Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

It's the last episode of Doctor Who as we hit the season finale other than the New Years Day episode (she's coming back though!)

We've loved this Doctor,  she has been amazing and endearing from the start - but the writing has not supported her - the treatment of Yasmin (and utter failure to development) and the lack of classic Who elements was an issue. This Doctor deserves better writing

Doctor Who: Season 11, Episode 9: It Takes You Away

Apologies for Renee who has the dreaded death plague and sounds like she's auditioning to be a particularly low budget Who villain

Another episode of Doctor Who with excellent emotional development for some characters and ongoing gross neglect of everything Yazmin could have been

Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 8: The Witchfinders

The latest episode of Doctor Who, looking at misogyny, bullying and which characters' stories need telling. And the ongoing lament of how under used Yasmin is

Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 7: Kerblam!

Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 6: Demons of the Punjab

Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 5: The Tsuranga Conundrum

Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 4: Arachnids in the UK

Doctor Who: Season 11, Episode 3: Rosa

Doctor Who: Season 11, Episode 1: Strangers in the Night

It's the first adventure of the new Doctor!

The Frankenstein Chronicles: Season 2, Episode 6: Bride of Frankenstein

Marlott is captured and chained up and Esther is dead in the process of becoming not dead. Dippel is being super creepy with Esther. Harvey is being super creepy with Marlott. Everyone’s trying to out creepy everyone else and they’re all going for gold

Esther is resurrected - but that whole weird creepy beach vision which I thought was Marlott’s hallucination? Well it turns out like all the surreal moody visions, they’re actually real. This beach seems to represent… limbo? Maybe? ANyway this is why our not-entirely-dead people keep going there (because the land is life and the sea is death so the beach is sort of in between. Nice metaphor. Also points for moodiness. And making sure there are no seagulls. I feel seagulls would ruin this). And Esther, on her way back from death, is in the sea and drowning… until Marlott wades in and pulls her out

Which is nice but why does Esther need a helping hand back to the land of the living?

This also gives Marlot chance to tell Harvey what a terrible person he is killing his wife - he protests he didn’t but Marlot claims she set the fire that killed her because it was the only way to escape him. Because, yes, those creepy visions were real and were her ghost

While Dippel embraces Marlot as a sibling because they’re both not!dead people. He’s also passionate in his belief there is no god, this allows you to do anything but also is why he doesn’t want to die because it’s the end of everything. This from a man who literally sees a vision of life death and limbo AND sees ghosts. At least point being rather certain that there’s no afterlife seems… not the workings of a rational mind. “There is no afterlife now I’m going to lure this woman into following me into eternal life with the ghost of her son!”

I feel the writers may need a slap upside the head from an atheist

Harvey and Dippel are also working together - Harvey is really impressed with Dippel’s dad’s work - Dippel is really impressed that Harvey can replicate it but they both kind of need each other: Dippel is holding on to the formula for the catalyst while Dippel seems to be running out of the stuff and possibly unable to recreate it without Harvey’s genius.

But I’m getting ahead of myself - because while, as I said last episode, everyone on team bad guy knows each other and is working together, they’re all also all sharpening their knives for more quality back stabbing than a Tory Party conference.

The Dean is duly concerned that the current king is days away from dropping dead and Prince William the heir is Not a Fan and all those pesky murders. So when Renquist turns to him asking if the Dean will protect him the Dean happily says “god will protect you”. Which is religious talk for “you’re screwed”.

Renquist responds to this by going to Boz the journalist and exposing the Dean as the murderer trying to make lots of money out of Pyre Street. He also orders the Parish Watch to arrest Dippel for the murders just so he can have a scapegoat

Queenie, Dippel’s maid, does some of her own sleuthing in Dippel’s murder rooms and finds Nightingale’s keepsake. A token mothers left with their babies at the foundling home where she and Nightingale grew up so, if matters changed, the mother could prove which child was there’s by describing this unique token. She has proof Nightingale was there and takes it to the Inspector, threatening to take it to the Parish watch if he won’t act

Yes that’s the watch and the police after Dippel now.

Which is why, with Esther newly awakened and screaming, the police arrive. Dippel and Harvey promptly turn on each other, fighting over Dippel’s dad’s catalyst and the formula: Harvey breaks the bottle which leaves Dippel distraught and all but licking it from the floor. This is why I think Dippel is incapable of recreating it - which is why he needs Hervey, I guess.

I wonder if Esther and Marlott will need that catalyst as well?

The Frankenstein Chronicles: Season 2, Episode 5: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

And lo we learn that not only is everyone really creepy and really evil but quite possibly all working together as well

Except Sir Robert Peel - but he’s desperate to get his admittedly very nice sounding reforms passed so is willing to work with just about anyone to make that happen despite the opposition of the evil dean of Westminster and his evil murdering coroner Renquist. We’ve already seen him willing to work with Dippel and now he introduces his new advisor who will hopefully convince Prince William (heir to the throne, brother to George IV, current king who seems to side with the the Dean but is also not in great health) to support him. Oh Sir Robert, such good intentions, such terrible bed fellows

His whole moment is somewhat disturbed by Nightingale's body washing up, minus heart

Seriously show, I’m not going to forgive Nightingale's wasted death.

We see Queenie, naturally, consumed by grief over this - revealing she loved him and also fears she may have been responsible for his death by telling him about the creepy things in creepy Dipple’s creepy home. She is convinced to go to the police with this but the Inspector isn’t exactly thrilled with the idea that a ranting Nightingale may have gone after one of the richest men in London because he thought a hanged man had committed a murder. He dismisses her

But when Sir Peel comes to him to point out they’re now competing with evil church people so there better be some leed, the Inspector seizes on it as better than nothing

Marlot has gone full angst mode because Sean Bean, that’s why. He’s driving poor Esther off, convinced that everyone around him dies because Nightingale’s death is good for some Manpain. He does ramble about being haunted by the ghosts of murdered people he can’t help. Which sounds bad but it’s not like any of these ghosts even invest in chains or anything. It’s pretty low key haunting

He does get a lead on Lord Hervey though, from Boz, who is more than a little miffed that the church Coroner Renquist feeding him lies has made him look like a fool. Boz recruits Marlot and tells him LORD HERVEY LIVES and is working for the Home Secretary.

This leads to Marlot intimidating Renquist just because he can for some reason but not learning much beyond how evil traders in body parts have lots of ice - so he’s now off to harass Dipple. While Renquist goes to Lord Hervey because it turns out he is Lord Hervey’s protege and has a kind of creepy devotion which may or may not be gay subtext but if it is I’m going to break things because this is nooooot a good look. Lord Hervey reveals his plan to basically throw Dipple to the wolves (because, yes, Hervey knows Dipple. Seriously all the bad guys are working together here) if the king dies and they don’t have a powerful patron. Renquist is smart enough to realise Hervey may do the same to him but too devoted to actually follow through with that

The Frankenstein Chronicles: Season 2, Episode 4: Little Boy Lost

Spence has previously warned us that going against the Dean of Westminster will get you murdered. But when he sends out a directive to have his reverends spouting that the plague is the fault of the naughty naughty sinners his temper snaps since he knows the well is being deliberately poisoned. He speaks up, ranting in church

And the Dean catches up with him, wielding a knife to stab him into silence - while also making an evil evil speech about how he likes to listen to the noises people make as he murdered them. Just in case we were under any real illusion about how evil this man is. He just needs an evil moustache to twirl.

This doesn’t make Merlot’s life any easier because he discovers Spence’s body and is duly horrified and grief stricken and, well, Sean Bean. Honestly when this man smiles the world will end.

He’s also discovered near the body and chased by the police who naturally suspect he is the murderer. He’s even seen by Nightingale leaving the scene which leaves Nightingale convinced he’s the murderer

Of course telling the Inspector that a dead man is behind the murders reassures no-one: and his Inspector suspends him on account of the fact he’s accusing dead men of murder and that’s not a good look in a policeman.

Merlot does follow Billy Oate’s lead on the dead man in the well and finds that a ship was quarantined due to plague. Following that they find the rest of the crew - where they’ve been put in an abandoned room basically to die. Merlot walks through the gauntlet of ghosts they’ve left behind - this time not reacting. It looks like he’s finally accepted what they are.

Meanwhile at the House of Dipple-this-man-is-definitely-a-serial-killer Queenie the maid continues to be freaked out by the creepy serial killer house she’s living in. She tries to tell Nightingale (who may live there? They’re both foundlings from the same orphanage which is their link) but she’s distracted comforting him about seeing dead people and his unresolved issues over Flora.

Dipple is holding a party to show off his murder doll and he invites Esther - who in turn invites Merlot to be her plus one because she needs another poor person to be super awkward and out of place in the rich guy’s home.

There the doll is every bit as creepy as you can imagine and Dipple focuses on emitting the most intense serial killer vibes ever. Even though the doll is a woman in make up it still manages uncanny valley. For some reason rather than watch the marionette in case it launches itself at the crowd and starts killing people, Merlot decides to go wandering through the house instead. As one does. Seriously I can see no reason why Merlot decides it’s appropriate to do that. He finds Dipple’s secret spooky door but Queenie the maid shows up to shoo him off for appalling house guest manners.

The Frankenstein's Chronicles, Season 2, Episode 3 Seeing the Dead

The plague continues to kill many people, including whole families. We see more utterly poor people dropped into plague pits, unable to afford a consecrated burial and having to invent their own burial tradition.

Moved to pity, Merlot goes to try and offer charity to a woman who has lost so many of her children already - but she’s already plagued and would rather have his help cleaning up. She also begs him to bury her and her remaining children next to each other

Ouch…

There’s also more talk about god abandoning them and we learn more about the evil Dean of Westminster from Spence, Merlot’s new friend/contact/boss. He was an ex-priest. He admits he used to drink - but the reason he was kicked out wasn’t the drink, it was opposing the Dean. He further reveals that the three dead priests (there’s been a third murder) were part of an alliance fighting against the wicked Dean and his terribad plant to sell lots of church land to make himself super super super rich. And now they got murdered. Spence doesn’t think it’s a coincidence

But Merlot goes further - grabbing a map of the area and plotting the people who died - and find that the deaths are clustered very closely together - all on Pyre street. An area which will be worth a lot of money… IF the slums are cleared out. Spence doesn’t believe a man can call down plagues - but Merlot is convinced Lord Hervey could do it with his evil science. Of course he kind of thinks Lord Hervey is behind everything

They go investigating and Merlot realises that the dead all get water from the same well (take a moment to praise John Snow who did this in real life. No, not that John Snow; your history teacher is ashamed of you) - and when he excavates he finds a body in the well, with a sailor tattoo. Clearly put there deliberately to contaminate the water.

While he discovers this Merlot also screams and rants and raves at a crowd of people only he can see - which i think are the ghosts who died. I’m definitely going with ghosts not visions.

Also in town is Mrs. Wild’s Penny exhibition which is, amusingly, presenting a play of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I think we’re going to see a lot more of Mrs. Wild as she’s already showing compassion, wit, snapping intelligence and insight which makes her interesting in the brief moments she appears.

One of the members of her troupe is Billy Oates - from season 1. He was a criminal who controlled Flora and sorta worked for Lord Hervey and who Merlot got transported. He is now back, after becoming a sailor. Merlot and Billy have a few confrontations (involving punching and knives) since, obviously, their history is not great and Merlot is super obsessed with Lord Hervey - but Billy insists that he is not involved with the man and has no idea where he is. And the fact both he and the corpse became sailors with similar tattoos is coincidence. He does agree to help find where he got the tattoo though

About that latest murder - Nightengale finds the body before the Parish watch and quickly steals it so they can do their own autopsy much to frustration of the evil Dean’s evil minions. This means he gets the actual autopsy -including that the heart was carefully removed by an experienced and capable killer and probably not an escaped lunatic from Bethlem.

He also earns the respect of Sir Peel who is currently on side with anyone who opposes the evil Dean. Especially since the Dean is preventing him creating new cemetaries to help ease the burden of the over-burdened plague cemeteries. Because that would eat into the Dean’s profits. Yes, he’s evil.

The Frankenstein Chronicles: Season 2, Episode 1: Prodigal Son

So you watch a show and then it’s like 2 years before the next season. Which is unnecessary, television, very unnecessary

And then you forget about it so wait like 6 months to watch it. And then you’ve got to remind yourself who these characters actually are, what’s happening and why is there syphilis.

So with a hearty “I have no idea what I’m doing,” I’m diving in! Hey why change a habit of a lifetime?

John Merlotte was a policeman in King George’s new police force in London. He died and then Lord Hervey the very very nefarious brought him back to life all Frankenstein-y just 10 minutes before I gave up on this show ever having any supernatural elements

Now back from the dead, we’re focusing a lot on ATMOSPHERE. So it’s all a bit vague and emotive - and it’s extremely good at that. There’s definitely an incredibly powerful sense of Merlot’s confusion, his being out of place, and his confused and painful memories along with his extremely painful memories and experiences. It’s jarring and full of despair and bleakness

Yes, Sean Bean is delivering bleakness and despair. You’re shocked, folks, I’m sure.

He has been detained in Bethlem and has been there for 3 years. He’s near catatonic, hallucinating about the beach and his past and trying to find some sense in his confused and broken mind. The one person who visits him in all this time is Reverend Ambrose, who knew John before he was hanged, but even he can only get a brief reaction.

Until he finally breaks through to sanity - or something resembling it - and manages to yanks his chains from the wall and slit the throat of one of his guards.

I don’t know if undead Merlot is super strong or whether the chains are just poorly maintained.

He escapes and makes his way to Lord Hervey’s old home which is abandoned. At least I think he does. It’s also possible he’s hallucinating this - again atmosphere and theme and ominousness as he pieces together his memories about how Lord Hervey tried to make him into his protege/project and it didn’t go that well (hence Bethlem).

There’s also Lady Hervey as well, Lord Herving’s highly religious wife who was already highly conflicted about her husband’s experiments. The quote is “if he succeeds then we have a world without god”. And he just succeeded - and he’s likely to do more of these experiments: Merlot won’t be the last. She feels guilty and damned: and is pretty much convinced god has forsaken her and Merlot. And she needs him to hunt Hervey down (with a hint that since he’s damned anyway he might as well do a lot of fun murdering).

Doctor Who, Season 11, Episode 0: Twice Upon a Time

Time for the iconic Doctor Who Christmas episode. An episode that not only brings us a new regeneration but also has the first Doctor and the 12th Doctor together for most of the episode

And I liked a lot of these dynamics - I love how Doctor #1 is clearly not as reliant on the tech and toys that Doctor #12 is (yet is still effective despite that) and how much the Doctor has grown and changed to become the creature he has

I am more leery with Doctor #1 being not just a crotchety old man but talking down to Doctor #12 because of it. I mean, Time Lords must be used to people being so many centuries older than them while looking younger. I even imagine meeting a future/past incarnation of yourself may be not entirely out of the realm of possibility (how many times have the Doctor done it after all?).

Doctor #1’s sexism - yes it was played for heavy humour, yes it was a nod to the fact the first season of old Who was waaaay back in 1963 and like any show that old there are Problems. And Doctor #12’s utter cringing embarrassment in the face of it was kind of amusing: but we’re still seeing a species of aliens that has somehow adopted human sexism despite a) being ancient enough and wise enough to know better and b) coming from a species to whole, if gender as a concept is even relevant, will be waaay different from what we can conceive of)

We start going back 709 episodes ago (and am I the only one geekily thrilled by that number? And am I further the only one living in horror of the fact I haven’t watched half of these and now I need to watch them all! MUST WATCH THEM ALL) with a really really good mash up of original footage and modern actors playing the role of Doctor #1 and Polly and Ben.

Way back then, Doctor #1 is also resisting the urge to regenerate, same as Doctor #12 - and both of them end up together in Antarctica.

Doctor #12 recognises his old sense and the whole regeneration denial thing but is then completely lost in the joyous nostalgia of his younger self still calling a Tardis a “ship” (and not recognising sonic technology). In a moment of slight hypocrisy, Doctor #12 is horrified that doctor #1 may die and change history so 11 incarnations of the Doctor didn’t exist

This is another major theme of this episode wove subtly through it: The Doctor matters. He is important.

But before they can get into this they’re joined by a British soldier from World War 1. Through Time Shenanigans he has been transported from his deadly yet moving stand off in a crater facing off against a German soldier, neither wanting to fight, neither wanting to communicate - he has now been dumped in the middle of a multi-doctor argument and invited onto the Tardis: Doctor #12’s Tardis (as he says: Always remember where you parked! And oh how the Doctor needed to learn that lesson!)

Doctor #1 is not amused by how the Tardis has been redecorated. Nor about regenerating without a little more youth.

The Captain is also quite upset by Doctor #12 referring to World War “One”. oops, spoilers.

Doctor #1 is also not entirely on board with how Doctor #12 refers to the Earth: It Is Protected (Doctor #1: It is? By who?!)

They are captured by the alien species behind the time shenanigans and pulled on board their ship - The Chamber of the Dead which has advanced time travel technology and people made of glass (again interesting look at how the Doctors operate: Doctor #12 waving around his Sonic Screwdriver while Doctor #1 examines the glass being closely and sees it’s asymmetrical: a computer generated construct would not be). Doctor #1 is also very very disturbed to hear that he’s referred to as “The Doctor of War”.

The people of the Chamber of the Dead want him them to hand over the Captain in the ship and in exchange they will let him speak to “her”

It's The 13th Doctor and We're Still Waiting

But times change and so must I. We all change, when you think about it.
We are all different people all through our lives and that's okay, that's good you've got to keep moving so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.
I will not forget one line of this, not one day, I swear. I will always remember when The Doctor was me...

                                                                       ---The Doctor

Like many Whovians, I sat through a tennis match I wasn’t interested in yesterday in order to watch the live announcement on who the 13th Doctor would be.  The speculation began the moment that Peter Capaldi announced that he was leaving this iconic role. Naturally, everyone had opinions as several names were bandied about.  Some of the names in rotation were: Kris Marshall, Natalie Dormer, Alexander Siddig, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sacha Dhawan, Cyril Nri etc.  When it came to the casting, the central question always seemed to be would the Doctor remain a man, as he has been for over fifty years, or would he follow Missy’s lead and become a woman?  

When it came to conversations about a male Doctor, the challenge seemed to be about whether or not the Doctor would be of colour or be yet another incarnation of straight, cisgender white masculinity.  Naturally, the traditionalists spit their damn dummy out at the very idea that the Doctor might no longer be white, even if they were relieved that he could potentially stay male. This of course is the problem with toxic fandom, of which Whovians are only a part of.  Think about the character of the Doctor. He sweeps in when things are at their most desperate and he saves the day.  The Doctor is always the smartest one in the room, the first to solve the puzzle and if necessary, the one to cast judgement and lay down the law.  No wonder people continue to see the Doctor as male - he is the perfect example of our patriarchal power structure.  

The majority of heads of state are male, the majority of judges are male, the majority of police officer are also male.  These are positions of authority which are responsible for laying down the law, figuring out what went wrong and assigning punishment. For as much as I love the Doctor, he is a cop, politician (president of the world) and finally judge. How could any being embodying these roles and not be considered male, when women are still very much outliers in these careers despite the gains of feminism?  Because this bullshit has gone on so long, it reads as traditional; the problem is that no one wants to think about what these damn traditions are based in because to do would be to admit the toxicity not just of a fandom we gleefully participate in but a deep rooted rot in our system.

Even though the series has spent some considerable effort explaining gender through the perspective of Time Lords and actually portrayed two Time Lords changing gender from male to female, traditionalists simply could not, nay would not consider a woman in the role of Doctor.  Even as I write this, there are people across the globe pouting, shaking their fists and spitting their dummies out en masse. Some even having the nerve to question why their disapproval of a female Doctor makes them sexist. There is always controversy when a new Doctor is cast. Many were not happy when a relatively unknown Matt Smith was cast as the 11th Doctor; however, by the time he left, many (though I am not part of that group) came to consider Matt Smith as their favourite Doctor (these people are wrong, of course). It’s hardly surprising now that Peter Capaldi is leaving that those who found him to be old, grumpy and just plain too mean to be the Doctor are now all up in their feelings, blowing through boxes of Kleenex, expressing their sorrow at losing him. This is the cycle of how Whovians mourn the loss of one Doctor and prepare for the arrival of a new one. Certainly, no one expected near universal praise for the casting of Jodie Whittaker, but to base that disapproval solely on her gender, rather than, say, her previous work, is SEXIST.  In fact it’s undeniable SEXISM.

And the 13th Doctor Is.....

It's official, the BBC has announced that the new Doctor is English actress Jodie Whittaker.  Joddie is the first woman to be cast in the iconic role as Doctor Who. Each time a new Doctor is cast Whovians wring their hands and carry on and I suspect that this will be amplified by Chris Chibnall's selection. There will of course be the sexist whose heads explode about the fact that the Doctor is now a woman, even though it's been thoroughly shown on Doctor Who that Timelords do in fact shift their gender when they regenerate. The conversation will probably be polarized between those who want to keep the White man's club and those who are anxious to see a real shift.

We've written countless times about the fact that Doctor Who tends to benefit from the diversity of its spinoffs even if Doctor Who itself hasn't really been all that inclusive.  The casting of Jodie Whittaker is a step in the right direction.  Whittaker has set herself a tough task ahead because while no new incarnation is free of criticism, it's quite certain that hers will be absolutely laced with misogyny regardless of how good she performs in the role, or the work that the writers give her to do. 

To be clear, I'm going to miss Peter Capaldi a lot. I think that he's been an excellent Doctor and completely compelling to watch but it's time to say goodbye. Just like Doctor's we've come to love before he will be remembered for his unique approach to this role and thanked for giving the world angry eyebrows. As we move forward into a new incarnation, I hope that we can embrace the new and give Whittaker a real chance to embody this role.  I hope that we can be everything that the Doctor has always wanted humanity to be. 

Doctor Who & the Importance of Bill

At the end of every season of Doctor Who, fans spend their time hashing out the merits of the season while whining about the wait for the Xmas episode. With Peter Capaldi and potentially Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas leaving, there is so much to break down, celebrate, and mourn over.  It’s easy to focus on the Doctor, because he is the titular character; however, the Doctor would not be the Doctor without his companions and of course Missy/The Master.

I know all of you Clara fans were all in tears when the Raven came calling and for a time, people couldn’t picture anyone else in the Tardis with the Doctor. Bill Potts came as a refreshing surprise and quickly became the companion that many viewers didn’t realise that they needed. The most obvious differences between Bill and the other companions is that she is Black, female and gay. Yes, finally a major gay recurring character on Doctor Who. Don’t get your panties in a knot Captain Jack fans. Jack was most certainly bisexual but given the amount of episodes he appeared in, any reasonable person would be hard pressed to call him a major character and or a companion and in fact, most of Jack’s importance comes from him staring in Torchwood and not his appearances on Doctor Who.

It terms of minority representation Bill certainly ticks a lot of boxes but there’s so much more to her character than that.  Bill didn’t have a lot of time on the Tardis and therefore much of the time, she was working in ignorance.  Almost every week Bill would discover something new about either the Doctor himself or Timelords in general. These are things that would have developed more slowly with longer running companions like Clara, giving the companion time to adjust to new ideas, whereas; Bill always had to adapt to new situations on the fly and make adjustments based on that. Sometimes Bill had to make decisions without all of the facts, like when she chose to kill the Doctor in The Lie of the Land. Toby Whithouse, put Bill in a terrible position and while he didn’t have the courage to have her follow through with rightful rage after discovering the Doctor’s manipulation in the way that Clara did in Kill the Moon, Whithouse did allow Bill to prove that she had the mettle to travel with the Doctor and make the hard decisions.

Ending up on the Tardis would be an amazing adventure for anyone but through it all, Bill never loses who she is, or gets caught up in the moment.  She’s not afraid to challenge the Doctor on the location of the ninth legion, or take the risk to save an innocent creature, even if it means risking the lives of humans. All through this season the Doctor constantly tests Bill, pushing her boundaries.  At some point all of the companions have had to lay down the law with the Doctor because of his penchant for dropping in on their lives.  Rory and Amy struggled to balance their lives and their trips with the Doctor.  Clara had difficulty having a relationship with Danny Pink, in part due to her travels and in part due to the Doctor’s disapproval.  In each instance, each companion had time to adjust but because of Bill’s short tenure she was forced to throw up walls early. Sure it turned out to be handy that the Doctor agreed to help her move; however, she still found the strength to let him know that her personal life is not something she wanted invaded, no matter how tempting the adventure. All along the way, Bill asserts herself and claims her identity without any kind of shame, even when Catholic Cardinals crash her date.

Perhaps what I love most about Bill is the fact that she is a walking talking geek reference.  Whether it’s invoking Star Trek or other sci shows or films, Bill never misses an opportunity to throw in a reference.  Sure, it often goes over the Doctor’s head but it always serves as a moment of hilarity and helps the audience to bond with her as a person.  Bill is a Whovians dream in that sense. A geek watching a geek make geek references is some great television. This follows in that almost 4th-wall breaking geekiness of her poking holes in Doctor Who itself - I love how she was willing to question some of the very fundamentals of Who everyone kind of accepted. Who didn't love it when the Doctor started bragging about how advanced Timelords are that Bill pointed that they're called Timelords?

Doctor Who, Season Ten, Episode Twelve: The Doctor Falls

I almost don't know where to start with this final episode because there's so much that needs unpacking. On top of it all, Moffat had me all up in my feelings with his delicate balance between humor and impending doom. We had dueling timelords and masturbatory Masters. It was all too much and just enough at the same time.

The overarching question this season seemed to center around whether or not Missy could be redeemed.  The Doctor and the Master have known each other since childhood and Missy, is the only one really capable of being the Doctor's ever lasting companion because while the Doctor's human companions can spend the rest of their lives with him, he cannot spend the rest of his life with them. This is even more true now that the Doctor potentially has unlimited regenerations. World Enough and Time was supposed to be Missy's test run at being good but it all runs into a wall when she meets the Master. 

I must admit that Missy and the Master played off of each other so well. Until the very end we didn't know exactly where Missy stood. Her two hearts were pulled between her previous incarnation and her life long frenemy. John Simm's Master continued to throw in just the right amount of nasty, teasing Bill about being a cyberman and the role he played in that change, as well asking her for a bra, in reference to his own upcoming regeneration. John Simm's Master is evil because he can be and even when it leads to the revolt of an entire population because of the cruelty of his headship, he sees no reason to change, only a reason to move onto something new. 

Throughout this entire episode, we were continually reminded of just how great an actor Peter Capaldi is. I'm going to miss him so very very much.  When the Doctor gave an epic speech explaining that he does what he does not for attention or accolades but because it is the right thing to do, I found myself completely drawn in.  Missy, who has been struggling to change was clearly conflicted but of course, the Master didn't give a damn whatsoever about the Doctor's appeal to the better angels of his nature.

When the final stand between Missy and the Master occurs, it's quickly clear that it could not have ended any other way. Missy killing the Master was perfect and stealthy, just the way that you expect Missy to act. When Missy declares that it's time to stand with the Doctor, we know in this very second the Doctor has won and that he will finally have his eternal companion. Naturally this cannot be allowed to stand and so the Master destroys his own future redemption by killing Missy and making it clear that she shouldn't even bother to try and regenerate. The Master absolutely refuses to stand by the Doctor. The Master may be fascinated by being a Time Lady but he's only wiling to allow himself to go so far.  It makes me wonder if Missy's change of heart is about her experiences with the Doctor, or if the change in gender between the Master and Missy was simply enough to change her outlook on life and the universe? It makes very little sense for the Master to kill Missy, knowing that he's about to become Missy himself.  It shows the level of his unwillingness to bend.  I am absolutely going to miss Michelle Gomez as Missy.

Doctor Who, Season Ten, Episode Eleven: World Enough and Time

World Enough and Time is the penultimate episode of this season.  This means that we potentially only have one more episode with our beloved Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, especially given that the season finale is entitled The Doctor Falls. There's also some tension regarding the fate of Bill, given that Pearl Mackie only signed on to be a companion for one season.  Are we going to lose the first LGBT companion and second Black companion after only one season? It's all a bit too much to take my fellow Whovians.  

As much as this season has been about Missy's redemption, it's also been a sort of look back at previous Doctors and previous adventures. This is why the The Mondasian Cybermen are the prefect adversary in World Enough and Time. Unlike the present incarnation which is completely metal, the cybermen are still being established and they still have cloth faces, like they did in the original Doctor Who. 

The upgrade is terribly painful and the cybermen scream in pain and one even begs to die.  It's why the next upgrade is to make it so that the cybermen don't care about the pain. We finally know the purpose of the iconic handles.  It made me think quite a bit about when Danny Pink became a cyberman and the pain he complained about. We know that Mondas is pretty much a twin to earth and that when faced with the possibility of the extinction of indigenous people of the occurred, everyone went cyber and now they no longer resembled the beings they used to be. This is a necessary explanation because until now, we had no idea why anyone would willingly choose to become a cyberman.