Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 9 (Ascension Of The Cybermen)

So this is how it ends. Oh, not Series 12. I mean my patience with Chris Chibnall's plotting pace. I have tried, I feel, to be gracious and nice when it comes to his slow burn of an arc this series. Spyfall Parts One and Two set up some whoppers of future plot elements, and that was fine. A little questionable with snapping back to a destroyed Gallifrey, but I was willing to ride it out. Fugitive Of The Judoon came completely out of left field and raised even more theories and wonderings as to just what in the hell was going on. Look, it's been fun. It has been fun to spend some time in this period of temporal grace, wondering what the big reveals are going to be. Then comes Ascension Of The Cybermen, the penultimate episode. One would think that some of these questions would be addressed, or alluded to in any shocking way. All we have from this are more questions, more theorizing, more puzzlement, and it's here where I finally get fed up with Chibnall's teasing and express a demand for something to actually happen. I didn't expect every answer here, but I expected something. This is a nothing of an episode, 50 minutes of Chibnall spinning his wheels regarding any sort of arc resolution. There are things that happen in it, and I will do my best to explain them... but this really just feels like an extended trailer for the true finale next week. That should not be the case for the penultimate episode of the season, the Part 1 of 2. Good God. Let's analyze this bitch and get out.

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 8 (The Haunting Of Villa Diodati)

Okay, so the short version is that it was a good episode. I don't know about great, now, but certainly good. Upper tier, but not cracking the top three for me personally? It's a bit of a surprise that I was cooler on it than I expected, considering what it does. Much like last week's Can You Hear Me?, there are concepts here that personally resonate with me. Unlike the previous episode, however, the concepts don't hit me on an emotional level... per se. Instead what they do is mirror two pieces of media which are important and formative to me, and the comparison made me sit up and go "oh that's kinda clever, it's like ___" as I was watching. These comparisons will come in a moment, once I get the proverbial motor running... but I do have to say that, as nice as it is to be reminded of such important media to me, there's only a little going on beyond that. I ended up feeling like I did when Captain Jack showed up a few weeks ago; "yes good, I recognize that element, now do something with it other than reminding me of other shit I've seen.". I don't say this to imply that The Haunting Of Villa Diodati (and I almost got that first try, I only spelled it "Diodata") is an awful piece of reference porn or anything. It's absolutely not. It does what it does, and not much more beyond that, that's all. Still, I can find something here. Come on, then. Let's dig in.

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 7 (Can You Hear Me?)

Well, fuck me. This episode sure hit me like a ton of bricks, but I'm glad it did in that very specific way that I'll talk about later. That's the rub, really. It's very much like my relationship with Orphan 55, in that I just want to talk about one part at the end and what it meant to me. Unlike Orphan 55, the episode is marinating in that theme so I do have shit to talk about before we get there. I want to start this one off by saying that there are two things you need to know about me. The first is something you may have already realized, if you keep up with these writeups. I am the kind of media critic who can forgive several overall flaws and weaknesses in a story if it has one massive solid emotionally resonant core that affected me, that I can hold on to and really be impressed by. Orphan 55, again, has that brave desperate speech at the end which I love, and that's so strong to me that I can forgive the rest of it being a mess. Can You Hear Me? has two such moments like this, moments tied into the theme of the episode. I will get to them when we get to the end of the episode, and that is when you will also learn the second thing that you need to know about me. Until we get there, we have to be professional and do more than mark time. Let's talk about Can You Hear Me?.

Doctor Who Series 12 First Impressions: Episode 6 (Praxeus)

Where to begin here? Well, let's say it was better than I was dreading. That's a good start. The writing credit of Pete McTighe and Chris Chibnall certainly adds a bit of hesitation to the proceedings going in. Doubly so, in my case. The reasons for this seem obvious when it comes to Chibnall, but he has been getting... better over time? Ad for Pete McTighe, he crafted Series 11's Kerblam! and that ended up being a thing, huh? He certainly had the sensibilities needed to make a fun and exciting episode that... okay I can't lie, it was above average for Series 11. The issue for many came with the political aspects of the episode, which used the trappings of a typical Doctor  Who thriller as a red herring for some liberal centrist stuff about Amazon. So, that's a yikes from me! Now he's got a co-authorship with Chibnall on this episode. Unlike last week, there's no blatantly obvious arc setup or massive shakeup to the foundations of Doctor Who lore. This makes figuring out what Chibnall actually contributed to the thing difficult to figure out. Let us then treat it as a true co-authorship and credit them both as we talk about the episode. I'm sure more clever critics than I are good at separating the voices of McTighe and Chibnall in the episode, but it's far too early in the morning for me to try and do that. Instead let's talk about Praxeus. It's wild.