Content warning: brief mention of misogyny, racism and ableism

I just want to preface this by saying that I am not a big Doctor Who fan. I don’t understand what’s going on, I’m not a big fan of timey-wimey, and I have had Dugga Doo haunting my dreams for a month. I do however have friends who adore it, and don’t take that lightly, I mean they once spent an entire day playing Whodle (I bet you can guess what that is) in competition with each other. My knowledge, however, only dates back to the 60^th anniversary special and a failed attempt to watch Christopher Eccleston’s run from 2005.

Luckily for me, Ncuti Gatwa’s short and debatably iffy time as The Doctor was made for people like me in mind, a reboot for clueless people. Well, if you ignore the callbacks to the 70s, which even my Who-obsessed friends had to education themselves on from TikTok videos released just after episodes. All of that aside, the show has been relatively accessible for newbies. Unfortunately, it’s just not been that good.

I’m not going to get into the exacts of each episode; already, we have had three incredible reviews by people a lot more educated and eloquent than I am.  I am going to speak to the overall expectations and feeling of Season 2/15/41 (what?) which can only be described as: a lot better than the first one.

I think I speak for all when I say the 15^th Doctor’s introductory season was just short of awful; this season, meanwhile seemed to claw back its dignity and produce episodes that were encapsulating and interesting. I started with little hope as ‘The Robot Revolution’ was a cheap shot at entertainment, but as we moved into ‘Lux’ and Russell T Davies decided to break the fourth wall, I was pretty hooked.

I’m a big fan of Gatwa as The Doctor, he is a charming, dramatic take on the beloved Time Lord. Season two allowed him to finally get his footing in the role, finally actually portraying the character as a complex being rather than just an alien that cries a lot. The Doctor and Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) have a great chemistry, though I found Belinda to be an annoying, needy companion compared to Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday. I was glad to see The Doctor face situations where his do-good attitude was challenged and a darker side revealed. I am also incredibly sad to see him go. While I am certain it was Gatwa’s choice entirely to withdraw, I finished the season wishing he had one more chance to tie up the loose ends of his world.

The season left a lot to be desired. Where is Rogue? Will he return? What is actually up with Ruby? Who is Poppy really? That was one of my biggest irks, the messy attempt to retcon the choice to use the same actress from season one’s ‘Space Babies’ in the two-part finale resulted in a confusing, underwhelming end of Belinda’s story.

The season is sprinkled with some great villains though. Lux, the monster from ‘The Well’ and the story-eating engine from ‘The Story and the Engine’ added the spooky nature that season one significantly lacked. There was also one particularly thrilling overarching villain. I am not talking about The Rani, while I loved Anita Dobson’s dithering performance, and Archie Panjabi was a commanding presence until she was eaten far too easily by the big, creepy skull guy. I am of course talking about Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King) in all his terribly normal glory.

While there is nothing special about Conrad Clark, just a misogynistic, racist man with a wish to reinstate female submission and start an eradication of people with disability, his nothingness is what made him such an interesting character. From his tricks in ‘Lucky Day’ to being the brain behind ‘Wish World’, he was such an avid threat to all of these high-tech and extraterrestrial beings that he bought even the best of people to their moral breaking point. He was much scarier than any freaky mutilation of being, because he is reflective of real life.

The end fell flat in some ways, like any eight-part TV show that deserved a full 22-episode schedule. Both Ruby and Belinda have been victims to bad writing, and I am still wishing for Johnny Groff to return to my screen. I appreciated the finale, most notably the ability to tie in ‘Joy to the World’ which at the time seemed to be wasted budget. I do have to say though, I’m intrigued to see how Billie Piper continues the story and if any of my qualms will be explained. I hope to see David Tennant again, and I feel like I might need to educate myself much better on the lore of Rose as we move into the future of Doctor Who.

More Doctor Who from Redbrick TV:

Review: Doctor Who – ‘Wish World’

Review: Doctor Who – ‘Lux’

Review: Doctor Who – ‘The Robot Revolution’

Review: Doctor Who Season 14