The end has come and I thought it was good.
Warning: Spoilers Sweetie!
The Doctor has lost and evil reigns supreme, but one woman holds the key the saving creation.
The penultimate episode hyped the glorious return of Sutekh. And here we see the Osiran’s vision almost fully realised. He brings the gift of death and successfully wipes almost everyone.
Imagine if that was where the franchise ended? Pretty epic way to go out.
You could say curiosity killed the cool cat but we’re jumping ahead.
The extinction event is very 'Thanos snap’ and removes UNIT for the majority of the story. As soon as this happens you immediately know a reset will fix the problem which we’ve seen from RTD before.
When the threat can be so easily reversed it nullifies the scare factor. There’s also no real permanent damage or change to the status quo. Unless I missed something this would’ve been an excellent way to directly address the state of the universe post Flux (which we assume wasn’t repaired).
If the solution to the Sutekh problem tied loose threads from the 13th Doctor’s time that would’ve made the death + death = life in the time vortex nonsense easier to digest. The tension just wasn’t there for me. I was just enjoying the ride.
Sure, Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor is more in tune with their feelings and cries a lot. This has been met with criticism because when a character shows too much emotion constantly it can lose its impact. I was concerned about that as well but I think Gatwa smashed it. I loved their Christ-like moment of despair in ‘Dot and Bubble’. For this finale, it was that absolute low point of crying out by the TARDIS threshold and then shedding tears of farewell at the end. Bless that emotional range.
RIP UNIT
I didn’t mention the Vlinx in my earlier reports. A robot voiced by Nicholas Briggs. It pushes buttons and says things and apparently shoots lasers from its eyes (haha) and that’s all.
Can’t help but feel the unnecessary inclusions are planting seeds for spinoff material.
Aside from some solid lines delivered by Jemma Redgrave last week, UNIT had a better run with the 14th Doctor specials.
And don’t think I didn’t see you holding hands at the end either.
UNIT needs reputation management.
Ruby Sunday Resolved
Phew! We’re not dealing with anything complex like a Chameleon Arch’d Time Lord or a God.
In what I think is the best outcome, our Ruby Sunday is an ordinary person. ‘Empire of Death’ celebrates the importance of ordinary, seemingly insignificant people and this happy family story closes the loop in a way that is heartfelt but also devastating for the Doctor. By their own confession, Ruby has changed how they think about family –specifically Susan.
Quite clever really how the enigma of Ruby Sunday was enough to distract the Big Bad and his half-life harbingers. That was well played.
Putting a leash on the Big Dog – leveraging the Goblin rules – was unexpected. Why couldn’t Sutekh rip it off? Because magic probably.
Oh Mel
IT specialist and UNIT spy, Mel, almost did a Turlough. I enjoyed the sway Sutekh had on people and that was very Black Guardian making companions turn on the Doctor.
Mel was ok. Again, if a UNIT spinoff is in the works she would be a great regular.
Remembered TARDIS
We Australians miss out on the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ specials. Sneaky YouTube uploads help us catch up on the bonus clips of past Doctors and companions reuniting in the Remembered TARDIS.
Interesting to see that concept used in the show proper. This follows on from the Time Window stuff and provides the Doctor with the means to fight Sutekh.
Mrs Flood Remains a Mystery
What plans does Mrs Flood have? She was helpless in the face of Sutekh’s gift of death and was surprised to survive it. We’re left with more questions than answers.
As for the other questions I had (Doctor’s origins? When will Rogue join Team TARDIS?) I guess we’ll need to keep watching.
The Season in Review
Let’s Chat
Well that was fun. Now we sit tight for the Christmas special.
In the meantime, what did you think of this season of Doctor Who?