Doctor Who is a very, very special franchise to me. Anyone who knows me can tell you this about me, it owns a piece of my heart and always has done since it first made me dream of my own adventures when I started watching in 2007 at a puny 5 years old. Since then the greatest story ever told has captured me, from Ian and Barbara stumbling into a junkyard in 1963 to grand speeches from the 12th Doctor that permanently alter my brain chemistry to endless audio adventures to accompany my daily commute to work. However now, I've needed a period of time to step slightly away from everything Doctor Who after this one. Not quite a period of grieving, because thank the lord there is more to Doctor Who than what's currently on our TV screens. But just, time to process what on earth just happened when this catastrophe was put in front of us at the cinema no less. I'm sure there's absolutely no original thought I could add after such a universally criticised episode, but I'm here to reconcile with it, to accept it for what it is so that my love for this franchise can go on despite what has been done to it's image here, just before a likely 2 year break at least where this will be the latest TV episode on the audience's mind. I think there's something cathartic about joining in on the choir of people crying for a change of direction after this episode. For Russel T Davies to be sacked as a great man once said.

The obvious problems all come in during the final 20 minutes of this episode. After the main story which was attempting to deal with a myriad of characters was wrapped up haphazardly in just 40 minutes before the rest of what we get which is just a contrived, poorly thought through excuse for Ncuti to leave after his issues behind the scenes. It could be easy to blame Disney for this, and while I do indirectly, the nostalgia baiting and the sidelining of Belinda perfectly exemplify the problems with the RTD2 era by showing these issues at their worse.

To start: I have never known a creative decision as awful, as desperate, as the casting of Billie Piper. Everything that made her run as Rose brilliant was that she was an embodiment of the human spirit of a completely ordinary working class woman. She was the ying to the Doctor’s yang, his opposite in a way that perfectly highlighted what’s so special about ordinary humanity. Wherever the pair went, Rose was always connecting to the people that are forgotten about, the oppressed, especially other working class women. To make the show feel so grounded, so real, so that us watching at home always had a way in to the story. To bring her back as a time lord, one way or another whether she is fully the Doctor or not, I feel is the antithesis to everything her character is and I fear her whole run as Rose will be trodden on underfoot in retrospect. Because there are so many things the Doctor is, but grounded is not one of them. It’s one of many issues but it’s the one that shows us what the future of this show will be. What makes this in my eyes so much more than just a terrible episode.

Besides that, the nostalgia bait of it is so glaringly obvious. It's been happening for a while now since DT was brought back for the 60th, but personally I could excuse that at the time. Now, that it's reached this peak, I can't help but see the decision then as part of the same pattern of the show regurtitating it's past. For the 60th, it was at least a Doctor that was brought back as The Doctor. It was a special anniversary event, when Doctor Who always has done some more out there crossovers and multi-doctor stories. And I personally could get behind the "this face came back to bring you home to rest" reasoning even though a lot of other people cannot. This decision now has none of those excuses. Even watching it for the first time before I knew it to be true, it was so obvious that everything about the ending was reshot hastily, especially this excuse for a regeneration, where Billie isn't even there in Ncuti's clothes, she's just superimposed on top of him after Ncuti's face faded into the regeneration glow. They had little time so all they could think to do was to reheat something old. And to think this show is one that fundamentally should be about change, about progress. Especially regeneration, which is supposed to embody that truth of the show in it's purest. It shows us even when things end, when times change, there is always a new future ahead to keep moving towards, even through all the pain and uncertainty. This is not a new future. Far from it, it is a betrayal of the foundational principles of the show.

The other overriding problem is the complete character assasination of Belinda, for the sake of a baby that we are given no reason to care about. I'll put it bluntly, it's just plainly misogynistic for Belinda, who we first saw as a fiercely independent, career focused woman to be shoehorned solely into the role of a mother without that even being her choice. A role that was literally created for her by design by a bigot who believed that the only path in life for women is "good little girl, then good little wife, then good little mother", as was literally spelled out to us in the first half of the finale. But then come to the end of that same finale, and we're supposed to go along with the previous Belinda we knew being wiped from existence so that she can seemingly fulfill her 'purpose' of being a mother???? In the scene in UNIT, Belinda has one (1) single line where she realises that Poppy is apparently 'real', then doesn't get to say anything else before the Doctor rushes off to make this her whole reality. Not a word about whether this is what Belinda wants. It just feels like Conrad's sexist ideal of what a woman should be not only survived the ending of the wish, but is then upheld by the show itself and it is disgusting.

I loved the potential there was in Belinda when she was set up in the first episode as having real conflict with the Doctor. Ruby and the Doctor got on too well, she was just star struck by him and there was little depth to her character. Belinda looked like she could be someone who wasn't just going to be happy to go along with everything the Doctor does. But now, at the end of the series, she has become the opposite of what she was set up to be in that she is completely subservient to the Doctor and allows all his behaviour to go unchecked, even when the Doctor has gone off the rails. She wasn't there in lucky day, sidelined in the story and the engine and in the interstellar song contest, and now in reality war she is literally put hidden away into a box for most of the story. TISC had the perfect opportunity where any reasonable person would call the Doctor out for his torture of Kid, yet alone a companion set up with that conflict as well as her compassion being a defining and interesting trait, and who knows more about the genocide of the Hegelians than the Doctor does. But no, Belinda forgives the Doctor straight away just as the plot does and even goes on to give him starry eyed looks and say how wonderful he is for it. To really exemplify the change, Belinda is angry at the Doctor for scanning her DNA in episode 1 without her permission, yet he does the very same thing to her baby in the finale without a word said about it. All of it is character assasination on multiple levels in the most brutal way

But it's not only Belinda who's character is brutalised, oh no. Omega was once a time lord credited with creating the eye of harmony to allow Gallifreyans to travel in time and hence earn their title as time lords. Even though he was revered as a hero back on Gallifrey, he was trapped in the anti-matter universe where he created this miracle, and so he felt betrayed by the time lords, which drove him to insanity. Now... he is... a giant skeleton... who wants to... eat everyone. Grow. Up. Oh. My. GOD.

I was following this episode and I can pinpoint the very moment it lost me as when those giant claws reached around the portal. I can understand the in universe reasoning for a change of design because he was held together in his original serial by pure willpower, he had no physical form beneath his mask as the antimatter had destroyed him. So maybe it makes sense that his willpower can create a form however he pleases given enough time. But a giant CGI skeleton too cumbersome to even leave the portal he came through, who's only motivation is to EAT PEOPLE.. it's pure spectacle with zero substance. The most shallow, childish characterisation of a villain possible. And then he is literally dealt with in about 2 minutes by.. shooting him with a laser beam. What a clown show.

Those are the biggest problems, the unholy trinity if you will. But before I rattle through some of the other smaller problems I do want to say that this finale isn't entirely negatives. Because even though it wasn't fulfilled, there was genuinely real potential here. Hell, as an episode on it's own two feet I actually enjoyed the first part, wish world. I love the concept of Conrad’s worldview fleshed out and turned literal to expand on the conspiracy thinking we got in lucky day and showcase his bigotry. And that’s exactly what we got. Because conspiracty theorists never do just make conspiracy theories about one thing and leave it at that, to them everything is connected in a huge web of conspiricies, which so often includes twisted ideas of marginalised people because the idea of their liberation feels like oppression compared to the privilege so many men like Conrad are used to. And it was done beautifully, the way the erasure of these disabled and marginalised people’s lives through Conrad's perception bias was made literal so they could work in the shadows, good stuff.

Around that as well the whole wish world felt very beliveable and fleshed out. It felt on the money with Doctor Who transported back to a twisted fascistic ideal of the 1950s. I loved seeing the battle going on within our characters for them to realise what’s going on and remember who they are. You know, it could have been a wonderful finale if it focused solely on Conrad's wish world, brought to life by Desiderium, with the Doctor and Belinda fighting to realise who they are then simply escaping that world fighting against Conrad who has the power to twist the world around them and make any of his wishes come true. That could have been an epic on it's own, and could have told a hopeful story that could be a parallel to deradicalisation of right wing figures in real life. This would have made for a story very similar to Big Finish's natural history of fear, with it's thought police and all, which would have been a wonderful thing.

Instead the finale feels like 2 grand finale level plots bashed together into 1 haphazardly so that none of the elements have the space to breathe that they need. One about Conrad and Desiderium's wish world, and one about the Rani using Omega to bring back the time lords. These could have been 2 seperate finales to different seasons each. This problem is the one that was on the front of my mind after the first part, when I was none the wiser to all the other myriad problems that would pop off in the final episode. There was never going to be time to wrap up all of the plot elements that were there at the end of wish world in 1 hour, but then they decided they were only going to use 40 minutes for it anyway ahaha!!!

But where wish world failed ultimately was in not doing enough to allow the finale to pull everything together. Only giving the Doctor agency as himself in the final few seconds of the first half of the finale when there is so much to fix is a wild choice. And Belinda seemed to recognise the absurdity and falseness of her reality and gain some agency when she runs into the woods and screams, which was a beautiful scene, only for that to be completely forgotten when she uncritically reports the Doctor to the thought police later that day?? Let your characters develop without being forced to by the plot please Russell. Ironically this scream scene also seems to show that even Belinda does not care for Poppy as much as we the audience are supposed to care about her by the end. What we are shown here is that it very much does matter to Belinda that Poppy isn't really her daughter outside of this false reality. She was screaming at the very reality of being a mother to a daughter that wasn't real yesterday that the Doctor sacrificed himself to place her back into at the end.

Time to reel off some smaller problems because I've talked enough about the catastrophic ones, I'll go in chronological order: the magic doors of the time hotel ruin the one thing that was fun about joy to the world, about mysterious doors that seem to lead to nowhere. Besides there was literally a REAL DOOR right next to the magical one that opened on the balcony that could have been used to stay consistent with JTTW. The reset that followed felt cheap, what was even the point of trapping the Doctor on the balcony, or of any of the tension at the end of the first part, if everyone just resets to where they were the morning of the 23rd?

Rose Noble came back just for the episode to announce that she's trans and not give her anything else to do. I hate so much that she's just The Trans Character and doesn't have any other dimensions to her, it's bad representation. And a little bit ironic to erase her from the story after that one moment given that that's just what Conrad did.

The bone beasts attack on UNIT tower is the peak of the MCU-ification of the current era of Doctor who, and it has to stop. Just action for the sake of action, pure spectacle. And it goes on for so long, lingering on shots of laser cannons firing on them. As if this military action is what Doctor Who is about. I will say though that the Doctor flying across the london skyline under tower bridge is one bit of spectacle I can get behind because it's iconic.

Even if his story could have done with more attention (there's a long queue), I appreciate Ruby being the better person to Conrad and wishing him to have a happy life. Because she knows that a truly happy life is incompatible with his bigoted, hateful views, which is a powerful truth

The Doctor's treatment of Ruby throughout the whole ending is painful, from the moment they step back onto the tardis with Poppy the Doctor and Belinda are like two best friends with a third wheel who is made to feel awkwardly left out and belittled. And then of course he does not listen to a word Ruby says about Poppy, ignores her, patronises her, laughs at her, gaslights her. That should not be how the Doctor treats his companions, especially 15 who is supposed to be an emotionally intelligent Doctor, he is far from that here.

The "I think we're all your children" makes me laugh at it every time. It's so stupidly melodramatic with the overbearing music and it doesn't realise it at all.

Okay now for a couple positives. The appearance of 13!!!!!!! Easily the best part of the episode, she brings so much joy into this otherwise sorrowful moment, bringing the energy that 15 is missing in this moment perfectly. I have been too harsh on 13 throughout the years, there's no doubt she's a wonderful actress as the Doctor, it's a classic case of not realising what you had until they're gone. I love all her little wonderful motivational quotes that she brings here too in "dont go in fear, go with that lovely smile". But here it's like she never left. And the moment about loving Yaz gaaah my heart!!

Keeping on the postitive note, the Rani throughout this whole episode was fantastically played by Archie Panjabi. I doubted her a bit in the first part, but given a bit of time she actually nailed the immoral scientist role in my opinion. The loftiness while remaining logical and not too maniacal. The ever so subtle sass she adds to the character is so welcome. And her outfit, shoutout to the costume department because I don't think I've ever wanted to steal someone's outfit through the TV so much. She sold the role so well when she went on the eugenicist speech about Poppy's DNA, it's just such a shame that she was denied any satisfying conclusion and was instead eaten by Omega like something out of a toddler's story book.

Maybe it was because she was played so well, but at a point or two in the finale I did actually find myself on team Rani when it came to bringing back Gallifrey and the time lords. Getting rid of it again so cheaply in spyfall was always a terrible mistake and I think it's past the time to move on from the mopey last of the time lords schtick. 15 was supposed to be a Doctor that had recovered, healed and I was so looking forward to that but in the end it was made impossible by the fact that he is still triggered at multiple points by being reminded that he is the last of his kind. So yes, join the Rani and bring them back!!! She said she would leave this world unharmed once she did and I think she could be trusted on that,,

This brings me to a point of reflection about 15s run as a whole. Because in this run it's clear he has an incomplete arc, a painfully incomplete arc. Because where it is cut off what we are left with is an 'arc' where the Doctor goes from carefree, youthful party lover to being much more bitter, spiteful and unforgiving. Some of the recent characterisation of the Doctor is simply not who the Doctor should be at all, and worse still it is during his final few episodes, among the notes he is leaving on. Here his dismissive treatment of Ruby is an awful taste to leave on and I also wonder if he would've been pushed so far in the interstellar song contest if it was known at the time that it would be 15s penultimate story. Although I'm not sure because that story can barely even acknowledge the brutality of his actions. It is an arc that almost feels like 12s arc in reverse, which is not something that should have been done at all, I sure hope it wasn't the plan but either way it leaves a sour taste in the mouth regarding how this Doctor will be seen in retrospect.

With that being said, there really is a bittersweet aspect to the end of this story. Because Ncuti was a fantastic actor as the Doctor. The energy, range and emotion he brought to the role throughout his time will be remembered, even if a lot of the writing of the scripts is best left forgotten. That seems like a cliche in the Doctor Who world at this point. "Great Doctor let down by the writing". But I wish so hard that we could have more of him, its such a shame and such a waste of amazing talent. When he started out I had hoped that he would break the 3 season unspoken rule, but by doing more because of his shortened season length not less. His final moments weren't even very touching and did not honour the best of 15. Joy didn't get even get enough time of day in the episode she was a titular character of, so calling back to her in 15s final moments doesn't feel fitting at all and leaves not much to remember fondly from his final moments. It's all such a shame.

So that's what's been bubbling away in my head for 3 weeks now. Turns out when a show that is a big part of my life betrays it's very foundational principles I have quite a lot to say about it. If anybody has read through the whole thing, thank you, you didn't have to do that. It's been so hard to get around to this review and so hard to conclude it because besides the fact of all it's problems, the result is that it's just extremely hard to actually compute that 15 has really left the show and we need to move on. It was all so abrupt. Other regeneration stories all have build up so that they feel earned and emotionally satisfying, so that we can say goodbye knowing that the time was right. Here, effectively killing himself for a baby that just popped up and we are given no reason to care about was so clearly contrived and left us feeling hollow. And left us with a show in a sorry state, it's own tail fully down it's throat in a position that betrays the values of change and progress that the show should embody. All of which tails an episode which was entirely spectacle without any substance to it at all. It is with little doubt, the worst episode of Doctor Who ever put out to me. All of us as fans deserve so so so much better. As the chorus of fans have been saying for the past few weeks I must say the words: Sack Russel T Davies.

The worst part of all is that I am left actively not wanting whatever is being set up here to be made. For it to be cancelled or cleansed of this direction it's going before I am forced to watch Billie Piper as the Doctor. And to say that about a show I adore so so much is genuinely so painful.

But believe it or not I consider myself to be an optimist. Whenever hope seems lost it's in my nature to at least end by glancing up at the light I can see at the end of the tunnel: now is the perfect time, with the future of the show so uncertain, for all the fans to truly consider the Doctor Who franchise our own. The titans of old have proved themselves incapable, so now is the time for a generation of new talent to rise up through the cracks. Whether that is by some mad fortune on TV or, much more likely, through a wealth or expanded universe content all the way to fan fiction. Because at the end of all this I can still say without a doubt that I love Doctor Who and I always will do, because it is so much bigger than what's on TV. It does not have to stagnate in this way if we don't let it. We can hold true the values of hope and renewal that are at the heart of Doctor Who. Believe in better stories than the one that was put in front of us here.

How do you even review a story that can only be experienced as a raw, agonisingly beautiful punch to the heart, that covers not only the nature of the doctor's relationships with all his companions but the nature of love itself?

Scherzo might seem quite unassuming coming after the 4 hour epic that was Zagreus just before it, the big flashy finale to what can vaguely be considered a series. But to me personally, Zagreus flopped in every manner, only managing to go on and on, it was a slog and I can hardly tell you what happened because the plot was so convoluted and had so many elements that didn't come together in a cohesive way. It was an incoherent mess that only stood on it's laurels of being an 'epic' in length and having a large, star studded (bloated) cast. Why have all of the 5th, 6th and 7th doctor appear if they aren’t even going to play the doctor after forgetting who they are for practically the entire script?

Anyway, what follows in Scherzo is what I would truly consider the emotional finale, not Zagreus. It produces the greatest character piece doctor who has ever seen about what is in my mind the first time the doctor has ever been in love, or at least since Romana, but they never seemed as devoted to each other as the Doctor and Charley are here. But describing the relationship that is explored as a romantic love not only doesn’t do it justice, it’s a bit of a disservice to the muddy yet heart wrenching relationship that entails a complete devotion to one another.

Whether the time lords were right in their theory that said devotion comes from a need for momento mori, a reminder of death that is usually so far away from a time lord, is something that the Doctor himself constantly goes back and forth on in the story. The theory makes Charley the ultimate prize because she was already supposed to be dead when they met and should have been dead had the doctor not meddled with time to save her. It places Charley in a position as not much more than just a trophy on a shelf

But really I believe he only gives that idea so much credence because he’s struggling to process truly being in love so deeply with Charley and sacrificing himself for her at the end of Zagreus only for her to end up practically dead with him. Because in reality the Doctor didn’t really sacrifice himself for the universe. Most importantly it was for Charley. Love is not something that comes naturally to a practically eternal alien like the Doctor. He does not see or experience it in the same way that Charley does towards him or that we do as humans. But now Charley’s there with him and going to die in this empty dimension with him, his sacrifice was all for nothing. And all of a sudden the way the Doctor understands and experiences love comes to the limelight and at times seems almost human. It is not a love that cares much directly for the feelings that Charley has, not one with a tender touch, because after all he is a time lord and she is just a human. But regardless, the two different loves contrast in a way that make us question the very nature of love.

The act of love and dedication in Charley’s mind of taking the leap of faith to be with the Doctor in this dimension is in his mind the ultimate betrayal of him. So does being in love mean a complete devotion to creating the best outcome for the recipient of your love, even if that means you can no longer be together? Or is Charley right that it’s a complete devotion to always remain at the side of your lover whatever happens, even if this dooms the both of you?

At the end of the story the Doctor chooses to sacrifice himself again for not only her, but a creature that to the Doctor, represents Charley and all his companions abstractedly. Because of course he did, because he always would die so that any version of her could live every time. And in the end when the Doctor and Charley have merged to the point of being one being, they both choose to die on the condition that the other shall live, because of course they do :') Beautiful

As for everything else that surrounds this most harrowing of love stories, the story of the king is a beautiful one and is a perfect addition to the abstract setting and the exploration of the nature of beauty through sound. It sets the tone perfectly. The deeply unnerving jumpscares definitely make sure that you’re on your toes as a listener, the perfect place to be to take in such a conceptual story. They punctuate perfect moments that emphasise the psychological horror aspects of this story, because it is a story that will sit with you in horror and awe and however many other emotions for a while.

The very idea to have utilise the format of audio to the max, to take away every other sense from our characters and to have sound itself pursue and imitate and toy with the Doctor and Charley is absolute genius. It puts us right there in the story, in the same position as out characters in the endless nothingness and truly delivers on the horror that entails. And the sound design is fittingly at it’s absolute best too. I think different aspects of this story stick out to different people. Because it is multi faceted and genre defying, but always horrifying, thoughtful and crazy. As a character piece it is unrivalled and it stands among giants in terms of the best doctor who stories to exist.

I have been so tempted to let 1000+ words flow from me in a review of this episode. But I'm not going to. Because doing so will get entirely into (hopefully) unintended messaging the episode holds upon inspection that is frankly gross, and should not be touched within an episode that is also trying to do a lighthearted campy adventure. That is entirely the fault of the episode by not treating the serious subject matter with the care and nuance that it deserves. But I choose to leave it at this, to not dig into the rot that appears if you extend the analogy of Palestine going on beyond the confines of the message about Eurovision's enabling of genocide. Because that message is an extremely potent one that has brought me to tears both times I've watched.

Whether or not the story of Kid is also supposed to be an analogy is a pit I do not want to dive into to see the ugliness at the bottom, but regardless, the episode's focus on the terrorism of the victims of genocide, rather than on the suffering of the genocide victims themselves is an extremely poor decision at this time in our history. And for the plot to treat the terrorists with so little nuance, with absolutely no sympathy or apologies from the doctor after being tortured by him. Forgiveness and compassion has always been who the doctor is but there is none of it.

I choose to believe that any parallel between that messaging and our real world was an unintentional, misguided decision. And I choose to enjoy this episode for all the otherwise wonderful emotional beats and side characters it has going for it and it's notionally pro-Palestine message. Cora's song was genuinely a gorgeous piece that I'm honestly surprised got past any Zionist censors at the BBC or Disney. This is an episode I could easily rate very highly or very lowly, and I choose to leave it in that limbo so as to not delve into rot.

Ahh, a political episode by Pete McTighe. Here we go again. Political stories tend to be the ones I dig my teeth into the most so bear with me and we’ll see how long I go for.

I have seen a lot of people say that this episode is a redemption for Mctighe after the less than loved episodes of Kerblam and Praxeus. And this is definitely a step up, it's the best episode he's written. But it still bears the giant unmissable stain that has defined the failures of all 3 of his episodes in my mind, and that is his compulsion to default to authority, in ways that distort reasonable plots into outright harmful messaging that seems to be indicative of a very authoritarian politics.

Taken in isolation, the story of Conrad and his followers could make some sense. If you consider every time throughout the show's history that the Earth has been invaded by aliens, often within plain sight of the majority of the population, a propagandist spreading a false narrative about how every invasion and sighting was faked for a secret agenda of supposedly making people scared and submissive could work. But that only does work if this was situated in a world with an established continuity about public perceptions of UNIT and more broadly alien life. There is no sense of that having been established either within this era of the show or within this episode. It seems that every time we return to present day Earth everyone has forgotten or covered up previous alien incursions, and this is sometimes even addressed directly in the past. Which is fine and allows for tension to be maintained and for new viewers to be welcome without needing to be aware of how the Earth in universe differs from our one. But what it does mean is that the possibility of this episode's premise goes out the window. Previous alien encounters barely get a mention here and so we are only left with UNITs recent behaviour to judge what the general public perception of them might be that Conrad is railing against.

And that behaviour is a UNIT that does act in a very shady manner. Hiding what they do from the general populace, holding technology far beyond what is available to anyone outside, being seemingly unaccountable to anybody or elected for their position by anybody, stuffing people into dark vans while running around with guns and military wear. Why exactly are we supposed to be entirely on board with the idea that criticising this institution is evil, or at all comparable to far right conspiratory behaviour we see in the real world? Because the fact that the episode wants us to map Conrad's behaviour onto far-right figures is not subtle in the slightest. It whacks us round the head with it, especially in the final scene between the Doctor and Conrad. Which would be fine, if the analogy landed in the slightest. Instead, the messaging seems to be muddied more towards something that says that scepticism towards powerful state institutions is evil and that these institutions always act with your interests and humanities interest in mind. Which I fear is the reason that McTighe created this analogy, as in Kerblam he believes that institutions of power should be defaulted to for morality and that societal issues come down to individuals wielding power in the wrong way, rather than any problem being a systemic one. This is even shown on the opposite side of the conflict in this episode when once Conrad is deposed of, everything seems to go back to normal. If we get rid of right-wing figureheads, another one just takes their place and martyr hood would often await someone like that. Not to say this is particularly offensive since the focus is on Conrad himself and the 45 minute episode doesn't have the scope to deal with the entire structure of conspiracies, but it is another aspect of a very simplistic, surface level politics that McTighe holds.

As for the characterisation of a conspiracist himself in Conrad, McTighe actually does pretty well. According to Michael Barkun there are 3 principles of conspiricism and 2 of them are very clear in Conrad- nothing happens by accident, and nothing is as it seems. The third principle, everything is connected, feels like it is missing from his characterisation, but that can be put down to the limited runtime. There probably was not time to delve further into Conrad's beliefs, into why he believes that UNIT would want to fake all these aliens. It would've been nice to explore Conrad's other likely unsavoury beliefs to round out how this narrative fits into his wider worldview. I enjoyed the fact that even in the face of overwhelming evidence at the end, Conrad does not change but he changes the conspiracy to make it fit to what he’s just seen. Which is very accurate to real life and shows how debunking conspiracy theorists is never a worthwhile effort unfortunately. It was also a very nice touch that Conrad was made to feel like he didn't matter by his mother at the start of the episode, it was a nice nod to how his conspiracies served an identity that made him feel like he did matter. Although I do wish that this was touched on again later so that it could be tied back into his character arc later on.

You might have to bear with me for a second on this one, but I can't help but think that the reason that McTighe manages to nail this characterisation is that their thinking ironically shares a lot of similarities, not in the messaging but the underlying thought process. McTighe is not a conspiracist, but like McTighe, conspiracists are often never able to place blame on institutional power structures. Instead to a conspiracist issues are always caused by unambiguously evil people with evil plans orchestrating evil plots in a very black and white power struggle of 'elites' vs 'the people'. McTighe consistent style of characterising villains in this way plays to his advantage here, and he was able to create a very dislikeable villain.

With all that being said, there is some fantastic character work in this episode. I think I liked Ruby the most I've ever liked her in this episode, more than I ever liked her during her actual run. The PTSD she is left with is very believable and I felt so sorry for her that when she was finally able to get some stability that she needed, but she was manipulated at her most vulnerable and that whole pillar was torn away so quickly from under her and revealed to all be false. Poor woman, I did feel so sorry for her. And I looooved the darker side to Kate's morality. I think UNIT should be somewhat more antagonistic to the doctor's morals. Both fighting for the defence of humanity, but UNIT in a more militaristic, ambiguous role. Willing to sacrifice people for its interest because it is more removed from personal emotions and ethics, as real life militaries are. If you get in their way, they will steamroll over you without second thought. If that's the direction that UNIT is taken in during the upcoming spin off that this episode is setting up, I am so down, strap me in. However I'm not sure whether that is the case or whether this darker moment is just another personal flaw in Kate herself. McTighe's writing record would have me believe the latter, but we'll have to see.

Contrary to past appearances, the final scene with Mrs Flood here does actually gain my interest, since it's not just a simple cameo with little substance, she is beginning to play more of an active role in the narrative, which is nice to see. I am reasonably excited to find out what role Conrad could be playing in the finale, as seemed to be alluded to. Last season's teasers were a huge let down, but I have higher hope for this season, because it feels like we're getting a little bit more substance to the teases now and Mrs Flood is clearly playing an actively villainous role rather than someone who is just a tool. But how Conrad could be a returning villain? I'm not sure but I hope his character is expanded upon further outwards, building on the base of his conspiracism into his wider worldview. This is just wild speculation but I'll spoiler anyway, if perhaps Mrs Flood is some sort of God of stories, maybe she has use for Conrad because of his power in the way he yields fake stories into something real? Which could be made literal in the process of manufacturing a false reality for the doctor. That could be fascinating and possibly again tie back into our political climate and the false narrative presented by much of our media.

So for me this is an episode that was built around a real life analogy that did not land in the slightest. And yet within there is some beautiful character work. I think it does continue the poisonous trend in McTighe's writing of sucking up to authority and creating stories that essentially end up as copaganda. And it is an episode that definitely struggles in a world where UNITs role in the world is not well established, and that murkiness is not helped within the episode: It is jarring that within this single episode UNIT is almost deified by a narrative that refuses to acknowledge their shortcomings, then later on has them committing such a morally ambiguous act through Kate.  It's an inconsistency that means I'm left unsure what impression of UNIT it wanted to leave, but I hope that can be established further and fleshed out in the spin off. I personally hope we get more of the morally ambiguous UNIT, one that does make tough decisions when it has to. Maybe as a spinoff it could go to those darker roles that the main show can't, and it could fill the same role Torchwood did in that way. The episode very nearly told an extremely relevant and potent story about far right conspiracies, but UNIT was undoubtedly in my eyes the wrong vehicle to be telling this story through. My mixed feelings mean that it's an episode I had a gut negative reaction to at first because of the taste the messaging left in my mouth, but one that had big potential that was at least partially realised given a second thought. I hope this set up for both the finale and the upcoming spin off pay off!!!

I've realised since listening to this story and loving it that it seems to be a controversial one without much of a consensus on it's quality, both loved and hated. And obviously by my rating I'm here to defend it, because it might be heavy on tropes that have been done before, but that's not a bad thing when it's done well with so much charm like it is here in my eyes. This was the 3rd Big Finish audio I ever listened to after Storm Warning and Sword of Orion, and this one holds a special place as the one which drawed me in to the world of audio for good and made the 8th Doctor really click for me.

The atmosphere and dialogue throughout are brilliant, which really capture a historic and traditional Venician setting, even if that technically wasn't what it was supposed to be. That could be one small criticism of the story, I completely forgot it was meant to be set in the far future, which could be explained away by the strong desire to preserve somewhere as historic as Venice leading to the future there looking just like the past, we can never tell what the future is going to look like. Such an explanation could've been done in just a few lines of dialogue, but is unfortunately missing from the story. I feel like the far future setting was written in to avoid having to do the explaining that would have to happen to fit this story into our own history. Nevertheless it's a very engaging and charming setting in every aspect and whether it's the past like it feels or is actually in the future doesn't feel too relevant while listening.

I can see why some people would think the ending is cliche and predictable, but it's actually the part of the story I love the most. The day was saved with love which has been done a million times before, but here it is done really well and it lands perfectly for me. It beautifully emphasises the beauty and power of humanity which I always think Dr who does best. I loved how the Doctor figured it all out in a beautiful speech, but ultimately all his words couldn't save the day, only humanity could. It's sweet and fantastical and I love it.

All in all it's a gorgeous story in a gorgeous setting which will always hold a special place in my heart for not only being where 8 and Charley settled in to their parts brilliantly in my eyes but also for it's wonderful charm and sentiment. 4.5 stars feels slightly generous but 4 stars isn't enough, it's an 8.5/10 for me.

What I've realised rewatching the 13th Doctor's era, after admittedly not giving it the full time of day at broadcast, is that my god it has pronounced ups and downs, its a rollercoaster. And nowhere is this as apparent to me going from Resolution into Spyfall. Resolution to me is a truly classic story, that allows the dalek(s) to be terrifyingly genius for the first time in such a long time. The dalek feels so real and gritty and creates true fear in me which is so hard to achieve using such a well known and used enemy as the daleks, because it feels so grounded in what is a believable and gripping plot.

I say this because Spyfall is the complete antithesis to everything that Resolution is. Part 1 isn't as criminal as part 2, but I could personally never enjoy a serial that is set up to be so cheesy and filled with overdone cliches without doing anything new with them really, not for me. But part 2 is where the plot becomes completely disparate and all over the place. We spend the time of the episode getting taken from time period to time period across history and after watching I'm not even sure why, except to save the dangling plot pieces that were thrown at us. It was all loosely held together by a thread by three very powerful enemies, at least two of which felt underutilised because of the need to throw as much extravagance into the plot for show. The tech CEO was a convincing villain, who really portrayed a coldness that was maybe my favourite part of the serial. The mysterious race from another universe and the master both honestly felt like they could've been left out to create a better story, we're left with 3 huge personalities as our villains that take up so much space without really clashing or being addressed in much of a meaningful way, their motivations, individually or as a mismatched alliance, never really explained. The Master especially honestly felt like he didn't have to be there, especially with no acknowledgement of the events of the Doctor Falls. It's the most unnuanced depiction of the Master in a long time which is a real shame after just having such a beautiful arc end with Missy, and we don't even know how they're supposed to fit together.

And then of course I take issue with Gallifrey being destroyed again so cheaply, apparently just because the Master had a tantrum, oopsie! The first time Gallifrey was seemingly gone in the time war it was a mythic event that defined the Doctor's character arc for series to come and was the ultimate sacrifice at the end of the greatest war known to time. Just awful for this episode to tack on at the end, "oh yeah by the way. Gallifrey's gone." Character work is far from this era's strong point, and such an extreme event will not be able to have justice done to it I fear. But I know there's more Resolutions to come, and after this showing I can't wait for an episode that will restore my faith.

So, I liked this episode much less when I watched it the first time around on christmas day with my family. I originally rated it 2.5/5 stars, and I think that's because to me it is one of the least christmassy christmas specials, only alongside Dr Mysterio for the christmas episode with the least christmassy energy in my eyes. And I know that's a positive in some people's eyes, that a lot of the christmas specials are saccharine which isn't for everyone, but personally I need my christmas specials to feel christmassy, which doesn't always have to mean excessive sentiment, just look at the best christmas special Last Christmas for how it can be done. Joy's holy sacrifice at Bethlehem obviously has christmas spirit, but I'll get into why the ending didn't do anything for me. Besides that it's just the christmas tree in the time hotel and other random decorations to tie it down to christmas really.

I'm much more positive about it now after a rewatch, although I still stand by what criticisms I did have. I think how the episode makes us feel on the initial watch is especially important on christmas day, when christmas is in the air and we expect a certain type of doctor who episode to fill the traditional role it has.

But on rewatch I really appreciate much more the positive aspects of the story- as a lot of other people said Anita was brilliant. She stands out in a large cast of guest characters as truly being the companion to the doctor in this story, she spends a year with the doctor in comparison to Joy, the titular character, who couldn't even have spent an hour with him!!! I do hope that Anita can return in some form, although I think a full return like Donna made is unlikely given that it seems she found her calling working in the time hotel, but maybe she finds her own way into adventures there- Big Finish pay attention!!!

The whole bootstrap situation that allowed the year with Anita to happen is also classic Moffat flair in the best way, and "It came from nothing. But so did the universe and nobody complains about that" is up there in my favourite quotes honestly. The darker moments of the anger at himself and when he brews up anger in Joy really show off Ncuti's range and that just because the doctor is more of a healed man since 14 doesn't mean he's all sunshine and rainbows, I love it.

But as for the criticisms, I do still think there were too many characters dying that the episode wanted us to care about which wasn’t justified in the little runtime we spent with them. 5 different side characters (including Joy), multiple of which got tears out of the doctor but weren't close to getting any out of me with their sacrifice at the end. I do think this is a good episode, let down by the ending in the last 10 minutes. The fact that Joy didn't get the time of day throughout the episode to justify being the main, titular character she was designed to be means that her sacrifice didn't have much emotional weight to me. And I can't get behind the dead characters gaining god like powers to just up and move the star lightyears away with what seems to be just pure willpower without any other explanation from the episode. They're conscious within the containment unit's systems I understand that, but it was established in the episode that when the star does bloom, it will do so just where it is on Earth.

And this one's more of a side note than a big criticism, but I do think the COVID bit means that part of the episode is timely to a time that has already passed in my eyes. As a political statement it's redundant because the consequences of partygate have already played out, the Tory party are already ruined and all the countries political establishments have punished them dearly for everything they did. The episode isn't saying anything new or insightful about it and there’s plenty things to be angry about that are timeless and not only relevant to events 3-4 years ago. As emotional catharsis, it feels too pointed to be reaching out to a large number of people affected, although I am fortunate enough to not have lost someone in a similar way to how Joy did and have that particular perspective who it could be more meaningful to.

I think this episode is a good special in a general sense, which is let down by it's ending and let down further personally by the fact it's a christmas special that doesn't feel much like one. If it weren't broadcast at christmas it could've got a low 4/5 stars honestly but given everything 3/5 feels fitting. I hope its the start of more Anita content!!!!

Insanely difficult and only the screen between levels can really tell you its even supposed to be doctor who themed but I like a challenge and I got to here to doctor who theme in 8 bit so