Logline
Traps are sprung and old enemies unite as the Doctor and Belinda finally arrive home to find a very different world. Can the Doctor see the truth before midnight arrives?
Written by: Russell T Davies
Directed by: Alex Sanjiv Pillai
I enjoyed this, but I’m not really sure what to make of it yet, I guess I’ll have to wait for the conclusion next episode.
Conrad’s vision of an ideal world is deranged, of course. Absolute centre of the universe misogynist, ableist, and dictator (though I guess not overtly racist, so I guess it could have been worse?). Not sure why he wished for giant skeleton monsters, maybe he just thinks they look cool.
Looking for cracks, not hiding your doubts, and questioning the world around you is a good message to take away. Though this goes both ways - you can point out the injustice in the world, but unless you have a strong positive framework around which to have a good faith discussion, those who believe the opposite can do the exact same thing. A Conrad type can and will speak up about how it’s weird that women have a voice and independence of their own, and they’ll see that as an aberration. The metaphor of mugs slipping through a table makes no sense to me, but I understood it from context.
Lots of cameos popped up here, I hope they end up doing something useful and weren’t just there for fanservice.
The Rani did go a bit villainsplainy towards the end, but the writers did catch that covering with the need to kickstart the doctor’s memory, so well done there.
Looking forward to next week.
though I guess not overtly racist
I was shocked, too.
Not sure why he wished for giant skeleton monsters
I was wondering about that - since they’re only sort-of “there,” I wonder if they’re a creation of the Rani’s. In “Unleashed” they talked about how the bones of the bone palace are largely based on birds…they played it off as simply being designed that way because they look cool, but…is there some significance?
Another thing about Conrad: they did an interesting job portraying him as a victim in his own right, with Mrs. Flood still serving as his jailor, and, sort of creepily, as a mother figure.