Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 1 (Spyfall Part One)

I play poker now. Poker is cool.

(Welcome back to Doctor Who First Impressions! This is your spoiler warning. There's a really cool thing this episode does that you should see with your eyes, rather than hear me spoil for you. Just a heads-up if you haven't seen this one yet. Don't let me be the one to ruin it for you. Let's get on with the show!)

Hot damn. Welcome back, everyone, and much sooner than I expected! I was looking over the post I did on Resolution, a year ago, and in that I was so damn sure that we weren't back until April 2020. color me surprised that we only equalled the Moffat gap year of 2016 by having it be exactly a year off. We're back at it again, and it's definitely a confusing and nebulous time that only exists here and now. This is absolutely First Impressions time, where we don't know what's coming and can only read what we got in light of... well, what we got. That means theorizing, looking at the episode carefully, making guesses based on what happens and what we might want to happen. Holy fuck. I missed this in 2018. I don't remember doing much of it during Series 11, because Series 11 didn't give me that much to do beyond watch it and complain about the mediocrity of the day. With the first volley of Series 12, on the other hand, I remain amazed... but still cautious. What's been laid out before us is... you know what? I'll say it. I'll recant it in half a week if this turns out to be a red herring to boredom, but I'll say it here. Spyfall Part One is the best story Chris Chibnall has ever written for this show. Its pastiche and energy make it a wild ride from start to finish, and the mysteries it sets up (along with the big things it reveals) actually make me excited and want to think about where the episode could go! I don't know if this is a case of improvement, or if absence merely made me grow fonder for new Doctor Who, but let's sit back and admire this set up and theorize where it could go before all is said and done.



Right, it's Doctor Who In A Thrilling Adventure With The World Of Spies. "James Bonding the shit out of it", as it were. As someone who can enjoy a fair ratio of James Bond films made after, ooh, let's say 1977, this is all very exciting and fun. It's also something Doctor Who has played with before, slightly. The Jon Pertwee era of the early 70's definitely had the "dashing dandy secret agent" thing going with a cool guy who invents tech shit and gets into car chases and martial arts fights. While Jodie Whittaker doesn't Venusian Aikido someone into next week in Spyfall, she does get to hit a lot of these beats... as do the rest of the cast. I'm thinking of the car malfunction near the start (In 5 seconds, DIE DIE DIE DIE) where she uses a handy dandy rearview mirror to get out of danger (EY MIRRORS), and the big motorcycle chase near episode's end. There's less specific inventing tech here, but her Doctor understands it. Also she looks great in a tux and bowtie, along with her costars. (The music during this scene is perhaps the most "James Bond the shit out of it" in the episode.) Ryan and Yaz also get a little espionage B-plot together, investigating a tech mogul who's suspected of being in on the big evil plan to kill spies. Again, it is all very Bond, but I do like Ryan and Yaz together. It almost feels like there may be some shipping energy going on there, but either way they're close and I like it. Yaz in particular gets to be the calm one while Ryan is a bit nervous about going undercover, which is a fun dynamic and gives Yaz a bit of a take-charge attitude. Yaz has some character here! It's a New Year's miracle! Quite what happens to her in the middle of the episode is a strange uncertainty... but let's get into the whole Doctor Who thing of the aliens.


I have no idea what in the hell these things are. Shimmering white humanoid silhouettes who can pass through walls (including the TARDIS ones!), take the pattern of whatever was on the wall when they walked through, and also siphon DNA and teleport you? That's kind of what happens to Yaz, and the Doctor at the end, as they get zipped into a weird place with strange tendrils and swirling electricity. They're also from like, outside the universe? Or another universe? Or something? I don't know. I really like not knowing for once! Unlike Tim Shaw, these things are actually quite terrifying, bringing to mind the Boneless with the idea of these humanoid horrors shambling in from another dimension to take over. I don't think they're the Boneless, though. Or the Voord or Vardans, or any wild continuity reference like that. I think Chibnall has invented something new, and I absolutely love how creepy they are. I really hope that any reveals given in Part Two don't fall flat. I've been down on Chibnall before and I want to give him his due praise for crafting an episode I really liked for once... but, then again, I loved the potential behind Under The Lake as well, and look where that ended up going; the most predictable and telegraphed "twist" imaginable in its second half. Speaking of twists, we really should talk about that new face who shows up as part of the ending. Oh, this is going to be a whopper.


IT'S ME, AUSTIN! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG, AUSTIN! Sacha Dahwan, playing a friendly spy named O who helps the Doctor and pals out with the investigation into the tech guy and the white light aliens, was actually a brand-new incarnation of the Master. Okay. Here's where the positivity kind of runs out, and we enter the territory of reservations and worry. To put the praise upfront, even though I had the Master's return spoiled for me by Twitter because of the buffer between UK and North American airing (AT LEAST TAG YOUR SHIT FOR THE FIRST FEW HOURS, Y'ALL, JESUS), it's still an absolutely incredible moment and a real "oh SHIT" cliffhanger with an exploding plane. Dahwan plays it really well, being gleeful while gloating to the Doctor. I do like his performance. It's just the context of what came before that worries me. Michelle Gomez as Missy was brilliant, and I'm not the only one who's wary that her (maybe) immediate successor has gone back to being an evil mastermind immediately. The Series 10 "Missy tries to be good" arc ended with a heartbreaker death in The Doctor Falls, and just two and a half years later we have an evil Master again. There's speculation amongst us... speculators that this could be a pre-Missy incarnation, or some sort of alternate universe malarkey in pairing up with the white light aliens. Even if that's not true, in this one case I do hope that Chibnall has something to explain this turn back to the bad side. I, and others who loved Missy, really wouldn't appreciate that part of the Moffat era just being forgotten about like that. I'm willing to give Chibnall the benefit of the doubt here, since he wrote a good one, but that's my main takeway of the Dahwan Master. He's great, but I hope Missy gets her dues and this isn't just another "the Master escaped untimely death because, of course" situation that won't get any comment. In this one case, I feel the Missy fans are owed better.


That's all we know for now! Spyfall Part One is absolutely wild. It's not perfect, mind you, but it was an engaging and fun action romp ride with setup and mysteries and things to think about after the fact. It also has the tech guy's company given the name of VOR, which... they keep saying out loud Chibnall honey no why. Time and reveals will tell how much of Spyfall will resonate well once Part Two drops in half a week. Until then, we're in a period of temporal grace where all we can do is wonder. Now, more than ever, I really hope that Chibnall doesn't sink back into mediocrity. I wouldn't want Spyfall Part One to only be "good" to me because it has all the mystery and no middling milquetoast explanations. You have my attention, Chibnall. This was good. Can you go for the double header and give us a good Resolution? Ha. See what I did there? I did like a pun thing. Yeah okay that'll do it for now. See you on Monday for Part Two.