More thoughts about that last episode
May. 21st, 2025 11:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivverIf you haven't seen it, well, spoilers...
It's been an interesting past twenty-four hours, with both me and my husband at random times just saying, out of the blue, "I'm really disappointed."
We're both very disappointed in the Rani being characterized as malicious and evil, because what really made her interesting was that she wasn't actually malicious and evil. She was amoral, meaning that she had specific goals -- her research -- but didn't care who she hurt as she pursued them, and she certainly wouldn't put up with the Doctor getting in her way. We did get a little bit of that in the last couple of episodes, as Mrs. Flood said things that showed that her plan (whatever it is) involved getting the Doctor to take those vindicator readings, but she's more concerned with the Doctor's story "ending in absolute terror", as she's now put it twice.
We're disappointed that Mrs. Flood isn't going to be The Villain here. They've spent the last two seasons building her up as this huge mystery, but now it's someone else's story. Sure, she's still involved, but the focus will be on the Rani. And now she's completely subservient to the new incarnation, which is a really strange character twist. Usually, each incarnation of a Time Lord is convinced they're the best and don't back down when they meet a future self. We are really hoping that this is foreshadowing her turning against the Rani in a critical moment.
We're disappointed that bi-generation seems to be a common thing now. While we are fine with the Doctor's bi-generation now, it wasn't really great at the time; it felt more like a cheap trick to allow Tennant's Doctor to get killed but still stick around. (Very akin to the metacrisis actually...) However, it felt better when it was explained that it was totally unexpected and probably only due to the Toymaker's influence, which is now gone -- basically, the reason it worked was because it was unique and not going to be used again. And now this. Now anyone can do it, for no reason. Great.
We're disappointed that so many of the clues planted during the last two seasons don't add up; RTD is usually better at this. Why didn't the Rani recognize the TARDIS parked in front of her house? We'd actually dismissed the idea of Mrs. Flood being Susan, the Rani, the Master, or most anyone who'd encountered the Doctor before because she hadn't known that the police box was a TARDIS was until she saw it dematerialize. Why does the Rani have the ability to do fourth-wall breaks? Mrs. Flood was such a puzzle and we were having a great time trying to figure it out, and now it turns out that it isn't actually anything that makes sense.
There's still some hope left, like maybe Mrs. Flood was chameleon-arched at the beginning of "The Church on Ruby Road", but reverted by the end, but that seems really cheesy. Maybe part of the Rani's plan, whatever it is, included research into how to bi-generate rather than regenerate. Maybe the Rani is just trying to do some research, for which she needs the vindicator readings, and her malicious posturing is just a front, and the destruction of the Earth is totally unrelated. Kinda doubt all of this, but we can hope.
My husband is convinced that the Rani is the person who picked up the Master's tooth at the end of "The Giggle" -- after all, that's still an open question, and if you're going to throw Susan and the Rani into the finale, why not go for a hat trick? But, we both really hope not.
All right. I shut up now.
It's been an interesting past twenty-four hours, with both me and my husband at random times just saying, out of the blue, "I'm really disappointed."
We're both very disappointed in the Rani being characterized as malicious and evil, because what really made her interesting was that she wasn't actually malicious and evil. She was amoral, meaning that she had specific goals -- her research -- but didn't care who she hurt as she pursued them, and she certainly wouldn't put up with the Doctor getting in her way. We did get a little bit of that in the last couple of episodes, as Mrs. Flood said things that showed that her plan (whatever it is) involved getting the Doctor to take those vindicator readings, but she's more concerned with the Doctor's story "ending in absolute terror", as she's now put it twice.
We're disappointed that Mrs. Flood isn't going to be The Villain here. They've spent the last two seasons building her up as this huge mystery, but now it's someone else's story. Sure, she's still involved, but the focus will be on the Rani. And now she's completely subservient to the new incarnation, which is a really strange character twist. Usually, each incarnation of a Time Lord is convinced they're the best and don't back down when they meet a future self. We are really hoping that this is foreshadowing her turning against the Rani in a critical moment.
We're disappointed that bi-generation seems to be a common thing now. While we are fine with the Doctor's bi-generation now, it wasn't really great at the time; it felt more like a cheap trick to allow Tennant's Doctor to get killed but still stick around. (Very akin to the metacrisis actually...) However, it felt better when it was explained that it was totally unexpected and probably only due to the Toymaker's influence, which is now gone -- basically, the reason it worked was because it was unique and not going to be used again. And now this. Now anyone can do it, for no reason. Great.
We're disappointed that so many of the clues planted during the last two seasons don't add up; RTD is usually better at this. Why didn't the Rani recognize the TARDIS parked in front of her house? We'd actually dismissed the idea of Mrs. Flood being Susan, the Rani, the Master, or most anyone who'd encountered the Doctor before because she hadn't known that the police box was a TARDIS was until she saw it dematerialize. Why does the Rani have the ability to do fourth-wall breaks? Mrs. Flood was such a puzzle and we were having a great time trying to figure it out, and now it turns out that it isn't actually anything that makes sense.
There's still some hope left, like maybe Mrs. Flood was chameleon-arched at the beginning of "The Church on Ruby Road", but reverted by the end, but that seems really cheesy. Maybe part of the Rani's plan, whatever it is, included research into how to bi-generate rather than regenerate. Maybe the Rani is just trying to do some research, for which she needs the vindicator readings, and her malicious posturing is just a front, and the destruction of the Earth is totally unrelated. Kinda doubt all of this, but we can hope.
My husband is convinced that the Rani is the person who picked up the Master's tooth at the end of "The Giggle" -- after all, that's still an open question, and if you're going to throw Susan and the Rani into the finale, why not go for a hat trick? But, we both really hope not.
All right. I shut up now.
