******TARDIS-SIZED SPOILERS!******

Actor Ncuti Gatwa blasted his way into Doctor Who lore following his pioneering ‘bi-generation’ from David Tennant‘s resurrected Doctor in “The Giggle,” the last of several Doctor Who specials from 2023. The returning Tennant’s three specials and Gatwa’s introduction marked the returns of producer Russell T. Davies, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and classic Doctor Who villain, the Toymaker (now played by Neil Patrick Harris). Arriving a good year after Chris Chibnall’s less-than-successful run with Jodie Whittaker, Davies’ return saw a tidal wave of Whovian nostalgia with its resurrection of a classic villain that had only been seen in 1966’s ‘lost’ serial, “The Celestial Toymaker” (recently remastered, with lost video animated for Blu-Ray), and it felt downright novel to have a universe-threatening calamity that wasn’t Daleks or Cybermen.

Ncuti Gatwa’s run featured two new companions, including Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson, and later Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu, fresh from Star Wars: Andor. The monolithic American-based corporation Disney was now coproducing this intrinsically British series, and that influence was felt with a surge in production value. On the negative side, it also feels more removed from the original show’s charming, lower tech roots; with a touch more Marvel feel, and a lot more pew-pew (something that began in 2005, but is greatly amplified now). All the same, the first full series of Gatwa’s Doctor had a roughly equal number of ups and downs, which isn’t such a great ratio when you consider each series is now reduced to only eight episodes, as opposed to thirteen. Granted, each of the eight episodes are of theatrical quality, but I’d gladly trade some of that for just a few more stories.

I haven’t reviewed the entire run of Gatwa’s second series of Doctor Who episodes, since I was a little late in catching up this year. However, I decided to take a deeper dive into his final episode, “The Reality War,” which was written by producer Russell T. Davies and directed by Alex Pillai. The finale is a culmination of loose threads which began with the Doctor’s complicated quest to bring his new companion Belinda home to her life as a hospital nurse… and a mother.

“The Reality War”

Short synopsis modified from the Disney+ Press Kit:

“Battle rages across the skies as the Unholy Trinity (the twin Rani, Conrad Clark) unleash their deadly ambition (to resurrect Omega, the now-monstrous first Time Lord). The Doctor, Belinda and Ruby have to risk everything in the quest to save one innocent life (Belinda’s daughter, Poppy).”

Note: The giant lumbering skeletons are an intriguing image, which is echoed later with the giant, mutated skeletal Omega–the original Time Lord the Rani are resurrecting to usher in a new Gallifrey. The plot of this episode feels very similar to the 2009 two-parter “The End of Time,” which saw Time Lord Rassilon also trying to usher in a new Gallifrey. It’s no coincidence both stories were written by Russell T. Davies (with Steven Moffat).

Note: Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) was a nice surprise in the previous season–despite the character’s silly name–and her return was welcome after the abrupt resolution to her arc. Though her backstory was notably different, Ruby Sunday bore superficial similarities to “Rose Tyler,” played by Billie Piper–who also makes a surprise cameo at the end of this episode.

Note: The episode shines a welcome spotlight on persons with disabilities, led by former UNIT operative Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley). Their group reminded me of the underground resistance movement seen in the classic Doctor Who story, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” (1964). Bingham is a solid character, and she gets more screen time than others in a diverse but overly crowded cast.

Note: The revelation that Ruby Sunday’s enigmatic neighbor “Mrs. Flood” (Anita Dobson) is the Rani isn’t quite the showstopper I expected. In classic Doctor Who, the Rani was never one of the Doctor’s best villains, and this attempt to rebab the character into something new falls flat, especially as the second Rani (Archie Panjabi) is saddled with more villainous monologuing than several Bond villains combined. The Rani team up with Ruby’s duplicitous ex-boyfriend Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King); a key architect of the nightmarish incel reality we saw in “Wish World” and this episode.

Note: The idea of reality being rewritten in real time was previously used in Russell T. Davies’ own “Journey’s End” (2008), which saw decrepit Dalek creator Davros using a “reality bomb” to reshape reality to his own twisted will. “The Reality War” feels more like a soft reboot of “Journey’s End” (mercifully minus the overused Daleks, at least).

Note: The character of Anita Benn (Stephanie de Whalley) is now pregnant and currently managing the 43rd century Time Hotel. There was a lot of fan speculation that Anita was a younger version of the elderly Mrs. Flood, due to the character sharing a first name with actress Anita Dobson, who plays Mrs. Flood. There’s also a slight resemblance between de Whalley and Dobson. But this connection didn’t happen, of course. Personally, I think it would’ve added much shading to the Rani if Anita Benn was a younger version of Mrs. Flood; which would’ve shown a surprisingly softer side to the villain. A missed opportunity, in my opinion.

Note: In addition to Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (daughter of legacy character, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, played by the late Nicholas Courtney), we also see legacy character Melanie “Mel” Bush (Bonnie Langford), who was a former Doctor companion (Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy) during the 1980s. Mel returned to the franchise last year, while Jemma Redgrave has been playing Kate Lethbridge-Stewart since the 2012 episode, “The Power of Three.” Kate Lethbridge-Stewart originally debuted in a video spinoff Doctor Who story called “Downtime” (1995), though she was played by Beverley Cressman, who returned for “Dæmos Rising” (2004).

Note: The red herring of Poppy being the Doctor’s actual daughter is kept a mystery until the end, though her true nature as a regular human kid is a tad disappointing, since the Doctor had a vision of his aged ‘granddaughter’ Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) calling out to him earlier. It would’ve made more sense if young Poppy (adorable Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phillips) turned out to be the Doctor’s real daughter, who will eventually give birth to the partly-human Time Lady, Susan Foreman. It would’ve also greatly added to the significance of Belinda (Varada Sethu) as well, who could’ve been Susan Foreman’s grandmother. On the other hand, the Doctor would risk reality and his own life to save any child–not just his own, so point taken.

Note: UNIT HQ feels a lot more like the Avengers HQ since Disney Marvel-ized Doctor Who. It’s not entirely unwelcome, I suppose, but UNIT just feels a bit too advanced to be a part of 2025 London (or anywhere else on Earth, for that matter). This is a minor nit, of course, as UNIT always ran a few steps ahead of our real world since its introduction in the 1968 Doctor Who serial, “The Invasion”; the iconic episode which saw the Cybermen invading modern London in the Patrick Troughton-era of the series.

Note: The plot of the episode revolves around the Rani facilitating the resurrection of “Omega,” the original Time Lord first seen in the 1972 Doctor Who episode “The Three Doctors,” which saw Jon Pertwee teaming with his predecessors Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell to defeat the mad Omega, before exiling him into an antimatter universe. Hartnell, who was very ill at the time, had to prerecord his part for later playback on a video monitor.

Note: A virtual replay of the Tenth Doctor’s final ‘sentimental journey’ before his own regeneration in 2010’s “The End of Time, Part 2,” the Doctor tries to hold off his own regeneration long enough to say a few goodbyes. It’s nice to see Jodie Whittaker get another shot at the role, since her own run as the Doctor was badly mishandled for the most part. Like other Doctors, she naturally criticizes the remodeled TARDIS interior; an often-used gag in multiple Doctor stories.

Note: Turns out, Poppy was name-dropped all over this year’s episodes, yet somehow I (and others) failed to connect the dots; perhaps because I don’t remember Belinda ever explicitly stating “I have to get home to my baby daughter Poppy right freaking now” as any mother worth her salt would. Baby Poppy (Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phillips) first appeared in the dreadful “Space Babies” episode from last year (one of the worst Doctor Who episodes in recent memory), and is somehow (?) connected to Belinda’s daughter. Given how unfairly the clues were dropped regarding the character, it’s no wonder I never put two-and-two together.

Next: The Doctor adopting a familiar face is not without precedent. Before David Tennant‘s recent return to the role, we met the “Curator” (Tom Baker) in 2013’s “Day of the Doctor,” and 12th Doctor actor Peter Capaldi first appeared as doomed ‘Caecilius’ in 2008’s “The Fires of Pompeii,” which led to the Doctor admitting that doomed man’s face somehow influenced his current visage. However, I have mixed feelings about the Doctor-Rose regeneration. While I think Billie Piper (whom my wife and I met in 2014) is a terrific actress, the idea of her regenerating into the Doctor is a backwards step. It ignores the fresh opportunities a regeneration presents. Nevertheless, I’ll try to adopt a wait-and-see attitude…

Summing It Up

“The Reality War” features the the best and worst aspects of Russell T. Davies’ return to the series (something I heralded only a few years ago). On the plus side, there’s the trademark diverse casting, with characters such as Rose Noble (played by trans actress Yasmin Finney), Shirley Bingham (played by Ruth Madley, who lives with spina bifida). This is something I greatly appreciate, and which feels genuinely threatened here in the United States these days. However, the episode is so heavily packed with characters that most of them (save for Shirley) are reduced to little more than walk-ons with slips of dialogue tossed their way.

Speaking of dialogue, the episode is so ridiculously heavy with exposition that the Rani herself (Archie Panjabi) literally stops mid-monologue to tell the Doctor (and the audience) “This is not exposition,” only to contradict herself, as she continues expositing for the next several minutes. The Rani’s observation lands more as embarrassing admission than cute meta-joke. Speaking of jokes, that Newtonian ‘mavity-for-gravity’ gag has become more stale than the last biscuit on a breakfast trolley in a long abandoned office building. The return of Russell Davies to the series promised so much, though so far it’s yielded a lot of glossy retreads, with scripting that has soured considerably from his heyday 20 years ago.

The last few years of Doctor Who have ended with resurrected classic villains overseeing new armageddons; the Toymaker, Sutekh and now the Rani, a rogue Time Lady who was one of the weaker villains from the Sylvester McCoy-era (“Time and the Rani” still stinks on ice). We also see the fleeting return of Omega, the original Time Lord, another classic nemesis who’s depicted as a giant, raging CGI skeleton that looks like a high-end Halloween decoration. Not exactly the revelation we expected, though it’s in keeping with the show’s Marvel paint job that’s come with its Disney money. Sutekh (originally seen in Tom Baker’s “Pyramids of Mars”) was similarly rendered as a giant CGI monster last year as well, though his return was more effectively scripted.

Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor brought much promise, and the actor’s high energy was a shot in the arm. However, what we don’t see with his Doctor is the depth and sagacity behind the eyes we’ve seen with many of his predecessors. I also had an issue with this Doctor’s overuse of his tear ducts. The Doctor has seen whole planets and civilizations reduced to rubble. Now he cries when someone’s tea needs needs a touch more milk. I blame this more on writing and direction rather than the actor, who clearly has the chops. I also appreciated seeing both actor and character openly and freely embracing their sexualities.

While there have been flashes of brilliance and clever storytelling ideas during the last two years of the show, there have also been an equal number of missed opportunities and tired rehashes that undermined the strengths of the series. “The Reality War” had a nice buildup, but lacks heft. Even the enigmatic Mrs. Flood turned out to be more of a means than an end, and the Doctor-Rose regeneration at the very end suggests this franchise might be in desperate need of a regeneration itself.

Where to Watch

“Doctor Who” is available to stream/watch on BBC and on Disney+. Older episodes of the series are available on physical media (DVD/Blu-Ray).