I really liked this episode. I don't think it was the best of this series, but it might well become my personal favorite. It felt intimate, almost cozy, in a way that has become a bit rare in this very fast-paced series. I wish it had been longer, so we could've had more stories from the major players; we had one from the Doctor about Belinda, so having one from Belinda about the Doctor, e.g., would have been nice symmetry. That's more of an issue with the format than the narrative, though.

I think my favorite story was Abby's one about the braids; I like when Doctor Who weaves real historical fact into its stories, it brings it back to its origins. Also, Michelle Asante just has a really nice voice and a compelling way of telling.

And, just in case it needed saying: "Everybody lives! Just this one, everybody lives!"

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

Did this need to be a Midnight sequel? No, not really. Did that detract from my enjoyment of the episode? No, not really.

This was gripping and suspenseful throughout, and I really enjoyed the way that paranoia gripped all of the characters throughout in a distinctly different way from Midnight; if it had been a direct rehash of the mob mentality that had occurred on the tour bus, I would've found it far less enjoyable, but this was a fascinating new direction to take it that gave us new lore about the Entity without revealing too much about its nature or form.

I thought that the actors gave incredible performances throughout; Rose Ayling-Ellis rocked her guest star role throughout, and Gatwa and Sethu continue to be compelling and magnetic. Christopher Chung gave a great performance as the intensely hateable Cassio as well. Caoilfhionn Dunne's Shaya left me a little cold, but that wasn't the actress's fault; I just wish she'd been given a little more character to work with.

The visuals were fantastic, especially their early exploration of the mining base with all the shattered mirrors and bodies lying around. Intensely creepy, very well shot.

Everything does come back to the Entity in the room, though. I think this was a worthy successor to Midnight, but ultimately did not (and could not) live up to the original. I do try my best, when evaluating a story, to consider it on its own merits. Snakedance is a different story from Kinda, Web of Fear is distinct from The Abominable Snowmen, and The Well is not the same as Midnight. But at the same time, tying this story to one of the greatest in Tennant's run was always going to invite comparisons that don't favor this one. If you can push past that, it's a cracking story, but it's a little frustrating in that it didn't need to be a Midnight sequel. Comparison is the thief of joy and all that. On the other hand, that's critiquing the episode for what I want it to be, rather than what it is, which is unfair in itself. Ultimately, it's a 9.5 for me. If it were different it would be a 10, and I wish that didn't make me feel like a hypocrite.

Mr. Ring-a-Ding sure did make my heart-bells sing! This is my new favorite 15th Doctor story, and probably in my top 5 RTD stories from either of his showrunner eras. Overall, it was a delightfully weird and heartfelt story; a love letter to fans and creators alike, a delightful bit of humor, and some deeply emotional moments of pathos to help ground it.

Overall, it's not a great episode, but a decent enough companion introduction/series opener. The plot itself is a bit on the thin side, relying heavily on the confusing nature of the time fracture to handwave the out-of-order abductions and appearances. This is not an unforgivable sin in and of itself; watching back, there was at least modest foreshadowing for the twist, and a thin plot is understandable given the nature of this as a companion-focused episode. However, it needs to make up for that lack somewhere else; the theming, the character development, emotional beats, etc., and it really didn't quite manage that.

The emotional beats were... there, to an extent, but the biggest one was the death of a woman we'd known for about five minutes (which could not have been more signposted. Survival tip for Doctor Who characters; never overtly say that you're about to start traveling with the Doctor right before doing something immensely dangerous.) Ncuti delivered the impact on the Doctor well, but it really didn't hit very hard. Show don't tell is a rule for a reason.

The thematic elements were a little confused. It seemed to be going for an AI critique before zagging abruptly into commentary on incel culture and toxic controlling behavior. Both of these are real and present issues in the world which deserve coverage, and they certainly do overlap in some notable ways, but the end result was a lack of meaningful commentary on either. Did the AI generator even generate anything? Certainly nothing was mentioned about art, or accuracy, or power levels, or any other common critiques of these generative models. The commentary on incels was clearer, but not exactly deep, and seemed wholly disconnected from the AI bit. In the most generous possible interpretation of the episode, one could suggest that RTD intended to have a message about how generative AI is used by a certain type of powerful, controlling man to shape society to their views, and that the type of coercive control* Alan used represents that in microcosm. A more realistic interpretation is that he wanted to do the big twist of the AL generator.

*Separate critique, but please PLEASE RTD, stop using therapyspeak in your dialogue. "Male-Presenting Time Lords" didn't hit, and neither did this. People don't talk like that irl.

The character moments actually did hit for me. I really enjoy Belinda so far, and I'm eager to see more of her. I was so happy that she called the Doctor out on his charismatic manipulative bs and total lack of regard for boundaries right to his face. Sethu and Gatwa knocked my socks off with that scene, and credit where it's due to RTD for writing it. I appreciate that there's a more contentious dynamic between these two, and I hope that continues throughout the series.

Stylistically, I thought this was a gorgeous episode; I adored the retrofuturistic aesthetic of it all, and the lighting was gorgeous. I did think that the music was perhaps a little over the top in parts, but nothing that majorly damaged my enjoyment of the episode.

The rest:

It's a little insane to me that the Doctor knocked out the power of an entire hospital. They need that power, Doctor. It does really emphasize a theme I'm really picking up on with this incarnation, namely that he's kind of a stalker; he did it to Ruby, too! I do love it, it's a very interesting character flaw, and it's reminiscent of 11's relationship with Amy and Clara as puzzles to be solved. Again, very glad Belinda read him for filth on that.

It's a little f**ked up that they killed the cat. I don't want to make a big deal of it or anything, because they also very much killed a lot of human people in this one, but it's a little f**ked.

Also kind of nuts that they turned the villain into a sperm and an egg. And vacuumed him up. And the Doctor did a little happy dance high kick about it. I'm not entirely mad at it, but also, what??? Surely that's the first time the word 'sperm' has been used in TV Doctor Who, yes? I'm not going to dig through Chakoteya or anything, but I'm still quite confident.

I really loved that they did get sent to psychedelic time hell in this one. Very Pertwee/early Tom Baker aesthetics. I dig it.

Overall, this wasn't a great episode in story terms, but I did enjoy watching it. I probably wouldn't watch it again anytime soon, except for the psychedelic time hell bit which I actually want to see on a loop. 5.75/10

It's the one with the furries that either kill you or assimilate you. It's as though it were made for me. Seriously though, this was a great one, worthy of being the finale of the original series; it's a well-constructed mediation on violence and survival and what that turns people into, on what 'home' means, on the strength that pacifism requires. It's also about Lisa Bowerman as Ace's furry girlfriend, the absolute cherry on top of this magnificent finale.

A fantastic story, delightfully dark and emotional. There's so much here that sticks with me; the chess puzzle, the Doctor's betrayal of Ace, vampires being repelled by Communism -- it's a really intricate, well-crafted story. If you don't like a darker, more manipulative Doctor, you won't care for this one, but if you do? It's great.

Also the subtle moment about the Doctor's absolute faith in his friends and companions makes me go a little crazy. Love that for him.

I loved it. I had no idea what was happening, but I had a great time with it. The guest cast were all phenomenal, and the visuals were a perpetual delight. Nimrod is an icon, Control is an icon, Redvers Fenn-Cooper is an icon. Josiah is less of an icon because of his adherence to being a Victorian gentlemen, but I can appreciate keeping the husks of your former selves in the basement as the slay that it is. Light, unfortunately, cannot be an icon due to lack of screentime and also trying to eradicate all life on Earth, but I do respect his drip. Seven and Ace were slightly outshone here, sadly, but they had some great moments as well (Ace in a suit!!!!) Go into this with an open mind and no expectations that you can actually follow the plot, and you'll have a great time.

This one's always a delight; the Doctor is Merlin, the Brigadier returns, and Ace becomes the King of Britain. There are some seriously great moments throughout, from the chalk circle standoff to the Brigadier battling the Destroyer to the Doctor's scenery-chewing rant against nuclear warfare to Morgaine. And of course, Bambera x Ancelyn, a ship which perpetually delights me. I do love a battle couple.

It would be nice to have a future episode explore the Doctor being Merlin; that they haven't yet is quite a shaaaame.

Pretty good, but it could've done better as a three-parter; there's a lot of padding here, and as has often been remarked, the part one cliffhanger is the weakest in Doctor Who. All the same, I do like it as a metaphor for Doctor Who itself, though Captain Cook is a particularly unpleasant foil to the Doctor.