And so it comes to an end (for now). Here’s our spoiler-filled review of Doctor Who season 2 finale, The Reality War…
This review contains spoilers. Our review of the last episode is here…
“Mr Smith, what on Earth do you think you’re wearing?”
In lieu of the BBC providing any kind of previews to the Doctor Who season 2 finale, I – like every reviewer of The Reality War – am left trying to work out just what I’ve watched, and formulate that into some kind of response to it. This, thus, may not be my best work, but for me, the episode didn’t come anywhere close to Doctor Who’s best work either. My initial response is that where this season of the show is concerned, Russell T Davies and his team have saved the worst for last. All the more gutting, as this season run has been really strong.
Let’s start at the end.
The big takeaway: Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, as had been widely rumoured, is gone. Even as I was writing this, a press release from the BBC has confirmed it. His time is up.
16 episodes and two specials, and that’s your lot. In his place? Er, Billie Piper now appears to be the Doctor. In terms of a WTF moment to end a muddled episode, it’s a bloody good distraction from what went before. But there you have it: Billie, or some variant of Rose Tyler, now appears to be a Time Lord.
Of course, it’s unclear who’s going to be paying the bill for future episodes (with Disney and its chequebook reportedly putting its funds elsewhere), whether Russell T Davies will still be involved (although surely he’s involved to some degree, given he appears to have cast another Doctor), and when Doctor Who will return. But, well, wherever it goes next, Anita Dobson’s Mrs Flood/The Rani is still out there, and there’s still a flashback or two to explain.
Not that the episode didn’t have a good go at explaining lots of things.
I saw the new Mission: Impossible film the other week, and I criticised it for the flashbacks, callbacks and cross-references that bogged it down. I’m beginning to think I may have been a bit harsh on it. The Reality War by turns explained, showed us old clips, appeared to gaslight us, and then zipped onto the next moment before we had much chance to think about it.
You certainly needed your Doctor Who encyclopedia nearby. It started early too, as to get out of the cliffhanger left behind by Wish World, we were back at the Time Hotel from Joy To The World, as Anita from that episode returned, before being shuffled back off again once the plot was done with her.
That soon became recurring theme, with characters dropped the second they’d served their purpose. Archie Punjabi’s work as The Rani I’m going to charitably say has been on the short-lived side. The Rani, as another Time Lord, is in theory supposed to be a little bit different in motivation to The Master, but it all got a bit interchangeable here. It felt like she could have been The Master, and nobody would be any the wiser.
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And, in what’s becoming time-honoured fashioned, she was defeated easily.
Her fall reminded me of the fuss over Sutekh at the end of the last season, a villain we were told had been tracking the Doctor across numerous regenerations, and then was dispensed with in what felt like five minutes flat. Conrad, too: a really unnerving villain, just dealt with. I do wonder if the reason we’ve not seen much in the way of classic villains is that they were beaten by a game of rock/paper/scissors in a script meeting.
But crikey, then there’s Omega, billed not unreasonably as the most powerful of all the Time Lords. Crawling out from behind the Seal of Rassilon, this much-hyped hugely powerful foe… well, you get the gist.
The Reality War, and Russell T Davies’ script, just seemed to lose interest in him. There was some spectacle for those watching in cinemas, thanks to massive CG Omega, Shirley’s wheelchair turning into the DeLorean from Back To The Future, and the odd sight of the Doctor ducking under London Bridge on the Rani’ scooter.
But for the first time this season, the narrative lost me. I hope I’m alone, but it lost me. Doctor Who is my favourite TV programme of all time, but I started to struggle. I can’t imagine it was the most welcoming hour or so of Who for those new to the show either.
A sample: Belinda’s quest to get home is to do with babysitting, for the baby that for much of the episode we’re led to believe is the Doctor’s? Ruby Sunday is just a slight reality nudge away from the others, which is why she can remember stuff others can’t? I mean, I can get behind this, not least because Millie Gibson’s Ruby (and Gibson feels like she’s grown more into the character) is inevitably triggered by abandonment and being forgotten.
But the rest of it didn’t really hold much weight. There were speeches, there were earnest moments, there was the joyous moment where Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor returned. I’m not sure why she returned, but she returned, and it was lovely to see her. There was a pointed remark that Conrad wouldn’t affect Rose (the new Rose) because he couldn’t imagine her. I like that Mel knew of the Rani, having suffered her before, reminding me of when the much-missed Sarah Jane saw Davros again all those years ago. There was good stuff in here. But also, it was such a muddle. I think the whole WTF element to chunks of it cost The Reality War emotional stakes, too.
It’s an odd end for Ncuti Gatwa’s time as the Doctor, and an unsatisfying one. I’m just not completely sure he put a full imprint on the role, although time will be a better judge than me of that. This season, the actual character of the Doctor just seems to have become a lot more style than substance – and I’m not talking about outfit choices! – and he exits the part with a feeling of unfinished business. Compare that to Christopher Eccleston’s shorter tenure as the Time Lord. That felt complete, though. I’m not sure Gatwa’s run does.
Was The Reality War originally drafted with the expectation that Doctor Who would return next year, with Disney money, and Gatwa in the lead role? Did it have to be retooled to fit changing circumstances? Was it also like this? Russell T Davies has the answers to that, and he’s, on the whole, delivered a really impressive season of the show this year. Just a final episode that, for me anyway, really let the side down.
The future, then. Billie Piper is in the TARDIS, we don’t know when Doctor Who is returning, but at some point, it’ll bounce back to our screens. By then, I might have made slightly more sense of The Reality War…
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