Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor

A Review with a Spoiler Section

It may or may not come as a surprise that I am a big Doctor Who fan. I've been watching the show since about 2008. My Doctor, as we say in the fandom, is David Tennant, though I am not so fanatic a fan as to want him back in the role unless there's a very good reason. The Doctor changes and I'm fine with that. Tennant is just my favorite.

Anyway, The Power of the Doctor. I thought it was fantastic. I didn't immediately have any issues with the plot and I was pretty much sucked in from the first minute. All good signs. I cried several times throughout, which doesn't actually happen often with Doctor Who. In finales, kind of like this one, yes, but it's still a rare enough occurrence for this series. I thought the stakes were well balanced. The usual "End of Earth" thing mixed with the more personal stakes for The Doctor and her Companions. The Power of the Doctor definitely ticked all my boxes.

As mainly a fan of the current run of Doctor Who, I'm not nearly as invested in the returning Companion characters as some. Like, I know who Tegan and Ace are and I have watched a few of their episodes, but I don't have any real emotional connection with either. However, I think their return was handled really well and their emotional bits with the Doctor's AI Hologram thingy both made me cry. The Doctor's reaction to seeing them again was, ya know, on par for current Doctors and their absolute shock at encountering former Companions. Jodi did a good job with that, I thought.

The villains! The CyberMasters looked pretty good. I actually like the spiky shoulder plates and the Time Lord headpieces actually look quite nice on them. Not sure they needed the Time Lord scrolling on their bodies, but it looked alright. I have never been the biggest fan of the Daleks. I find them to be more annoying than actually threatening most of the time. However, I think they were used well here. Not too much and mostly in the background. The Master was at his most manic and creepy here. I will get more into him later, as digging into that is going to be spoilery. Sacha Dhawan has been my favorite incarnation of The Master and he continues to bring it in this episode.

 

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so, I was actually really worried Kate might actually be Cyberized. Like, I was so in the moment I didn't even think she might end up okay. Also, Kate's one of those characters who pops up every now and again but isn't a Companion in the strictest sense, so the possibility of us losing her was very real to me. I'm very, very glad we get to keep Kate, cuz she's awesome.

I was extremely happy to see the former Doctors show up. Was definitely not expecting to see any of them. They made me laugh, they made me cry. I will second The Doctor's assertion about using the hologram thingy to confuse the CyberMasters. That was brilliant and the Jo Martin Doctor is up there with my favorites so I was very happy to see her. Speaking of favorites... I also second David Tennant's "What? What? What?" there at the end. The fangirls finally got their wish and we get Tennant back as The Doctor for another outing, even if it is only the 60th anniversary. Happy to see him back, can't wait to see what happens with him.

Okay, so I promised more Master discussion. OMG, Sacha Dhawan definitely brought it this episode. He was shades of Missy mad. I honestly want him to play Rasputin for real at some stage. He looked awesome. I do have to say, though, if he wanted to destroy The Doctor's reputation, he could have just started traveling around saying he was The Doctor and wrecking shit that way. The way he did it was interesting and I get that he also wanted to destroy her in the process, just seemed like he did it the hard way. Also, that outfit. Probably one of the best ALL THE DOCTORS mashup cosplays ever. It managed to look good while at the same time definitely highlighting The Master's unhinged-ness.

I was very happy with Dan and Yaz's departures. I would probably quit the TARDIS, too, after basically being shot in the face. I'm very, very glad Yaz got to leave of her own free will. Extra glad she had an immediate support group upon leaving. Lord knows she needs it. Also, that Companion Support Group was just the best. I was thinking about it while I was going to sleep last night and I got really sad (and again as I'm typing this) about the fact that we lost Elisabeth Sladen a few years ago, because Sarah Jane would have definitely been at that group. It makes perfect sense to me that Graham would be the one to finally set one of these things up.

So, yeah, those are my thoughts on The Power of the Doctor. I'd love to know what ya'll thought about it. I'm sure I won't be finding out via the interwebs, at least not until I listen to the single Doctor Who podcast I still listen to. Everyone just seems to be gushing about House of the Dragon right now... not that I blame them, but still.