So far, no episode has managed to capture the same fresh and big ideas as the opening two-part ‘SpyFall’ which saw the return of The Master who claimed to be responsible for raising Gallefrey to the ground because he learned the lie that the Time Lords was founded on. Since then it has been rather dull episodes which sadly reflected far too much of the failings of Series 11 though last week’s ‘Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror’ was an enjoyable adventure. In the last few days however, social media for Doctor Who has been teasing that tonight’s episode could well hold a bigger surprise than The Master’s return, well…why else would the Judoon be in Gloucester!
What better way to mark the halfway point of Series 12 than by having The Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham race back to Earth in order to prevent The Judoon from doing too much damage to the cathedral city. We have not seen this fan favourite alien for a rather long time and was a nice surprise to see them teased in the Series 12 trailer but who are they looking for, and what did they do to incur the wrath of the Judoon?
One thing is very clear about tonight’s episode is that if Chris Chibnall name is credited as the writer, this time teaming with Vinay Patel, that the episode is going to be not just big, but series and show defining big. The tease that this episode was going to be bigger than the return of The Master was definitely not wrong and it was all hidden behind the illusion of a standard but fun Doctor Who story. I do have to start by saying that if the mundane nature of the last two episodes were all part of a cleverly conceived plan to misdirect the audience, than it certainly worked on me.
The episode begins by introducing us to Ruth Clayton on a typical Monday but its her Birthday, as she leaver for work as a Tour Guide for Gloucester Cathedral who appears to have a faily normal life. Ruth is married to Lee who comes across as a bit of a waste of space who seemed to even struggle to get the one thing Ruth had asked for on her birthday, a cake, right. We then see what a usual day for Ruth would be trying to offer her services to tourists who are not interested and goes to get a coffee from the local coffee shop with a server who clearly has romantic intentions for Ruth and claims that her husband Lee is up to no good, even has a file on him which is a little stalker behaviour but Ruth has a good humour about it.
The action then steps up as we then switch to view of a Judoon ship in orbit above Earth, tracking someone on the planet, the Captain then teleports squads of Judoon troops to areas around the city, scanning everyone for the person they are looking for. An old woman who was talking to Ruth earlier, argues and attempts to run but is destroyed by the Judoon shield around the city.
As this unfolds we find The Doctor on board the TARDIS, looking over the main console as Team TARDIS sit watching her noting that the Doctor is oblivious to their presence. It has been referenced how different the Doctor has been behaving ever since the revelations of Spyfall but this story goes further as we have Team TARDIS explaining that The Doctor seems distracted in her quiet moments, even learning that she often drops Team TARDIS back home and then returns to the ruins of Gallifrey alone. When questioned the Doctor is angry, even snapping at Yaz, Graham and Ryan. The Doctor is keeping a lot of things secret from them and they are starting to notice which is a nice clap-back to Series 11, something that I questioned in my reviews that Chibnall’s need to ignore old Who meant The Doctor had not explained who she was to her new companions….though I am still waiting for the 13th Doctor to have actual companions by name and not Team TARDIS>
There are a lot of themes running through this episode with more reveals about the impact Spyfall had on The Doctor to the almost playful nature of featuring fan favourite Judoon make their return. The writing and overall pacing of this episode is absolutely spot on with every scene and moment delicately placed in order to keep the big moments a surprise for everyone. So much happens in this one episode that it genuinely felt like a mid-series finale and I was half expecting to see a “To be Continued later in 2020” as the episode wrapped up. Spyfall needed two episodes to tell it’s story but so much happens in this that it really is mind boggling how the two very different story arcs managed to blend together without feeling rushed, something that Chibnall has gotten a lot better at now “Old Who” is no longer off limits to him.
The first huge surprise was the return of another fan favourite and one that I honestly had not seen coming at all so credit goes to all those at the BBC and Doctor Who production team who managed to keep this a complete secret from fans. That surprise was the return of Captain Jack Harkness who is trying to contact The Doctor, not knowing that The Doctor has regenerated ooh a couple of times since he last interacted with the 10th Doctor. On board a ship that he has stolen, he is using a teleport scoop to try and bring The Doctor to him but due to the protective shield the Judoon have put around the city, he first mistakenly grabs Graham, believing him to be the Doctor before later in the story attempting again and only pulling Yaz and Ryan to his ship. This feels slightly silly but is great fun seeing the same cheesiness of classic Jack interacting with Team TARDIS allowing for some funny moments, it also gave the story the excuse of removing Team TARDIS from the action so it could focus on The Doctor, so though again their roles were rather minor, it is great to have Jack back.
By back I do mean this does have the feeling that this is not the last time we might see Captain Jack this series, his final message he urged Team TARDIS to give The Doctor before he had to make his own escape, was both a message and a warning, “beware the lone Cyberman” which for fans could mean the threat of their return. Of course Ryan, Yaz and Graham have no clue who or what the Cybermen are but before Jack promises he will return when The Doctor needs him most, he tells them that they are a fallen empire but could return if The Doctor fails to heed his warning.
The rest of the story focuses on this fugitive that the Judoon have been contracted to find which brings Ruth and Lee back into the mix. Once again the writing is very clever and full of misdirection as its hinted that Lee is the fugitive when the woman who contracted the Judoon called Gat arrives on the scene and toys with him about his stupidity in having a keepsake that enabled him to be tracked down finally. Gat refers to him as “companion” which instantly gave me the notion that perhaps the fugitive, was a version of The Master, which going by what happens next I feel I can be forgiven for as a final text from Lee to Ruth triggers something in her that despite being surrounded by a squad of Judoon and their Captain, she is able to disarm the Captain with relative ease, alerting The Doctor and setting into motion a chain of events that will change everything we thought we knew about Doctor Who.
I had first thought that Chris Chibnall had gone big in Spyfall, for the first time he had not only used “Old Who” but was actually going to be taking steps to have his own spin on Doctor Who lore by not only bringing back The Master as a foe for the 13th Doctor but also in pretty much, destroying Gallifrey with The Master claiming responsibility after discovering what he thought was the lie that Time Lord civilisation was founded on. But I could never have imagined just where that story arc would lead and it is fair to say, Chibnall has gone beyond big with his series 12 plans.
What is revealed is that Ruth is indeed the fugitive, but not The Master as I first suspected, but in an outstanding performance by both Jodie Whittaker and Jo Martin as Ruth but also…The Doctor. That is right, we now have two Doctor’s with neither remembering the other but thanks to the 13th Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver, confirmed that they are the same Time Lord. This new Doctor has no memory of the 13th, suggesting that our Doctor is from her future but our Doctor has no memory of this “Past” Doctor nor of Gat, a Gallifreyan who for some reason is hunting down this other Doctor. Both Doctors have similarities and mannerisms, even saying the same things at the same time, but Jodie and Jo are so amazing at making them feel very different but believable.
The story ends with this mysterious Doctor leaving The Doctor back at her TARDIS and going on her way, leaving nothing but questions for her and us as the audience and this is all before Team TARDIS finally deliver Captain Jack’s message of another threat in the Cybermen. These really are some of my favourite moments for the 13th Doctor and my request from Series 11 that Jodie be giving some real meaty Doctor Who material to work with has finally come true. I have no idea where this is all possibly leading but it feels huge and whilst I do not feel that Chibnall has earned the right to play with the very fundamental nature of Doctor Who lore, the way in which he is dropping in these huge moments is very impressive. I still feel it would be nice if his focus was not just on delivering his own episodes with such impact but in making sure the other episodes have the same tone if not groundbreaking story elements but just in keeping the same freshness rather then letting the problems with series 11 episodes creep in.
But Series 12 is huge, it is certainly doing far more in this half series point than most of Peter Capaldi’s early series as the 12th Doctor but also that right now, I have no idea what to expect going forward and I like this feeling. Having a big series story arc to work to allows for the episodes to have such moments as tonight making any episode a must watch…as long as Chris Chibnall is credited as the writer though it appears. Series 12 is doing brave things, things which some life long fans might struggle to accept right now because they are massive but having Gallifrey and Time Lords once again the focus of a series story arc is exciting but at the same time rather scary.
Hoping the momentum is kept going into next week’s episode rather than the complete dropping of the ball following Spyfall but what we saw tonight opens so many possibilities, now to see if Chris Chibnall has his eyes on more than just his episodes!
