Doctor Who Season Two, Epiosde Seven
“Wish World”
Posted by Kim
Well, here we are, I guess.
It’s the penultimate episode of Doctor Who‘s second Disney+ season, and I am left with the WORST case of déjà vu. Because what is “Wish World” but Don’t Worry Darling (not a good film!!), WandaVision (an incredibly stylish and ambitious television show that IMO ultimately stumbled in executing its final act), Doctor Who‘s own “Human Nature” (a superior script) and “The Sound of Drums” (a better villain reveal) all tossed into a blender, pulverized, and poured into the narrative structure of last season’s “The Legend of Ruby Sunday”?
In the immortal words of Taylor Alison Swift, I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending.
I mean, for fuck’s sake, the last minutes of “Wish World” are basically a copy and paste of “TLoRS,” with destruction being unleashed upon London as the Doctor stands paralyzed with terror, tears welling in his eyes as he just says “No” over and over and over. (A look Ncuti does VERY WELL but come the fuck on, Bridget, we just did this.) Once again we have a somewhat deep cut classic Who villain whose name is LITERALLY splashed on the screen as someone gives some exposition about who the fuck they are for all the noobs like me who don’t know the name and lore immediately. I’m sorry, I know I don’t really go here when it comes to classic Who, but WHY are we overshadowing the long-awaited return of the motherfuckin’ RANI (I KNOW WHO SHE IS OKAY.) with the return of Omega? What MAN did this?
But really, this episode was messy right from the start. There was that whole Disney fairytale opening with Frau Rani (I DID chuckle at that) kidnapping a mysterious baby and seemingly doing magic to kill the baby’s whole family. On rewatch, it’s clear that The Rani is siphoning magic off the baby’s head by kissing him, but how? And how was this God of Wishes born to two seemingly completely ordinary humans. Sure, the father being the seventh son of a seventh son and the baby being that as well is a numerologist’s wet dream but that does not a GOD make. Did the mom sneak around on the dad and sleep with a god? But that wouldn’t that make the baby a demigod rather than a full blooded god? As per usual with this era, one question about the plot leads to twenty more.
Then it’s London 2025, except it looks to be about 1950. The Doctor John Smith and his wife Belinda are blissfully married. They have an adorable daughter named Poppy. (“‘Space Babies’ is good” hive, how you living???) Conrad Clark is on the telly reporting on the weather and reading a Doctor Who story for the audience. Like I said, it’s a full Don’t Worry Darling meets WandaVision set-up and the fact that the Doctor and Belinda are trapped in some sort of a fantasy world is clear from the start. That concept is not what I am so steamed about. It’s the execution.
Obviously, a John Smith heavy episode of Doctor Who can work. “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood” are truly iconic episodes that rank among the best of David Tennant’s tenure. But unlike “Wish World,” the stakes and set-up for those two episodes are CLEAR. We know the Doctor is on the run from The Family of Blood. We learn rather quickly that the Doctor’s memory is stored in a fob watch and that Martha Jones is merely playing a part, working undercover to guard both John Smith and the fob watch. There is no such structure in “Wish World” that allows the audience in on the JOURNEY the Doctor takes in this episode. The last we saw of Belinda and The Doctor, they had finally made it back to 2025 and the TARDIS doors had blown open. Did they just…wake up in this fantasy world with new personalities? How long have they been there? I get that The Rani is using Desidirum, the most powerful god of the Pantheon (Sutekh would BEG to differ!), to construct this world via Conrad’s fascist, ableist, heteronormative, and misogynist desires but did we really need to spend thirty-five minutes of a forty-five minute episode establishing this world when we, the audience, were just waiting for the Doctor to catch up? And furthermore, did we need to spend close to five minutes of that final ten minutes with The Rani explaining everything we had JUST WATCHED? Did we need to spend that time building up to The Rani gleefully revealing her identity to The Doctor when we, the audience, have known her identity the whole fucking tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime?
Speaking of The Rani, again, I know I don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to talking about her personality, it felt like she was giving more Missy here than a cold and calculating scientist who didn’t really give two shits about the Doctor. Even the fact that she is looking specifically for Omega feels more like a Master thing to do than what I’ve read about The Rani. Like, if her whole experiment was just creating a fantasy world so unsustainable that it would tear the very fabric of reality so she would be able to rip it up and just see what’s underneath, I would be more like, that tracks. It’s the searching for Omega that has me going…what? She never struck me as being so obsessed with the Time Lords that she would want to restore them. That is MASTER behavior, my friends. Or, at least it’s Master behavior to me. And I’ve loved Archie Panjabi since The Good Wife but I don’t know if this over the top and campy character really plays to her strengths as an actress. There just doesn’t really feel like there’s anything that GROUNDING it, you know? That’s the thing with genre acting, after all, and it’s why so many of themost successful genre actors are Shakespearean ones. You have to find the kernel of truth to ground youself amidst all the silly dialogue and the heightened stakes. And right now, I’m just not getting this from her. And that bums me out. I’m bummed out in GENERAL by Doctor Who right now.
But hey! They could stick the landing. I want them to! I always want them to. But last season, I ended up disliking and feeling alienated by “Empire of Death” even MORE, so my hopes are not high. But they’re still there at least. That’s something…right?
Timey Wimey Observations
- Okay, yes, OBVIOUSLY I screamed at Rogue’s cameo. I’m not made of STONE. But I did laugh at the lack of good green screen effects for his scene. Like…did Groffsauce film this from his dressing room at Circle in the Square? His HAIR is different from his episode, so IDK if it was filmed simultaneously, even though the behind the scenes featurette seemed to intimate that it was?
- Again I ask: who is the makeup and hair department hates Millie Gibson? That wig is ATROCIOUS.
- Bonnie Langford’s delivery of “Oh, you know. I’m single, no parents, no children. So I will sit in silent contemplation and be jolly glad.” was solid gold.
- I DID very much appreciate this callback, though I hope this is not the only way the delightful Susan Twist is used.
- I am just saying that in Conrad’s patriarchal world where a woman’s place is at home with the children, there is no way that Kate would have been the head of United National Insurance Team. You have to apply all the rules to all the places!
- However, I do love that this confirms that Kate and Ibrahim will be in love in all universes. Haters stay mad!
- We gotta talk about Belinda, you guys. Once again, it feels like this episode really sidelined her. And I don’t understand why SHE isn’t able to fight against Desidirum and break out of the fantasy world, aside from the one scene where she runs to the riverbank and screams. (BIG MOOD.) I also feel that we have now come to the end of what appears to be a one and done season in the TARDIS and I don’t feel like we know any more about her than we did in her first episode. And that bums me out because I LIKE HER! I like Varada Sethu and think she’s a great actress, but they are just really letting her down with story here. Where’s the personality? Where are the quirks? She may be the most underwritten/generalized companion since 2005 and that SUCKS.
- I do not understand shipping Belinda and The Doctor, and I was once derisively told that I ship EVERYTHING. And it’s not even because I feel that Ncuti’s Doctor projects the vibe that he’s exclusively into men. It’s because, like I said. Belinda has become so woefully underwritten that I get zero vibes from HER. And you gotta have the vibes!!!
- I really loved how Shirley was used in this episode.
- The way the script explained why Shirley and the rest of the disabled and marginalized were able to fight against the Wish World made perfect sense because of course Conrad’s fantasy would disregard them. What was more of a reach to me was why Ruby Sunday, a blonde white woman, was able to break free, other than just, the narrative needed her to. Was it just because Conrad had so much disdain for her that the disdain actually ended up shielding her? If so, I am SURE she is not the only person that guy disdained or disregarded. RULES CONTROL THE FUN OKAY.
- WHY ARE WE HAVING CARLA SUNDAY REJECT RUBY ONCE AGAIN, RUSSELL I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD.
- I don’t fully understand the personality transplant with Mrs. Flood after the bigeneration, though RTD’s socials seem to foreshadow that we’re gonna get SOME sort of explanation. What I DO know is that Mrs. Flood is Gretchen Wieners now and she’s about five seconds from screaming “WE SHOULD TOTALLY JUST STAB CAESAR.”
- As to not end on a fully negative note, I really did enjoy the production design and costumes for this episode. They’ve really spent that Disney money well in that aspect.
- Also those Rani minions in black vinyl were something right out of American Horror Story: Murder House and I loved it.
What did you think of “Wish World”? Let us know in the comments.
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