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As our first sample of series twelve, “Spyfall,” offers up a lot to talk about. Through a series of misdirects and intrigue leading to a big reveal, it certainly fits the spy genre. However, I should preface this by saying I’ve never seen a single James Bond film. Don’t expect me to get minor references because I won’t have caught them. What I do know is Doctor Who, and by golly does it feel good to be writing about new Doctor Who.

Earlier today I accidentally read the synopsis to tonight’s episode. I say accidentally because I have purposely been avoiding plot synopses. I was a bit annoyed as it ruins the entire opening sequence of spies getting kidnapped by aliens. I was left with zero levels of intrigue or mystery during the opener as I knew exactly what was happening. However, as I said, this is an episode of misdirection. For better or worse, the kidnapping of spies turns out virtually inconsequential by the end.

Happy New Year friends! I hope you enjoyed tonight’s story because that marks the only episode of 2019! Yep. Only 365 days to go until we maybe get another special! The Earth is protected this year, and every year by the Doctor and her mates. That is unless you count the rest of 2019. Hindsight really is 2020. Ok, that was bad. But was tonight’s episode bad?

“Resolution,” Chris Chibnall’s New Year’s resolution to make Doctor Who more like Class, is a bit of a rough gem. It’s not quite as polished as you would hope, but in his case, it’s nice to see that he’s struck anything at all. The episode began before I did, so I spent a moment or two playing catch up. This isn’t me saying “I missed the first two minutes.” That’s me saying I thought the first two minutes were an advert for some sort of World of Warcraft phone app. This isn’t me being cute, I legitimately was not sure.

In case you are having a nasty day,

So we see in the Night of the Doctor, Paul McGann’s 8th Doctor (blessums) regenerates into the War Doctor. Now the only real glimpse we get of his face is a bit of a reflection-

Now I’ve heard of dudes getting baby face when they shave but damn! This is obviously a much younger version of John Hurt, most likely taken from his early days as an actor. (Oh Adobe After Effects…) This is of course how we come to know him in “The Day of the Doctor”-

Ah, good ol’ Granddad. So he lived a long life right? But just how long?

This is Matt Smith in season 5 (supposedly 907 years old)-

Little Boy Eleven. So cute. Gonna just stare for a moment… ahem…

So here is Matt in “Day of the Doctor” (approx. 1200 years old)-

He’s maybe grown into his face a little. But if this is all give or take 293 years of living ages the man, JUST HOW OLD IS THE WAR DOCTOR?

He’s shown an awful lot of age. The Time War was said to have gone on very long. Has war been that hard on him? Has it alone aged him? Perhaps it was the stress of being born as the “War Doctor.” The expectation thrust upon him to fix the Time War mixed with the stress of knowing all along what it would cost?