frankly i love the timeless child stuff, the inconsistencies work out if you think about it a bit (and with chibnalls creativity shining here you can see any writer for doctor who regardless of skill is creative enough to iron out these inconsistencies even in different ways than what immediately came to mind for me). i definitely understand why people dislike the doctor being special on principal but the doctor being like fei fong wong xenogears style characterization is actually making me literally nuts right now This is probably going to be the only way chibnall era can peak.

on paper this idea sounded kind of bad but in execution it holds so much emotional weight (sacha dhawan absolutely carried this with his performance of the master constantly having a specific look in his eyes no matter if he was smiling frowning yelling or laughing) i will say there was moments during the whole reveal with 13 where i wonder if the acting direction was just really poor (mainly at the paralysis bit) i think also this script was way too bloated for a reveal as huge as this which actually took away from the impact they were going for.

i honestly couldnt care less about a single other thing happening in this episode, the lone cyberman ended up being stupid and the plot played out like some low budget childrens movie. this easily couldve been a 5 star episode with a more wise way of wedging this reveal into an episode with better pacing as well. i honestly forgot this was technically a 2 parter while writing this but it is which is actually nuts because ascension of the cybermen is such a forgettable episode! maybe if it had some real substance i wouldve given this a higher rating. absolutely disappointing one of the most interesting doctor who twists of all time gets sandwiched into a pretty poorly written plot.

this definitely is a set up for a great arc in the future to explore the doctors 'true' origins but i hope they dont do it as soon as 15s era and i truly hope they dont take a boring and easy way out of it by saying the doctor is an eternal and moving on

Well, I don't really know what to say about this episode. I'm really not sure if it's positive or negative either, so I guess I'll break it up into what I liked, and didn't

LIKED:
- The VFX were again top notch, the best we've seen in Who till this point.
- The Master was completely unhinged, and great as always.
- Jodie finally has some very dark and emotional scenes, and she does them wonderfully.
- The companions were top notch again, and that scene between Graham and Yaz was beautifully written
- I did like the exploration of early Timelord history, (even if it doesn't gel that well with previous knowledge.) The Timelords getting regeneration from another dimension/universe is an interesting idea

NEUTRAL:
- Pre-Hartnell Doctors. On the one hand, I'm against the idea because of how it feels like it disrespects the character arcs that the Doctor has gone through, (and the continuity issues it presents.) On the other hand, I think it's a neat idea that the Doctor has a hidden past that she's now aware of, and that can present some interesting stories.

DISLIKED:
- The Doctor being the Timeless child... why, oh why? Originally the Doctor was just a "cosmic hobo" that we followed along through time and space, and now she's the most important person in timelord history?
- The Timelord Cybermen were a bit.. out there concept.
- Ashad getting shrunk was very anti-climatic imo.
- The ending twist and cliffhanger was very abrupt

I'm probably forgetting something, but I think this was a decent finale and episode. I can understand why many don't like it, and why it's called the Master's powerpoint presentation. Will have to sit on it longer for some more thoughts.

I really, really want to like this episode. There are so many little moments that I find enjoyable, but the whole thing is less than the sum of its parts. It's just so long. It feels terribly bloated. Too much and not enough happens, and I'm not sure I could even recount the plot.

Wow...okay.... that's going to divide the fandom! A truly astounding piece of television, so gripping, action-packed and utterly game-changing. The Doctor is back to being a fully mysterious figure again, we don't even know her species any more!

My only criticism is the same as last week: Captain Jack should have been there. He was clearly heavily linked to the Lone Cyberman arc, and his absence makes literally no sense. How did Chibnall not think at any point during writing process 'Hang on, I need Jack'?

That cliffhanger though...bloody hell, how is the Doctor going to get out of that? And how are the fam going to cope without her? It feels like watching the RTD era all over again!

controversially really love this episode

it adds more to the doctor and the master's dynamic imo and really explains why he as spy was so different from missy (assuming he comes after missy, which is my personal belief)

i didn't find the reveal to be a disservice to the character at all and i don't think that it takes away from who the doctor is. they did everything they did throughout their life not because they were like. Chosen Magic Child or whatever but because they were the doctor whom we've gotten to know for the last 60 years! idk i am of the belief that you are your memories so the doctor secretly having this crazy batshit origin story doesn't really change who they are to me since they don't remember it anyway. i just thought this was a really cool episode honestly

i will say though getting rid of gallifrey again was... definetly a choice! I'm certain it will come back soon enough but man really annoyed they did that! it's also really annoying to me how they deal with time lords. it's really unconvincing to me that the master could just genocide his entire race of super powerful and intelligent assholes just because he wanted to. it's also really unconvincing to me that the whole of time lord society is just sitting on gallifrey raising their children and doing paperwork. they don't strike me as the simple pleasures of life kinda assholes. surely there were at least a few people who were "off worlds" as they say when it happened.