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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.

I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. It felt packed with a bunch of different things that didn’t get resolved, but obviously it’s the first part so hopefully all those story elements get tied up neatly (one can hope). I also felt like so many characters were present, only for most of them to do nothing. It’s was basically one big exposition dump. And once again Belinda felt really sidelined and we didn’t get to see all that much from her, which is unfortunate. I agree with those who think the Rani’s characterization here was a bit more like the Master. Having just watched the Rani’s previous appearances, she definitely felt a bit different here. Also, yet another classic who villain is coming back. I haven’t seen any of the stuff with Omega, so I’ll have to do my homework this week before the final episode. RTD has got to stop pretending this era is for a new audience of fans, because there has been niche callback after niche callback lol. As for things I liked about the episode, I thought most of the visuals were very nice. Panjabi’s performance is great even if I don’t like the interpretation of the Rani. And also Rogue’s cameo? Didn’t expect it and was pleasant to see

Firstly, this episode looked SO good. The right-wing vaguely-50s fantasy of it all was really well done, plus the skeletal monsters and bone palace were very fun. I really enjoyed the Rani - I see some people complaining about her characterisation but honestly I have no problems with it and in fact am having a blast watching the dynamic made by Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson

Lots of this episode was done really well: the aforementioned right-wing fantasy slowly falling apart because of its instability. But this then also brings the question of why, in this world where gay people don't exist, disabled people are pushed to the sidelines, and a woman's role is in the house, are we post-racial? And the answer is of course that the Doctor and Belinda are our two main characters, and need to be trapped in the wish world for the plot to actually happen- which only then leads to the question of "Why did you write a story that doesn't seem to fit your characters?" I don't know. It's an odd one

Considering how much of this is similar to one of my favourite Doctor Who stories - Natural History of Fear - this could have been a home run. We have a totalitarian society where the characters we know don't seem to be themselves, asking questions is forbidden, stories of the Doctor's adventures being bastardised in order to placate the masses, and characters confessing on loved ones. What made it even more promising is that whilst it had similar aspects to that Eighth Doctor story it seemed to be asking some different questions and exploring fresh ground. What if the type of person who defends their trolling as simply 'asking questions' or 'critical thinking' had the power to change the world? Would they ironically make a world where its wrong to ask questions? What if those that ask us to cast doubt and encourage us to look critically at power are in fact themselves the ones in power and benefit from the uncertainty they create. All fantastic elements of an episode i would love to see to its logical conclusion.

Unfortunately in usual RTD style most of this goes out of the window in order to accommodate universe threatening nonsense. I don't mean nonsense in an overly negative way, usually I'll enjoy the rollercoaster of RTD's bombastic finales for what they are, i just wish he didn't sacrifice interesting setups for them (The Giggle was another I felt did this).

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Societies where every person has been brainwashed into thinking that absurd things are real always work in Doctor Who. So creepy and captivating, as usual.

A+.

A lot of glossy nothing

Without the big budget effects this would just be 40minutes of exposition

I just hope RTD can pull something out of the bag for the finale (but I’m not holding my breath)

After viewing all the episodes and the “mystery” character (Actress Anita Dobson) that kept showing up was finally revealed it has shown me how much I do not know of Classic Who.

This has started a fire to keep collecting as fast as I can and read up about this mystery character. Super excited for part 2 of the season finale to see how they tie the knot on Season 2.

I mean, if they’re going for something with this Wish World will be remembered as good and if not it’ll be remembered as bad, right? I liked the social commentary of Conrad’s fascist dystopia, hope that continues next week instead of turning out to be a red herring, and desperately hope that Belinda does something. Couldn't care less about Omega though. Also, hooray, Conrad feels like an actual character now!
Song: Honestly Sincere from the Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack

So I'm late to the party as I've been away but this was just excellent (I'm actually shocked by the low ratings but whatever)

I'm really into alternate reality stories, so even if the next part is atrocious (which I doubt) I can't help but love what this episode is going for and, especially, how utterly bonkers, inventive and experimental this is. It reminds me of The Wedding of River Song (which I loved, I'll fight anyone on that xd) mixed with 1984.

I loved the dinosaurs, the Seekers, the control room inside the bone structure and the whole 60s vibe. Plus the Underverse shot at the end was fabulous.

Really excited for what comes next, I think this may end up being one of my favourite RTD seasons.

Astonished by how much I liked this one. I had VERY little hope going in (because finale bullshit is almost universally never my thing) but this was deeply fascinating, and I will still probably enjoy it lots even if the next part is dog-water. The large-ensemble cast of RTD-2 who is weaponized here in a remarkably clever way, reorganizing a comfortable world into a terrifying landscape without any sort of nuance. The way this "Wish World" exists is just very well done, because it's the ultimate extreme of Conrad as a character, who is infantilized in a very scary way. He doesn't have room in his head for places that aren't Britain -- he can't picture bits of Africa and India and so they go away. Mel's line about life as a single woman is the high point of the episode, though Ibrahim nearly turning on the Doctor when he compliments him was another frightening highlight. I wish we could have spent even longer in this eerie bizarro world -- the wrongness of this episode was very up my street.

I don't give a rat's ass about Omega or The Rani's evil plan or Time Lord Lore or anything, I simply don't, because there's no way that the TV stuff will outdo the expanded material in that regard, and there's additionally pretty much no way the next episode delivers a satisfying narrative. But for a glimpse down a miserable uncanny valley, this was an absolute delight as far as I'm concerned.

My ultimate opinion of this episode will depend on how well or poorly the creatives land the train in part two.

But what a beautiful queer idea that disabled folks, because they are cast out from the norm, can see through the bullshit. And what a beautiful ode to "doubt" as an antidote to an oppressive cultural hegemony.

Season Two's series finale feels like one of Doctor Who's most ambitious of all time. The concluding two-parter to Season Two not only has to answer why the Doctor and Belinda couldn't return to Earth on the 24th May, but also incorporate two incarnations of the Rani, returning characters like Ruby and Melanie Bush, possibly Susan, and a potential regeneration. It's a lot to pack into two episodes, and already feels bigger in scope than last year's concluding story.

Wish World, for me, is a definite hit. Its pre-titles sequence, with Archie Panjabi's Rani on horseback and kidnapping a baby, does a great job at leaving viewers intrigued. It leaves you curious about why the Rani is interested in a baby, later revealed to be the God of Wishes, and whilst the Rani's new magical powers don't make much sense, they make for some neat visuals, with the Rani transforming people into flowers, chickens and owls. It could be rationalised as the Rani taking advantage of this new magical universe, or perhaps some kind of scientific experiment she has conducted on herself to give her these abilities, perhaps.

Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson are both fantastic as the Rani. They brilliantly capture Kate O'Mara's theatrical demeanour, whilst also feeling like their own distinct incarnations of the character. The Mrs Flood incarnation seems kinder and more sensitive, whereas Archie Panjabi's is a colder and more manipulative version. As a pairing, they contrast nicely, and feel like great foils for Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor.

I really like the set-up of Wish World. The WandaVision vibes are a very neat hook, immediately subverting expectations by throwing us into a world where the Fifteenth Doctor is a working man named John Smith who answers calls for an insurance company, whilst his wife Belinda is a stay-at-home mum. Conrad's idealised world being a 50s pastiche rife with sexism and homophobia makes so much sense for the character e meet in Lucky Day, who already seemed like one of those far-right extremists with the horrendous way he spoke about Shirley. His attitude towards the disabled even comes into play here, with them treated as outcasts shunned by society. It feels like a smart commentary not just on ableism, but also taking into account unseen disabilities like autism and ADHD too. Conrad's reality conveys the nonsense idea that disabled people are lesser, and should be ignored, rather than accepted as people who are just as reliable and capable as everyone else.

Millie Gibson shines here, probably more so than Varada Sethu as Belinda. Ruby's personal connection to Conrad, and how she is the first to see through his illusion, echoes Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, who similarly held a personal history with the creator of that series' alternate reality, Wanda Maximoff. It shows Ruby's agency and her strength as a companion, that she is the one to stand up against this fabricated world and purposefully seek the Doctor out to make him see the truth. Seeing the Doctor be so cold towards Ruby in his John Smith persona really hurts, because of how we have seen their close friendship in Season One, and I really hope we get a proper reunion between the Doctor and Ruby in The Reality War. It's not only Ruby trying to break the Doctor out of the illusion though.

Rogue also plays a role, appearing on a TV screen whilst in a 'hell dimension', and it's great to see him again. Jonathan Groff was excellent as Rogue last season, and whilst his romance with the Doctor felt a tad quick, it was still a highlight of Season One. He surprisingly gets more to do than Susan's very brief appearance, in her blink and you miss it cameo, although Susan did feature in a bigger cameo last week, so has technically had more screen time this season than Rogue. Here's hoping that both Rogue and Susan feature next week in some capacity.

Unfortunately, Wish World does suffer from featuring too many characters. Whilst the Doctor, Ruby, Belinda, the Ranis and UNIT are served well in the narrative, Mel Bush is heavily underutilised. Her appearance is a very short cameo as John Smith's neighbour at the beginning and end of the episode. It's a shame because Bonnie Langford is fantastic in the part and it's always great to see more Mel. I had thought given that the Rani has an established rivalry with Mel, that she may have had a bigger part to play in proceedings, but maybe Mel meets both Ranis next week.

Normally, I'd give Wish World a 9/10, but despite its shortcomings, I prefer this episode to The Interstellar Song Contest, and I gave the latter a 10/10. This means that by default, Wish World has to be a 10/10. It's a tremendous set-up for next week's The Reality War, with an extremely appearing WandaVision-esque set-up and some scene-stealing performances from Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson. Wish World is in a whole other league compared to The Legend Of Ruby Sunday, which in comparison, had some interesting ideas seeded for Empire Of Death but felt mostly like the episode was biding its time for the concluding instalment. My biggest criticism of Wish World is how much Bonnie Langford is wasted as Mel, which is a great shame, as she deserved a bigger role in this episode. I'm curious to see how Omega factors into The Reality War, and hope that the leaks aren't true regarding how he looks in the episode. 

Oh, what marvellous nonsense! That episode felt like a trainwreck of smashed together ideas that I nonetheless enjoyed thoroughly. I worry that with so many classic characters returning that the show is becoming utterly inaccessible to casual viewers, but luckily, I am not a casual viewer, and so am finding this utterly hilarious.

Ultimately, the episode was bad. But every episode that the Rani has ever been in has been bad, and that hasn't stopped me from enjoying them so far. Carry on, I say! More bone dinosaurs!

Fine, I suppose, but I’m getting quite tired of RTD’s strategy of “remake Tennant era episodes, except with classic era characters thrown in and like, 50% less screen time for the Doctor.” It’s deja vu all over again.

Unfortunately, I am not immune to hype moments and aura, so I really liked the cliffhanger.

Other than that, I just really enjoyed this one overall, the only thing I really disliked was the appearance of the Hell dimension that Rogue was trapped in.

Ah yes, part one a Big Dumb Finale by RTD. At this point, I'm not sure why people are necessarily expecting more. Counting The End of Time on RTD's finale ledger, they've pretty much all been like this to varying degrees, and his best one is still the first one he wrote for Eccelston. However, there are usually very good ideas and themes bubbling under the surface, and this episode was no exception.

I would go as far to say the first half of this episode is basically perfect. We have the opening with the Rani kidnapping a baby in 1865 and turning the baby's family into flowers and animals. From there on, the Doctor is here in a Stepford Wives world with Belinda as his wife. Them waking up next to each other and kissing: definitely a sign of the apocalypse. The whole world is incredibly realized with some very clear 1984 inspiration. Over all this world, Conrad is here, reading a storybook about 'Doctor Who' as all the men of Earth do their jobs and (most) of the women stay home. Ruby can vaguely remember the past world due to her experiences in 73 Yards, makes me quite happy that episode has come up in two season finales now. Still, the Doctor calls the cops on her because she's 'expressing doubt'. Any time someone starts to wonder about the fabric of this reality, a coffee cup shatters on the floor. Meanwhile, the Rani and Mrs. Flood are in some insane-ass bone palace with giant bone creatures wandering around (I think just to try and make people doubt?). There is a very Dune-esque humanoid creature reading out everyone's doubts, and the vibe is creepy and bizarre and amazing. Certainly one of the best sets of all time. When we learn this is Conrad's ideal society, it makes perfect sense. Men working hard, women staying home. Not only is Belinda the Doctor's 'wife', she's also the mother of his 'daughter'...Poppy from Space Babies. What's going on there? We don't know! Eventually, the Doctor sees a flash of Susan but then a message from Rogue on his tv screen telling him: tables aren't supposed to do that. The cups that keep crashing are slipping right through every table. This was weird, experimental Doctor Who at its absolute best: creating a conservative 1950s false nostalgia hellscape of a society with an unscrupulous mad scientist profiting off the carnage. All this is to say, I was at a 5/5 through 60% of this episode.

Ruby ends up meeting with Shirley, and we learn because Shirley and others in this society have disabilities, they're not able to be perceived by Conrad because he doesn't consider them as part of society at all. I thought this was rather genius and a very effective bit of political commentary. Unfortunately...that's about it for part one with Ruby and Shirley. The Doctor is brought aboard the bone palace when Belinda reports him for expressing doubt, but this is exactly what the Rani wants. You see, they want people to break apart this reality, the Doctor most of all. The Doctor's scene where he starts to gradually learn everything all the audience knows...it goes on several minutes too long. The Rani even directly calls it exposition! Then the fabric of reality unwinds and the Doctor is ejected off of the ship, saying Poppy is actually his daughter. Considering that we know Poppy from Space Babies...I don't think she's the Doctor's biological daughter, but more that the titular Space Babies are his children in a way. The last few minutes in particular were quite messy, and ended up dragging this a whole star down for me.

The Rani's great big plan is...to free Omega! That's right, RTD is officially bringing back everyone who people keep saying should be brought back: Susan, the Rani, and now Omega. It's the latest surprise reveal, and I will judge this completely based on what happens next. I must admit, the destruction of reality to find the one living underneath it...it does check out. I really don't know why the Rani would care about Omega though, I guess that's for next time.

Overall, the alternate conservative pipe dream reality was truly incredible stuff that it feels like only this show could do. It's RTD at his best. The lengthy reveals on top of reveals on top of reveals? RTD swinging too hard for the fences, as he's been doing really since 2005. I didn't despise Empire of Death, but it was undoubtedly a letdown. Let's hope The Reality War is no such thing.

Lots of interesting ideas thrown in here, some better than others. The Rani and her relationship with Mrs Flood and her motivations were the best part of this.Plus the Rogue comeback! I adored it!

I think Belinda and the Doctor suffered from poor writing here. There were so many different things happening at once that their characterisation suffered a lot.

Really enjoyed this one. It was a little bit disjointed in places, and I'm a bit worried about how it's all going to get wrapped up next week, but this was a really interesting concept that I found very fun and engaging. "John Smith" was an interesting character; I thought that Gatwa gave a good balance between this dystopian, human, heteronormative version of the Doctor with little bits of the original peeking through when the doubts start creeping in. I was a little disappointed by the limited scope of Belinda's role, though. She started off this season being very cautious and skeptical, it would have been nice if that had stuck around for this episode, or indeed if she'd had much of anything at all to do.

I really enjoyed Archie Panjabi's Rani. I've seen a lot of people complaining that she was too Master-y, but honestly, I couldn't see it. None of this was done for the sake of the Doctor's opinion, she trapped him and used him as a fuel source for her experiment, and then she disposed of him. Admittedly, the dance scene was a little Masteresque, but arguably that's just a staple of RTD finale villains at this point (e.g., the Toymaker). She's cool, efficient, and ruthless.

Conrad was also enjoyable; I thought that he was a lot more humanized than he was in his first appearance. You can see that he did actually feel bad about flooding South Africa, e.g. Obviously, he's still a terrible person -- his idealized world and how it treats queer, disabled, and female folks is enough evidence of that -- but he's more of a person here, rather than the very performative attitude he put on for his videos. I also thought that he was a good bit of commentary about how the people who crave this kind of control over others are generally uniquely bad at handling it; he doesn't want to cause another flood, so he just declares that the weather all over the world is 'nice', and he complains about how much hard work it is to just sit in a room and read aloud.

As for Mrs. Flood... well, she didn't have much to do, and she was rather used for comic relief, but I was interested by the way she seemed to bridle at her treatment by her future self. Could be interesting to see that manifest in the next part.

The ending bit with Omega... well, I suppose we'll see how that turns out next week. I am going in with low expectations to raise the odds of being pleasantly surprised. This rating may change in response to how that turns out.

Edit: Originally I gave this story 3.5 stars. In light of the second part, I have knocked it down to 3. It would have been by more, but given the immense disconnect between the two episodes in terms of plot, pacing, subject, etc., it felt churlish to knock this one too harshly based on the sins of its counterpart.

Doctor Who: The Gatwa Years Series 15 Ep 7

Doctor Who does WandaVision...WhoVision, you might say.

I generally enjoyed this episode, although there were a few things I wasn't much a fan of, like how the Rani is portrayed here. She behaves more like Missy rather than, you know, the Rani.

But oh well, can't wait for next Saturday. Russell, for the love of Rassilon, do not fumble the finale...

I mostly enjoyed this episode, with a few caveats... this is NOT organised and WILL be a rant. Spoilers ahead. No idea how to rate this one...

A whole lot of fluff for not much plot, this was a fun episode with a well-done (though ultimately unoriginal) dystopia-disguised-as-a-utopia that I thought handled some of the terror of this quite well. The gestapo idea was clear, and the clothing and memory stuff especially reminded me of the monk trilogy. The heteronormativity/fear of difference in regards to queerness specifically was I think the most well-done part of the dystopian alt-right wishful reality, with Ibrahim's horror (you're a man, you can't find another man beautiful) being truly chilling. I expect nothing less from Russell T "the Doctor's bisexual companion cured AIDS with gay sex" Davies... though, given the careful focus to racism given in the last two series what with this being our first Black mainline Doctor, I did expect more on that angle. I mean, Belinda in the 1950s housewife dress (with the episode being rife with 1950s misogyny to boot), the illegality of homosexuality, the full on report-your-friends-and-family-to-the-cops-if-they-stray-from-the-norm/the-rules thought crime stuff... it was basically set in the 1950s, with all the associated societal bigotry, but NOT racism?? I feel like that's a pretty big thing to leave out. Though, another part of this that I did like was how the ableism was handled - RTD was in a tricky spot. You can't ignore the disabled people and just Not Address It (unlike racism apparently), and you can't have them go through what happens in real life (because all that death is a tad much for a family show), so working in the fact that it can't be ignored as a plot point that clues us in to what's happening? I think that was the only thing that could be done, and was a good move.

Though, speaking of cluing us in to what's happening - I feel like the trailer/teasers/promo/beginning of the episode pretty much Told Us what was happening. The plot should have been the Doctor working that out, and then working out the Rani's plan, why she was doing all this... but there was just really no plot. We as the audience know what's happening, so the plot can't just be the Doctor working it out too, because then there's no pay-off for us as viewers, and yet... well, I can't ask for the world, I suppose. It is an RTD finale. The visuals were gorgeous, and very much suited to a dystopia-disguised-as-a-utopia. We deserved more development from the characters, though... which brings me to the unignorable.

The Rani.

HE BUTCHERED MY GIRL!!!! Resident Deca fan over here - that was some of the worst character assasination I've seen in a long time. My girl is  COLDHEARTED, UNCARING, INDIFFERENT B*TCH. How dare RTD make her Feel. How dare he take a genuine girlboss and turn her into yet another Master-lite, desparate for the Doctor's attention/to know how cool she is, romantic situationship!!! The answer to the question "were we lovers?" is a big fat NO, Doctor, and you better tell my favourite asexual lesbian that next episode, and she better laugh and go "Yeah that was the point lol". It isn't so much about the romance - it's the idea that the Rani, who does not care what anyone thinks, cares about the Doctor enough to play with his feelings. To give him a second glance. To treat him as anything more than a mildly annoying lab partner Borusa stuck her with against her wishes who only slows her down, but she just about tolerates becuase she's friends with his boyfriend. Still, at least RTD got one thing right: she does like dinosaurs. The skeleton dinosaur was clearly for her :D RTD can come back from this, but the question is - will he?

I'm not really going to bring up the Rogue and Susan cameos. They were fun, but, that better not be it for Rogue (gay boy in superhell... died 2020(?) born 2025 welcome back Castiel from Supernatural), and Susan (as well as a lot of other things about this episode, such as Poppy) felt like there was some plot threads being set up here. Too much. I worry that RTD will have tried to squeeze a lot of plots into the finale and it will be overcrowded, when really some of that plot should have been saved for this episode. It really did need it. Overall, enjoyed, with some reservations - excited but apprehensive to see if RTD sticks the landing next week.

It's kind of hard to review Wish World in isolation, without the context of what's to come. However, I will try.

I felt that this was mostly a competent first part. It build tension, and did acceptable set up. However, it didn't really go anywhere, and its left a lot of threads to resolve in the next episode. I felt that the concept at the core of this was good and interesting, but I don't really like how it was tied together. It had a lot of very on the nose social commentary. I didn't really mind this. For once, I felt that I actually agreed with all of it (unless I missed something), and it didn't feel particuarly confused or messy. It also worked with the (little) plot that was here.

I felt that this episode was let down by its ties to the ongoing storylines. The Rani could have just been any villain, and the episode would have worked mostly the same. I really dislike the gods storyline, so I hated all of the ties to that in this. I also instinctively didn't like the Omega reveal, but I'll wait where that goes to form a strong opinion.

Much of the plot and the Rani's plan didn't make too much sense to me. Maybe it did make sense and I just didn't follow it well enough, but I really felt it was messy and unclear. Element like the giant skeletons didn't seem to have any purpose at all to me, and just servered to make the episode even messier. Another example is Rogue's brief cameo. It didn't really make sense, looked bad, and just seemed there to advance the plot in a bit of a meaningless way.

The sets looked good, although I thought that some of the special effects, particuarly at the end, didn't look to good.

Disney Who Review #7

Wish World

This episode was immaculate. I really loved it. Most of this is like Wandavision (one of my fave Disney + Shows) so that was great. The reveal that Omega is back after all these years is so so SO good. Part 2 is gonna be fire and I cannot wait for it. Poppy is such a mystery to me that I can't wait to see where she goes. I just really hope they don't mess up Omega. 10/10 🔥

I don’t even know how to summarize my Thoughts on this, so I probably will keep it brief:
I can see why people would like it, but personally I really didn’t.

It was a lot of Building Up, which by itself isn’t bad, but it was done in such a Manner, that really didn’t click with me. Lots of Exposition (even a line about it stating that!) and sadly not enjoyable Exposition.

Archie Panjabi was great, but neither her nor Dobson really felt like the Rani to me. The whole Characterization for those two felt a bit off at times. I am not saying they have to feel like O’Mara’s Rani, but there was something a bit lacking. I also didn’t like the entire flirtatious Scene with the Doctor and her. Doesn’t scream like the Rani to me at all.

I thought the entire Concept about this Reality created with Conrads Mind was an interesting one. For the most Part, I have hardly any Complaints with it. What was done worked, outside of maybe a few odd Scenes here and there.

I hated the amount of Flashbacks, some of which I get. Some others just felt unnecessary, like did we really need had to have Flashbacks to Poppy or the Vindicator? I don’t think so.

The CGI was hit-and-miss. Some Moments with it worked. Others didn’t.

Was nice seeing Rogue again.

I really didn’t like the entire opening, it just felt a bit off to me? And really didn’t work for the Character of the Rani.

The whole Bit about Omega just felt out of nowhere and honestly? Why? Don’t get me wrong, I love Omega, so a tease like that will always get me interested, but I feel like he is yet another Part of an already very packed finale Episode. Who knows if he even appears, I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets stopped before it happens.

The Set Design was great. Be it that Bone-castle of the Rani(s) or the Redesign of the UNIT Place.

Cool of them to use a BF Line in an Episode, no Idea about the Context, but hey sure what the heck, it was cool! 

The Pacing was a bit all over the Place for me, some Scenes really didn’t get along nicely with each other. Overall, probably my least favorite Episode of this season so far. Again I can see why some would really like it, but it rather leaves me cold. Lots of great Ideas or Things here, just not Things that I think go particularly well together.

DOCTOR WHO FINALLY HAD DUCKS IN IT YAHOOOOOOOOO 🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆

So the first half was a good setup, and I liked the return of Rogue. However:

1. The Rani was extremely mischaracterized — if you changed the name to "The Master" it would have been fine! But the Rani was 1) a scientist doing genuine real scientific experiments (NOT magic), with actual goals to benefit herself and further the science she was doing (not get back at anyone, or whatever this Rani was trying to do), who 2) DID NOT CARE about the Doctor, or the Master for that matter, and 3) had been exiled by the time lords and didn't really care about them either (certainly not enough to put the seal of Rassilon in her palace). I went in not really trusting RTD to do right by the Rani (especially with him choosing to bring her back during the magic pantheon era when she is very much a woman of hard science and logic and mathematics) but I didn't expect the characterization to be THIS blatantly inaccurate.

2. Belinda once again did nothing. It's really a shame, I would love to see any actual motivations from her at all, but there's nothing — she basically didn't contribute to the plot at all, she didn't figure anything out, she didn't try to break out of her role as the perfect 1950s housewife and stay-at-home mom. Nothing. I don't even know why the Rani had her brought up to the bone palace, that made no sense whatsoever.

3. Why on earth is Ruby more important to this episode than Belinda? Ruby had her season, and like it's fine that she's still around, whatever, but the fact that she was FAR more integral to this episode than Belinda was really disappointing, especially with RTD's history of sidelining non-white characters for white and especially blonde girls on Doctor Who (Martha Jones with both Rose and Joan Redfern, naming two different black women after Rose Tyler - Rosita from The Next Doctor and Rose Noble, Mickey being sidelined as well, giving 15 three Doctor-lite episodes within his first 14 episodes when no other Modern Who Doctor has had more than three total, Belinda barely even being in Lucky Day which focused on Ruby instead). It's just very disappointing that this is happening when it's the season with the first fully non-white Team TARDIS.

4. A LOT of RTD's scripts this season have felt very... recycled, reusing plots (73 Yards was just The Curse of Clyde Langer from SJA but with a blonde white girl instead of Clyde! Even down to the mother of the main character being a Black woman named Carla!) and bringing back old characters that had one or maybe two appearances on the show prior (which is very different from bringing back the Daleks or Cybermen or the Master, as they are all very well established to be a part of the image of the show). This was really no different. Russell T Davies needs to leave the show, because he's clearly showing the audience that he doesn't have any new ideas by choosing to dredge up old history rather than invent anything new. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it — I don't think any of the episodes solely penned by RTD have invented a new, non-Pantheon monster (like a REAL monster of the week type enemy) that was directly the villain except for the goblins (Dot and Bubble does NOT count — those monsters were not the villain). And frankly the goblins being the one new monster he's invented is NOT a good look, given that "goblins steal a white baby from a christian church in order to eat it" could not be any more directly blood libel. I really think RTD needs to leave the role of showrunner and not write for TV Who again, cause this has led to it feeling really stagnant. Like, come on, what is Doctor Who without a good classic one-off monster of the week?

I don't know. There were some good things, it's just clear that RTD is doubling down and not fixing any of the problems that have been present in his run. I know it's the first half of a two parter, but very few of the questions he's raised over this season or even back to 15's first episode were answered or even hinted at there being an answer to, save Rogue I suppose. I could probably give this lower, as 15 really doesn't do much of anything either (he doesn't even figure out the story universe thing on his own — Rogue has to help him!) I'm holding out some hope that the finale will go some way to fix some of these problems, but I'm not all that optimistic it will, I'm afraid.

Although I was nervous for "Wish World" after the catastrophe (imo) of last year's finale two-parter, I really enjoyed this episode (so did my father, but this isn't his review). I love how the "perfect" world has misogyny, ableism, homophobia, etc that function as cracks to shatter any illusion that it isn't a dystopia. The first twenty minutes were pretty much perfect. I say "pretty much" because RTD needs to give Shirley a personality trait besides "being disabled." The Rani is immensely camp and I love her. I know her characterization differs significantly from her previous episodes, but I haven't seen any Classic Who, so I can't comment on that. Also, I hope that Mrs. Flood's fourth wall breaking is explained at some point. I did not like how she just infodumped for ten minutes; RTD, if you're reading this, you can't wave away exposition-dumping just by mentioning it. The score for this episode was perfect, and I am begging Murray Gold to release a Doctor Who score album for the first time in a decade. The set of the bone palace was gorgeous, and I loved all of the other visuals. I was super excited for Belinda in the first few episodes, but it seems like her trait of not blindly following the Doctor just sort of disappeared pretty quickly, and I was disappointed because I loved having a companion that stood up to him and was reluctant to travel. I did not know that Rogue would be returning, and I full-blown squealed when I saw him on screen! I hope he's actually brought back, and he wasn't just used as a plot device to have the Doctor examine the table and mugs (also, if he could communicate, why couldn't he just tell the Doctor where he is?). As I ask in every post-"The Giggle" story set on Earth; where is the Fourteenth Doctor? It's a bit silly to keep one version of the Doctor on present-day Earth when so many episodes take place on present-day Earth. I really hope that "The Reality War" isn't half as bad as "Empire of Death" and that all of the interesting setup in "Wish World" has a good conclusion.

If I was in charge of the world like Conrad I'd focus all of my energy *directly* onto RTD and force him to write a personality trait for Shirley that isn't "being disabled"

Season Two (Series 15); Episode Seven - "Wish World" by Russell T. Davies

Wish World is an episode I can only describe as an assault on the senses, and not because it’s abrasive or annoying but because it’s such a confusing mess of ideas that was so close to working for me. I’ve lost faith with this season, so I’m not expecting anything going forward but I have to give RTD props for at least getting me excited once this series. Wish World is an episode bound to divide opinion and frankly, where I sit on it will only be told by the test of time. I have a lot I have to say about this one, so strap in.

John Smith is nobody: another office worker living in London with his wife and daughter, beneath the shadow of the colossal Bone palace. But he won’t stop having doubts about a life he lived before, a life where he was called the Doctor.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

My experience watching Wish World was the equivalent of a prank lottery ticket. I was elated, overjoyed and ready to accept everything I’ve ever wanted and then it all came crashing down because some dipshit thought he was being clever. The first twenty minutes of this episode is pure gold in my opinion, the idea itself immediately grabbing me and sucking me in; the Doctor is living a traditional, monogamous life with Belinda, completely unaware of his existence beforehand, but everything’s just a little wrong. Things don’t quite line up, the world isn’t quite right, he keeps meeting people he thinks he once knew. I was in love with this idea the moment I worked out what was happening and I adored the little bits and pieces of this life we get to see: the structure, Conrad’s show, the giant bone dragons (pretty sure Russell was high when he wrote this), the “slips”. Everything was peaking my sci-fi curiosity and every morsel we saw of this world was another thing I loved.

And then it stopped. The first twenty minutes of this episode are a genuine 10/10 for me: gorgeous imagery, imaginative ideas, brilliant pacing and mystery, there is nothing I didn’t like in the first act (except maybe the cold open, but we’ll get onto that). And then RTD had to f**k it up. This isn’t an episode: it’s set up. This incredible idea Russell has goes absolutely nowhere. Rogue shows up and promptly disappears again (that better lead somewhere Russell, I swear to god), immediately followed by the Doctor doubting his life and getting arrested by the Rani. And everything after that moment is not a narrative story, it is a plot device. With sickening gusto, the Rani proceeds to painfully explain every single plot detail to the Doctor in rigid, unnatural, inorganic dialogue, prancing around the set as she does. The fact that the most promising and intriguing episodes of this whole era was used to f**king exposit pisses me off so much. And no RTD, acknowledging that you’ve been splurging info the past ten minutes doesn’t make it better, self-awareness isn’t a cure-all for shitty writing.

The only positive I can really list about this third act is it’s spent in “The Bone Palace” - the Rani’s headquarters - which might be my favourite set this show has ever made. It’s a gigeresque horrorshow mixed with neo gothic architecture, from the freaky goo people (not sure what they were, the black and white people who said numbers) to the giant skeletal clock counting down to doomsday, this was all just perfect. Not to mention the suburban nightmare the Doctor lives in or the beautiful wood refurbishing of UNIT headquarters. I don’t know who was the art director on this episode but hire them on everything now BBC, please and thank you.

Ncuti’s good too, I suppose. He really sells the confusion his alter ego has and his slow realisation as to who he really is is brilliantly captured. And he didn’t cry for the billionth time, hooray! However, his opposite was not to my liking. We need to talk about the Rani because beyond being a clichéd, painfully obvious, fanwank villain she just isn't the Rani. The Rani was a cold and calculating scientist and the entire point of her was that she wasn’t a cartoonish megalomaniac with a Doctor obsession. Not every villain has to be a bombastic, camp, crazy person and it was so predictable too. It’s fine to do this kind of villain once or twice, Russell but I’m tired of it now. Give me ruthless, give me cold, do not give me pantomime villain with next to no real gravitas. Also, why is she just magic? I get you want a more fantastical Doctor Who, Russell, but it is still sci-fi, you can’t just shrug and go “yeah it’s magic, f**k you”.

It also doesn’t help that the whole second half feels like a slap in the face to the first. Most of the brilliant set up is just dropped, the whole idea and world the first half hour made me fall in love with is completely sidelined and irrelevant. The world is destroyed unceremoniously, the subplot with Ruby was completely incidental and pointless and the best idea Russell has had in a minute falls into the void for yet another classic villain reveal, are you kidding me? RTD’s become a parody of himself, a scriptwriting ouroboros, a sisyphean scribbler of limited imagination. I mean, “The One Who Was Lost”, that’s a joke right? That has to be a joke. You literally did this last season, like verbatim.

Actually, let’s talk about that final twist a second because I am both intrigued and annoyed by it. On one hand, I did not expect Omega at all. I was thinking of the Trickster or Fenric but you know what, you got me RTD, well done. Quick tangent though, Fenric has to show up at some point, right? He hasn’t even been namedropped yet and he’s by far the most famous god-like antagonist Who has ever had. I both want Fenric to show up because I’ve been wanting his return for years but also don’t really want Russell writing him. Anyways, tangent over. My main problem with the Omega reveal is presentation. For example, Sutekh’s reveal was immaculately done in my opinion: you had Harriet’s speech, the swelling score from Gold and RTD had been building up to this moment all episode, nay, all season. Omega’s reveal follows ten minutes of flat, tensionless dialogue and is then just said with no tonal build up whatsoever. The biggest cliffhanger of this season and that’s how you do it?

It’s not like I’m even mad, even if this episode was perfect I would have no confidence in the next episode. Russell had the best idea he’s had in years here, better than Wild Blue Yonder and 73 Yards combined, and it really needed to be done anywhere other than a single 45 minute episode of TV. I want to stress this, I loved the first half of this episode and because of that, I don’t want to rate it lower than any of this series’ other attempts, but that doesn’t excuse how utterly smug and boring the final ten minutes were. Nothing can excite me for next week’s episode, but I thank Russell for bringing back the magic, even if only for a short while.

Also if Poppy is Susan, I will personally hunt down RTD.

7/10

Pros:

+ Incredible first half that had me hooked

+ Possibly the best set design the show’s ever had

+ Great acting from our lead

+ Boasts some amazing ideas and imagery

Cons:

- On the nose, expository dialogue that really grated on me

- Has a brilliant idea but is smothered by its format

- The Rani is such a painfully RTD villain it’s disappointing

- The second half was a travesty

- The reveal, whilst shocking, was done awfully

- Half the plot points were ineffectual

I can't express how grateful I am for you all to exist! I'm really so grateful for everyone involved in the production of every single episode of this marvellous, marvellous serie! You are all really blessed and I love you all from the bottom of my heart! Thank you for enlighten my shadowest days in my whole life, and please keep me, keep us, in track always!! I know a lot of things, but I'm still young and I have many things to learn about the world! I'm thirsty to learn even more! and Doctor Who have always been the sweetest and most precious way I found to learn about how this planet have been working for the last centuries! I hope you all have a wonderful week-end and a blessed and beautiful, beautiful life!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah the rani metatextually joking about exposition didn’t make the fact that this episode is 85% boring exposition any better

This is such a brilliant episode. I feel like people would've enjoyed it a lot more if everything hadn't leaked a few weeks ago. Many people read the leaks and went into the episode expecting to be let down, so they couldn't enjoy it properly.

they had to call it underverse because omegaverse would have been so funny 🙂‍↕️

Perhaps I'm a little too early, perhaps I should wait until next week to review this? But as of right now this episode, to me, seems like a waste of server space on Iplayer and whatever other unfortunate site has to hold onto this. It was a bold choice to reveal the return of everyone's favourite and most iconic Doctor Who villain in last weeks mid credit scene, hiding the reveal from The Doctor but ensuring the faithful viewers are in on the twist (because there's always a twist at the end) - the twist being everyone ignoring the Rani and focussing on Dugga Do instead - who actually should've been the 3rd member of the unholy trinity instead of who (I think?) it actually was revealed to be.

But, as it usually has been with RTD2 there are a few positives - mostly in the initial set up to the episode.

I adored the 1984 esque set up - the sets were perfectly eerie and the general weirdness of the uniformity was right up my alley - thank you Russel for doing that specifically for me. I enjoyed the nuclear family set up of all the characters, solidifying my hatred for Conrad - it was massively different to what Doctor Who is and I only wish we'd had more time seeing how twisted and pathetic Conrad's ideals are. Also, a special shout out to Russel spamming "Doctor Who" as many times as he could into the script.  Funny stuff. Oh, and of course, Archie Panjabi is stellar in the role. Her performance was easily my favourite in the episode, delightfully cruel and sort of uninterested? Her plan is all that matters to her and anything else is just irritating noise. The writing does border on making her the Master a few times, but I don't think I'm actually bothered by that. Russel managed to refrain from forcing a classic pop number into the The Rani's grand exposition dump (being self aware about this doesn't make it untrue, Russel) which I'm very proud of him for.

Other than that though, the episode felt like a poor impression of a bad Moffat episode. I just don't know if it was weird enough to work. The entire episode was set up for next week. And yes, I am aware that is mostly how a part one works but it should also be able to function as a story in itself. Last year's part 1 demonstrated this. It worked because we didn't know who Susan was. But this week, the grand reveal is introduced as soon as it's resolved - Omega's return. There is just far too much going on, far too much that needs to be resolved. Oh! And because there was almost time for providing some depth to the episode, RTD decided to lob an incredibly bizarre Johnathan Groff cameo into the script. Why is he here? Why does he know what's going on? Why does the hell dimension look like it was filmed in his bedroom? Tune in next week to probably still wonder WHY?? I think that is probably my main takeaway from this week. Why is all of this happening? Genuinely how could all of this be resolved? Why introduce the Rani(s) if the threat of Omega is introduced within 40 minutes to overshadow her? Why could Mrs Flood break the 4th wall? Why was Poppy in Space Babies? WHY is everything bone themed?? Perhaps to signify that the show I loved is nothing more than a fossil, all the substance is gone and all we have left is hype moments and aura farming. The skeleton of the show is its characters, and without the fleshy substance of them... they are only names,  spewing out with accompanying flashbacks.

Ironically, I think this episode does actually reflect a lot of my problem's with the episode. Don't doubt, just accept.

Maybe I’m easy to please and my opinion of a first watch is often far better than after some time has passed, but I loved this episode. It had me jumping up from the sofa and the last couple of minutes had me almost crawling into my TV.

The Rani is maybe not entirely accurate to her earlier portrayal, but she is also a different incarnation and a lot of time has passed, so it’s close enough for me. The dance scene had me worried for a second, but I actually rather like it now. I am also a huge fan of secret-third-thing time lord relationships so that played right into that.

I’m very interested to see what they do with Omega. Can’t say on that one yet.

I really liked how the Wish World showed its cracks with misogyny and homophobia and ableism. I think that shows really well how often the ‘perfect’ world of some people forgets about those who don’t fit in. It gave me a sense of visceral horror most of the episode which was really poignant to me.

Not quite sure yet what is up with Poppy, we’ll have to see on that.

Didn’t like the Rogue cameo. The CGI was weird, it’s odd that that would be the character calling the doctor back, yeah, not a fan of that.

This one is a hard one to rate and review. It's very much a first part, but I don't think it really takes advantage of the format. It adds more mysteries on top of more mysteries, without really answering too many questions until the end. And the answers at the end just set up more questions, leading to me fearing that The Reality War will be overstuffed.

Something that annoys me is that The Doctor has little to no agency. He doesn't solve what's going on or work it out by himself at all; he gets it explained to him just as he was on the cusp of things. He was so close to cracking it! And then just didn't get to at all.

After being set up amazingly in TRR and being fun for the rest of the year, Belinda has felt somewhat wasted and I'm sad to say that she really felt it here today. She didn't get much to do other than just help contribute to the doubt mystery and uh.... Get captured and uh... That's it! Ruby got more to do and it's frustrating honestly.

And final thing to be negative about: The Rani here felt to me very Mastery. Campy, loving doing her schemes, flirting with 15.... It just felt off. There were glimmers (I love that she says she isn't an enemy due to death, this rules and feels like her) but so many times it feels less like she's a scientist with no ethics, and more just like a NuWho Master wanting to conquer and destroy with only a few good moments. Pity.

Enough negativity though! I did love a lot of things!

The dystopian setting was done and paced beautifully. The world here felt well realised and fleshed out, and the mystery box was super fun to watch unravel.

I really liked Ruby's moments (even if the camp was too similar to Curse of Clyde Langer....) and the performances were all great (Panjabi is fantastic even if I think she's barely The Rani), and I love the idea of Conrad not even acknowledging or noticing the oppressed so they can rebel without issue.

Also wow this was gorgeous !!!

I liked this episode and had a fun time watching it, just unfortunately there's more negatives to talk about than positives sadly.

A lot of set up I’m not gonna lie but I enjoyed it a lot it really depends on the finale now to justify the rating

i had a theory that belinda would turn out to be susan in the cliffhanger but thats basically junk now. ANYWAY holy s**t good luck trying to make omega interesting, rtd (the audio story did a good job but this is. not that)

Why the hell did I buy cinema tickets for this???

I think this might be it for me, Doctor Who is not for me anymore and I hate to say it but this genuinely made me nostalgic for Empire Of Death of all things I cannot fathom how much of a MESS the finale will be.

I don't give a rating for episodes in a two-parter until I see how it finishes, but I do have some thoughts.

Overall, I am conflicted, but I am erring on the side of that I enjoyed it.

The world building of Conrad's Wish World is fantastic - brilliant dystopian vibes, the looming authority threat preventing any questions, and a world which represses anyone who does not fit his ideals. This is wonderfully dark, and handled so well. A whole episode of this, with Conrad using the power of the Gods to manipulate this would be fantastic! Particularly seeing the Doctor and Belinda in this world is great, as their doubt bleeds through.

The Rani is played so well by Panjabi, I really began to enjoy her performance. However, I'm not sure she fully works within this story. She is brilliant, and so menacing, but underserved in favour (and rightfully so) for Conrad's Wish World story. I'm hoping for more from her in the next story, and I hope it also fixes some of the issues with her characterisation. Throughout this story, she was much more of a Master clone then like the Rani that we have met before, and I hope that the science led Rani can return properly in the next story.

And it does lead me to the worst part of the story - the cliffhanger. Yes, Omega is a great concept who I think would work so well in the show. But, this isn't the story to promise his return - it seems so shoehorned and forced, when there was enough threat from the villains, and the Baby God as it is.

Even with this, there is so much I have loved, and I think it's a lot to enjoy, but equally a lot that has left me underwhelmed or anxious.

Fingers crossed Davies can stick the landing.....

It feels incomplete, just half a story with it's only purpose to reveal that Omega's back.

A bloated nothing burger that pokes you with the nostalgia stick hoping you will keep watching. I am because I’m too far into the show to stop but damn I do not care about whatever is happening next, spent to much time on characters we haven’t seen in forever and magic sucks. I’m all for a little fantasy but when DW of all shows has a literal magic baby that grants wishes, no science required. That crosses a line

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A dystopian world where thoughtcrime is a punishable offence, and the masses are kept placated and entertained by the adventures of a man called The Doctor.

Basically, we have an answer for just how much The Natural History Of Fear has to be sanded-down to become an actual TV story.

I quite like the Milk Wars-esque aesthetic of the Wish World, along with the many blink-and-you-miss-them bits of dialogue that underpin the heteronormative, ableist, patriarchal society this is. The set design for the Bone Palace might be one of my favourite villain lairs of the entire franchise; if I ever got my hands on a TARDIS, it's a real toss-up between this and Eighth's Victorian interior for what I would make it look like. Those giant roaming bone creatures are sick too.

As for the story, it's... well, it's not as exciting as The Legend Of Ruby Sunday. It's another case of putting in the brickwork for the conclusion, and while the dystopian satire is fun and all, the messaging feels a bit muddled. Like, is it good to have doubts and questions about the way society is presented or not? Thematically, sure, it leans in that direction, with Conrad rewriting the story of his world into what he wants to be real, and I got quite a kick from Shirley saying that her and her group of disabled truthers were going to take down a God. But narratively, considering how this first part concludes, it loses itself in the rush of revelation.

Same goes for the Rani. Archie Punjabi is really good in her performance, but the writing feels off in a number of ways. She's supposed to be a scientist with no care for ethics, so her experiments are all merciless free-for-alls, and the construction of this world as a trap for the Doctor as part of an even larger scheme fits a certain 'mad science' niche that could have worked... but are they really trying to set her up as the Doctor's ex or something? Combining that with him and Belinda in this new reality, and the cameo from Rogue, the relationship dimensions of this story are all over the map.

I will say, though, that I genuinely did not see that ending reveal coming. I was open to seeing the Rani return (even with my misgivings about the realisation here), but the return of my all-time favourite Time Lord villain in Omega has me well and truly hyped for the finale.

I AM HOOKED.

Bring on the finale!!!!

PEAK,CINEMA