The image above is courtesy James Pardon at BBC Studios and Bad Wolf.
Whatever happens over the next two weeks, Russell T. Davies has delivered one of the best runs of Doctor Who episodes that I can recall in years. The Robot Revolution was a wild and fun opener that introduced the new companion and geared us up for the series arc. Lux featured a great return of the Pantheon with the Chatotic God of Light Lux. The Well was the terrifying Midnight sequel we never realized we needed. Lucky Day was a brilliantly infuriating story ripped from social media and the Story and the Engine was a compelling tale about the power of story that showed the series could still bring something fresh and new to the table even after sixty-two years.
And with the Interstellar Song Contest, we have a tale that again provides a fantastic and grim allegory of our treatment of people in the Middle East (I don't think it's a coincidence that they riffed on the burning of poppies), before kicking the season arc into high gear with a big revelation and the promise of mayhem to come.
But will it make sense?
The truth is, as fantastic a writer and showrunner that Russell is, he has a tendency to promise the world when it comes to his season finales. Sometimes he lives up to what he promises, but many times he can't. Consider Doctor Who's Disney Series One, which I enjoyed. The season arc is launched with promise around the origins of Ruby Sunday in The Church on Ruby Road. A big confrontation is promised through cryptic remarks by Maistro in The Devil's Chord and the mysterious Twists in the end, before it snaps into play in The Legend of Ruby Sunday when the Doctor decides NOW is the time to explore Ruby's origins, and we muddle around for the big cliffhanger reveal of Sutekh. Ruby's origins prove to be surprisingly mundane (and I can understand and appreciate Russell's reasoning here), but it makes Sutekh's eventual downfall all the more confusing and weak.
This season, Russell T. Davies has done a better job building up the series plot by simplifying it. Instead of, "Where did Ruby Come From?" we have "We need to bring Belinda Home... Except there's no home for Belinda to go back to." There's more focus and less confusion when Mrs. Flood takes on the Susan Twist role throughout the season, and it feels like the resolution will have a pay-off that builds naturally from what comes before, and will be more satisfying as a result.
That is, assuming that Russell can actually stick the landing and provide a logical resolution. And I'm a little leery here due to past experience, and the fact that, at the end if The Interstellar Song Contest, he has chosen the least interesting big revelation that he could have picked.
Hear me out.
Oh, and by the way, spoilers follow from here on out, so if you haven't seen these episodes up to The Interstellar Song Contest, stop reading and start watching, and return here once you catch up. You really do deserve to see these episodes as unspoiled as possible. Russell and company gave us some excellent moments and excellent pay-offs, and they're all the better encountered in the moment. So go away and don't come back until you're prepared.
Back already? Let us continue.
Okay, so: Mrs. Flood is the Rani, and we should have guessed because Floods are caused by a lot of Rain and Rain is an anagram of Rani, haha, Russell you sneaky bastard. The events of The Interstellar Song Contest cause Anita Dobson's Mrs. Flood to bi-generate into herself and Archie Punjabi (it's about time that the character was played by a South Asian actress), and the new Rani leads the way offscreen promising to "bring terror to the Doctor". Meanwhile, the Doctor learns that the Earth disintegrated within seconds on May 24, 2025 and, when trying to bring Belinda back there, the TARDIS explodes.
In saying that bringing back the Rani is the last interesting big revelation Russell T. Davies could have picked, I have no objection to the Rani being involved in this season story arc and the two-part finale. And while she has only been on screen for a few seconds, Archie Punjabi looks ready to blow everyone away. However, if her motivation is to bring terror to the Doctor, my big question is: why?
Why here? Why now? Why him?
The Rani is not the Master, who has such a history with the Doctor throughout the whole show, I'd frankly be surprised (and a little disappointed) if he doesn't show up in the upcoming two-parter. In her previous appearances, she has been portrayed as an amoral researcher looking into the mysteries of the universe with an eye to exploiting them, and with not a single care of whomever could get hurt along the way. She's been annoyed by the Doctor's interference, and has used him on one occasion to try and achieve her goals, but she is not interested in revenge. She rolled her eyes up into her skull at the Master's obsession with fighting the Doctor. If this long game she's been playing is a dish she wants served cold, I have great trouble in buying it.
It also negates those moments where Mrs. Flood showed some compassion and empathy, such as encouraging Ruby to step on board the TARDIS, or her delight at the Doctor defeating Sutekh. Even her willingness to accept Sutekh's temporary win is at odds with this supposed declaration of war against the Doctor.
And is it pedantic of me to ask where Hell she was during the Time War, or any of the other elements and events that fell out around it?
I realize that with this series being as long as it is, it becomes harder and harder justifying why a particular villain waits so long to step out of the shadows and wreck their vengeance against the Doctor, but not doing that cheapens their arrival. There should be a reason for why the Rani is acting now and not before, and I'll be disappointed if none is supplied.
Indeed, why does she have to be the final villain, and why does her intent have to be villainous? There is still plenty of time for Russell to surprise me here (two episodes, in fact). While it may be natural to assume that the Rani is responsible for the Earth's destruction in a week's time, there is absolutely no evidence connecting the two. Maybe she isn't responsible, and she's angry at the Doctor because she believes that he's the one who's responsible, either through something he's done, or something he failed to do.
And given that there are still plot elements that we can still incorporate from the sixtieth anniversary specials, such as the fourteenth Doctor worrying that he let strange forces through by calling upon superstitions and using salt at the End of the Universe (see Wild Blue Yonder), then we have opportunities for some of those elements to play out in the mayhem to come. Perhaps these elements force the Doctor and the Rani into an uneasy alliance. I would find that interesting.
This season needs an extra curve ball in order to produce a resolution that is both effective and unexpected. We did not get that curve ball last year -- Sutekh just showed up, and then he was defeated, causing the series to fall flat -- and I'm worried that this could be another year where Russell is unable to deliver all that the set-up promises. Which would be a shame, because the episodes that have set all this up have been among the best the show has had to offer.
Wish World and Reality War? I'm rooting for you. But you have a big job ahead of you. I'd ask you not to mess things up, but that depends on whether this job is impossible to begin with.
We shall see.