Okay, I enjoyed that. It was super rushed and there are plot holes you could drive a truck through, but I'm not in the mood for poking at them. It was entertaining to watch and made at least an effort to tie up all its loose threads, which I appreciate.
I feel like I should be annoyed at the idea that UNIT had a fully functioning TARDIS buried in storage since 1967 that no one ever thought to mention, through all the decades of the Doctor's acquaintance with them, but I can't be annoyed because the thought of it is just too damn funny to me. All those years Pertwee's Doctor spent trapped on Earth because his own TARDIS had been disabled, and no one ever thought to mention that they had another one safely stashed away someplace! It wasn't clear why Kate brought it into play here, other than it was required by the plot, because there was no in-story reason for her to know that she was about to meet the very version of the Doctor who had mislaid it.
I think the fast and furious nature of the storytelling is probably the biggest downside of the series, as so much character development got glossed over and lost in the shuffle. Maybe if we'd had the extra couple of episodes originally intended, they'd all have had a bit more time to breathe - or then again, maybe not, as character has never really been a focus of Chibnall's time on the show. There were some moments and dynamics I really enjoyed, though. Even under all that fur, Craig Els really sold Karvanista's devastation at the fate of the other Lupari, just with his eyes and the stillness of his posture. And I loved the brief pairing of Di and Vinder inside Passenger, sharing knowledge and figuring out how to escape - their conversations made me regret all over again the way this Doctor has been characterised, always so manic and incoherent, babbling nonsensically. That characterisation felt quite out of place here, set against how focused and coherent everyone else was. Whittaker had some really good moments in this episode where she was allowed to be calm and intent, especially when she was being Time, and I really wish she'd been allowed to play the Doctor that way from the start.
Did not enjoy the Doctor admiring herself and having a crush on herself. 🙄 Having her split into three parts, skipping around trying frantically to resolve everything all at once (again with the awful dialogue) felt like a covid/episode reduction consequence. I suspect they'd have been able to resolve some of these plot threads a bit more neatly if there had been the originally planned 8 episodes. Or then again, maybe it was always planned to be this frenetic.
I'm very amused, given all the fan theorising, that there was no real significance to Bel and Vinder (or their baby) after all, they really were just what it said on the tin: a pair of star-crossed lovers trying to find each other in a broken universe. Not gonna lie, I would totally watch a series of those two and Karvanista freelancing their way across the galaxy. I love all three of them, way more than I've ever taken to Yaz or Dan.
I am very sad about Jericho. He was great and deserved a fabulous future of Big Finish audio adventures. Maybe he can still have a few set during the Lost Years spent in the 1900s with Yaz and Dan! Or maybe a Karvanista, Vinder & Bel (& Tigmi) Big Finish series...
That said, while I've enjoyed having the recurring characters through the series, it all got very crowded there again come the end, which meant that no one really got much in the way of satisfying interaction or resolution.
When the Grand Serpent introduced himself to the Doctor, I expected her to say 'oh yeah, I've heard of you', because didn't Vinder tell her his backstory the other week? But no, no sign she'd ever heard the name before. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. Or maybe the Doctor just forgot. I was unclear on how the Grand Serpent got from where he was when Vinder worked for him to his years on Earth and the alliance with the Sontarans, but I don't think that particular sub-plot was really worth the headache of trying to figure it out, so I won't.
Just going to note for the record that the Flux was stopped but not undone in this episode, which means that vast swathes of the universe remain utterly devastated - not for the first time in the show's history, but I'm wondering if this will ever be referenced again, or if the scale of the devastation (including the supposed destruction of the show's biggest baddies) will just be swept under the carpet again going forward. Because they made such a big deal about how most of the universe had been destroyed, Earth was one of the last planets left standing - not even Earth's solar system, just Earth itself, which doesn't sound all that viable for long-term survival, but none of that detail got resolved at all.
Still not a fan of the Timeless Child story, so I appreciate that it was kept to a very light touch here. The Division ship with its lone Ood were a loose end left hanging - to be picked up again in one of the specials, I imagine.
Overall, a decent finale, and taken as a whole I really liked this serialised approach to the show.
Edited December 5, 2021 by LlywelancG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJoaGtsZGeDbr%2BQbJxpbl2YtaK8056pZquZrXq1tMRmrZqmoaq2tLTEq6po