Wish World

This is the first part of what may very well be the last series of 'Doctor Who' for a while, what with low ratings and Disney not exactly rushing to renew their deal.

It mixes 'Wandavision' elements with '1984' and ends up with the sort of grand scope/stakes that we've come to expect from the show in recent times.

Unfortunately it does try to do an awful lot, and ends up being a bit too clever for its own good. I'm not going to say I understood everything that was happening, or why it was happening, and just found myself being carried along with it instead.

This episode is drenched not only in Easter Eggs and call-backs to the whole of this Disney+ era, but also messaging.

It's quite clear that Russell T Davies sees the show as a way of commenting on social issues that get his goat, and that's certainly the case here.

Overall, this first part does what it was intended to do - it makes you want to watch the second. Does it always do this in a clear way though? No.

Yes, I chose that title on purpose. But if you blink during this episode you might miss an Easter egg. And this episode was chock full of them! Not to mention a lot of twists and turns, a surprise face or two.

There's a lot going on here and it can be a little difficult to follow. Even at the end I still have a lot of questions that I'm hoping have resolutions next week. If you haven't watched classic Who, a few things might be lost on you. But RTD has been bringing back a lot of the OLD days, and I am loving it. Beautiful visual effects in this episode; I loved the skeletal dinosaurs! I really don't want this season to end, but I'm very excited to see how it all comes together.

What I liked: -Once again, the episode features all kinds of actors, which is great!

-Beautiful looking episode. The bone palace looked awesome. Somehow, it felt classic and modern at the same time. Hopefully, we'll see more of it.

-That character on the TV. Finally!

-The music at the end.

-Overall ok story, for now (we'll have to see how it all ends)...

Where I have "doubts": -... but convoluted storytelling.

-Still don't understand why Mrs Flood could break the fourth wall. (Maybe I missed that info?) -Lack of subtly in delivering some not-so-hidden messages. I don't disagree with the messages but the delivery.

-Weak and static opening scene.

-The uneven pacing (an ongoing problem of the new era DW). I feel like the episode doesn't take its time where it should and takes too much where it shouldn't.

Unfortunately was probably the worst of season but it wasn't a bad episode but it wasn't a good one either 😕 I'm not enjoying all these classic who villan reveals as I don't know who they are as i haven't watched classic who and I'm not the only one feel like we need a modern who character to return like missy or the daleks Maybe part 2 will make this episode better if you watch both finals together. The hype for this episode just wasn't needed they should've just gave us a trailer last week.

Half rating from me on this week episode just wasn't good and wasn't bad. I still have hope that the final will be better than season1 but we will see next week.

My most consistent criticism of this season of "Doctor Who" has been that it's been focused on its seasons arc, at the expense of the individual episodes somewhat. So, here we land at the two-part season finale where many of these seeds begin to grow fruit.

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) or rather John Smith, wakes up with his wife Belinda (Varada Sethu) has breakfast and then heads to work at UNIT - an insurance company. The London he inhabits is a peaceful place, provided you don't come to doubt the authenticity of it. Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) is one such doubter and, having met a group of differently abled resistance fighters, led by Shirley (Ruth Madely), plots to interrupt the streaming feed of 'storyteller' Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King).

My "Doctor Who" knowledge doesn't, if I'm honest, go back that far - only really to the 2005 reboot. So, I didn't know who The Rani was when she was revealed last week. Whilst I love both Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson - I'm yet to see much to distinguish this character from The Master - who you might recall in an earlier finale, enslaved much of the planet from a base high above London. The breaking of the fourth wall remains an unanswered question though, as it doesn't seem like she's still capable of doing so. I did like the other call backs in this episode though, with Susan Triad making a reappearance alongside a small, but pivotal, cameo from Jonathan Groff's character Rogue.

Fun and dramatic as though this episode was, I can't say I totally followed exactly what The Rani's plan is. I get the end goal, I just don't understand how this alternative world, or the doubt aspect, fits into it at all.

I've said before that first halves of two-part season finale's often can flatter to deceive a bit, and that fear remains for this one, but until I've seen next weeks episode I won't know for sure.