“Wish World” is the seventh episode of the 15th season of the new “Doctor Who” series, also indicated as season 2, and follows “The Interstellar Song Contest“. It’s available in the UK and Ireland on BBC channels and in many other countries on the Disney+ platform.
Beware that in various adverts and marketing materials, this season is promoted as season 2 passing through a new start with the production by Bad Wolf and distribution by Disney+, hence the double notation.
Note. This article contains some spoilers about “Wish World”.
John Smith (Ncuti Gatwa) and his wife Belinda (Varada Sethu) live a relatively peaceful life, at least, until doubts start to become a problem. Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) popping up at their doorstep shakes them up despite Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King) reassuring people with his stories. The Rani (Archie Panjabi / Anita Dobson) is monitoring the situation.
The people who watched “WandaVision” may have had a strong sense of déjà vu. Russell T Davies used that kind of narrative structure in this episode, to the point that the story of Mr. and Mrs. Smith can be considered an homage. In a meta-narrative type of structure, this makes sense considering that “WandaVision” contains explicit homages to certain sitcoms and certain narrative structures used in television.
My familiarity with this type of narrative structure led me to be focused on the Rani’s plans and other possible interesting elements. New appearances of various characters gave the plot some strength. In that sense, it’s interesting that Ruby Sunday ended up involved with a group of people who see through that fictional reality and don’t trust Conrad. Basically, they see a conspiracy that a character who wanted to debunk a supposed conspiracy is heavily involved in.
For those of us who watched the classic “Doctor Who” series, like me, we might have been most interested in the aftermath of the Rani’s return. She only appeared in two classic serials, and “Time and the Rani” is considered one of the worst of the original series, so she’s not remembered much outside of the fandom. Russell T Davies offered some new details about the Doctor and Rani’s relationship that suggest a much greater depth than we saw in those two serials.
As you might expect with these two-part season finales, “Wish World” sets the stage for the climax of a story arc. In this case, that involves both the destruction of the Earth and the pantheon of deities that was developed in various ways since Russell T Davies became showrunner again.
I have to say I was less than impressed with the episode, despite some characters’ new appearances and the promise of another return tied to the classic series. I still have low expectations for a finale written by Russell T Davies, but I have to say I’m intrigued after seeing how deep he’s digging into the mythology of the series. “Wish World” isn’t what I’d call an end-of-the-world episode, but at least the characters gave it some strength. While we wait for the season finale, watch your mugs!
