I agree about how they handled Ryan’s disability. It’s literally how they started the first Chibnal series, was barely mentioned again, and then they went back to it seemingly so they could check the box and show they remembered it

yeah sad to say this is probably a good time to break it off

That’s one of the big problems with this era of the show: it’s not any fun and especially the Doctor doesn’t seem to be having any fun. There’s just no sense of joy. Even though Capaldi’s Doctor was more downbeat than usual there were still moments of joy and fun. The closest they can come with Whitaker is to have her…

It would probably be welcome just to get a fresh start but the problem’s the writing not her

Oh c’mon the biggest global movement against police brutality and racism occurred just this year. I agree it’s always a relevant theme but it’s especially relevant now

Ryan was just generally pissy and unpleasant to everyone throughout the episode. It was weird

Yeah the prison sequence took up far too much time for being so boring and ultimately pointless. She was in prison and that was it. They didn’t need to show her routine etc to that extent. I assumed she was going to manipulate things in the routine we were watching for an escape attempt but of course not.

Maybe it’s because I’m heavily involved in politics and activism but I’ve found virtually every time Doctor Who tries to delve into the actual machinations of politics to be completely hamhanded and uninformed (as opposed to when it brings up political issues where it’s better). The whole Robertson plot is one of the…

Right. It’s a provocative idea with resonance to the real world but Chibnall doesn’t really do anything with it. 

She doesn’t have chemistry with them because they’re such weak, badly written characters and frankly in this era of the show the Doctor kind of is too

The three never had any personalities. They could’ve just been three random people. It was ridiculous. It was clear that the three companion thing wasn’t working and Chibnall knew it or was forced to know it and just wrote them out completely unceremoniously, which was in keeping with how lame they were as companions

That’s a good point. In nu who we’re used to seeing the companion departures as being either because of some tragic plot contrivance makes them leave a la Rose or because they’re in love with the Doctor and know it won’t be requited (Martha). It’s different to see someone just decide it’s time to stop traveling and…

I started with Moffat/Smith as well and went back to see the Tennant era after the fact and I thought my reaction to it would be much like yours. But having just watched Seasons 3 and 4 I wouldn’t use similar adjectives at all. There is a certain goofiness, a lot of it coming from the non-existent special effects…

I disagree that the decline has been sharp. I agree that the Tennant/Davies era was the best but I think Smith/Moffat and even Capaldi/Moffat were both still good. The sharp decline occurred with Chibnall

It was great getting so many well known and fun lip sync songs. The only weird choice was the Lindsay Lohan one (lol) I hope they didn’t use the whole season’s music licensing budget!

I missed the work room banter but I still found this new format interesting

I found the judges decisions on who won the lip syncs to be so inscrutable they just about appeared random to me

Not any more last than the last person to die of COVID

lol

I’m reading this on January 1, 2021 and commenting knowing all sorts of things you past people don’t. It feels like time travel