“What an awfully big adventure!"
Perhaps this isn't quite the perfect finale, but it's nonetheless a fine culmination to what s easily Chibnall's best series. It's a busy episode and, if the Sontarans' attempt to save and then rule the universe by backstabbing some suspicioiusly gullible Daleks and Cybermen doesn't quite ring true, there''s enough going on to gloss over it. Even if the Sontarans are simutaneously a bigger threat than they've ever been and, er, overly partial to chocolate. I rather wish that hadn't been done. This os a weakness that will probably be repeated again until we eventually reach the equivalent of Ace chucking gold at Cybermen in Silver Nemesis. Still, I liked it on the whole.
The threads are drawn together well. Vinder and Bel are reunited rather straightforwardly in the end. The Professor, a wonderful character, gets a cool and heroic death. All the characters get something meaningful to do, even if there are a lot of plot threads to tie up. The mystery of the Doctotr's past is dangldd in front of us again, with that nice little metaphor of the Escher-esque rickety house of memory. We learn that Karvanista, perhaps, was a companion, but little else. Indeed, the Doctor ends up with the pocket watch only to deliberately hide it from herself. She fears she would not approve of the person she once was.
The use of the Sontaran plan, and the Passenger, to destroy the flux is clever, although it's not entirely clear how much of the damage can be undone. Azure and Swarm's plan- to sacrifice the Doctor to Time on Atropos and stsrt an endless time loop of the end of the universe- is gloriously bonkers, and I like the hint that it echoes something the Doctor may once have done to them, which makes me think of the fate of the Family in Human Nature.
Oh, and I liked "contact" with the three splinters of the Doctor, deliberately and appropriately echoing The Three Doctors in a tale about anti-matter destroying the universe.
The Doctor and Yaz being reunited is touching, and will do nothing to discourage the shippers, nor will the Doctor's pledge to be more open from now on. And Dan, having just been puzzlingly dumped by the rather resourceful Diane, is now officially a member of the team having well and truly proved himself.
All the more interesting, though, are the hints from Time at the end. The Doctor has little time yet, and will not regenerate. The Master will be involved. It is suddenly starting to feel like the end. And it's all very good. It just doesn't quite feel as epic as it should.
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