And so we come to the final chapter - a hurried, jumbled finale to a hurried, jumbled story. In the end, I have to say that they tried real hard and it just didn't work out. In some ways, it felt as though Chibnall had a bunch of ideas that he wanted to get in before he left and just overdid it.
I don't how much this story was affected by COVID restrictions that may have forced them to change the way they shot it. I feel as though the program might have been better served had they been in a position to just make six separate stories. As I've said before, these "umbrella" storylines have never been favorites of mine.
A couple of questions: Is the Universe still half wrecked at the end of this? I dodn't see any cosmic re-set button being pushed.
The Lupari were species-bonded with humanity? How did that come about? How long has it been going on? Why have they never shown up during the umpty-zillion times that humanity was threatened during the course of the program's history? This smacks of a "neat idea" that Chibnall shoehorned into the story without concerning himself with how well it fit into the program's continuity.
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"As I've said before, these 'umbrella' storylines have never been favorites of mine."
It's not that type of story I object to. I like them well enough when they're well done, which this one wasn't, necessarily. It was a bit easier to follow the second time through, but the flaws become more readily apparent as well. It's always a treat to see Doctor Who on television, but these days that's all it is. BBC TV gets to tell stories of the current Doctor (whoever that may be at any given time) and gets the privilege of introducing the new Doctor (which is as it should be), but for any other Doctor, for every other Doctor, I turn to Big Finish.
It may be due to COVID or it just may be the way television works these days, but when fans have to wait a year or more between episodes, then get only six, I expect a payoff of some kind. Had this been a normal season (even 21st century "normal"), I would have been content to wait for the revelation of the story behind the Fugitive Doctor. That's the biggest continuity implant since River Song, and it seems they're just dragging it out. It's even less than a "neat idea"; the way it's being handled seems like more of a "round robin".
I don't know if you picked up on the subtext of these episodes (you haven't mentioned it), but I suspect you're not going to particularly care for where they're going to be taking one of the subplots.
You've got me curious, bcause I'm not quite sure what you're talking about there. Spill it, man!
Jeff of Earth-J said:
Let me just put it this way [SPOILER]: I thought the era of the "boyfriend Doctor" was behind us.
Oh, that. It didn't seem to me that they did much with that during "Flux", (unless I missed it) which is why I didn't bring it up. My main objections to the "Doctor as 'love object'" storylines is that we know how they have to end because of limitations, both in and out of story. The Doctor, who is functionally immortal, cannot have a "happily ever after" with a mortal being. Frankly, I doubt that the Doctor could have a "happily ever after" even with another immortal., but it would be more believable than a relationsip with a human. As Tennant's Doctor said, "You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of my life with you."
Additionally, out of story, companion and Doctor actors tend to get rotated out pretty regularly, so we know that any Doctor/Mortal relationships are ony transitory.
They got away with it with Rivr Song, because they only met up occasionally and didn't ask each other too much about what they'd been up to. Had there been a romantic relationship between the Doctor nand Romana, say, then theoretically, that relstionship could have gone on indefinitely, "regenerating" each character as actors left, but I think that would have changed the fundamental nature of the show, and wouldn't have worked long-term.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
"It didn't seem to me that they did much with that during 'Flux'"
They didn't, but, knowing where the story is going, I can see that they were laying the groundwork for it.
I feel that "Flux" really didn't did well by Yaz as a character. There really was no mention of what was going on with her life. What was going on with her family? Did she give up on being a cop to travel with the Doctor full-time? That's not something you can half-arse, although I dare say she could ask her new pal Kate Stewart to put in a word for her with her superiors in Sheffield PD. Of course, a lot of this will depend on how she's written out of the series. I hope they don't kill her off.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
"Did she give up on being a cop to travel with the Doctor full-time?"
Maybe she can ask Tegan Jovanka about that when she meets her.
It also really goes beyond believabilty that the Daleks and Cybermen didn't anticipate the Sontarans' trap. I mean, it's precisely the sort of thing that they themselves have done numberless times.