like, first of all i don’t think this episode was That Bad. i have many criticisms of it and there’s stuff i’m angry about and stuff i really really wish was done differently. i’m sad and upset about ncuti leaving, and i’m upset we didn’t know ahead of time. i don’t like how belinda was handled and it’s clear to me that things were probably changed at the last minute.
but the episode itself as a whole? not that bad. tumblr’s reaction feels like evil recency bias. we always do this; where the Worst Doctor Who Ever was whatever was most recently out. there was a alot about reality war that i liked. it had a lot of interesting ideas and character interactions. the performances were fantastic, it was visually interesting, the music was good. i LOVED the scene with thirteen – seeing her under a different writer, one who could play to jodie’s strengths more, was like night and fucking day.
i sat through s11-13 as they aired and there was never once an episode in those series that made it Worth It to me. the closest we ever got was maybe haunting of villa diodatti. conversely there’s a good bunch of 15 episodes that are absolutely Worth It to me. far more good than bad, imo. this whole damn season was worth it for story and the engine.
i really do love the “you can’t criticize moffat or chibnall when rtd did this” thing that the internet’s doing. yes i can. i can and i will. i dont treat showrunners like favorite characters i have to defend. theyre all middle aged white guys i think we can criticize them all. when i push back on a criticism of rtd or moffat or. well i rarely defend chibnall but in the case that i do. i’m not saying we Shouldn’t criticize them at all because that would be stupid. i’m saying we should criticize them accurately.
reality war isn’t even the worst episode this season. it’s not even in the top two. this season was a mixed bag, and i know it all feels sour right now, but in time i think we’ll remember all the good stuff too. so yeah, i do still like rtdwho better than chibwho. they’re not any more or less bigoted than one another. theyre both middle aged white guys and showrunner slapfights are always stupid. for me, at least, rtdwho is fun to watch. i like watching it, even when it’s bad. i cannot say the same for chibwho because the strongest emotion 90% of those episodes inspire in me is boredom.