Well. That certainly was an episode of Doctor Who. I'll start with some positives: Looms canon. Thasmin canon. They did the obligatory 'Two Ranis' joke very well.

Now the bad. Jesus Christ this episode treated nothing and nobody well. Omega got turned into a big skeleton zombie thing. The Rani got eaten and A Rani f**ked off. Conrad got treated way too kindly for what he's done. All three got dealt with before half the episode was over. And what did RTD do then? Did he pick up on any of the other plot threads he's laid out? Susan? Rogue? Mavity? The Boss? No, it became all about baby Poppy and Belinda's previously unmentioned but apparently quite deeply held desire to be a mother. Conrad's vision of everyone paired off into happy families is uncomfortably similar to what RTD keeps doing with his companions. Ruby gets her birth parents, Belinda gets a baby, 14 is off being domestic with the Nobles, 15 refers to his abduction and suffering at the hands of Tecteun as 'adoption'... it's too saccharine to be believed.

On the subject of companions; Belinda got put in a box for half the episode and Anita got told to stand in a corner and keep the door open. Ruby did get some cool stuff to do, but I think it's pretty unambiguous at this point that she's RTD's favorite.

The interesting commentary of the previous episode on disability was forgotten as soon as Shirley zoomed off. Really, the only thing we got on any of that stuff was Rose Noble appearing for ten seconds.

Finally, the Doctor. I wish more than anything that Gatwa had been better served in the role. I wanted more time with him, I wanted him to get better writing, and most especially better finales. It makes sense from an in-universe perspective for the Doctor to sacrifice himself for the life of a child, of course it does, but from an out-of-universe perspective it's a terrible shame that he's departing like this.

Which brings us, of course, to Billie Piper. I will reserve judgement on her performance as the Doctor until I actually see it (if I see it at all; I've seen speculation that this is actually Rose swapping places with the Doctor. Which seems ridiculous, but so have a lot of RTD's decisions recently). However, this only fuels my suspicion that Davies is relying heavily on nostalgia and trying to recreate the magic of his original run at the expense of actually writing a good story. For a supposed 'soft reboot' to introduce new audiences to the program, he's chosen to rely on an awful lot of Classic Who lore and continuity-heavy plotlines.

There were some good elements to the episode. A lot of the set pieces were fun, and I really liked the return of 13 (even if I can't justify it narratively). However, the episode as a whole was overstuffed, half-baked, and extremely up its own continuity. Probably the weakest final story since The Ultimate Foe, and a profound letdown of an ending for Gatwa's Doctor. In conclusion, sack Russell T. Davies.

Very interesting stuff about the creative process and the limits of trying to synthetically recreate a natural event or action, all done with one of my favorite TARDIS teams.

I was interested by what this had to say about the relationships between the Doctor, Clara, and the TARDIS.The story itself was a bit on the simple side, but that's an issue inherent in the format; it had to be compact enough to fit on the folded dust jacket, after all. Doctor Who needs to do more ergodic literature, actually, it was fun and it very much fits with the ethos of the show.

From a creepy, too-happy dystopia to a truly heart-wrenching final confrontation. I don't mind admitting that this one got a tear or two out of me.

A fun little spin on Cinderella, plus fascist pseudo-witches and bog zombies. A little too on the nose for my liking (did the Doctor really need to spell out the meaning of every name for the readers?) but gave me just enough to connect with the characters and sympathize with their plight.

A fascinating tale that covers desire for knowledge, survival, colonialism, and the moral cost of them all. The pleasure parasites/incubi are as fascinating as they are disgusting, both in and out of narrative, and the parallels between the Doctor and Dr. John Dee (and between Peri and Thomas) really compelled me as well.

I quite enjoyed this one; it perfectly captured the feeling of a Pertwee story, with all the action, cool vehicles, and environmental messaging, but was able to go further than the effects of that era would have allowed. The threat of the Bad Salt was truly unsettling, especially when Jo was threatened by it. The resolution was a little rushed, but not so much so that it hurt the rest of the story. Also, there was a very good dog!

A very complicated and compelling plot with a very high-concept alien species; I found the revelation of it all deeply satisfying and was left with a strange sense of longing at the end. The setup felt like a bit more of a slog, unfortunately; there was a lot of back-and-forthing. I was also a little put off by the feeling that all of the named characters were meant to be references to the Doctor's old friends, but not enough to identify any aside from Christina and the Brigadier.

An interesting exploration of the relationship between Eleven and Clara, and Doctor-companion dynamics more broadly. The planet and its inhabitants were fascinating, and I was intrigued by the clear Biblical reference of it all. It did drag a little at the beginning, but I was compelled and charmed by the ending.

Enjoyable, but feels notably incomplete with plot threads left hanging. The Drosten's Curse is a much more satisfying version.

Quite a good story, though slightly undermined by it's constant cutting between locales. On the one side, a strange disappearance in Amsterdam; on the other, political machinations and treachery on Gallifrey, with the latter being a far stronger story. I was quite compelled by the cast of shady Time Lords and their ulterior motives, though the design of Gallifrey was a little underwhelming, and the pacing was rather slow. On the upside, though, we had Nyssa with a gun, Colin Baker's Maxil, and Omega's jolly holiday in Amsterdam, complete with some quite splendid shots of the TARDIS team pursing him. And naturally, we had the triumphant return of Tegan Jovanka. What more could anyone ask for?

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.

A razor-edged political commentary that pulls no punches on social media bubbles and entrenched social racism. Stunningly well-crafted with character beats that seem silly, camp, or even bordering on reasonable upon first viewing that take on a much more sinister tone when the truth has been revealed.

A very enjoyable Bridgerton pastiche; fun and fast-paced, though possible too much so of the latter. I enjoyed the Doctor and Rogue's relationship while watching, but it went a bit too quick for me to really believe in it narratively. Compare to lengthy arcs of distrust and growing understanding as with River Song, and this starts to feel a bit ephemeral.

I also wish that Ruby had been given a bit more to do in this episode; she's sidelined for the majority while the narrative focuses on the Doctor and Rogue. She fulfils quite the sizable narrative purpose at the end, but even that is a completely passive role. She plays it well, but ultimately she gets put in peril and rescued at the last moment by Rogue's heroic self-sacrifice.

Despite my complaints, I did find it fun and enjoyably camp. "Cosplay the world to death" was not on my bingo sheet for the season, but I'm glad it turned up here. The pastiche was lovingly done, and despite me not finding the main relationship entirely believable, Gatwa and Groff certainly delivered the emotional weight of it stunningly well. I hope he turns up again in Gatwa's run to continue this plot thread. I'll be quite disappointed if this just goes nowhere, and it might make me retroactively drop my score for this episode.

First of all, I really love this new art style for the comics, very textured and rough; it makes it feel more organic.

Second, this story was really fun! I loved how the comic kept in line with the show's focus on gods and the supernatural. The Scream Sommelier was a fun addition to the growing pantheon with an intriguing gimmick.

I also liked how Ruby got a subplot of her own with the cockroach aliens and some early-onset Doctorfication with (seemingly) tragic consequences. Poor girl really went through it in this one.

Probably the best Base Under Siege of Troughton's era; claustrophobic and eerie with the very present way in which their opportunities are literally cut off one after the other with the interference of the Great Intelligence. I found this story to be much better developed than its predecessor, The Abominable Snowmen, possibly due to the longer runtime giving the narrative more room to stretch itself out. I also found the way the story played with our suspicions of various characters over the course of six episodes to be incredibly suspenseful (even though with the benefit of hindsight, we're at least certain that it can't be the Brigadier Col. Lethbridge-Stewart).

A deeply enjoyable comedy of errors and a notable early genre pastiche that illustrated how well Doctor Who can play around with other types of narrative. Also, the song is great, fight me.

There's not a lot to this plot, but what's there is done marvelously. It's a great companion introduction for Vicki, with some compelling character conflict over Barbara's well-intentioned but disastrous killing of Sandy. It was also nice to see the Doctor feeling morose after Susan's departure -- it gives even more emotional weight to the end of the previous story. The evil plot, though, was very Scooby-Doo, and I don't just mean the costume; Bennett was literally the only other person on the planet. It isn't exactly Agatha Christie. It's a fun one to watch, though!

I don't hate this one, but there's not enough to it for me to meaningfully enjoy it. The first episode starts off strong with a really creepy atmosphere, but after that it just falls apart a bit. The Sensorites are collectively a bit wet, and the plot thing about how they're only able to tell each other apart based on their outfits is pretty weak. The twist villain being the first contact humans was a bit interesting, but not enough was done with it to really make it compelling. I will give it this, I'm pleased that they gave Susan some interesting stuff to do with her psychic powers and monologue about Gallifrey. On the whole, though, this was the weakest episode of the season.

A good bit of classic occult/folk horror Who, with a bit of an eldritch flair. Nothing especially groundbreaking here in terms of plotting or villainy, and the plot drops off sharply for a bit while the Doctor and Leela go try to investigate the creature's planet of origin in the TARDIS, but it had some great design work, some fun side characters, a nicely unsettling atmosphere, and some good Doctor-companion relationship. I enjoyed it immensely.

A silly premise with an interesting execution and some really fun visuals. Everyone likes to joke about the prawn monster, and justly so, but the brain set was really innovative. Leela got to show off her hunting and tracking skills quite a lot, which is always fun. She and the Doctor got a nice bit of banter throughout, as well. And of course, it's K-9 at his most effective in his introductory story. The resolution felt a little lackluster, but the first three episodes were quite solid!

A fairly fun romp; it takes it a bit to get moving, but the undeniable chemistry (pun intended) that the Rani adds to the Doctor and Master's dynamic is delightful. I could watch them sniping at each other all day. It also gives Peri something to do with her botany knowledge for once. I would have liked for Stevenson to have had a bit more to do with the main plot, but ultimately the historical portion of the episode is about the Luddites, rather than the industrialists.

Fully lives up to its reputation. A delight. Does drag a little plotwise at some points (the Doctor spends a LONG time trying to figure out Skagra's plot), but Baker and Ward are more than charming enough to make up for it. Also, I love Professor Chronotis.

I'm going to start by admitting that my review might be slightly heightened just by how much this serial exceeded my expectations. All I heard for years about The Web Planet was that it was overambitious, with sets and costumes too elaborate to be realized. And that is more or less true! However, the actors really sold this one, especially the main TARDIS crew. The side characters do also deserve recognition for how well they managed to play their role through the rather ridiculous costumes (which, truth be told, I didn't think were that bad. It's obviously people in suits, but it was incredible how intricate they were.)

I can understand the critique that it really could've been tightened down to four episodes, but I was impressed by how much each of the TARDIS crew had to do in this one; I don't think anyone's part got shorted, which is quite impressive for a four-person team. I also didn't think it was especially padded out -- everything seemed to advance the plot.

I will, however, criticize the sound design on this one. The Zarbi noises were... excessive, to say the least.

I found this one to be a bit middling, unfortunately. It was a great spectacle, a lot of excellent set pieces, some neat effects, and of course the return of both Susan and the Rani -- but unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of meat to the plot and it ended up delivering quite a reductive message about activism. Did not enjoy that the two sides of the coin were mass murder on the scale of trillions OR singing a song about your destroyed world. I recognize that this length of episode doesn't lend itself well to nuance, but c'mon. The side characters were a bit flat as well, aside from Cora.

On the positives, got a bit of a darker Doctor moment here than we've had for most of Gatwa's run, which I enjoyed. We also got a very camp moment with the confetti cannon, though I would suggest that it didn't need to be quite so lampshaded. The soundtrack was great, as one would hope from a Eurovision-themed episode, and I thought that the various alien designs were done well, too. I can certainly see how this became the most expensive episode of the show, but sadly 'more expensive' doesn't always mean 'better.'

Also, Trion mention! Turlough fans rise up!