Doctor Who wrapped up its latest season with an intense, confusing, and wonderfully acted two part finale. Two weeks ago in “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” we saw the Lone Cyberman that Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman) warned the Doctor (played by Jodie Whittaker) about. He disappeared with something called Cyberium, and the Doctor and her friends followed. “Ascension of the Cybermen” was the first part of the finale, and so much happened in what seemed like the fastest hour ever. It left us hanging with so many questions. This week, “The Timeless Children” answered those questions, but then we were left with what feels like the greatest cliffhanger in the show’s history. In my opinion, anyway. We will break down both parts in this recap and review but focus mainly on “The Timeless Children.” The rest of this article contains spoilers. Do not read anymore unless you have seen the last two episodes.
Doctor Who “Ascension of the Cybermen”
This episode, like the episode before it, opened before the thematic intro. I feel like this gives us more insight into the episode right at the beginning. The Lone Cyberman says, “That which is dead can live again in the hands of a believer.” In seasons before, we have seen the Doctor defeat the Cybermen. The tenth Doctor did so, the Eleventh Doctor did so, and even back into Classic Doctor Who, the Doctor has done so. This quote hits hard. This Cyberman (I am going to assume he is now their leader) is fierce and will not back down. He wholly believes that this time the Cybermen will win.
We then see a small village where a man finds a baby. He and his wife are able to adopt him as their own. They name him Brendan. Brendan (played by Evan McCabe) grows up to be a healthy, happy young man who joins the police force. More on that in a bit.
The Doctor, Yaz (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole), and Graham (Bradley Walsh) are in the future. The planet they are on has been devastated by the Cyber War, and only 7 humans are left alive. The Doctor and her friends show the humans they meet how to defeat the Cybermen. Apparently, they are allergic to gold, and they even set up a force field. Well, the Cybermen have drones now that come in and destroy any defenses the humans just put up. The only way to stay alive is to run. The Doctor sends the humans (including Ryan, Yaz, and Graham) away on a ship the future-humans have rigged. They all get away, except for Ryan. Ryan and the Doctor end up stealing a Cybership, along with another human, to meet up with the rest. They are trying to find their way to the “boundary,” where supposedly no Cybermen can get through. It’s a part of the universe that is free from war.
Yaz and Graham are on the ship with other humans that is melting down. In a last-ditch effort to save themselves, they boost all their power to try and get their ship on board an abandoned Cyber Carrier. It works! However, this ship isn’t abandoned…
Back to Brendan. Now, he is an adult. He is chasing a thief who ends up shooting him! Brendan falls off a cliff…BUT DOES NOT DIE. There aren’t even signs of injury or trauma. Is he a Time Lord? Maybe even the Timeless Child? How in the world did he survive that?
This episode had a lot of bouncing around between characters and plots. All in all, the Cyber Carrier was actually full of Cybermen! It does seem hopeless as the Cybermen are beating down the door…The Doctor and Ryan are able to land their ship on the planet just outside of the boundary where they meet Ko Sharmus (played by Ian McElhinney). Later, we see Brendan as an old man, yet his father looks younger than him. Odd. He is retiring from the force, but now they are strapping him into a seat and wiping his memories?? Why?
The boundary reveals itself, and as the Doctor is getting closer to it, the Master comes out of Gallifrey!! GALLIFREY is on the other side of the boundary! How? That is how the episode ends…
“The Timeless Childen”
After ending the first part of this finale with loads of questions unanswered, we as viewers need them to be resolved. The Master (played by Sacha Dhawan) grabs the Doctor and pulls her into Gallifrey. He has so much to show her, since apparently everything they new and were told was a lie. Nothing will be the same…
The Doctor sees the mess the Master has made of Gallifrey. He tells her, “Look upon my work, Doctor, and despair.” This anger inside of him is so intense and is raging so far inside his hearts, that even this couldn’t calm it. The desolation of his own planet could not satisfy him. As it turns out, the Master wants to bring the Cybermen to Gallifrey!
Back on the Cyber Carrier, the humans are able to get away from the Cybermen. Graham suggests a plan to put on the empty Cyber suits to “blend in” so they can get off of the ship. It’s so crazy that it just might work. Then, Graham and Yaz have one of the sweetest moments. Graham tells her how impressive she is and that she is always a fighter who doesn’t back down. He recalls Yaz saying that the Doctor was the best person she ever knew, but Graham has a rebuttal to that. Graham believes Yaz is the greatest person he has ever known. He goes “old man” on her and says she is doing everyone proud. Yaz’s response? “You aren’t such a bad human yourself.” Apparently, that’s a love letter. It made me cry, I will tell you that much. It felt way too much like a goodbye speech.
Back on Gallifrey, the Master needs the Doctor to face the truth. Apparently, he hacked into what is called the “Matrix.” It is all of the history of the people of Gallifrey. Where the started to where they were then. The Doctor still doesn’t believe him, and says that if the history between them meant anything then to stop whatever he was doing. The pain and rage in his hearts is all because of their history. He locks her in a paralysis field and lets her know, “This is going to hurt.”
On the Cyber ship, the Cyber leader is hunting for them. At this point, Graham, Yaz, and Ravio (played by Julie Graham) are the only three humans left on the ship. They are hiding in the cyber suits. I held my breath along with them as the Cyber Leader kept opening the containers to look for them. Thankfully, he was fooled. Now, the ship was entering the atmosphere of Gallifrey.
Everything for the Doctor changes
Inside the Matrix, the Master walks the Doctor through the history of their planet. He shows her a woman named Tecteun who came from a humble planet called Gallifrey. She experimented with space travel, and she found herself at a gateway/boundary to an unknown universe. There, in front of the gateway on this unknown planet, she found a child. She decided to take the child back to Gallifrey and raise her as her own. Tecteun could not figure out where the child came from, and the child would not give her any information. This child was a mystery. Then, as children do, she was playing with another child. There was an accident…the child fell off a cliff (sound familiar…Brendan did the same thing)! However, instead of dying, she regenerated! This was Gallifrey’s first regeneration.
Down on the planet, Ryan, Ko Sharmus, and Ethan are holding off three squads of Cybermen. Ryan is able to aim an explosive at one squadron, throw it, AND make it! Great shot, Ryan! Except, there are more coming of course.
The Cyber Leader is now on Gallifrey. Inside of him is something called a Death Particle that has the potential to wipe out all organic life on any planet it is released. The plan is to have the Cybermen be totally automated. However, the Master has a better idea. The Master makes an offer saying that he has a way to make them the dominant force of the universe. Also, he can apparently be in two places at once. He’s physically talking to the Cyber Leader while also showing the Doctor around the Matrix in her consciousness.
Inside of the Doctor’s consciousness, we see Tecteun studying her child. Trying to figure out how this child changes form without dying. Desperate for answers, she tests a theory on herself and injects some of the child’s DNA inside of her. IT WORKED. She was able to regenerate! With this discovery, she and others built Gallifrey. They appointed themselves as elites. This “timeless child” was the base of their genetic code. They called themselves “Time Lords,” and this found child was the founder. The Doctor asks who the child was…THE DOCTOR IS THE TIMELESS CHILD. She doesn’t have any memories of any of this!! How can this be?
What does this mean for the Doctor and the Master?
Back on the planet, Yaz, Graham, and Ravio save the others from the Cybermen squad. Graham’s plan worked!
Then, the Master finds the Cyber Leader to talk about a plan. The Cyber Leader says that the Cyberium is what ultimately decides the fate of the Cyber race. Whatever plan the Master offers has to be accepted and processed by the Cyberium. We learned in “The Haunting of Villa Diodati” that the Cyberium can only choose a new host if its current host dies. Well, the Master ends up compressing the Cyber Leader! He was hoping that the Death Particle would be released at that moment and kill everyone, but that wasn’t the case. Which, if you think about it, is a dark and sad moment. The Master…wanted to die? Then, the Cyberium enters the Master! The Master now has all of the knowledge of the Time Lords AND the Cybermen. This is terrifying.
Again, back in the Matrix, the Doctor realizes her lives have been hidden from her. Is this where Ruth factors in? Ruth was the Doctor, but neither of them remembered the other. This would make sense, then, right? I digress. The Master is furious because he is only a piece of the Doctor. She pushes him down to the ground (did anyone else stand and cheer?) and demands to know the rest. Sure enough, we get flashes of Brendan. HE WAS THE TIMELESS CHILD. There was a faction of Time Lords called “The Division” that were sent to intervene. After that, the Master and the Doctor come to an area of the Matrix that has been redacted. The Doctor’s memory has been erased time and time again. Meanwhile, outside on Gallifrey, the Master has just created an army of TIME LORD CYBERMEN with the ability to regenerate…
The humans now have to go through the boundary to save the Doctor. Yaz goes first, with no hesitation.
The Doctor needs to figure out how to get out of the Matrix. She comes face to face with Ruth. Ruth asks if she has ever been limited by who she was before? Talk about a powerful question. The Doctor talks to herself, which is always a good sign, and she realizes she has to overload the Matrix with as much memory has possible. Now, the theme music begins to play as she thinks of all of her past selves. This scene was incredible. Flashes of every Doctor, one through herself, Ruth, Brendan, the child…they all overload the Matrix, and she is free. Yaz and the rest of the humans find her. They have a plan.
An ending like no other
Next, the humans say they have explosives that they can set along the Cyber ship to blow it up. Now, they need the Death Particle to destroy the organic life, including the new race of regenerating Cyber beings. The Doctor connects with the Master telepathically, and she finds the compressed Cyber Leader. That was his plan all along, but now the Doctor needs to meet him alone for one last time. After the humans plant the explosives, the countdown starts too soon. Thankfully, everyone gets off and back onto Gallifrey before the ship explodes. The Doctor finds a working TARDIS, which interior looks a lot like Ruth’s, and sets coordinates to take the humans to Earth in the 21st century.
The only option is to use the last explosive Ko Sharmus has which the Doctor attaches to the Death Particle. The catch? It can only be detonated by hand. The Doctor is prepared to sacrifice herself for the universe. She refuses to let what she feels is her fault destroy all of humanity. Yaz tries to stop her, but her efforts are futile.
Of course, when the Doctor meets the Master in the citadel, he did not come alone. He shows off his new race of Cybermen. He is delighted to see that the Doctor is ready to destroy the planet again. His claim is that he has broken her down, and now he is set to conquer everything. The Doctor comes back with letting him know he has given her a gift. She isn’t lesser because she has lives she never knew. The Master eggs her on. He wants her to “become death.” Again, a moment where the Master is almost begging for death to come to him. She can’t seem to do it.
Ko Sharmus followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS and finished it for her! He tells her that he was the one who sent the Cyberium back in time, so he is prepared to do what she was going to do. Run, Doctor! After she runs, she finds another TARDIS to take herself back to her own. It was odd to see two separate TARDIS with working chameleon circuits. The Chameleon Circuit is what allows the TARDIS to blend in with its surroundings. The Doctor’s is stuck like a police box. The humans are all ALIVE and back on Earth. As the Doctor has a moment with her TARDIS, something starts to flash. Next, we see a Judoon platoon inside telling her she is a fugitive and will be serving life in prison. They transport her to a prison floating in space…and the episode ENDS. WHAT?!
More thoughts
The acting in this episode was top-notch. Seeing Sacha and Jodie work off of each other with such anger and despair was incredible.
It was refreshing that the companions all had something important to do to save the Doctor and themselves. I was worried that we would see the loss of a companion, but I am very thankful everyone got out of there alive. Ko Sharmus sacrificing himself made me sad, but I knew the Doctor would not die. The show isn’t over! I think we will see the Master again. It’s in his nature to come back when we think it’s over. This episode definitely answered our questions from the first part, but how will the Doctor get out of prison? Thankfully, we get a holiday episode! So, we do not have to wait over a year for the resolution.
Fan Reactions
The acting in this show freaking incredible. The fear. The anger. It's incredible.#DoctorWho @DoctorWho_BBCA
— kelsey (@kelseykrem) March 2, 2020
Ok, then… I. Have. QUESTIONS. #DoctorWho
— Joe P @ Doctor Who Spoilers (@justplainjoe) March 2, 2020
Wow. That was a LOT to process.
With probably my favourite performance by Jodie Whittaker so far, I was on the edge of my seat throughout that whole story.
What an interesting concept. It certainly lived up to 'game-changing', I want to know so much more!
Thoughts?#DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/oa3wW2anqH
— The Women of Who 🌈 (@TheWomenOfWho) March 1, 2020
Press release from Doctor Who BBC
Following the climactic ending to Season 12, Doctor Who will return to BBC AMERICA this coming holiday season for a special episode entitled, “Revolution of the Daleks.”
The latest season was packed full of shocking twists, turns and surprises, and now the one-off special will see the return of one of the Doctor’s biggest and most feared enemies – the Daleks.
Doctor Who Showrunner Chris Chibnall said:
“We can’t leave the Doctor there! On that cliffhanger! Well, we did. But rest assured, the Doctor and her friends will be back for a one-off extended special around Christmas and New Year. (I don’t know when they’re going to put it on yet, otherwise we’d tell you!). There will be Daleks. There will be exterminations. Thrills, laughter, tears. You know. The usual. See you at the end of the year.”
The Doctor is played by Jodie Whittaker, Ryan by Tosin Cole, Graham by Bradley Walsh and Yaz by Mandip Gill. All will be starring in the upcoming festive episode.
For more Doctor Who coverage:
Where to begin watching Doctor Who if you’re a new fan
Our Cosplay Photo Gallery from Gallifrey One 2020
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