*Episode premise spoilers.*
The tears are still drying on my face as I sit down to write this review, so forgive me if I’m less than objective. This special has its issues, no question about it, but that doesn’t really matter to me right now. For all that Whovians can gripe, all we ever really want to do is love this show, and the Thirteenth Doctor’s final episode offers so much to love. Late in this episode, the Doctor says her hearts are full, and mine is too.
Catastrophic problems are piling up on the Doctor. Regenerating Cyber Masters are roaming the universe. There’s an extra planet in the sky in 1916. A Dalek defector has contacted the Doctor with warnings about an invasion. And the Master is definitely planning something. Whether these are concurrent apocalypses or all part of one giant evil plan, the Doctor needs help juggling it all.
The trailer for this episode gave away the Master’s presence, as well as the returns of Ace and Tegan. I’ve always loved Sacha Dhawan’s version of the Master, and he’s in rare form here. In addition to the amazing-as-usual face-off with the Doctor, he also has great scenes with Yaz, and his brief interactions with Tegan, Ace, and UNIT give us some great continuity references. It made me realize that I don’t think Kate ever really treated Missy with the weight of UNIT’s history with the Master, and I don’t think Missy made any mention of it either. This episode draws the straight line from Dhawan’s Master all the way back to Anthony Ainley and Roger Delgado’s.
Meanwhile, it’s lovely to see Tegan and Ace back in action, although I wish they had more scenes with the Doctor. However, there’s so much going on that characters wind up pretty spread out across the course of the 90-minute episode, and the former companions spend a lot of time in other parts of the plot, but there are a few lovely scenes that pay tribute to just how much they mean to the Doctor and to us. And though we only get a brief glimpse of it, Mandip Gill does a nice job showing Yaz trying to process the enormity of meeting a couple of her predecessors.
That’s not all, though. The special packs in further surprises that made my little Whovian heart grow three sizes. I won’t spoil it today, but expect at least one of the spoilery Sunday Who Reviews of the coming weeks to deal with all the gloriously-loving fan service on display.
Like I said, there’s a ton going on, which is often par for the course for a Who finale, and even more so for a regeneration episode. There are times where it gets overly busy—where I worried that there wouldn’t be enough room to give the emotional moments their due, or even whether Thirteen was getting a bit crowded out of her own send-off. But overall, I think it comes together, and in between the frantic running around, the special does take its time to slow down and let the important moments breathe.
This is celebration of Thirteen and her era, and it’s also a celebration of the show in general. Jodie Whittaker/Thirteen’s time on the TARDIS has been hampered at different times by lackluster writing, and it’s been dogged from the start by gross sexism that’s tried to box her out of her rightful place. But “The Power of the Doctor” gives us Thirteen in context, as part of the long history that’s come before her, and she rises to the occasion beautifully. She desperately tries to hold everything together as it’s breaking apart, she calls on herself to do the impossible six times before breakfast, and her final moments are pure Thirteen. Whittaker does a spectacular job throughout.
Goodbye, Thirteen. The very end of the special promises wild things ahead for Who, because every regeneration episode is both an ending and a beginning. I’m so glad I got to know you, and I can’t wait to see where the Doctor goes next.
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