Well, this is it. It’s the end of Jodie Whittaker’s time as The Thirteenth Doctor. And somewhere in the next 90 minutes or so, the TARDIS will have a new face. But whose face? Let’s read on and discover “The Power of the Doctor.”
And don’t forget, Spoilers!
1. Under the Radar
I admit, I all but forgot about this special until a friend reminded me that it was airing this week. And that made me take notice that there was little marketing, at least in the United States, for what should be the end of an era. I imagine the passing of Queen Elizabeth and the latest political drama around the Prime Minister forced the BBC to rethink marketing and advertising for this special, particularly the former of those two events. As I recall, the initial plan was that this would be part of a larger celebration of the 100th anniversary of the BBC, but I don’t remember seeing anything else regarding this in any of the British media outlets I follow (Radio Times, for example).
Is this the sendoff that the first female Doctor deserves? Of course not. But in consideration of real-world events, dialing back in this way is perhaps the appropriate thing to do, even if it ends up slipping in the public consciousness.
2. Oh Yeah, A Plot
We all know the endgame here: the Doctor regenerates and gets a new face. So to discuss the journey to get there seems superfluous, especially when you consider the up and down quality of the Chibnall era’s scripts. And previews for this special promised everything from cybermen to the Master to the Tenth Doctor. Clearly Chibnall wanted to play with all the Doctor Who toys in the toybox one last time, and all at once.
So to try and offer any sort of linear recap of what took place in these 90 minutes is perhaps an exercise in futility. But I am going to try my best. (It’s funnier if you read this in the voice of Luis from Ant-Man.)
It all starts with a space train invaded by Cybermen, who have some fancy new headgear. There’s also a child that strikes an impression with the Doctor. Then after the credits it’s off to Siberia right before the Russian Revolution. Then it’s to a museum where a pair of classic Doctor companions investigating missing paintings and strange packages. Dan leaves for a date (more on that later), and then there’s some Daleks. Then it’s back to St. Petersburg, the Tsarina, and Rasputin – – and Rasputin strangely looks like someone we’ve seen before.
That’s no Rasputin, that’s the Master!
The Rasput-Master’s up to trouble manipulating history, and somehow all of this is connected and somehow the Doctor and Yaz have to fix things before the end of the world and before the Doctor is completely erased from existence. But they have to find this child first, and their journeys take them to a cloned TARDIS on a Cybermen-like planet. (Which gets another visitor later: Vinder!) Mysteries upon mysteries upon mysteries. And let’s not forget a Dalek-controlled volcano! Of course, it isn’t a blockbuster Doctor Who special without a UNIT HQ appearance, and course, UNIT ends up under attack (this time by Cybermen).
No doubt I’ve left something out. But when you have all this and a bag of chips coming at you, it can be hard to keep track, and harder to get a sense of the emotional stakes at play. You’re told over and over this is the Doctor’s biggest challenge yet, this is what is going to erase her from existence, but with things moving so fast, it’s hard to find a moment to breathe and take in what you’re seeing.
All this plot muddiness aside, I do have questions about the optics of using Russia as a backbone of this story. I know it’s a different Russia than the Russia of 2022, but giving a country that invaded another without provocation and is waving around nuclear weapons like toys any kind of airtime just doesn’t seem right. All of time and space and the world at your fingertips, and you go with the country that is persona non grata in the world order.
Continued below3. Dan Done Dirty
For the most part, companions that leave the TARDIS do so under their own free will, which is what Dan does. He’s getting dropped off for a date, but after their space train rescue mission where he almost loses his life, he realizes he doesn’t want to come back. Certainly a valid reason to want to go back to a quieter life, but the way it was done? Rather rushed and slapdash. Just drop Dan off back in Liverpool, the usual “the Doctor doesn’t do goodbyes” excuse, and a few jokes between Yaz and Dan and it’s back to his pre-TARDIS life.
The TARDIS’s #1 Liverpool fan (hope he got to watch the UEFA Champions League final while on the TARDIS) was introduced in a rather rushed way, so maybe it’s fitting that his exit ends up much the same way. And companions that only last one season are nothing new to the series, either classic or current. But in between, I grew rather fond of both Dan the character and John Bishop, both proving themselves quite endearing and refreshing. Dan deserved better.
And to an extent, Yaz deserves better with the Doctor as well. Per usual, the Doctor holds information too close to her chest, and Yaz has to practically force it out of her. It makes sense for this Doctor in a way, having been spooked by the Master more than once about her existence not only being a lie, but on the verge of being removed from consciousness. But the only way Yaz can help is with information, and the Doctor’s past lives should have taught her that, that it is okay to let the humans in.
4. Professor!
I worry when you see the laundry list of guest stars in a special like this that it will be a parade of cameos and nothing more, but the script does a fine job of combining the fanservice with the narrative. (And in consideration of point #2, I use the word “narrative” rather loosely.) Ace and Tegan don’t just get a few minutes to wink at the audience and deliver an Easter egg or two. They get machine guns and keys to the mystery of the missing paintings! But there’s still room for a little bit of that fanservice, with Ace getting the best moments: digging out that old nickname of “Professor” for the doctor, the classic and very 80s Ace jacket, and making reference to the final Doctor Who episode by reminding the Master that the last time she saw him he was “half cat.” And you have to admit Ace and Graham (yeah he’s back too) flirting inside a volcano is cute, location aside.
(That said, I want to know what airline Tegan was on in the 80s that gave her training to fight Cybermen.)
But of all the guest stars in “The Power of the Doctor,” Sacha Dhawan has the most fun. He’s cunning, he’s quietly evil, he’s doing some fourth wall breaking Deadpool-style. And he’s got some sweet sweet dance moves. It was a shame how the Rasput-master carried on.
5. Well. That Happened.
And then there’s a regeneration, which itself starts about halfway through when The Master forces it. The Doctor finds herself in what could be a Gallifreyan purgatory, meeting several faces of her past selves who start that journey, warning her that there’s no turning back at this point. But surprise! This is a false regeneration. The Doctor’s not ready to go just yet, but she’s getting there. This regeneration has the Doctor taking the body of her past selves to meet up with Ace and Tegan and have some warm moments of closure. Yaz and the Fugitive Doctor (yay! I missed you Jo Martin!) manage to reverse the procedure and bring the Doctor back so that she can do what she does best: save the world.
But it’s Rasput-Master that gets the last laugh, shooting the Doctor as she kills the Cybermen-like planet declaring that if he can’t be the Doctor, she can’t be one either. The Doctor appears fine, perhaps stunned – – but that sound of a cloister bell and a glowing hand brings a regeneration upon us. There’s time for one last ice cream, one last goodbye, before the Doctor leaves Yaz to do the next bit alone.
Continued belowWith the sun rising on a new day, the Doctor enters a new body . . . but it’s not that of Ncuti Gatwa, announced earlier this year. It’s someone we’ve seen before.
In an episode that itself had quite a bit of fanservice, Chibnall and company saved the biggest one for last: David Tennant is back. The Tenth Doctor is now also the Fourteenth. Don’t think anyone saw that coming, but this is a 60 year old show. You have to throw a curveball now and then to keep the fans guessing.
Next year marks the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, and maybe it’s fitting that past and present collide in this way. You can argue that this could be just one of another long line of reboots popular culture has embraced over the years, or you can revel in this mystery that Davies has put together to mark six decades of television and look to the future at the same time.
Whatever it is, we’ll find out next November – – and hopefully at the end of things, finally welcome the first Black man to the TARDIS.
See you in 2023, fam. (And on Disney+ if you’re outside of the UK and Ireland!)
