Doctor Who: The Reality War – season two finale and Ncuti Gatwa era recap
And just like that, he was gone, and the Ncuti Gatwa era is over. It was the shortest tenure in the role since Christopher Eccleston did just one series in 2005, and even within his brief run there was more than one episode where Gatwa barely featured.
But without doubt the first Black actor to lead the show left his mark on the role – an incarnation with a winning smile, the catchphrase 'babes', relentless enthusiasm, and without the emotional baggage that was increasingly weighing down his predecessors. He departed with joy.
With episodes like this, it is very much about enjoying the ride as it rushes from scene to scene, without worrying too much about whether the actual plot makes sense. That may not be the kind of Doctor Who everybody wants.
The scene between Gatwa and the returning Jodie Whittaker was beautifully played. The lines about the 13th Doctor never telling Yaz she loved her were perfectly pitched by Russell T Davies to give closure to the awkward non-committal scenes we saw between Whittaker and Mandip Gill in The Power of the Doctor from the pen of Chris Chibnall.
Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday again shone in scenes where she was the protagonist rather than the sidekick. Her decision, after everything he had done, to choose the kindness of wishing Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King) happiness, rather than vengeance, was one of the most Doctor Who things ever.
Archie Panjabi's take on the Rani, unhinged by the destruction of Gallifrey and the sterility of the Time Lords and unrequited in her feelings for the Doctor was exquisite, and Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood was always a tremendous presence on screen.
But if we are talking about unrequited feelings, the surprise return of Steph de Whalley as Anita quickly turned from happiness to see her to experiencing her sadness as we saw her watch the Doctor and Rogue (Jonathan Groff) dancing in the past, and realise that Gatwa was never going to be her man.
And so, at the end, a season that gave us both Dugga Doo and Mr Ring-a-Ding finished with Billie Piper saying 'Oh, hello!'. What a wild nonsensical ride it has been.
What if Doctor Who did the weirdest thing it could possibly do and appear to cast a former companion as the lead?
Belinda (Varada Sethu) was thankfully back to the spikier version of her that we first met in The Robot Revolution and Lux, rather than the bland version that appeared in the mid-season episodes, but it appears she has departed the show along with Gatwa. It would have been nice to have more of her.
The battle scene which pitted the Avengers tower from Marvel against bone dinosaurs pretending to be At-Ats from Star Wars was hilarious, but in this episode it was really only the brief CGI appearance of Omega that was an alien big bad. If the fear last week was the fear of otherness in a dystopian world, the fear here was that of losing a child – or wanting one but never getting the chance. A very human fear that might hit very differently depending on your own personal circumstances.
Probably the biggest mystery is that having introduced a cameo of Carole Ann Ford as the Doctor's granddaughter Susan two episodes ago, and this episode revolving around whether Poppy was the Doctor's daughter, that the two were not tied together.
It was also surely deliberate that the end credits very clearly said 'Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor. Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. And introducing Billie Piper' but did not specify who it was introducing her as.
And Anita mentioned 'the boss', a reference back to a set-up by the Meep way back in 2023's 60th anniversary special The Star Beast, a story that now appears to be two Doctors ago.
Gatwa's decision to pronounce Omega differently to everybody around him will surely go down in Doctor Who lore along with Matt Smith's mispronounced Metebelis III during Hide.
Anita opening time doors left, right and centre looking for the Doctor in his past suggests that perhaps in every episode since 1974 some combination of her, Clara's impossible girl, and Sutekh clinging to the Tardis have all been present. It is getting a bit crowded in the past.
I forgot to mention last week that the inclusion of a clip of Kate O'Mara playing the Rani in a flashback sequence lifted from 1993 Comic Relief EastEnders crossover episode Dimensions in Time finally makes it officially canon.
The War Between the Land and the Sea – featuring Russell Tovey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jemma Redgrave and Ruth Madeley among others – sees Unit face off against the sea devils, and is expected to be broadcast later this year.
With no confirmed news on the future of Doctor Who, there was a chance this may be the last episode-by-episode recap for some time, or possibly ever? But Billie Piper's appearance didn't feel like the end of the series, did it?
Either way, I'd like to sign off by thanking all the production staff and comment moderation team that help the recaps happen, the people at the BBC who arrange early access to the episodes and invitations to screenings, you below the line for all your incisive and entertaining comments over the years, and of course, thanks to the much-loved and much-missed Dan Martin, who got the ball rolling 15 years ago with his recap blog of Matt Smith debut The Eleventh Hour. As Gatwa said as he departed the show, this has been an absolute joy. See you … soon?
Season 2
Episode 1: The Robot Revolution
Episode 2: Lux
Episode 3: The Well
Episode 4: Lucky Day
Episode 5: The Story and the Engine
Episode 6: The Interstellar Song Contest
Episode 7: Wish World
Episode 8: The Reality War
Season 1
Episodes 1 & 2: Space Babies / The Devil's Chord
Episode 3: Boom
Episode 4: 73 Yards
Episode 5: Dot and Bubble
Episode 6: Rogue
Episode 7: The Legend of Ruby Sunday
Episode 8: Empire of Death
Christmas special: Joy to the World
60th anniversary specials
Special 1: The Star BeastSpecial 2: Wild Blue YonderSpecial 3: The GiggleChristmas special: The Church on Ruby Road
Flux / Series 13
Chapter one: The Halloween ApocalypseChapter two: War of the SontaransChapter three: Once, Upon TimeChapter four: Village of the AngelsChapter five: Survivors of the FluxChapter six: The VanquishersNew Year's Special: Eve of the DaleksSpring special: Legend of the Sea DevilsBBC centenary special: The Power of the Doctor
Series 12
Episode 1: Spyfall part oneEpisode 2: Spyfall part twoEpisode 3: Orphan 55Episode 4: Nikola Tesla's Night of TerrorEpisode 5: Fugitive of the JudoonEpisode 6: PraxeusEpisode 7: Can You Hear Me?Episode 8: The Haunting of Villa DiodatiEpisode 9: Ascension of the CybermenEpisode 10: The Timeless ChildrenNew Year's special: Revolution of the Daleks
Series 11
Episode 1: The Woman Who Fell to EarthEpisode 2: The Ghost MonumentEpisode 3: RosaEpisode 4: Arachnids in the UKEpisode 5: The Tsuangra CondundrumEpisode 6: Demons of the PunjabEpisode 7: Kerblam!Episode 8: The WitchfindersEpisode 9: It Takes You AwayEpisode 10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av KolosNew Year's special: Resolution
Series 10
Episode 1: The PilotEpisode 2: SmileEpisode 3: Thin IceEpisode 4: Knock KnockEpisode 5: OxygenEpisode 6: ExtremisEpisode 7: The Pyramid at the End of the WorldEpisode 8: The Lie of the LandEpisode 9: Empress of MarsEpisode 10: The Eaters of LightEpisode 11: World Enough and TimeEpisode 12: The Doctor Falls2017 Christmas special: Twice Upon A Time
Series 9
Episode 1: The Magician's ApprenticeEpisode 2: The Witch's FamiliarEpisode 3: Under The LakeEpisode 4: Before The FloodEpisode 5: The Girl Who DiedEpisode 6: The Woman Who LivedEpisode 7: The Zygon InvasionEpisode 8: The Zygon InversionEpisode 9: Sleep No MoreEpisode 10: Face The RavenEpisode 11: Heaven SentEpisode 12: Hell Bent2015 Christmas special: The Husbands of River Song2016 Christmas special: The Return of Doctor Mysterio
Series 8
Episode 1: Deep BreathEpisode 2: Into The DalekEpisode 3: Robot of SherwoodEpisode 4: ListenEpisode 5: Time HeistEpisode 6: The CaretakerEpisode 7: Kill The MoonEpisode 8: Mummy on the Orient ExpressEpisode 9: FlatlineEpisode 10: In the Forest of the NightEpisode 11: Dark WaterEpisode 12: Death In Heaven2014 Christmas special: Last Christmas
Series 7
Episode 1: Asylum of the DaleksEpisode 2: Dinosaurs on a SpaceshipEpisode 3: A Town Called MercyEpisode 4: The Power of ThreeEpisode 5: The Angels Take Manhatten2012 Christmas special: The SnowmenEpisode 6: The Bells of Saint JohnEpisode 7: The Rings of AkhatenEpisode 8: Cold WarEpisode 9: HideEpisode 10: Journey to the Centre of the TardisEpisode 11: The Crimson HorrorEpisode 12: Nightmare in SilverEpisode 13: The Name of the Doctor50th Anniversary special: The Day of the Doctor2013 Christmas special: The Time of the Doctor
Series 6
Episode 1: The Impossible AstronautEpisode 2: Day of the MoonEpisode 3: The Curse of the Black SpotEpisode 4: The Doctor's WifeEpisode 5: The Rebel FleshEpisode 6: The Almost PeopleEpisode 7: A Good Man Goes To WarEpisode 8: Let's Kill HitlerEpisode 9: Night TerrorsEpisode 10: The Girl Who WaitedEpisode 11: The God ComplexEpisode 12: Closing TimeEpisode 13: The Wedding of River Song2011 Christmas special: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe
Series 5
Episode 1: The Eleventh HourEpisode 2: The Beast BelowEpisode 3: Victory of the DaleksEpisode 4: The Time of AngelsEpisode 5: Flesh and StoneEpisode 6: The Vampires of VeniceEpisode 7: Amy's ChoiceEpisode 8: The Hungry EarthEpisode 9: Cold BloodEpisode 10: Vincent and the DoctorEpisode 11: The LodgerEpisode 12: The Pandorica OpensEpisode 13: The Big Bang2010 Christmas special: A Christmas Carol
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