma Redgrave does a fantastic job of toeing the line as far as the necessity for UNIT as it stands, and how much its tactics differ from that of the Doctor. I'm sure that the recurring line about what taxpayer money is being 'wasted' on is a thinly-veiled pushback against critics of the show itself, but in terms of UNIT specifically... well, it's complicated. Kate is right that all that advanced technology would be catastrophic in political hands, but the need for secrecy doesn't do much to instil trust, and bear in mind that this is the same organisation that was (briefly) shut down during the Chibnall years from lack of funding. And for as much as I have my own issues with UNIT and the paramilitary complex it represents in this fictional universe... I'm just here to write about things that interest me, and a writer taking this much effort to avoid easy answers for dilemmas like that is quite interesting. Even with the gradual improvements he's shown since his debut, I still find it hard to believe that this is all from the same writer as the (far as I'm concerned) morally bankrupt Kerblam!

Beyond the UNIT-specific stuff, I like how it approached the notion of a Doctor-lite episode. There's bits of Love & Monsters in its fascinated focal point character, and as a look at the life of a companion post-Doctor, this hits harder than most others... mainly, because we don't usually see them at this stage, save for Sarah Jane in her spin-offs and Charley in her audio series. Like with the recklessness of Rose's continued adventures, and Clara's addiction to the thrill of TARDIS flight, seeing Ruby struggling with a (seemingly) quieter life where she isn't in active danger every other day is palpable. I liked Ruby well enough during Season 1, but I honestly like her even more as shown here, fighting against her own fight-or-flight response that, after all those adventures, still hasn't switched off. There's real character drama throughout which, aside from just showing more of Ruby, feels like they made the right choice to bring her back for this. She basically goes through the same dilemma that the Doctor did in Dot And Bubble: Knowing that this person just flat-out hates you, and that you have no good things to say about them in turn... but also knowing that saving their life is the right thing to do. She really learnt from being with the Doctor all that time, and I like that touch.

And then there's Conrad. Little weasel of a human being. I've seen many a thinkpiece and video essay to do with the 'red pill' community, but I can't recall any that explored what that really entails like this does. That inherent denial of how the world actually is, and how it should be, because even when it's staring directly at you, you still can't see it. It doesn't match how you see the world and yourself within it. And anything that doesn't fit... isn't even there. Except for your own biases, prejudices, long-seated resentments; those are all totally real, because hey, your own mind is the only thing you can be truly sure about... right?

The way McTighe plays around with Manosphere talking points about the nature of reality and who controls it felt like it hit on my own fight-or-flight response because, as a man, I always feel incredibly condescended to whenever I see people genuinely trying to push this kind of nonsense as worthwhile life advice. Just endless spewing of their own neuroses, with the odd sprinkle of genuine understanding that there are problems with the modern world to make it every statement, even the ludicrous ones, appear factual once they've taken hold. John Hauer-King does almost too well at embodying his character, as the level of denial and unadulterated ego on display is maddening both as a villain worth getting riled up over, and as someone that's far too easy to believe actually exists.

But no matter how accurate that one good point may be, it doesn't justify being this much of a human-shaped ringworm. He's not Neo, he's not Morpheus, hell, he probably wouldn't even make it as Cipher. He's just pathetic. Despite everything written above to do with UNIT, even I got my hackles up when Conrad disrespected the Brigadier like that, and while it was great to see Ncuti dress him all the way down by the end, Conrad's reaction... honestly, pretty aggravating, but if it ended any other way, it likely wouldn't have worked. There's so much romanticising about defeating illogic with logic in modern media, it's strangely refreshing to see that, no, some people aren't fixed that easily, or even at all.

Beyond the finer points of the story, the pacing during the rom-com parts is breezy and inviting, and the more thrilling moments are proper "oh dear, I didn't realise my hands were sweating that much" material. I was fully invested from start to finish, albeit for starkly different reasons at times. I was already looking forward to how this Season ends, but after that conclusion... don't let me down, RTD, this better lead to something good.

The one I was least excited about, the one that has surprised me the most, for good. Great plotwist mid-way through (I kinda saw it coming, but was surprised nonetheless), amazing character work for Ruby, for UNIT and specially for Kate (she was amazing, I'm excited for the spin-off now). It tackles political and sociological topics extremely relevant in our time (fake news, the spread of hate and fear throughout social media in order to rally the masses behind far-right movements...)

Yeah this was amazing, I'm starting to see the theory that Pete McTighe could be the next showrunner as a good thing actually.

Edit: almost forgot, Ncuti at the end! I love when this Doctor goes dark like in Joy to the world.

PEAK EPISODE!!! I absolutely adored this one. Great exploration of life after The Doctor. RUBY IS BACK!!

The atmosphere and the pacing, all TOP NOTCH!! I had a blast with this one. I’m so excited for the rest of this season!!

KATE STEWART!!!!

This episode surprised me I’m not gonna lie I’m very impressed with it