Paying The Piper
Doctor Who
The Reality War
UK/USA 2025
Airdate: 31st May 2025
Warning: All the spoilers.
I’m not so much as angry with The Reality War, the latest and possibly last episode of Doctor Who as I am... disappointed with it. Primarily because what Russell T. Davies cooked up for both last season and this season, regarding the season finales, smacks of the one thing a previous showrunner (Steven Moffat) was really bad at... that is to say, setting up all these threads, teasing great things and then, well, kind of dropping the ball at the last minute.
This one ran way over the scheduled episode length according to the Radio Times so... I’m guessing people who were relying on it to run to time, since there was no pre-iplayer version... were possibly angry they were all half an hour out on their schedules. But before I talk about the things which went wrong... and the, kinda, nice things about the episode, lets do a quick story summary.
The Rani’s bring back Omega from the underverse of the wish world version of Earth but, yeah, it’s a quick mythical version of Omega who promptly eats the latest regeneration of the Rani... although Anita Dobson’s Mrs. Flood version of the character manages to escape to somewhere else. Perhaps it was a case of having a Rani knows moment. It’s up to The Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu’s Belinda Chandra and Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday (who still seems to be a major dangling plot thread in terms of identity, if you ask me), along with several members of UNIT and Anita from the Joy To The World Christmas special (reviewed here), played by Steph de Whalley and now working at the Time Hotel... to put a stop to things and restore the world back to reality... including saving the Doctor’s daughter (who’s not his actual daughter, it turns out) and bringing on the expected regeneration at the end. Yup... and I’ll get to who he regenerates into in a little while, because it is revealed, in what I suspect is a last ditch attempt to bring back old viewers and avoid cancellation.
Okay... so the new thing about the timelords being sterile... if this is a new thing since the latest few iterations then that’s fine but if it is supposed to be going back to the original shows then, it completely contradicts The Doctor having a granddaughter at all.
And talking about Susan Foreman... everyone was pleased to see Carole Ann Ford coming back as a cameo in the last two episodes. People were excited to see how it would unfold in this final episode to see her finally reunited with The Doctor. Well guess what folks? It didn’t happen. She’s not in the episode and doesn’t really get much reference either. That, I think, was a bit of a mistake which I’m sure fans of the show will be grumbling about. I’m glad the teased Rogue return didn’t happen though. Also, that will probably annoy some fans, I suspect.
Meanwhile... the big bad reveal of Omega turned out to be... some kind of mythical ‘wished into existence’ version who lasts about five minutes before The Doctor vanquishes him back to the same dimension. Bit quick for a villain who once had to have three incarnations of The Doctor present to defeat him. Um... a bit rubbish too.
I didn’t really like the Back To The Future tyre tracks that UNIT lady left with her wheelchair as a joke either. Kinda felt almost a little too throw away if you ask me.
So, as far as all that goes... an optimistic but also bitter sweet finale which, honestly, just got bogged down in a lot of exposition and really felt quite a bit draggingly dull at some points. Not to mention the terrible, retrofitting ‘flashbacks’ to conversations which Belinda had which, yeah, just reminded me of the whole ‘who is Ruby’s mother fiasco?’ at the end of the last season. It was just cheap and not terribly clever. Some might say awful (yeah, okay, that’s what I said too).
Okay, so wouldn’t put many thumbs up or recommend this episode to anyone at all, really. The teased out promises turned out to actually be much more than the finale could bear... even with the unscheduled extra half an hour.
Now then. There were a few nice things. Firstly, Anita Dobson’s joke about The Two Rani’s followed up with “And it’s good night from me!”... well. I loved that even as I was wondering just who, apart from the 50 plus British audience in the world, would even understand that joke. For all those people wondering, look up an old British TV comedy show called The Two Ronnies, with Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker.
Secondly, it was really nice to see Jody Whittaker back as The Doctor. I always loved her portrayal, even though I lamented she hardly ever had any good scripts to work with. It was good to see she’s willing to return to the show if needed. Although, where the Earth bound(ish), retired David Tennant incarnation was during all this with, you know, his extra much needed TARDIS, is anybody’s guess. To quote Ellen Ripley in Aliens... did IQs suddenly drop?
Thirdly... it was also really nice seeing Anita back from the Christmas special. A lot of fans wanted that to happen. She seemed really wasted here though and didn’t have anything to do in terms of the emotional impact she had when we first met her so... yeah, good and bad at the same time.
Fourthly... and this is a kind of double edged sword... I called it when I had a conversation with some friends a few weeks back when I said that, when The Doctor inevitably regenerates at the end of the last episode... they would either end the show mid-regeneration or, if they were smart, get back a really big superstar which would pull in financial backers to bring the show back and ward off cancellation. Alas, although I loved seeing The Doctor regenerate into... Billie Piper at the end of the show (who has now played three different characters in the modern era of Doctor Who, with this iteration)... I’m not sure if she’s a big enough pull to get people back on board with another show resurrection. At least not with American audiences (which is where the big money is)... which is a shame because I’m all for it. It’s almost like the writers and producers said, we’ll bring Billie Piper back... Because We Want To. And, it has to be said... just to remind you all... this is not the first time The Doctor has regenerated into a person he’s already met and accidentally changed into their face. I might mention Colin Baker and Peter Capaldi here. Not ot mention the reappearance of David Tennant a couple of years ago. And don’t get me started on Lalla Ward’s regeneration of Romana.
I guess we’ll know soon enough whether the show gets cancelled or not. Meanwhile, next year’s apparently Doctorless UNIT VS Sea Devils spin off, The War Between The Land And The Sea, was trailered after the show and all I can say is... it looks pretty awful, to be honest. I mean... yeah... I hope the trailer truly isn’t reflective of the content but... again, time will tell I guess.
And that’s me done for a while, with The Reality War and the modern era of Doctor Who at least. There are still reviews coming, soon and less sooner, for stories starring various past Doctors from the classic series so, yeah, blog posts on these will be forthcoming, at some point soon. And with that I’ll finish this review by saying... and it’s good night from me.
PS. One last thing... thanks so much to the anonymous individual who has been leaving comments on my recent Doctor Who posts. Firefox won't let me reply and I just haven't got enough time right now to go through the whole rigmarol with Safari each time to have to re-log in and respond. But please know, whoever you are, that your comments are very welome and, like I said, thank you.
I thought it was odd RTD has apparently turned the Rani into a version of Missy, having her suddenly obsessed with the Doctor and hinting at a romantic past. I preferred the Kate O'Mara cold distain for Baker and McCoy's Doctors, one more in tune with the then contemporary audience. It was hard not to compare Rani to Missy or the Master, especially as RTD used the same tired musical number routine act that Simm and Dhawan employed in Last of the Time Lords and Power of the Doctor.
ReplyDeleteOmega was a complete waste. A dreadful CGI abomination that had absolutely nothing to do with what has already been established. He was never the first Time Lord (they only came about after he had been supposedly killed). He was never the greatest Time Lord (that was always Rassilon, I'd say). He was never the most feared Time Lord, of a batch who were tyrants. Technically, Omega was never actually any kind of Time Lord.
None of what we see or hear in this episode fits with The Three Doctors or Arc of Infinity. I can’t have been the only one that cringed very time Gatwa kept mispronouncing his name as well.
I’ve read that this was not the planned ending as Ncuti didn’t decide to jump until the last minute. The original ending did have more of Susan (though not much more than another cameo.) Billie’s face was rather obviously CGI’d on the Doctor’s body for the regen scene. I don’t like that RTD may have made Billie Piper the 16th Doctor. It is not that I doubt her acting range, I can actually see her being able to convince the audience she is a different character. It is just it comes across as awkward considering the Doctor choose the face of a Companion, especially one that was special to him/her
Will I miss the Fifteenth Doctor. 'Fraid not. He wasn't around long enough for me and I've always found him lightweight and superficial. Will I miss Belinda and / or Ruby? Again, they simply weren't given long enough to make any sort of impact. Frankly, I wouldn't miss RTD2 either were he to jump ship right now (or be pushed overboard by the BBC due to collapsing ratings), but I suspect that he will want to stick around after getting Billie back on the show.
Looking back overall, this last series certainly had some better episodes than the previous one, but once again was completely let down by the ending.
We will be looking out for some announcement now - from Disney+ about continuing to fund, or an alternative production partner, or going back in-house to the BBC. Whatever happens it looks likely that there will be a long wait for the next series, though there's still that spin-off to come later this year...
Omega was certainly a real waste- Sutekh, yet again! Mind you, in a sense he was, if not the first Gallifreyan, the first Time Lord, as in the first of his people who could claim to be a lord of time. This is a deep cut, but I remember an imagined Time Lord history narrative by Gary Russel in DWM issue 100 which explicitly said this!
ReplyDeleteI think eight episodes per season, and some of those episodes being Doctor lite, is just not enough. I feel short changed too. RTD2, I think, is still good stuff... but certainly not as good as RTD1, or even close. But, if not RTD, who is there at the moment?
I think Disney Plus have gone. It's not just Doctor Who- they're losing money with streaming across the board. This splintered streaming market just isn't viable, and in the long term it isn't the future. The BBC just need to hang on and reform.
The quote — “Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won” — is attributed to the Duke of Wellington, the general who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. On the surface, it's about war: even when you win, the cost — the lives lost, the devastation, the trauma — is still horrifying. Victory doesn’t erase the suffering; it just changes who gets to live with it.
ReplyDeleteIn the context of Doctor Who's current state, especially over the last 8 years— it takes on a more metaphorical, emotional meaning.
Here, the "battle won" might be Doctor Who’s sheer endurance. The fact that it survived cancellations, reboots, changing tastes — that it's still around after all these years could be seen as a victory.
But at what cost?
The show’s soul feels frayed.
The fandom is fragmented.
The show, once a symbol of joyful experimentation, now often feels like a weighty obligation to lore and legacy.
I don't think one isn’t saying the show should never have come back or endured — but rather that its survival, in this form, feels bittersweet. A kind of hollow triumph. The thing that Verity Lambert helped build still stands… but it’s changed into something unrecognizable, even alienating.
So the line becomes a lament for victories that don’t feel like victories. When what’s preserved no longer brings joy, but only the memory of what joy once felt like. It actually captures the essence of a Pyrrhic victory to the letter, and it aligns seamlessly with the emotional weight behind the quote.
in regards to, “Next to a battle lost, the saddest thing is a battle won,” it’s not just grief at change — it’s a recognition that the cost of survival has been too high. The show won: it endured, it evolved, it even reached global heights. But in doing so, it lost some of its clarity, its simplicity, and perhaps even its purpose.
Just as a general might look at the battlefield strewn with the wreckage of his own forces and wonder if the victory was worth the loss, Doctor Who’s legacy — especially from those felt it dimisnhing over the past decade — feels scarred. It’s a show still standing, but tired, fragmented, and often misunderstood even by those who love it most.
So in some way, it is a hollow victory. One that calls into question the very meaning of “winning” in the first place.
In that sense, the line isn't just about regret — it's about the cost of clinging to something long after its natural form has changed, or even decayed. A sobering truth, especially when applied to art, stories, or fandoms we love.
And that’s why it hits so hard.