There's a fine line between "grand" and "grand folly."
'The Reality War' is hands down the biggest, wildest, and weirdest episode of Doctor Who this season – and quite possibly ever. Over an extended 66 minutes, it crams in the return of several old characters, a resurrected villain, some unexpected Time Lord lore, multiple realities colliding, and the eventual regeneration of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor.
But bigger doesn't always mean better. 'The Reality War' has many wonderful moments, particularly in its latter half, but it also marks a weak conclusion to the story of Belinda Chandra, and suffers from an even more pronounced disregard for logic than is usual for this knowingly daft show. It's the very definition of a lot to take in and – cards on the table – even after multiple viewings, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it and where it leaves the show.
Spoilers for 'The Reality War'
The episode picks up exactly where 'Wish World' left off. Earth is cracking open and the Doctor is tumbling into the infernal Underverse. Before he is lost forever, however, a magic door opens and reveals Anita – Steph de Whalley's charming breakout character from last year's Christmas special, a truly welcome returnee.
Anita saves the Doctor just in the nick of time. With his true memory and personality restored, the Doctor sets about freeing his friends from Conrad's altered reality. This leads to a bigger problem, however: bringing down the wish world will also erase baby Poppy (Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps) from existence and to her parents – the Doctor and Belinda – this is unacceptable.
Of all the strange choices made in this episode, the resolution of Belinda's storyline is the one that feels the most awkwardly fumbled. Bel was introduced this season as a strong-willed nurse whose motivation was simply to get home and back to the normal life that her incel ex had stolen from her. Conrad's wish transforms her into a housewife – a "good little girl, then good little wife, then good little mother", as Devika put it in the previous episode. But when the true reality is restored, and the characters go back to their normal selves, she is still Poppy's mother, a role that unexpectedly becomes her defining characteristic in the episode.
You can see how the script may have got to this point. Russell T Davies loves the idea of the cosmic, all-powerful Doctor dying to save a single mortal life – it's there in the 10th Doctor sacrificing himself for Bernard Cribbins' Wilf in 'The End of Time,' and echoed again here in his race to restore Poppy. The trouble is, by the end of the episode the Doctor is no longer a father, while Belinda has very much become Poppy's mother – something that she never actually had a say in.
Now, you could argue that she makes a choice in the scene where she faces down both the Rani and UNIT. In that moment, she makes it clear that she loves Poppy and will do anything to save her life. "I remember her being my daughter," Belinda says. "And if I remember it, then it's true." But those memories were imposed on her life by Conrad's sexist vision of the world. By the closing moments of 'The Reality War', Belinda has fundamentally changed, partly through her time with the Doctor, but largely because of the wish – and now both the beginning and end of her story are defined by the actions of toxic men.
But I'm getting ahead of myself – how timey-wimey. The Doctor catches up with the two Ranis (and bless Davies for that gem of a final line from Mrs Flood) just as they succeed in summoning Omega, who has now devolved into an oversized and reasonably creepy skeleton monster. The new Rani is killed, Mrs Flood – easily the more interesting version of the character – escapes, and the Doctor defeats Omega with the Vindicator.
Some will no doubt raise an eyebrow at the Doctor beating the baddie with, essentially, a big gun, but making the Vindicator the key to the entire season for both the Doctor and the Rani is well set up. There's also a pleasingly mythic quality to the image of the Doctor banishing this monster back into Hell.
There's still about 30 minutes on the clock at this point, and it's here that the episode takes its biggest turn to the personal. The Doctor and Belinda start planning their life with Poppy in a scene in the TARDIS that's both beautifully and unsettlingly played, the happy new parents passing their child's coat back and forth as it slowly folds out of existence. This gives Millie Gibson some strong material, as Ruby desperately tries to convince her best friend and then UNIT that reality has changed around them.
Also effective is Ruby's final defeat of Conrad. She has been used and emotionally abused by this man. That she chooses to wield the power of the wish not to punish him, but to give him an undeserved chance to start over in a new life – one where he is genuinely happy and no longer a bitter bigot – is lovely and optimistic, albeit also tinged with bitter irony. Of course, he gets off scot-free! Ultimately, however, Ruby chooses kindness over vengeance, and there can be no more Doctor Who message than that.
"It's a goodnight from me..."
But the final few minutes belong, naturally, to the Doctor. That Ncuti Gatwa might be leaving the show this season has been rumored for months now, so it's not the biggest surprise to see him regenerate here, particularly when the rest of the episode has worked hard to bring all his old friends back together.
It is a shame to see him go so soon, though, after just 19 episodes in the role. This season really started to dig into his specific version of the character, but it still feels like there was a lot of room left to explore. Perhaps we'll see the 15th Doctor again one day, but for now this is goodbye, in a protracted farewell scene that he unexpectedly shares with Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor.
Whittaker's cameo is a delight, by the way, perfectly played by both actors and written with a precision that's lacking from some other parts of the episode. "I love you," says Gatwa's Doctor, leading to Whittaker musing: "I never say things like that... I should say that to Yaz!" To which Gatwa softly adds, "You never do." Gorgeous, well-judged writing and, to steal a word from the 15th Doctor's dying moments, it's a joy to see Whittaker in the role again.
And so to the future, and to Billie Piper, back in the show that kickstarted her acting career, but in a very different role. We don't yet know what's next for the show, or for Piper in the role, though her casting is a strong indication that Davies and the BBC, at least, do intend to continue, with or without Disney on board. You don't cast a busy actor and writer like Piper unless you're actively planning to work with them.
Taking a step back from the curious mix of delight, melancholy, amusement and annoyance that I felt while watching 'The Reality War,' it seems clear that, as a piece of episodic drama, this was the weakest instalment in an otherwise strong season. A confused tangle of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling – in the latter camp we can file the reintroduction of Susan in 'The Interstellar Song Contest,' only for her to disappear out of the season entirely. Did something get cut, or is that, like that strange last-minute mention of "the Boss," another tease for the future? Time will tell, but for now, it feels like a dropped ball.
And yet, for all these grumbles, I've loved this season, this Doctor, and this version of the show. I've enjoyed all of the episodes, even when – as with 'Lucky Day' – I wasn't 100% convinced by them. Gatwa, Sethu, and Gibson have been a charismatic TARDIS team, and I've appreciated the show's focus on largely new villains away from the big three of the Daleks, Cybermen, and the Master. In what's turning out to be the latest in a long string of fairly awful years, worldwide, I've also appreciated the show's touching hopefulness, generosity of spirit, and warm humanism.
Part of being a Doctor Who fan is accepting that sometimes the show’s reach exceeds its grasp. As I said at the top, there's a fine line between "grand" and "grand folly." 'The Reality War' tips over into the latter more than I'd like, but its hearts are undoubtedly in the right place. And I can't wait to see what happens next.
Doctor Who: 'The Reality War' is out now on Disney Plus and BBC iPlayer.
Check out our exhaustive guide to Doctor Who season 2 Easter eggs here. And For more great new TV, check out our guide to the best new shows coming your way in 2025.
