“The Reality War” is the eighth episode of the 15th season of the new “Doctor Who” series, also indicated as season 2, and follows “Wish World“. It’s also the season finale. 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 “The Reality War”.
When the situation reaches an end-of-the-world level of mavity, the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) finds an unexpected ally in Anita (Stephanie de Whalley). This allows him to restore his friends’ memories, so he can face the Rani (Archie Panjabi / Anita Dobson). There’s also the problem of putting reality back in order without making Poppy (Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps) disappear.
Why just make Sutekh a caricature when you can do it with Omega too? I don’t know if that was Russell T Davies’ thinking, but frankly, that’s the impression I got. The Rani does a bit better, mostly because she spent so much time on air thanks to the various details of her plans being recounted. Characters who appeared briefly are forgotten. Susan!
I had no real expectations for this season finale precisely because I knew it was written by Russell T Davies, so I can’t say I’m disappointed. On the other hand, I have to say that there are also positive parts, starting with Anita. She seemed like the typical character fans learn to love in a single episode and then are never even mentioned again; instead, the Christmas special “Joy to The World” ended up having some ties to this episode.
I was sad about the ending. I always feel sad on these occasions, but this time, I also felt bitter. There were petty attacks that also hit the show in which it seems that the first years of the new series had straight Aryan characters only. From this point of view, I saw a great metaphor of our world that ties together many episodes of Russell T Davies’ second run. This metaphor can also be read as a response to those attacks.
After finishing watching this season finale, I couldn’t help but wonder if we live in Conrad’s world. Often, important themes have been part of the last two seasons. Sometimes, they were a bit wasted in over-the-top plots. Conrad’s world seems to me to be the one that offered the most vitriolic metaphor with people who behave like drones living a quiet, and very fake, life, while people with various disabilities are outcasts. In the finale, we see that a transgender person like Rose Noble (Yasmin Finney) doesn’t even exist in Conrad’s world.
The ending seemed like a joke to me. Russell T Davies plays tricks on us! At this point, it’s difficult to understand what the future holds for the show. This ending makes one think of a special episode followed by the beginning of a new era. There are questions waiting to be answered: they could be forgotten, turn out to be crucial in the future like Anita’s boss, or be quoted as occasional jokes like mavity. There are also rumors of a break, the mythical break that is supposed to magically solve all the show’s problems.
In the short term, I’m waiting for news on the broadcast of the spinoff “The War Between The Land And The Sea” of which the first trailer was released. At this point, I have to wonder if the success of this mini-series will influence the future of “Doctor Who” and when we will know anything about the show’s future.
