World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
Story 275, Episodes 838 and 839, Series 10 Episodes 11 and 12
Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor
Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole, The Master (Missy)
This story starts off interesting enough in the first part showing the Cybermen forming like we’ve never seen before, but really hits its stride when the characters other than Bill are really allowed to shine with her.
The Review
This is the most character focused finale, since, uh, the last one. And the one before that too. Let’s focus on the outright plot first. The team + Missy respond to the distress call of a massive massive ship (seen in a beautiful establishing shot) trapped on the edge of a black hole. And Bill immediately gets shot by a panicked janitor and has a big hole in her chest. She gets taken down by mysterious figures for repairs, and it turns out the ship is time-dilated because of its proximity to the black hole. After ten years she is made into the Cyberman before the Doctor gets to her. The Doctor + CyberBill + Nardole + the Masters (more on that!) make it halfway up in a ship to floor 507, an idyllic farm. There the Doctor sacrifices himself to save them from the rapidly-evolving Cybermen and dies. It’s actually pretty simple as far as finales go, and being constrained all on a spaceship is pretty cool. Very The Parting of the Ways.
Most of the first episode is focused on Bill living out her life as Cybermen are slowly developed alongside Mr. Razor, who is the Simm Master. Now I knew John Simm would be in this episode, but damn he had me fooled until he told Missy he figured out who she was. Other than that…I was disappointed with the Doctor not getting to do much and how obvious the Cybermen reveal was. Compare it to Dark Water, a better episode than World Enough and Time because the Doctor got to do things! And investigate! The time dilation was cool, but I wish the Doctor could do more. The reveal of Bill becoming a Cyberman, gloriously rendered as the original Mondasian versions with her saying ‘I waited’ is just sad. Still, there was not as much punch as Dark Water which still gets me giddy every time I watch it. Then the rarity of rarities, a Doctor Who finale two-parter gets better in part two.
Really, not much happens. The Doctor prepares a village for an invasion, it happens, and he sacrifices itself to delay the Cybermen. But it is the character moments that really shine through. Bill is depicted as she sees herself in a lot of her scenes, as herself and not a Cyberman. Nardole gets more great secondary moments, telling people to remember the Alamo (or not), and that he always quickly starts a black market. It’s Capaldi who finally gets some emotional moments, he explains to Bill who she is, but then his speech to try and get the departing Masters to stand with him is beautiful. He does not do anything to win, he does everything to do what is right. The Doctor shares some great moments with Bill, who tells him she’d rather die than be hated for her appearance and tells him that she likes 20-something girls…but would’ve loved the Doctor. All this happens as the sun starts falling, and nighttime is upon us.
The death of the Masters is one of the best things you’re ever going to see. Missy really has to decided to stand with the Doctor, and stabs the Master as he goes to flee in his TARDIS. Simm was delightfully villainous all episode, no remorse for what he’s done, completely evil. Missy, played perfectly by Michelle Gomez, draws him close and leaves him to die. Simm isn’t done, and fatally injures her with his laser screwdriver so she can never stand with the Doctor. They both lay dying, and start laughing and laughing. Perfection. Nardole is left to shepherd the humans to safety, and maybe live with one of the women there. It’s an understated ending, but a good one for the character. At complete dusk, the Doctor and Cyber Bill take their places and fight the hordes of Cybermen to their last.
Bill ends up dying, but is saved from death by Heather, the puddle, and they go to have space lesbian adventures. People are bitching again that Bill got a happy ending, Moffat can’t kill a character blah blah blah. It’s Doctor Who, there’s always a happy ending. It’s a bit close to Clara/Ashildr, but the tone is so so different. We might see her again, but it’s a fine to ending to a good run by Bill. This season, Pearl Mackie never missed a beat, but I thought she didn’t get as much time on her as I thought she should get. But boy, the Doctor gets the best. Him shouting the names of all the places he’s defeated the Cybermen as he blows them up. Getting pounded to the last, he tells them he is the Doctor and destroys them all. The Doctor starts to regenerate, but says to forget it, and passes into a coma. “No stars…pity…I hoped there would be stars”
The Doctor bursting into life, and starting to rage against the dying of the light feels so real. I understand the controversy of Tennant in The End of Time not wanting to go, but somehow it feels so real for Capaldi. He is tired of doing all this, tired of having no continuity, makes sense after seeing the previous Masters squabbling with each other. It is immense, it is beautiful, and then I cheered when the rumor was true. Out of the cold in 1986 undoubtedly is David Bradley as the First Doctor reborn. Doesn’t sound quite the same, but damn it’s good. Can I watch every Hartnell story until then? We’ll see. This story had so many moving parts, but like the best stories ended up small. Series 10 has had its ups and downs, not let its main characters live like I wanted, but by the end, it felt like the end had come.
World Enough and Time is imperfect, and in a way so is The Doctor Falls. But it just bursts and breathes with such character moments that really feel earned. For that, it has my undying respect.
9.35/10 An army of Cybermen, two Masters, two companions, heck even two Doctors but it’s a story that never loses sight of its characters, as fantastic as they are.
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 