WE'RE SO BACK!

It's great to have new blood creating episodes, and Inua Ellams wrote something that feels different from every episode before. I also want to give a shoutout to McPherson and all the crew working on visuals—the illustrated stories are beautiful, with the bonus of being diegetic and relevant to the plot of the episode.

I love the resolution of the episode, bringing to mind The Rings of Akhaten by centering the long, long story of the Doctor's existence. (And again, making the story about Doctor Who as a story... which could mean nothing.) "I'm born. I die. I'm born." is a beautiful summary of their life/lives as well.

My one gripe is that I wanted more! We didn't get to see much of the spider engine itself, despite it being great to look at and central to the plot. I also would've liked more Belinda, maybe looking into how she feels about meeting someone who the Doctor promised to save and then left behind.

(Also, I about jumped out of my seat at the Fugitive cameo.)

This episode is just plain fun. Cassandra the skin flap makes an unexpected return, and her possession shenanigans give David Tennant and Billie Piper the opportunity for some wonderfully silly performances. On the other end of the tonal spectrum, Cassandra's sendoff is genuinely quite compelling for a character who was introduced as being a "love-to-hate"-type antagonist at best. Additionally, the makeup on the cat nurses is astonishingly good, especially for such an early episode in the revival. Does the solution to the sick-clones make sense? Not really. Do I wish we'd gotten more of a look into New (New New New New...) New York proper? Certainly. But for all the episode's shortcomings, it's carried by its tight pacing and great character banter.