This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Silurian Candidate

The vibes of this story are immaculate. I'm not even sure what was going on, I just know I liked it. It's very surreal and timey-wimey but also grounded and tense, particularly in the scenes with Ace at the beginning. The idea of a alternate timeline where the East won the Cold War has been done to death both outside and probably inside Doctor Who but I still really enjoyed it here.

Next Story: The Dispossessed

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Blood Furnace

Despite this timeline's best efforts to get me to give up, I'm still going. I will say, I have to respect this story for finally doing something different with the Silurians, even though it takes an hour for it to actually get there. The first half of this story doesn't feature any Silurians and is instead the Doctor and co. exploring an ancient Silurian temple. I don't think I have to say that it wasn't particularly interesting.

I actually quite liked Warriors of the Deep, particularly for it's futuristic setting. To have a story explore that in greater detail is definitely something I appreciate, although it didn't really tackle that aspect as much as it could have. The main thing bringing this story down is just how little actually happens in it and how wasted the whole concept is.

There should have been another way (to write a sequel to Warriors of the Deep)

Next Story: Red Planets

I'm torn cause I think the messaging in this episode absolutely sucks. It's just very clunky and ends up going for a "actually the government establishment are the good guys facing evil injustices from the evil podcasters". It just absolutely fails at delivering the right message and it really proves that even without the Chibnall era production issues he struggles with this kind of thing.

HOWEVER, Jonah Hauer-King smashes it as Conrad and I really hope he gets more roles in the future as smug, obnoxious assholes because he is insanely good. That twist scene where it's revealed it was all a set-up was brilliant and he's really good at making you hate his guts.

Still, the episode is riddled with plotholes (Conrad breaks into UNIT, shoots a guy and starts pointing a gun at multiple people and he still thinks he can paint himself to be the good guy?? really??? after breaking that many laws?? also the fake Shreek scene just makes no sense cause he's trying to say that UNIT have a bunch of costumed monsters but the only costumed monsters there are the one's he hired, they're literally recording the whole thing. How does that in any way prove that UNIT is faking monsters????).

Anyway little ramble over I sincerely hope Pete McTighe doesn't get to go anywhere near the showrunner role but this episode tried it's best despite him.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The High Price of Parking

Not much to say about this one, it's just bad. It's got weird vibes and no plot. The kind of slop that makes it so difficult to convince myself to carry on with this.

Next Story: The Silurian Candidate

I'm actually impressed. This is another idea that sounded pretty awful that's actually been executed really well. It would've been really easy to make the midnight entity a lot less scary or just retread the same things that were already done in Midnight but instead this story opts to go for a new route. It really isn't anything like Midnight and in a way that's what makes it such a successful sequel because that's the midnight entity's whole schtick - evolving and adapting.

Really solid, I think the only thing I would've changed is not have the midnight entity throw people around as that was a bit silly, have them crumple to the ground or something. Otherwise another banger and we're 2 for 3 this season so far. Even the overarching plot is way better here, even if it's mostly the same thing. Mrs Flood is just a much more interesting and dynamic character than Susan Triad and I enjoy every one of her appearances.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Maker of Demons

Well, it's been a little while since I've written a review for Doctor Who (other than Lux). I actually stopped halfway through this one and didn't touch anything Doctor Who for a good few weeks. Not because this story was bad though. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's very reminiscent of stories like The Sun Makers with really blatant and ridiculous satires on different aspects of society. The main idea behind this one is a planet that only serves as a galaxy-scale parking lot, complete with it's own society that formed after getting lost years ago.

There's some solid dialogue in the story and I think the Doctor, Ace, and Mel are balanced quite well. The twist was quite good, even if by then I'd forgotten most of the smaller details. It's mainly carried by the setting and is otherwise nothing special

Next Story: The Blood Furnace

I think this is my favourite episode of RTD2 and that's saying something when you have such heavy hitters as Wild Blue Yonder and 73 Yards. Every single second of this episode is brilliant. I love the visuals, I love the cinematography, the characters. I could go on like that for ages.

After The Devil's Chord, which I thought was pretty messy I thought this 20th century historical would go down a similar path but I'm glad to say it's absolutely exceeded my expectations. I think 1950s Florida is much better realised here than 1960s London was, which is funny considering it's a British show.

Belinda continues to be an excellent companion. She has a lot of character and brilliant chemistry with the Doctor. She has a much more believable friendship with the Doctor at the end of this episode than Ruby did at the same point in the last season, which is impressive considering how little she trusted him in the last episode.

Now... Mr Ring-a-ding. Possibly one of the best characters to come out of Doctor Who full stop. Alan Cumming breathes so much life into him with his performance. The effects for him are fantastic. For the first time in this era you can really see the budget. It's hard to believe that this is the same show that debuted the Quarks and the Chumbleys.

I adore the meta stuff here. I knew that it was coming (it leaked online, which made that line so much better). In an era where Doctor Who is recieving all sorts of hate I feel like it could have been really easy to write the Doctor Who fans as annoying and spiteful as a sort of gotcha so I have nothing but immense respect for writing them with such depth and care. What could have easily been mockery was really sweet and it led to one of the first crying scenes for the Doctor that truly felt deserved. I love that it was left open-ended as to whether they were real or not.

There's a lot of really good emotional beats in this story, from the theatre owner's love story to the way Mr Ring-a-ding was defeated or the Doctor opening about the Time Lords. Accompanied with a swelling score I'm not ashamed to say that this story made my eyes water a little.

Anyone who believed RTD has lost his touch should watch this, one of my favourite stories of his and my favourite of this era. An utter joy, through and through.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Fiesta of the Damned

Oddly enough, I didn't mind this one. If anything, I enjoyed it. I can definitely see though how in a worse mood I wouldn't have been as kind to this story as I am - the aliens are annoying, Ace gets shafted again, the ending completely undermines what the whole story is doing.

There's a lot of flaws and yet I found the acting compelling and the general concept to be a really interesting one, handled fairly well.

Next Story: The High Price of Parking

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: A Life of Crime

Another solid story, but still nothing remarkable. I was somewhat hoping this would be a pure historical as those are always great and the Spanish Civil War is such an interesting and underutilized time period in Doctor Who. I feel like there's a lot of potential there which is why it's slightly disappointing the way this story went.

Once again, really good characterisation. I love a lighter, siller 7, especially after so many stories where he was written as edgy, brooding and manipulative (which, don't get me wrong, can be done really well. It's just that it rarely was). Mel is also great here and I enjoyed her relationship with the Spanish general. I think there were some great moments between the two of them.

The alien plot is deeply uninteresting and it's really the weakest link in this story. Otherwise, I rather enjoyed it and the unique setting made for a refreshing break from the endless quaint English country villages that seem to plague Doctor Who media

Next Story: Maker of Demons

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Dead to the World

In terms of actual plot here I wouldn't say there was all that much. It was fun though. Vaguely Season 23/24-esque but not nearly as good. I think where this story really excels is the character work. Ace doesn't get all that much to do but it's made up for by having such a good exploration of the Doctor and Mel's relationship that it's easy to forget how little they actually had on TV. It's absolutely brilliant and a promising start on the whole to this run, although I've heard mixed things about it.

Decent story with exceptional characterisation.

Next Story: Fiesta of the Damned