Did this need to be a sequel to Midnight? No

However, it absolutely stands as a really solid return to form type of episode. I don’t need high concept stuff all the time, I love a good “we’re trapped in a place and there’s a mystery monster” plot. All the characters felt reasonably fleshed out, I especially loved the attention to Aliss and her deafness. Methinks we need more guest writers.

Diane Morgan + Sacha Dhawan + Weeping Angels makes for an excellent story

RTD doesn’t tend to have strong openers and this one is no different, however it is an improvement upon Space Babies. It was a fun watch but not much more than that.

The plot ends up being very surface level, introducing interesting concepts yet not doing all that much with them. The Every-Ninth-Word bit is clever yet not treated as important until the plot needs it. The rebellion against the robots is also incredibly side-lined with which what might have otherwise been interesting to see how they had been fighting. The incel twist didn’t bother me, RTD can be a bit much with his themes but I’ve come to expect that.

It seemed like it was reusing plot elements that had already worked previously and smashing it all together in the hopes that it would read well. It made some parts seem unoriginal and I kept noticing small things that had been done before (i.e. the big hulking robots on Earth searching for extraterrestrial royalty reminded me of The Empty Planet from the Sarah Jane Adventures and their emoticon faces reminded me of Smile, Belinda partially felt like a rehash of Martha in Smith and Jones in the first bit of the episode, the merging of humans with machine was very Cyberman and I was surprised it wasn’t even referenced, etc.).

The cold open is alright. Belinda’s set up works pretty decently, though I feel she isn’t given enough time to live in her normal life until she’s swooped up into the adventure. The introduction episodes to new companions really benefit from having the context of their life on Earth being undercut by aliens and extraterrestrial conflict. Yet here, we learn almost nothing about her relationships with her family or friends and why she would insist to go home outside of her vague disinterest in space-time adventures with the Doctor before she is taken away. But Mrs. Flood’s reappearance was intriguing and it piqued my curiosity on who she will end up to be. Varada Sethu, despite my criticisms of the writing, does an excellent job at presenting Belinda as an interesting and sympathetic character.

Things get a bit messy once they arrive on Missbelindachandra though. The time fracture sequence had some neat cinematography and the planet itself is captured well through SFX prior to that. The ordeal in the throne room bounces between interesting and dragging. However, I am a big fan of PolishBot. I will always be a sucker for a cute little robot. Sasha and her impact is poorly developed. She is given only a brief few lines of context before dying, so it doesn’t have the weight the plot insists it does. We are told as opposed to being shown her relationship to the Doctor, having the Doctor justify the emotional reaction to her death in a way that seems hollow. I wanted to see those six months they spent together or at least more scenes with their dynamic because it is barely explored.

The bunker has some great moments of Belinda being able to show off her medical skills and her learning more about the universe but it’s over too soon. Manny is an incredibly one-note character and his antagonism toward Belinda is completely unearned. It makes no logical sense that he would 1.) blame her for Sasha’s death and 2.) equate her to be as evil as the robots. Belinda is an incredibly passive force in the throne room scenes, she makes no bid to interact with the robots other than to establish information on what has happened and certainly doesn’t seem to favor them in any way. She is supportive of the rebels and is unable to aid them only because she has only just arrived and has zero knowledge of the battle they are fighting beyond the few words the Doctor could slip to her. Indeed, since their rebellion was a pre-planned act, I would assume one might be prepared for the possibility of losing someone. Blaming Belinda ends up being very cheap because aside from being placed in an arbitrary position of power where she has little to no sway in the moments she becomes aware of it, he has no grounds to treat her as an opposing force. This makes Belinda’s plan to give herself over to the robots even more confusing. It doesn’t at all fit with what we had learned of her character so far, the martyrdom feeling less authentic and more out of necessity to the plot. 

As soon as I saw the “AI Generator”, it seemed fairly ‘Wizard of Oz’ to me and I ended up being able to partially predict the twist. The time stream sequence I found to be pretty cool however. The ending is resolved a bit too fast and a bit too inconsequentially, but it’s certainly not awful.

I appreciate Belinda a reluctant companion, immediately rejecting the idea of being a “mystery box” companion. It forces the Doctor to reconsider himself, which is always interesting. She’s incredibly competent and quick-witted, which creates a good dynamic to the Doctor. I am interested to see how her storyline will unfold.

Truly unfortunate that this is where it ends due to Sladen’s passing. It’s a fun episode, really relishing in the dynamics between Luke and Sky as well as Clyde and Rani. And an appearance from Dan Starkey is always welcome. I would have loved to see how this season ended but the conclusion supplied here is sweet.

Clyde is great in this but I found it overall a bit lacking. The storyline is creative but I found the concept of his misfortune being rooted to a totem pole borderline culturally insensitive. His friendship with Ellie is sweet, though the romantic aspect felt a tad forced. Additionally, the ending isn’t truly satisfying and is resolved far too quickly.

Sky is very much a rehash of Luke, but just different enough to not be too boring. It’s unfortunate to know that because of Sladen’s passing, the storyline started here won’t be resolved. Clyde and Rani are however a delight as usual.

A lot of the story felt like rehashed material, following a lot of beats we’ve already seen before. I would have preferred they play most of the elements straight without Ruby White being the predictable twist villain, possibly having some other antagonizing force. The very human concept of losing your memory is already scary enough that I think it really could have worked with a supernatural backdrop. Alas, we do see Luke and K-9, which is always a pleasure.

The plot of this story almost felt like a video game, in the way that each character had a particular object at a particular point in time they needed to get. Having all the different dynamics in the different eras was quite fun, especially Jane and Rani. A lot of stuff in this was surprisingly dark for a kids show but I dig it. Ultimately, the plot was spread a little too thin over all the different timelines, so I found the end a bit underwhelming.

Rani and Clyde at the forefront of this story is excellent. Their dynamic is just wonderful and their very clear development of romantic feelings for each other is adorable. Seeing the two be clever and problem solvers is pretty rewarding. The plot is decent, nothing special but the robots are neat.

This has got to be my favorite episode so far. The monster design of the Shansheeth is totally brilliant, I love the vulture look and the practical puppets. Also, David Bradley voicing the main one? A pleasant and welcome surprise. And it should be known I am a sucker for the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith just plays wonderfully here. The childish aspects of his character work really well with actual young people. And he had some great character moments, like his conversation with Jo. I would be remiss without mentioning Jo Grant (Jones, if I must be pedantic). She’s just an earnest ball of energy and is just so fun to watch. The interactions between her and Sarah Jane were great and very sweet. I loved the talk of other companions and the past adventures. A nice celebration of where the Doctor Who universe was at the time.