TL;DR – While the ending did not stick the landing as well as it could have for me, it was a wild, Doctor-filled ride to get there.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, we have reached the end of this first season in the new Disney/Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who, and what a ride it has been. But before we look at how the season worked as a whole, we need to unpack the season finale. If there is one thing Russell T Davies knows how to do, it is setting up a smashing part one to a season finale, but he has a mixed track record as to whether he can stick the landing. So where will this one fall? Let’s find out together.

So to set the scene, during The Legend of Ruby Sunday, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and everyone at UNIT were focused on what happened on the day Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) was born through a little time travel shenanigans. Also, trying to learn what Sue Triad (Susan Twist) was up to with her clearly TARDIS-inspired anagram of a name. However, no one was paying attention to the real threat, that friendly blue box that is always there, but this time, it brought a guest to dinner that no one was expecting. An enemy from deep in The Doctor’s past, Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf). Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

To pull apart this episode, we need to look at the bulk of the episode before pulling apart the ending, which I know is the opposite way I am approaching the season, but hey, it’s my review, and I can write if I want to. Following on from the cliffhanger from last week and the realisation that H. Arbinger (Genesis Lynea) might not have been the best hire for UNIT. We get everyone that is still alive converging on Ruby before the sands of death wipe out all life. As long as you don’t think too deeply about the logistics of the two TARDISs from The Giggle, the idea of a big bad hiding on the TARDIS and then planting suicide bombers on every planet The Doctor visits, waiting to strike all at once is a good premise for a villain. I will say, much like the ending of Avengers: Infinity War, that once you start dusting so many characters, it starts losing effect because you 100% know a reset button is heading your way.

A lot of this episode is build-up, which is Russell’s strength, and it works. We see a universe slowly start to die because even those planets The Doctor has not visited start to succumb from the sheer weight of death permeating the timelines. There are some really touching moments, like the last conversation with a mother before she falls away. Also, the way that Sutekh found Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) via her dead skin cells was both gross, 100% true, and deeply fitting for the God of Death. Forming a working TARDIS out of memories is one of those ridiculous things that just works in the Doctor Who universe, part in part because Ncuti Gatwa sells the hell out of it. Indeed, so much in this episode works because you have the focal point to ground you.

I am a bit mixed on the ending, and I think partly because we did know that everyone was going to come back, so a lot of the tension of those ending moments did feel undercooked. However, I liked the link back to The Church on Ruby Road, giving you a hint that Ruby’s story was about to get tied up. Unfortunately, I think we all know that Ruby was only going to be around permanently for one season, thanks to set leaks and some abysmal crisis management from the BBC. So, while it was kind of fun that Ruby’s mum was not anyone, it was just Ruby’s emotional attachment to that moment that gave it power. I did not get caught up in the emotion of it all as I have with many of the other companions leaving. But hay, everyone got brought back, even if it means that you realise that it was odd that they brought back Rose (Yasmin Finney) and then gave her nothing to do. Also, look at you, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), getting a little hot soldier (Alexander Devrient) action.

However, another reason why the emotion didn’t land for me in the finale, comes from an issue that relates to the season as a whole, so this is a good time to segway into our larger discussion. One of the significant issues this season is that we have only had nineish but really only eight episodes to get to know our new Doctor, given the 2023 Specials were focusing on David Tennent. But even then, two of those eight, namely 73 Yards & Dot and Bubble, were Doctor-lite episodes. So we only have six episodes to get to know this new Doctor before he had his emotional send-off, and that bond is not where they expected the audience to be. The emotion was played at a level of Rose or Amy, but we did not have the time with either of them to hit that. I know that this is likely a result of having to work around Ncuti’s schedule with the Barbie promotion, and the end of the last series will be around that time.

Looking back at the season, you do sort of feel that we have big highs and some low lows. We got some moments of real fun with episodes like The Devil’s Chord, where our villain of the week got to chew all of the scenery and more. There are some fun, super weird episodes like 73 Yards that still make no sense now we have seen all of the season, but I genuinely thought it nailed the brief. Then, of course, we got our Bridgerton with Rogue and got to go full pomp and circumstance. However, then there were the misfires like Boom or the episodes that had the nuance of a sledgehammer like Dot and Bubble & Space Babies. While it has been nice to have episodes feel a bit more like classic Doctor Who, or at least what I feel like is classic Doctor Who: the first time Russell was running the show. While I liked this, it was also clear that there was only one episode in this new era that had a new voice in it, and unfortunately, that really started to show as the season went on. As we advance, for the show to work, we need new voices, but I am not sure that is going to happen.    

In the end, do we recommend Doctor Who: Empire of Death? On the whole, yes, even if there were moments that didn’t land for me. Part of this comes from the sheer commitment that Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson have given to their roles, making the most of every moment they are on screen. It was weird and wonderful, and I liked how they dipped in with some of the more mystical elements to support the science fiction stories. If nothing else, I am looking forward to the Christmas Episdoe, just to find out who the hell Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) is!  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Doctor Who yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Doctor Who
Directed by – Jamie Donoughue, Mark Tonderai, Julie Anne Robinson, Dylan Holmes Williams, Ben Chessell
Written by – Russell T Davies & Steven Moffat, Kate Herron & Briony Redman
Production/Distribution Companies – BBC Studios, Badwolf & Disney+
Starring – Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson with Gabriel Woolf, Susan Twist, Bonnie Langford, Jemma Redgrave, Yasmin Finney, Genesis Lynea, Lenny Rush, Alexander Devrient, Anita Dobson, Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Aneurin Barnard, Golda Rosheuvel, Sami Amber, Shola Olaitan-Ajiboye, Davina McCall, Jinkx Monsoon, George Caple, Chris Mason, Jeremy Limb, Kit Rakusen, Joe Anderson, Caoilinn Springall, Varada Sethu, Hilary Hobson, Callie Cooke, Tom Rhys Harries, Indira Varma, Jonathan Groff, Camilla Aiko & Paul Forman and  Aidan Cook, Nicholas Briggs, Fela Lufadeju, Tachia Newall, Jasmine Bayes, Sian Clifford, Amol Rajan, Faye McKeever & Coccy Bradley, Mary Malone, Hemi Yeroham, Gemma Arrowsmith, Rachelle Beinart, Jess Judge, Dilu Miah, Giuseppe Lentini, Andrew Francis, Lukas Disparrow, Robert Strange, Mason McCumskey, Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps, Cadence Williams, Param Patel, Lonnee Archibong, Jesús Reyes Ortiz, Yasmine Bouabid, Ed White, Philip Davies, James Hoyles, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, Simon Jason-Smith, Murray Gold, Shirley Ballas, Johannes Radebe, Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy, Bhav Joshi, Maxine Evans, Siân Phillips, Sion Pritchard, Gwion Morris Jones, Elan Davies, Glyn Pritchard, Grham Butler, Ali Ariaie, Albey Brookes, Miles Yekinni, Sophie Ablett, Shane David-Joseph, Rhyanna Alexander-Davis, Amanda Walker, Eilidh Loan, Aldous Ciokajlo Squire, Niamh Lynch, Millie Kent, Billy Brayshaw, Pete Machale, Max Boast, Elloise Bennett, Olivia Bennett, Jack Forsyth-Noble, Milo Callaghan, Ellie-Grace Cashin, Jamie Barnard, Maxim Ays, Debra Baker, Ashley Campbell, Nancy Brabin-Platt & David Charles
Episodes Covered – The Church on Ruby Road, Space Babies, The Devil’s Chord, Boom, 73 Yards, Dot and Bubble, Rogue, The Legend of Ruby Sunday & Empire of Death