It all comes down to this, that statement that started this season off with a bang: “everything you ever knew was a lie.” Now, at the hands of her sworn enemy, the Doctor (and us) find out just how much of 50+ years and 12 regenerations really was truth. Also there’s those pesky Cybermen to deal with. How does it all come together? We have a look at “The Timeless Children” – – and naturally, spoilers.
1. So Crazy It Just Might Work
When we last left Graham, Yaz, and our other fellow humans, it was on the Cybership with a lot of Cybermen hot on their tail. So Graham comes up with a cunning plan: dress as the Cybermen to sneak off the ship.
I wondered why it hadn’t been tried before in the show’s history, but I can understand why not: the risk. Who know what can happen when you put on that cyber-suit voluntarily? And no doubt when the Doctor finds out she might just be a little cross with them, knowing previous companion Bill’s Cyber-fate. But it does work, though I had a moment of concern (after a chuckle) when Graham couldn’t get the helmet off.
2. Yaz and Graham
Graham sure loves handing out these heart-t0-heart talks like hard candy from your grandma’s coffee table, spending a moment with Yaz to remind her of just how smart and strong she is. It’s certainly a little awkward, as Yaz’s “you’re a pretty good human yourself” response shows. But it also shows just how much this found fam has bonded over the years, and how much they respect and love each other. Coming from Graham, and knowing his health issues, it does continue to give pause that my favorite boomer is sensing he does not have much time left, and is making sure the people he loves know it.
3. The Timeless Doctor Child
Teased for two years, the mystery of that Timeless Child gets solved, in part.
The Timeless Child is the Doctor.
Courtesy of the Master (who’s full on Lex Luthor cunning evil this episode), we get A People’s History of Gallifrey, going back to Tecteun, a member of a race indigenous to Gallifrey, the Shabogans. (Not the first time you’ve heard that name either; they’re mentioned in 1978’s “The Invasion of Time.”) In Tecteun’s travels, she found a child at the base of a portal to another universe. Tecteun adopts this child, and through a freak accident, discovers that the child can regenerate. And regenerates again and again and again. So much for that limit of 12 regenerations, huh? Tecteun experiments with this regeneration, ultimately injecting herself with the DNA so she too can regenerate, and create the Time Lord race. And it is this secret that led the Master to destroy Gallifrey as it was, to create something “better” from its ashes.
Everything the Doctor has ever known is a lie indeed. She can regenerate limitlessly. Hell, Gallifrey isn’t really even the right home planet, if you think about it. It also elevates the Doctor into this “chosen one” status, which itself is overplayed. There’s something about the scrappiness of the Doctor that makes them endearing.
Of course, there have been hints about this before, the Doctor having unlimited lives. The most obvious of these is from the Baker-era “The Brain of Morbius,” with a flashback that suggests at least eight other Doctors before William Hartnell. And there were clues in the Sylvester McCoy era that he was “more than a Time Lord.”
That said, it will be interesting to see just how the Doctor reacts to these revelations, how they will affect her, and what could come next for everyone.
4. Difficult Decisions
While the Doctor processes these bombshells about her true heritage, the Master is off forming alliances with the Cybermen to create a new Cybermen/Time Lord race. (And I know they’re on the side of evil, but their mashup of Cybersuit with Time Lord cape will make for some killer cosplay.) The warning of “beware the last Cyberman” also comes to further light as within that last Cyberman Ashad is a particle that can wipe out all organic life, even while miniaturized by the Tissue Compressor Eliminator. The Doctor now has another difficult decision: use that tiny Ashad to save humanity by wiping out Gallifrey, or leave her home (even though it isn’t her true home) intact, letting the Master and Cyber Time Lords essentially out into the world for death and destruction.
Continued belowKnowing that Jodie Whittaker is back on board for another season does lessen some of the impact of her final showdown with the Master, so you’re not fully surprised when Ko Shamus/Barristan Selmy swoops in to make that decision for her.
5. Where Do We Go From Here?
Looking at the short term, the Doctor does find herself behind bars in the final scene courtesy of the Judoon, so there’s our immediate conflict set up for this year’s holiday special (titled “Revolution of the Daleks”). But long term, into series 13, what could be next?
I would love to see a journey for the Doctor to find her true history and heritage, now that we know it isn’t Gallifrey. How did the Timeless Child get to this universe? What or who brought them to Tecteun?
There were also flashes back to that final moment from last week with Brendan seemingly getting his mind wiped by “The Division” some sort of renegade Time Lord operation that at some point in history split from Tecteun’s rule. Was this a past Doctor? The Master thinks that these memories were a gift to the Doctor from Tecteun to help the Doctor find her true self, but is this the truth? And what led to the split of “The Division” from the rest of the Time Lords?
Will the Master be back as well? While it looks like he and Cyber Time Lords are all dead, there’s a hint that they may have gotten away. I hate seeing the bad guys win, but if I have another excuse to have Sacha Dhawan back on TV, I’m all for it.
And I haven’t even begun to touch on the mysteries of Ruth Doctor and what all of this means for series continuity. But that’s a mystery for Series 13 and most certainly beyond.
See you later this year for our holiday special, friends.
Afterthoughts:
– Guess the TARDISes (TARDII?) are like Zipcars, there’s one parked everywhere
– It was lovely to see Ruth Doctor again, but it’s a wasted appearance with her dropping some Black Woman Magic and smarts and then leaving.
