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Okay so going into this I’ve already have some… concerns regarding the quality of the episode. The Chibnall era has already bungled so many aspects that are synonymous with the show and plot arcs that its hard to go in expecting any guaranteed quality. Even Thasmin was just kinda thrown in at the end of the era and just not… given a proper chance. So let’s talk about this, the regeneration episode.

Okay so let’s start with the cold open shall we? Its overall pretty weak. It doesn’t take its time with establishing the scene and what team TARDIS are even doing there to begin with. But then again, there’s already cybermen on the scene so I suppose we don’t need to suspend our disbelief too much here, same thing for why the hole in Dan’s helmet and immediately cause him to start suffocating but at the very least get a little hint that he’s thinking of leaving when he stops to stare at the crack and that’s at least a nice piece of foreshadowing.

But here’s the thing, the fact Dan is even considering leaving comes right out of left field and while its arguably less forced than Yaz’s departure it still feels forced and that’s just… upsetting. Dan as a character was of to a great start when he debuted but since the original plans for series 13 were scrapped over the pandemic and flux was hastily draw up to replace it we’re never going to see his full development as it was originally intended.

Okay so Sasha Diwan’s master has managed to somehow evade death AGAIN and has taken the guise of Rasputin. Now Diwan really comes into his own in this episode as the master, wonderfully suave and maniacal in his acting and just sells the character. His best performance as The Master yet! The scene where he dances to Boney M.’s Rasputin will forever be a highlight of the era for me just because that level of showmanship is so in character (and yes, I am listening to that song while writing this why do you ask?) Even if the plot feels convoluted with the master basically doing the exact same thing in two different eras and somehow not causing some time-wimey shenanigans while simultaneously fusing with the doctor to ruin their image (the latter plot point was horribly glossed over and maybe could be explored a little more) but despite that it still gets on as a great master centric story.

Ace and Tegan on the other hand? Well I’m going to be blunt, they felt like bloat. They don’t serve much purpose in the story besides fan-service, like they could have easily been swapped out for any other companion and the result would be the same. As a matter of fact I would go as far as to say their roles should’ve been filled by Dan and Graham respectively, it would have given both a serendipitous sendoff which Dan in particular desperately needed.
In fact I would say this applies also to Rishad, Vinder, The 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Incarnations of the doctor. The first, 6th and 8th doctors in particular because none of the returning characters are from media staring them, its just a weird to think just how much has been shoehorned into this episode. I could almost swear Chibnal was so stuck for ideas he just had a dartboard of characters from the franchise and just added in whatever he threw a dart at. Its just… a mess.

And then there’s the pacing because ho boy, if you thought Flux was awkwardly paced, this is just a whole lot worse. Like even with the extended runtime the plot moves just way to fast for my liking. Even in what are supposed to be slower moments you just don’t get that room to digest the plot. A story of this scope really should benefit from a slower burn. Because you have more time to fill, you can take your time. Make sure each scene gets the time it needs to hit the way it does. (Kinda of an awrkward wording but I hope it gets the point across.) But no, it keeps going at this breakneck pace and breaks its neck because of the pace its going at. A good example is when the Master Doctor drags Yaz into the TARDIS and proceeds to attempt to ruin the doctor’s image, after the master gets a change of clothes it just jumps ahead to the to planets destroying each other instead of showing us how he does it.

And finally we come to the ending. Now its not perfect, but it very well makes a damn good effort to stick the landing. To be honest when the promos promised a “Reichenbach Falls” climax I was expecting the doctor and the master to mutually attempt to kill each other before leading into the regeneration because well yeah, a protagonist and an antagonist who are effectively immortal may feel like an undercutting of a climax like that you can still make it work; and well I felt like that wasn’t what I got. Regardless it was genuinely hard warming to watch the 13th doctor and Yaz spending their last moments together before Yaz inexplicably left the TARDIS (little weird but hey I guess we’ve got to make room for Donna Noble SOMEHOW) and watching that glorious regeneration shot superimposed onto the newly formed “Companions Anonymous” just brought it home.

And then. Holy roly-poly! Bam! David Tennant! DAVID TENNANT! DAVID --ING TENNANT! What a twist! I am crossing my fingers for a good payoff for this because man, I want to know, I want to know what the heck is causing a repeat regeneration. (Also what caused the doctor’s clothes to also pull off a first and regenerate with him instead of staying on him and you just have a newly regenerated incarnation in ill-fitting clothes.) And here’s hoping we get one!

Overall, while Power of The Doctor had problems, it still had its great moments. No sure where it’ll fit into my tierlist, if I ever make one, of 13th doctor stories but here’s to a bright new era of who!

I’ve talked about this a bit with Epoch, but while I’ve loved Doctor Who all my life, and continue to with every fiber of my being… It was very much time for the Chibnall era to end. So much of the episode, like a lot of Chibnall episodes, felt in some ways less like a progressing plot and more like a puzzle built to seem convoluted and mysterious once before it unwinds itself. Why were the Daleks even there? Why introduce a traitor to the Daleks only to kill it off? Why Rasputin, or the two eruptions across time? Since when has forced regeneration needed a TARDIS and a dang planet? What’s with the Master’s out of nowhere desire to become the Doctor and why is he so incredibly creepy about every aspect of it? Why is Graham there? I want to like the episode, I really do, but the more I think about it the more frustrated I am by the realization that it just kind of ignores the question of why anything is happening, acts like it’s very clever for solving a puzzle it established in the first place, and just… seems unclear as to why it exists. The fanservice stuff was cool, though.

Its absolutely something that hit me from left field. When I heard the news of Doctor/Donna’s return my mind immediately went to “oh, maybe we’ll see some flashbacks throughout the coming specials of these two which will tie into Gatwa’s first story, Gatwa’s doctor will still be the focus.” or… Having those specials be Gatwa and Tennant bumping into each other and teaming up in a more classic multi doctor.

But this.
I swore at the screen multiple times when seeing this. If this is going where I think its going then that reminds me; wouldn’t Donna’s head explode if she remembered who the doctor was?

I’ll tell you something.
We’ll definately be getting a Rose.