The Timeless Children (Doctor Who 12.10) - insta-reaction

[unfeathered]

Well.

I spent a lot of that going "Seriously?" "Seriously?" "Seriously?"

But in the end, I didn't hate the fact that they actually went there as much as I thought I would. They kind of made it work. And we got some fabulous Doctor/Master scenes, and we got the return of Martin!Doctor who was as awesome as before, and, actually, I'm kind of okay with where we are. For the moment, at least.

And I kind of enjoyed it, by the end. I even kind of like the idea that there's more to explore about the Doctor's past (and I mean the Master could even have been totally lying about it anyway).

Other thoughts:

Hey look, the companions have their own TARDIS now! (Can we use theirs for the future please – I much prefer the classic look!)

At least this time we have a decent potential explanation for how the Master could survive this – it wouldn't take much to accept that the Cyberium would protect him somehow!

So it looks like all the theories about the Master and the destroyed Gallifrey being from a different timeline is wrong, and I'm sad about that, because a) how on earth is there any continuity between Missy and this Master and b) Gallifrey is gone. :-(

Also? Jodie was fabulous in this episode. Fantastic acting and I really, really liked her, the most I have done yet.

Really looking forward to seeing what fandom makes of it all!

Comments

[trobadora]

So I see the spoilers were true. *sighs*

I'm glad you didn't hate it as much as you might have, but this just leaves me without any desire to watch the actual episode.

[unfeathered]

Oh, do watch it! There was a lot of good stuff in there! And even the great big huge revelation is completely made by the Master, there’s a lot of wriggle room there. Definitely possible to choose not to believe it.

[trobadora]

I think I need some time to let this settle. If I watched it now I wouldn't be able to enjoy the good parts.

[unfeathered]

Fair enough, I totally get that :-)

[fucktheg0ds]

Jodie really killed it in this episode, I was blown away by her performance!

[unfeathered]

Yeah, me too. I’ve been feeling a bit off and on again about her, but I absolutely loved her in this. Even when she was paralysed she managed to convey so much!

[auroracloud]

I'm... very conflicted in my feelings. There was stuff I enjoyed - the Doctor and Master interactions were awesomely intense, the actors really work together excellently, and I love how much manic glee Sacha Dhawan was able to put into the Master despite the how dark the story arc got for him, yet how well he played the seriousness as well. I loved seeing Jo Martin's Doctor again, and the way she and Thirteen interacted was really enjoyable. I also enjoyed the old-school TARDISes. I'm glad that the companions all survived, because I was worried about them, and the conversation between Yaz and Graham was wonderful.

But I'm not okay with Gallifrey and the Time Lords being destroyed again. I'm also not really feeling that the revelation explained why the Master decided to destroy the whole Gallifrey the whole society. And yeah, definitely no continuation between Missy and this Master. I really didn't want the show to go there with the Doctor being extra special like that. I really prefer the idea of the Doctor being just a rebel in the Time Lord society, someone who wants to go out and explore. I want the Doctor to be special just because of their personality and what they do, not because of who they were born to be.

I do enjoy the Twitter comments I've seen about how the show just made everything canon, though. :-D

[unfeathered]

Yes, yes, yes and yes! I wasn’t quite sure about the Master to start with - never been a fan of when he’s really manic, but as soon as he quietened down and of course when he properly began to interact with the Doctor, he was awesome. They both were.

Loved the way they managed to work Martin!Doctor in and she was as fantastic as before. Really want to see a lot more of her!

Have to agree about Gallifrey. I don’t see why they have to all be dead again, with all the related angst.

Following some discussions on Discord last night, I’m fairly content with the idea that the discovery of who the Doctor is sent him right off the rails again, which does then excuse the regression from the progress he made as Missy. And I can also make peace with the Doctor being ‘special’ considering that it hasn’t actually affected who she is. There’s been a lot of stuff about who she is being more important than who she was, and I feel like that works here. Of course, the fact that it doesn’t actually change her much rather negates the whole point of having the revelation, but hey, it’s Doctor Who!

[shivver]

Well, technically, the Master and destroyed Gallifrey could still be from a different timeline. We now know that, if the Master is telling the truth (and the fact that they were in the Matrix when he told the story), he discovered an ancient history about the Doctor in the Matrix of the destroyed Gallifrey, but nothing in the episode explained where either of them came from.

We also know that the Time Lords sent the Judoon after the Martin!Doctor - which Time Lords are those exactly, if Gallifrey's been destroyed? The Judoon are apparently still working for them, judging by the end of the episode.

I could still make a case for my pet theory that the black hole the ship was falling into split the timeline, resulting in Missy dead, Twelve becoming Thirteen, and an existent Gallifrey on one hand, and the Dhawan!Master, Twelve becoming the Martin!Doctor, and a destroyed Gallifrey on the other hand, and then the two paths cross, with the Martin!Doctor falling afoul of the Time Lords and becoming arched, and Thirteen falling into the Dhawan!Master's O plot. Both strands can still be preceded by the Timeless Child history. Seems a bit over-complicated, but very DW.

[unfeathered]

That is an excellent point about which Time Lords were after Martin!Doctor, and I actually really like that idea about the timeline splitting because of the black hole and probably all the other timeline crossing the Master was doing there too!