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“WISH WORLD – STEPFORD WHO”

The first part of Doctor Who’s Season 2 finale, Wish World, takes a bold and surreal left turn into a fabricated reality—one saturated in pastel colours, patriarchal values, mid-century aesthetics, and creeping dread. This isn’t the usual apocalyptic build-up. Instead, we open with the Doctor happily married to Belinda, working for an office-bound UNIT renamed Unified National Insurance Team, and raising a child in a neighbourhood so clean it’s practically sterilised. The world is quietly wrong, and that wrongness is where Russell T Davies finds his hook.

This is Stepford Wives meets The Truman Show, filtered through the lens of Doctor Who and splashed with creeping cosmic horror. Conrad Clarke—remember him?—is the architect of this warped vision, a smug presence broadcasting stories about Doctor Who across the airwaves while ensuring that anyone who doubts the “truth” of this reality is reported to the authorities. When people start doubting, the same symbol recurs: a coffee mug crashing to the floor and shattering. It’s creepy. It’s clever.

RUBY IN REBELLION, DOCTOR IN DENIAL

Ruby plays a central role here, as the only person from the outset to suspect something is off. That makes her a threat—and, once again, she’s ousted from her family by a mother who doesn’t believe her. It’s becoming a pattern in her arc under RTD, and while dramatically potent, it’s starting to feel overused. Still, her slow gathering of the marginalised and forgotten doubters—led by Shirley and a community of disabled people hidden from Conrad’s idealised society—lends emotional weight to the episode, even if this segment lacks the nuance it deserves.

Meanwhile, the Doctor undergoes a deeply internalised journey. At first content, even dull, he starts to feel that something’s off. When he casually compliments Ibrahim’s looks—a moment both funny and sharp—it jars against the norms of this repressive world, nudging him toward realisation. Doubt begins to bloom, and that’s exactly what the Rani wants.

Because here’s the kicker: the more doubt that exists in the world, the more power she accumulates to open a gate to the Underverse. Doubt becomes currency. It’s a fascinating idea—perhaps the most original of the episode—and makes the typically vague apocalyptic stakes feel more immediate.

THE RANI RETURNS (AND RIDES IN ON A HORSE)

The Rani is back, and Archie Panjabi brings her to life with a quiet menace that eschews the chaotic eccentricity of Missy in favour of something more restrained and calculating. Introduced riding a horse in Bavaria, seeking a newborn “God of Wishes” (a seventh son of a seventh son, naturally), she immediately establishes her place in the Pantheon while staying enigmatic and stylish.

Yet that powerful baby—seemingly the keystone of the Rani’s plan—feels increasingly irrelevant as the story progresses. The god-child is a mere plot device, fading behind the episode’s more potent metaphors and imagery.

Still, the Rani’s chemistry with the Doctor crackles. Their dance in the Bone Palace, underscored by sly dialogue and subtle hints at past liaisons, is delicious. She is seductive and menacing, with just the right glint of amusement in her eye to stand out without slipping into parody.

CONRAD’S WORLD: BACKWARDS AND BONE-WHITE

Conrad Clarke’s dreamscape is revealed to be the result of a literal wish—a vision of the world shaped by traditionalist, exclusionary values. It’s all tea sets, gender roles, and repression, and it’s genuinely disquieting. The production design leans hard into this, with Kate Stewart rocking a brown tweed look and Ncuti’s Doctor slinking around in a powder-blue pinstripe and bowler hat. It’s a visual feast with a sinister undercurrent.

This clash between aesthetic perfection and underlying horror is heightened by the eerie sci-fi intrusions. Bone beasts roam the streets. The Rani’s ship—the Bone Palace—is a baroque, red-and-white blend of gothic sci-fi and symbolic threat. There’s even a countdown clock to midnight inside. The Vindicator, a device the Doctor’s used across the season to return Belinda home, turns out to be essential to amplifying the power of the wish. The puzzle pieces are coming together.

MRS FLOOD LAYS LOW, ROGUE POPS UP

Mrs Flood, usually an unpredictable wildcard, is surprisingly subservient to the Rani throughout. It’s a red flag—surely she’ll rebel in the finale? That payoff doesn’t come here, but her continued allegiance adds mystery.

Rogue, on the other hand, appears for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, speaking cryptically through the television: “Tables don’t do that.” It’s a weird line in a weird place, but it’s a thrill to see him again. Unfortunately, it feels like a farewell rather than a foreshadowing.

A WORLD UNRAVELS, AND OMEGA LOOMS

As the Doctor’s doubt grows, the perfect reality begins to shatter. The foundations of Conrad’s world collapse under scrutiny. Characters disappear. Reality folds in on itself. And in the final moments, the Rani reveals her true aim: to find Omega, the legendary first Time Lord, and open a gate to the Underverse.

It’s a startling twist that promises big mythological payoffs in The Reality War, echoing The End of Time’s sudden introduction of Gallifreyan legends and unseen cosmic realms. But crucially, it doesn’t feel like it comes from nowhere. The episode has earned its weirdness.

📝VERDICT: 82/100

Wish World is a stylish, sinister, and surprisingly cerebral penultimate episode that dares to tell its finale setup in the form of a twisted fairytale. While some elements (like the sidelining of Belinda, the undercooked baby god, and Ruby’s recurring family drama) feel repetitive or underused, the overall story is bold and unsettling.

Archie Panjabi’s Rani is a strong new villain, the Bone Palace is a stunning bit of design, and the core concept—of doubt being weaponised in a retro-dystopia—is both timely and rich with potential. If the final part sticks the landing, this two-parter could become one of the era’s most memorable climaxes.

Prerequisites: Enough scattered bits of this era are referenced that you may as well just watch both seasons beforehand, if you haven't already.

Wish World is actually a fairly decent, if relatively not great, piece of setup. I was actually pretty intrigued by this new world, where skeleton monsters roamed the land, and doubters were locked away. It certainly made for one heck of an opening. However, that's also all it was: setup. Without a satisfying conclusion, that's all it can possibly be (just like last season, and we saw how disastrously that turned out).

Side Note: It's absolutely wild that Dimensions in Time of all times is now canon.

this episodes metaphor for authoritarianism is one of the best sci-fi concepts and I wish there was more focus on it in the episode. cannot stop thinking on what 14 would be doing while this entire mess is going on, wish we had like a random cutaway to him with a cup of coffee just repeating "I'm retired" over and over again. on a more serious note, the Rani's sonic is stunning and so on brand. I'm actually obsessed with the dinosaurs. they don't even need a reason to stay I just want them on my screen.

Obviously this is going to be a controversial episode, but I really, really enjoyed Wish World.

It's got so much going on, so many different concepts and characters, but this is the perfect mixture to create an extremely fun viewing experience.

Now, there are a few things I have issues with, mainly the opening scene in the woods, but this did not affect my enjoyment of this story!

Things I loved:

• The Doctor and Belinda living an 'ordinary' life
• The Ranis being amazing
• The Wish World's disturbing dystopian society
• The stunning visuals
• All the actors are at their best here

Of course, now Russell T Davies has so much to resolve in the next episode, The Reality War.

Fingers crossed it can maintain this season's spectacularly high quality and deliver a finale to be remembered...

Not really sure how the first part to a big finale can be filler? Nothing really happens, we set up a world only to do nothing really with it? Why bring back one villain only to sideline them for another next week (I presume anyway), also RTD please stop just having cliffhangers be “name that character”, it doesn’t work. Maybe it’ll all come together next week? But RTD’s track record of finales suggests otherwise.