Doctor Who Season 15 Episode 8 Review

Unfortunately, even the relentless fan service isn’t enough to keep Season 15 Episode 8 of Doctor Who from making the same mistakes as previous finales.

This review contains spoilers for Doctor Who Season 15 Episode 8, “The Reality War”.

As it turns out, even bringing back some of Doctor Who’s most iconic characters and ending on a game-changing cliffhanger isn’t quite enough to hide the lack of creativity behind this two-part finale.

Season 15 Episode 8 of Doctor Who picks up directly where the previous episode ended, with the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) falling to his apparent demise after being sent to an alternate reality by his old foe The Rani (Archie Panjabi), who’s trying to resurrect the father of all Time Lords: Omega. This iconic villain was last seen in 1983’s “The Arc of Infinity”, when he tried to use the Doctor’s bio-data to return from his antimatter prison and enact revenge upon his own people. His return marks one of Doctor Who’s most ambitious storylines in a while, but “The Reality War” completely fails to do his character justice. Not only is Omega given an unrecognizable redesign that’s sure to polarize long-time fans of the show, but he’s also defeated comically easily within two minutes of his emergence.

Instead, “The Reality War” spends most of its runtime with Belinda (Varada Sethu) and Ruby (Millie Gibson), wrapping up their storylines with Doctor Who’s signature touch of melodrama and sentimentality. While it’s great to see the show finally giving these characters some real depth, particularly with the revelation that Belinda has been trying to get home to her daughter all along, it definitely undercuts the main conflict of the episode. Especially since “Wish World” was essentially just exposition and setup for Omega’s grand return, it definitely feels like a strange decision to have the Doctor vanquish his enemy with no trouble whatsoever.

Ultimately, Season 15 Episode 8 of Doctor Who represents a much larger problem that’s been ongoing since the show’s “reboot” two years ago: there are so many interesting ideas floating throughout the season, but the finale completely fails to pay them off with any substance. The show is far too ambitious for its own good, constantly introducing new mysteries and characters that exist only to spark discussions and theories, leaving both finales with too many loose ends to tie together and not enough time to do it in. It was the exact same problem with Season 14’s “Empire of Death” – bringing back classic villains like Sutekh works on paper, but only when audiences are given a reason to care about them instead of merely being excited by the idea.

It’s no secret that Russell T. Davies’ Doctor Who finales have always polarized fans, but “The Reality War” feels like a new low for the series. It’s the exact same concept as the previous finale, with the emergence of an ancient rival threatening to end the world, and it concludes in pretty much the same way: with the Doctor defeating him immediately and spending the rest of the episode tying up loose ends in a needlessly complex fashion. The recent seasons of Doctor Who have proven that dark, standalone adventures like “The Well” and “Boom” are when the show is at its strongest – while grand-scale, convoluted stories like “The Reality War” represent the very worst traits of the show.

Thankfully, Season 15 Episode 8 of Doctor Who has a handful of great scenes that almost make up for the messy writing and underbaked story. While several of Doctor Who’s surprise cameos in recent years have felt unnecessary and distracting, the return of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor in “The Reality War” is a perfect example of how to pull off these “fan service” moments in a way that’s genuinely moving and feels integral to the story. The actress has such an infectious love for this show, and it really shines through her brief appearance in this episode. Whittaker’s tenure on Doctor Who is often (fairly) criticized for the poor writing and forgettable companions, but this cameo really cements her as a brilliant actress who always does the best with the material she’s given.

The other major cameo in “The Reality War” comes right at the end of the episode, as the Doctor sacrifices himself to bring Belinda’s daughter back from the glitch in reality. And so comes the worst kept secret in the television industry: the Doctor’s surprise regeneration and Gatwa’s unannounced departure from the show. The exit is handled fairly well, with Gatwa delivering an emotional goodbye that blurs the line between character and performer, but the arrival of Doctor Who alumnus Billie Piper as his next incarnation admittedly undercuts some of the emotion from the scene. It’s too early to say what this means for the future of Doctor Who, but the show bringing back a returning actor for the second time in two years is an underwhelming sign of the lack of originality that’s constantly bogging Doctor Who down.

Season 15 Episode 8 of Doctor Who plays with some interesting ideas, but when the whole concept of the episode revolves around thirty minutes of exposition, two minutes of conflict, and another thirty minutes of resolution, it’s really difficult to get invested in this story at all. Doctor Who finales have always been large-scale narratives that bring characters back or draw inspiration from the show’s history, but there’s usually a driving force that facilitates these fun moments – here, these moments are the whole story. Season 15 of Doctor Who has certainly been mixed, with a handful of stories that genuinely felt fresh and original, but this derivative finale is an undeniable dampener on a show that’s always thrived in original, creative storytelling.

Episode 8 of Season 15 (also known as Season 2) of Doctor Who, named “The Reality War,” is now available to stream globally on Disney+, and on the BBC iPlayer in the U.K.