Mel and the Rani getting gay catty dialogue, looms being somewhat canon, and Thirteen coming back were the redeeming factors here but everything else makes me feel like I need to be put down like a sick dog

There is a lot of silly nonsense in this story which is generally how I like my Doctor Who, and I greatly enjoyed Six being a jealous fussy baby about Joe being part of the crew, even if I found Joe himself to be a little lame (which is probably the intention). It was a goofy, short adventure and I had fun with it.

The summary of the book leaves you expecting a bit of a different book than you get and I do think it should have been longer, as we really could have used more time to get to know some of the side characters more and the pacing was a bit off to me, but I read this book primarily for Mel and on that front it delivered. You can tell Bonnie Langford had a lot of fun with this and that she really loves Mel as a character, and it's so nice getting an entire book dedicated to her and expanding on her as a person.

I must have bad taste because I didn't think this was all that terrible. Six yelling at Peri and her flinching was clearly intended for laughs but fails miserably, but other than that it's a middling story.

Mel's exit bothers me immensely and I think that she really should have been kept on for another season (I highly disagree with Bonnie Langford on the thought that there was nothing left to do with Mel; there was so much more that could have been done with her). I underestimated just how fun she and Ace are together and I am now in agony over what will never be on TV. At least there's the extended universe.

There is some wacky stupid bullshit in this serial but that's just par for the course for Classic Who and I find it delightful. Seven is a bit like a cartoon character at times and it makes his very serious moments hit so much harder.

It is hysterical how fast Jo befriends Sarah. Every interaction involving Jo is so precious to me and I adore her. Absolutely killed me when she found out about Amy and Rory, though, and the absolute pain on the Doctor's face when he realized.

It's silly, I don't really understand why they made so many old people jokes about Jo, but overall it was a super sweet episode with some very good moments.

Leans a lot more into the spooks and the horror than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Rani is so sick of these stupid gay idiots it's so funny

Some interesting political commentary that I'm not sure how to feel about, but it was fun and I want to punt Sil into the sun

It is actually insane to me that the story kind of brushes past the (very understandable) intense concern Six has upon realizing Mel was drugged out of her mind, helpless, and essentially trapped in a household with a possessive, intensely not okay man for actual months. Sure, Mel doesn't have any memory of anything that might have happened, but it's still horrific to think about.

It's such an insanely terrifying implication to tuck inside of an otherwise pretty average Doctor Who story.