Doctor Who Season 2

The second season of Ncuti Gatwa’s run of Doctor Who is drawing to a close, the finale becoming available today. With rumours abound that all is not well in Who-ville, and Gatwa potentially leaving the show sooner rather than later, the stakes have never been higher for the show to succeed.

Now, I’m not someone who has paid much heed to rumours (or criticism where the only issue seems to be it’s ‘woke’ – not sure what show they were watching before, but okay). It’s fun to look at plot theories, but honestly, showrunner Russell T. Davies always seems to throw the audience for a loop (for better or worse). The media is taking bets on who is going to take over for Gatwa, everyone so certain we’ll be seeing a regeneration, despite the BBC denying this. In all honesty, whether or not the show is in as much peril as being reported, it makes no difference to me – I stuck with it after Space Babies, I’ll stick through all other teething problems.

The show’s success is dependent on whether it’s good, or at least, there’s some improvement from the last season – which is exactly what we’ll be discovering in this review. I’ll be trying to avoid spoilers, but if any slip through, I can only apologise. So let’s get into it – does the latest season of Very-Nu-Who hold up, or will we find the show relying more on past callbacks to get themselves through?

---

Doctor Who Season 2 Review

Image by BBC Studios Production

I just want to kick this off by saying that I actually enjoyed this season a lot more than the last, especially watching the relationship between Doctor and companion blossom. In the last season, we were made to fill in gaps between episodes, The Doctor and Ruby discussing off-screen adventures that we’re only made privy to through dialogue (even the first episode begins with the pair discussing an escapade they had just been on), in an attempt to try and build an everlasting friendship between the two. Now what’s that famous rule of storytelling again – show don’t…?

To be honest, a part of me can’t fault the writers for falling back on using dialogue to fill in the gaps. The show’s shorter episode run can make it difficult to build on character development. Television has lost the art of the filler episode, and Doctor Who has often thrived on filler episodes where the end result meant nothing but developing character relationships.

Season 2, whilst still lacking in the filler episode, actually made the effort for us to see the development between The Doctor and his new companion, Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu). There’s no outside adventure that the audience only hears about – Belinda and the Doctor only have one goal between them, which is to get Belinda home. Except, oh no, he can’t. The Earth seems to have vanished by May 24th, and now they have to bounce around the universe to generate power to try and get back home.

Image by BBC Studios Production

Through this, we actually see their relationship develop, and for the first half of the season it was a steady growth. While Belinda seemed to distrust the Time Lord, immediately recognising that those who get close to the Doctor end up getting hurt, she also fell to the sway of adventure, enjoying herself perhaps a little more than she thought she would.

Towards the end of the season though, Belinda seems to have changed entirely, speaking lines that would make more sense for Ruby than they would have for her. In the episode, Interstellar Song Contest, she makes a lovely little speech about how frightening The Doctor can be when he’s angry – except, I’m not sure she’s ever seen this side of him, at least not at this point, as mere moments later she stumbles across The Doctor essentially torturing the poor lad who threw everyone into space. So where did that come from? (By the way, I truly loved Rylan popping up in that, I can’t help it, my Essex roots call to me whenever he appears).

Even in the penultimate episode, Wish World, Belinda takes a backseat to Ruby, not really doing a whole lot aside from running into the woods and screaming at one point. In the context of the episode, it makes sense, but there seems to be a looming shadow hanging over her presence which is honestly reminiscent of Rose/Martha. It’s such a shame too – to begin with, Belinda was a strong character, her nursing skills and caring nature coming to light in near enough each episode, but as the season has gone on, she has fallen more to the wayside to make room for a story that was probably for Ruby to begin with.

Image by BBC Studios Production

Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor remains perhaps the most distinguished part of the show itself. While at times I find the constant vulnerable moments incessant (tell me why I have a five minute slow motion shot of the Doctor crying over someone I met for approximately ten seconds – I mean I know why, but why), it also is such a remarkable aspect of his character. In previous incarnations of the famed time-traveller, the character’s emotional moments were often reserved for that of anger. It’s honestly refreshing to see a range beyond ‘I’m happy until I’m not’. If nothing else as well, Gatwa is such a fantastic actor – any scene and any moment is lifted by his presence.

The episodes themselves are a lot stronger than last season. I have rarely watched an episode where upon the end I think ‘oh thank God, let’s do something else now.’ While the first episode, The Robot Revolution, wasn’t the greatest, it was still a lot better than the first episode of the last season. From this point, it went from strength to strength, with perhaps my favourite two episodes being The Well and The Story & The Engine, both of them playing to Doctor Who’s biggest respective assets – villains and story-telling.

The Well is a sequel to a previous episode, and while that stands out in terms of nostalgia factor alone, how the story unfolds is so creepy and masterful. The monster itself leaves you guessing, until it’s revealed where they are, and suddenly everything is ramped up to 11. The ending remains open, with it not being clear if the monster is truly gone, but a part of me hopes that it stays that way – the Weeping Angels were terrifying, until it was The Statue of Liberty.

Image by BBC Studios Production

In comparison, while The Story & The Engine may not have the best villain I’ve ever seen in a Doctor Who episode, the storytelling within it had to be its strongest focal point because that’s the whole point of it. The artwork and the music combined with the stories told created, to me, one of the better episodes to date.

From here, the episodes started to feel a little weaker. The limit of 8 per season would be fine, if the runtime of each episode was a little longer. Instead, we’re constricted to tighter timeframes, and so often plots feel rushed, with it being clear that we’re running from Point A to Point B. It’s not enough time to feel anything for any character beyond the Doctor and Belinda. If we happen to lose a new character, it feels easy enough to shrug off.

The finale The Reality War should have felt like a bigger moment than it was. Old characters returning to build Gallifrey anew, bringing to life the Lord of all Time-Lords. Once more, Belinda is pushed aside, quite literally boxed out of the story. For a finale that was an hour long, somehow the plot that has been stretching across the past 7 episodes was wrapped up within 30 minutes. Increasingly disappointing, especially given how it ends with Gatwa’s regeneration.

Really, the biggest issue to me is that the series seems determined to look back instead of looking forward, constantly bringing back villains and actors from the older years. To me, this was a chance to start anew from the Chibnall years, to rewrite itself. Bringing back David Tennant and having his new iteration of the Doctor constantly lurking in the background to the point where there is a constant question of “so what’s happening with 14 at this point?”, was already pushing it a little. The reliance on older names and faces to me screams a desperate attempt to keep long-standing fans happy, while almost isolating newer fans who have no idea who’s who and the relevance of their character.

Image by BBC Studios Production

Even the regeneration seems to be looking back, rather than forward, with a very familiar face taking on the mantle. An ending that honestly, wasn’t well-received by myself. This constant reliance on looking behind leaves little room for Doctor Who to grow. If Russell T. Davies and the writers insist on constantly looking back, all it says to me is that they have no faith in the future of the show, something I would find to be unfortunate. If the writers have no faith in the show, why should I?

Despite my criticisms, I still find this season to be a vast improvement from the last. I find it to be such a shame that Gatwa isn’t sticking around for one more round, so that he can have at least one consistently strong season, something which seemed plausible given how Doctor Who Season 2 built itself upon the ashes of Season 1.

Did you think the the season had a powerful conclusion, or did it barely make it across the final hurdle? What did you think of this season overall? Do you agree with our review? Let us know in the comments!

See also: The Best Black Mirror Episodes

---

Where to Watch Doctor Who Season 2?

Image by BBC Studios Production

Every episode of Doctor Who Season 2 can be streamed on the BBC iPlayer for UK residents, and Disney Plus for non-UK residents. With the future of the show in peril, only time will tell where Doctor Who is going next – stay tuned for more news!

• ShareCopied to clipboard
• X
• Facebook