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Doctor Who: Series Twelve Finale - The Timeless Children (REVIEW)

The mystery of the Timeless Child is finally revealed

By Ted RyanPublished 4 years ago 4 min read
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Everything was a lie - In the epic and emotional series finale, the Cybermen are on the march. As the last remaining humans are ruthlessly hunted down, Graham, Ryan and Yaz face a terrifying fight to survive. Meanwhile, the Doctor faces the harrowing truth of her past.

Chris Chibnall ends his second run of Who by exploring the origins of the Doctor and Master's origins. We also get the answer to the Timeless Child question and who that exactly is. After being pulled through a portal to the destroyed planet of Gallifrey, Doctor faces her old frenemy Master and he locks her consciousness inside the Time Lord database - showing her the story behind the Timeless Child. A child that is found by a woman from Gallifrey, who she adopts and once she discovers the girl can regenerate and come back to life with a different face, the mother spends most of her life trying to recreate her daughter's DNA. This is the grounds that Gallifrey's society was built on, allowing the regeneration gene to be passed naturally through generations and limited to twelve per Time Lord. Meanwhile, the Timeless Child has infinite lives and the Time Lords decides to send him/her to random spaces in time on Earth - letting her/him live out their lives and then repeat the cycle after erasing their memories.

And the Timeless Child is The Doctor - experimented on by her mother to create her own empire and continuously wipe her memories of her lives. This obviously has an emotional impact on the Doctor as she realises she's lived many lives she can't remember, only her last twelve being the ones she has vivid memories of.

This is where the episode truly shone as Jodie Whittaker and Sacha Dhawan had amazing chemistry - Whittaker's emotional turmoil was excellently portrayed and Dhawan captured the unstable and sadistic side of the Master had a great balance of intensity and charisma. They were the stars of this episode and their battle of wills, the shared history and conflicted bond was beautifully played out on screen.

This was definitely the best part of the episode. The other storyline running alongside with Yaz, Ryan and Graham battling the Cybermen was a bit underwhelming in comparison. Although there were some great character moments and the Master's manic plan to rebuild an army of Cybermen with regeneration from the corpses of his people. The Classic Who villains felt more like a plot device rather than a real threat. Even the Lone Cyberman had a bit of a disappointing conclusion after being such a sinister antagonist in The Haunting of Villa Diodati and Ascension of the Cybermen . Also despite the sinister themes running through the episode, I couldn't suppress a chuckle when I saw the redesign of the Regenerated Cybermen with the Time Lord headdress. But Ryan did get to throw a bomb to detonate in front of a Cyber trope - granted it was vastly different than the opening episode with a basketball, but I did wonder for nine episodes "Why is there so much emphasis on this basketball?"

Now we know. We did also get a nice scene between Bradley Walsh and Mandip Gill and there relationship is something I hope we get to see. Although the fact all three of the companions escape unscathed, I do wish that wasn't the case. Not that I was looking for deaths particularly, but at least conflict or tension that alters relationships for series thirteen.

So while trapped in the whirlwind that is her past, Doctor fights back against the memory database by remembering all her past lives - flashes of all fourteen doctors flash across the screen as she collapses in pain and awakens in the chamber - reuniting her with her "fam" back around her. Whittaker has another classic Who scene as she selflessly sends the group back to Earth 2020 to confront the Master and destroy him and his army by detonating the miniature Lone Cyberman (Yes, Master shrunk him). She insists that she's going ahead with her plan, despite Yaz begging her not to - I am getting a possible romantic vibe between these characters since her conversation about being torn between wanting normality or unpredictability with someone. Could they be the main ship in series 13? Maybe.

So with a final showdown between Doctor and Master, she proves he hasn't broken her and the truth has only made her stronger. She is rescued from making the ultimate sacrifice Ian McElhinney's Ko who sets off the bomb while the Doctor escapes to another TARDIS (disguised as a tree). But is the Master dead? Did it destroy the cybermen?

That is left up in the air as the Doctor is reunited with her TARDIS, only to be arrested and imprisoned by the Judoon. So many questions. I have come to the conclusion and from other discussions with fans that Chibnall writes in a way that makes much more sense after a re-watch. The seeds of an intertwining narrative were cleverly planted that throughout each episode this season. The Haunting of Villa Diodati was definitely a standout episode in alongside this episode, series twelve had a lot more of an arc and this much darker side of Thirteen was a great addition as well.

As for Series Thirteen... thanks to @AMadmanNotABox , it looks like William Hartnell, Christopher Eccleston will be reprising their Doctor roles as they fight to help Whittaker's imprisoned Doctor and Patrick Troughton's Doctor will meet another Doctor - could this be Jo Martin's Doctor?

I honestly believe that Chibnall made a bold creative choice that has worked brilliantly and I can't wait to see where he takes this story further.

scifi tv
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About the Creator

Ted Ryan

When I’m not reviewing or analysing pop culture, I’m writing stories of my own.

Reviewer/Screenwriter socials: Twitter.

Author socials: You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Goodreads as T.J. Ryan.

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