The Power of the Doctor

This, the final episode with Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor, sees her facing some old foes. The Master has a plot, involving both Daleks and Cybermen, which if successful will lead to the end of The Doctor and the destruction of Earth. Of course The Doctor isn't about to let him do that without a fight. She will also have a little extra help from two old companions; Tegan and Ace.

I thought this was a pretty solid episode. There was plenty of danger for our protagonists and no overt message to be rammed down the viewers throats like in many episodes in recent series. The story might have a few plot holes but nothing serious enough to spoil my enjoyment. The cast was solid; Jodie Whittaker was on good form as The Doctor but it was Sacha Dhawan who stole the show as he dialled it up to eleven in his portrayal of The Master... especially in a scene where he dances to Boney M's 1978 classic 'Rasputin'! It was nice to see Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred return as Tegan and Ace as well as few other old cast members. The most obvious of these was saved till last and hopefully heralds good things to come. On the down side some of the effects did look a bit ropey with some very obvious CGI. Overall though a return to form which I enjoyed.

It's a little sad that it took until the very last Whittaker story to get things to a level of strong entertainment, but Chibnall ends the era of the Whittaker Doctor on a pretty decent note. It was a divisive era, marked by forgettable aliens, simple plots, a lack of horror and a lot of preaching, not to mention a try at altering the show's mythos which alienated a lot of the fan-base. Over the last half decade, the Dr Who series has fallen from being the jewel in the BBC's crown to a show with mediocre ratings, too. But as Jodie Whittaker departs and fans wait to see if returning RTD and new Doctor can revitalize the show, it is good that the swansong of Doctor 13 at least tried to win back some good will.

I think Whittaker could have been a great Doctor. I don't blame her for the lackluster show she was involved with, I blame Chibnal. I know he is a talented individual, but I do not think that he and his team of writers were up for the task of working on such a beloved and iconic series. What 13's entire run lacked was the joy that Doctors 9-12 had. When I say joy, I do not mean in her performance, which I liked, I mean in the stories themselves. Her finale had that and I would have really liked the rest of her tenure to have reflected that fun. If it had, I do not believe she would have been unfairly disliked by the fan community. Because, let's be honest, fans are jerks.

The Doctor faces a perilous battle, taking on a crazed Master, Daleks and Cybermen.

Let's start with this, plain and simple, this was quite something, quite excellent. Chibnall's master plan finally climaxes, in style. Was it always the plan to conclude in this way, or was it a course correction? A real shame there were so many misfires along the way, this shows the potential, what could have been all along.

Terrific writing (for the big bits,), I loved the plot, I loved the use of the show's past, and of course the familiar faces, nobody felt shoehorned in for the sake of it, everyone played a part. Was it perfect? No, but I am prepared to overlook the host of plot devices used, somehow in the scale of this episode, they didn't matter. .....oh look there's Graham, for example, and does Tegan need a first aid kit?

The Dalek Masterplan, The Master Dalek Plan, I loved that segment, a nice reference to the show's past, but then that's what this whole episode was all about. We knew, through masses of publicity that Axe and Tegan were back, but of course there were other faces too. Both wer marvellous, picking up where each left off, if anyone's reading, Ace deserves a spin-off show.

Among the carnage and action, there were some tender, sweeter moments to enjoy too, they worked thanks to some quality acting. The Doctor's final scenes, pretty impressive I thought.

Whittaker's final outing, a very good one, I still think she had too many scenes where she's stood explaining the narrative, but on the whole, a strong end. I'm intrigued to see if she'll ever return to the part.

Sacha Dhawan was incredibly maniacal once again, the character becoming more and more crazed, this time full of hate, I actually thought he was excellent here, I was reminded of Simm, the early years.

Visually jaw dropping, Flux had some good effects, some poor, this though, was a whole new level, it looked incredible throughout, great special effects, great music too, it was perfectly in keeping.

A strong end to a troubled chapter, 9/10.

That final scene, if dreams came true.

It's apparent that Chibnall took some inspiration from, not only past Doctor Who finales, but also the MCU. It's all nostalgia-bait and cameos, that sacrifices any competent or worthy story telling. The inclusion of past characters, whether they're part of the main group or a simple point-at-the-screen feature, doesn't enhance what's going on; in fact, they serve no purpose. Take them out, and you would have basically the same episode, with a few very minor tweaks. I would consider my self an avid fan of the classic run of the show. I haven't seen it all, but enough to comment about this. The emotions this episodes tries to tug by bringing these characters back don't register at all. In the hands of a competent writer, then perhaps I would take it away differently; however, knowing the losses of the past few years has taught me to not expect anything from this era's finale, and yet I still sigh and eye-roll. It was certainly risky trying to cram all these together, but doing so left many holes, specifically with the absence of certain people.

Even when you ignore the crowd-pleasing attributes, the central story is still stuffed and bloated. The Master! The Cybermen! The Daleks! Wow, the Doctor's big 3 antagonists all to do....nothing, essentially. The Daleks take an off-screen approach to provide no threat in the slightest. Chibnall has blatantly overused the Daleks - and to an extent, all 3 of these vital villains - in his tenure as showrunner. Constantly regurgitating them out for some of the poorest written episodes in TV history, just to make them look like fools and weak. I'm sorry, but wasn't it established countless of times in the revival that the Daleks are the universe's ultimate threat? The most powerful race? Of course, we see plentiful of failures, yet we still witness their pure evil. Guess Chibnall forgot to include that very core characteristic when throwing them in here. This can be said again for both the Master and the newish Cybermen. Trying to amalgamate beloved appearances from both sides into one highlights the consistent flaws that persist in Chibnall's run. His whole shtick with his finales are nothing more than contrived fanservices that build up to nothing.

As for the central plot, it's still pathetic. So the man did it, he actually made 0 decent episodes for his singular-doctor era. What an idiot. What a fool. Let's pray he is blacklisted from working on Doctor Who. It's actually quite irritating attempting to articulate exactly why the plot was bad, because the plot doesn't exist. The characters, which I've already elaborated on, force the plot to happen. That's not good writing. Good writing allows the characters to make decisions and then follow the story from there. What's happening here is the characters do certain actions because why not. There's no history, just recycled motives. They just exist because the episode wanted them to. What do they do? What do they want? Oh they just want to kill humans/destroy the Earth, again, using some uber-complex plan that involves out-of-nowhere devices that contradict written lore, again, and hoping the Doctor doesn't stop them even though they do, again. No nuance, no spices or flavour to appear different. I wouldn't even dare call it a reskin, it's just repeats after repeats.

Visually, it's still horrendous as well. Doctor Who trying too hard on effects is pointless, because evidently, the show has never been about how pretty or realistic it looks. Yet with the desperation to make all the crap on screen look somewhat tolerable, it achieves the polar opposite.

I'm obliged to note on the final minutes. To no one's surprise that this certain event was going to make it in. Again, it's just another attempt to make the viewers smile and eager to continue watching after the appalling 3 seasons we've had. Clever, admittedly. It's obviously the only way they could make us care to tune in next time, which I'm sure we will, excited for a promising, well-deserved good episode with a new writer.