Doctor Who Series 10 Finale review - The Doctor Falls

The Doctor Falls

Well, Steven Moffat is the guy known for spectacular buildup and disappointing conclusion, he’s the Steven King of Doctor Who if you will. Well, he’s done it again, congratulations Moffatt, you’ve disappointed for just about every season you’ve ever written and this is no exception.

It’s not a terrible episode (bear in mind, this is my initial reaction, I may decide that it is terrible later) but what it is is a complete mess. As I’m sure you’ll see me elaborate for the next few hundred words.

We’re introduced to a floor a few floors up from the Cybermen, a small village being attacked by cyber-scarecrows in small numbers, but with the Doctor, Missy, The Master and Cyber-Bill having arrives, the Cybermen begin to amass. It’s up to the Doctor and Nardole to fortify their defences, try and save as many as they can, including Bill and somehow pull the Master and Missy apart.

So… Some the concepts here work, I like that the finale is not some world ending event on Earth or some stupid bullsh*t that doesn’t actually effect anything, looking at you s6, and neither is it some personal sh*t about the Doctor, like s7 or s9. I like that it’s still on the ship and still about saving people. For the most part I like the dynamic between the Master and Missy. And the episode did have some genuinely funny moments.

Right, ok, gloves are off, let’s start with my issues. First off, Really? The floor is wired in such a way that Nardole can create explosions at random? Really? The sonic screwdriver now functions as a com-link and is able to absorb information to copy programmes from a computer. And yes, this is all my first problem

Ok, so there are some nice scenes with Bill as a Cyberman as she’s managed to somehow rebel against her programming and retains her humanity but the way they deal with this is horrendous in my opinion. You remember the girl from the Pilot, the one who became a creature made of water and followed them across time and space. She’s basically a god, and that comes even more obvious in this episode when she manages to turn Bill back into human form as a water creature like her, being able to sense her crying thanks to the tear she left back in the Pilot. Some may say there’s foreshadowing here I say it’s a blatantly lazy deus ex-machina. She was never demonstrated to have control over atoms in the original, she was never able to fly the TARDIS in the original, and beyond all that. When she finds Bill, the Doctor is in a pretty bad state but does she offer to heal him, NO! They just leave him and go explore, joining Clara and her space-diner most likely.

And then we have Nardole, he’s written out of the series in one the worst ways I’ve ever seen. He’s still trapped on the ship, he moved the children up a few further floors and is charged with their care. The Doctor even said so himself, even with what he did, there are still Cybermen coming and there’s no way out for him.

I also think it was a mistake to close the loop with Missy. I think it’s probably worth saying the Master won’t immediately regenerate into Missy, or at least that’s the string they’ll pull when they next want to make a master story but there’s a lot of potential for Missy that was ultimately not properly utilised. Missy can still be crazy whilst being sure of wanting to be kind.

Yes, that’s another good speech from the Doctor, and the Master’s reaction was priceless.

But all of this stuff pales in comparison to what’s happening the Doctor. At one point he’s regenerating, why? He’s still alive! Then when the Doctor ‘falls’ he lies unconscious and dying presumably for quite some time and doesn’t regenerate, then he wakes up, the TARDIS takes him to somewhere, he begins to regenerate but drives the regeneration energy into the ground. Moffat, and this applies to Davies too. That’s NOT HOW REGENERATION WORKS! Regeneration destroys the old body and remakes it to heal. All the bullsh*t that’s happened with regeneration energy is beginning to pile up. But this is worse than the one in Journey’s End, at least there they used some bullsh*t pseudo-science, here he just channels it into the ground and that works for some reason.

But I’ll admit to being a sucker for that ending, am looking forward to the Christmas special which I will inevitably be reviewing

There is a lot of good in this finale, regarding the stakes, the overall setup, some of the character interactions, particularly the Doctor’s speech and the Masters but the resolution leaves a bad taste in my mouth, saved only by their Christmas special.

Rating 6.5/10