Tom Salinsky

Wow, that came around fast. It seems only yesterday that I was pondering the impact of incel #1 Alan in The Robot Revolution and now already we’re gunning for the season finale, which features the return of incel #2 Conrad. As usual, it’s hard to judge the effectiveness of the story as a whole when we only have the first half to consider, and last year I was blown away by episode seven and felt episode eight didn’t quite live up to it. This time, I’m not quite so blown away by episode seven, but I feel as if the pieces are in place for what could be a terrific conclusion to what has been quite a strong season.

Rather than spend an entire episode having the Doctor desperately trying to prevent Rani #1 and Rani #2 from putting their evil plan into action, rather thrillingly we begin with the plan having almost completely succeeded. And it’s a slightly odd one, although the explanations are there if you listen carefully (or put the subtitles on). Omega can only be freed by cracking open the planet and that means constructing an obviously fake world which the inhabitants can then start doubting. This gives everybody the chance to play different versions of their familiar characters, which is always fun. So we have Ncuti and Varada as Mr and Mrs Smith, Jemma Redgrave as his clockwatching boss and even UNIT HQ is cos-playing as the Masque of Mandragora TARDIS.

Meanwhile, although Jonah Hauer-King still seems to me like a space where a person should be, and Bonnie Langford gets little to do as Mel, Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson are having the absolute time of their lives, job-sharing the role of the Rani and Jonathan Groff, Susan Twist and Carole Ann Ford are along for the ride too. The gag of identical yellow mugs that slip through tables is deliciously odd, and the parable about the disabled is nicely handled. But there are an awful lot of unanswered questions at this stage: why is Omega underneath our planet? Will his reappearance be yet more jeopardy-via-surname or will his role make sense given his history and be understandable by new viewers? What is Space Baby Poppy doing there? And – as usual – just how will the Doctor get out of that one.

This all looks amazing – director Alex Sanjiv Pillai does lovely work and the set design is gorgeous – so I was very happy while it was on. My only doubts are about next week…