this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
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So, that was pretty effectively scary! I do enjoy when Doctor Who goes for those collective elements of dread, like in "Listen" or with the Silents. It's something the show has done so well post 2005, and this was no exception.
I don't get the "sequel to "Midnight"" thing, though. There was nothing conceptual tying this to the older story (which I had to rewatch immediately after). The entities' MO are completely different, the only connective tissue was clearly extraneous and added exactly to force the connection.
If RTD had told us it was a "Listen" sequel I might've bought it, but here we are. And it was very much the Aliens school of sequels with a bunch of meatheaded marines as secondary threat. Without the strained callback I feel I would have liked this episode a lot more.
Loved all the guest stars, and the relationship establishing between the Doctor and Belinda. And the Mrs Flood appearance threw me. Is this her true identity, or just an act like last episode?
So another strong link in the season arc of the elusive May 25 and Earth disappearing. Just... less of the forced legacy connections, please.
I haven't finished it yet, but the YT video I just shared to the community is shedding some light on how it came about.
TL;DW, they were having trouble getting their original idea (involving actual Nigerian gods) to work, scrapped it, noticed the similarities between what they had left and "Midnight", and leaned into it.
I don't really have a big issue with the entity's shifting motivation - and they did handwave it a bit by saying it was "leaning" during that first episode - but I think it's incredibly risky to do a sequel to an episode that's basically perfect.
Nowhere to go but down, even if you name something that's very good.
I'm sort of expecting those to come into play in a couple of weeks, though. "The story and the engine"? But I'll give the video a watch, see how it makes sense of the BTS reasoning 🙂