I'd have loved it if he pointed out their favourite episode was one he was barely in. That's always been a funny quirk of Blink being so good.

I'm happy with the "fans watching" scene, I was worried it was basically going to be RTD having a go at the toxic fanbase. And sure there was a jab, but it was mainly a sweet moment. So I'm happy with it.

It also simultaneously proved the current leaks true, while also making a joke about that very thing. And then those fans realise they're actually the fake ones. This is quite possibly the most meta instance of "Characters in a show break out into the real world" take I've ever seen.

I loved the handling of segregation, it was just a part of the setting essentially, something they had to navigate. They didn't turn it into some social statement where they defied everything and the white people learned their lessons. They played it like a hazard of time travel for a minority in an oppressive time.

The bigeneration "pocket of energy" to heal his hand was a bit silly. I get they used it to get the "Extract Time Lord light" story element going, but it was kinda cheap, there were better ways to do this.

I very much liked the handling of "convincing" Belinda to help. She wants to get home, so she needed to be convinced to be distracted from that to explore a mystery. They handled this very well and it was believable.

The resolution of "He grew so much he's gone now" was pretty average. Hopefully that comes back later to bite.

Overall, this was a fantastic episode. It had a couple issues, but it was a nice story, I really liked Mr. Ring-a-ding, he seemed quite scary at points. They handled the time period and Doctor/Belinda's dynamic well. Very enjoyable.

Belinda was the highlight of the episode. I think the slight bit of conflict with the Doctor really sets her apart. The fact she heard the Doctor do his usual "Oh look at this interesting mystery that I know you won't be able to resist" and she just rejected that, was fantastic. I hope they don't lose this aspect of her character.

As for the actual story, not so great. I think the incel villain would have worked better if he was a bit more built up. What we got was a quick line at the start and then suddenly there he was at the end. This would have fit better in a season where Belinda gets to return to Earth semi-regularly and we see an increasingly hostile boyfriend that she breaks up with, and eventually returns as this character. That'd have hit harder. As for what we got, it just didn't hit because I didn't care about their relationship.

The robots were cool and well designed, especially the polish bot, very cute. The way their weapons worked looked visually scary and reminded me of how Dalek weapons work.

Overall I think this is a pretty stock standard RTD opener, in that it feels more like an episode that belongs mid-season than at the start.