Unfortunately, I don't have the time tonight or tomorrow to do a full analysis and write-up of the episode (I have a very last-minute zine story to work on due tomorrow), so that will have to wait. But have some rapid half-baked thoughts:
Seeing this in the cinema was an experience.
Omega was such a disappointment. I mean... for fuck's sake. How hard is it to do a cool modern version of the Three Doctors armour? That would look 'godly' enough already! No wonder they only used archive audio last episode.
Also weird how his origin was seemingly retconned, so that he was deliberately exiled? I wonder if this could be headcanoned to link to the "Could Have Been King" Time War stuff?
The Rani being eaten was dumb, but at least it's the kind of fate that could leave her open to return? Plus, Mrs. Flood is still out there, but who knows how that would work.
Honestly, not only was Omega wasted, but we could have done a lot more with the Rani. Again I hope we see more of her.
Even though this episode was a two-parter, I think it's yet more evidence that the compressed series length needs to die. This honestly should have been a Series 3 or Series 4 style three-parter finale, with Wish World being the Utopia / Turn Left before The Reality War parts 1 and 2.
But a lot of other stuff in the episode was good tbf. My heart was pounding through so much of it.
After some of debates about things in Conrad's world that last episode didn't discuss (specifically trans people) I'm glad we got Rose (Temple-Noble, can't believe I have to specify that) back acknowledging that.
Kinda shocked, but honestly relieved, that they didn't retcon Susan's origin. Still surprising that wasn't checked in this finale.
You should have seen me when they declared that Time Lords are sterile. I'm usually very quiet and respectful in cinemas, but it took all my willpower not to scream. I thought we were actually going there...
(Kinda fascinating how ever since Series 9 we've been teasing and teasing at the idea of looms and Lungbarrow, but never actually gone there.)
But it ended up being a consequence of the "genetic explosion" thing Fifteen mentioned in The Devil's Chord, which we've never had actually explained. It's presumably a soft retcon of the effects of the Death Particle in The Timeless Children, but still weird. For a sec I thought they were going to make it fully retroactive too, as a sort of alternative explanation for Time Lord sterility from the Pythian curse.
Everything with Belinda is weird. It feels a little uncomfortable to have her retconned into motherhood and also sidelined for much of the episode. Maybe it would have felt better if this kinda longing for a family, as anti-feminist as it could risk looking (think about the backlash with some of Amy's characterisation), was part of her personality through the series, so it was more of a wish fulfilment (heh) thing? But having it all happen retroactively feels a lot worse.
But on the other hand, as long as it went, I loved all the timeline weirdness at the end, with the idea we're sort of split between these two time tracks? I wonder if that's all going to come back? It must, right, with Belinda's reason for wanting to return home 'glitching' in the new reality too?
I can't believe we got Thirteen back, for a brief moment. A surprise, but a welcome one. And we got a Thasmin moment out of it too?
So sad to see Ncuti regenerate. I've known about the rumour that he wanted to leave so he can do more work in Hollywood and on-stage (though the tabloids as usual have claimed it's a sacking, I doubt that - this episode was clearly planned for a longtime to be a swansong for him). I did think for a while, as the episode concluded, that it was false and he was going to survive after all. But sacrificing your regeneration to reshape reality to save one child is a pretty great way to go out.
(BTW loved Joy to the World of all things having a big impact on this episode, with the final song even being rewritten into Fifteen's regeneration theme?)
On the other hand, I do wonder whether or not this is going to be the last we see of him? For one thing, Rogue's story is still unresolved, and it's going to be weird if Fifteen's not the one to find him. There's also everything about...
...Billie Piper? What a weird pull. On one hand, of course RTD somehow manages to drag us back to Rose in some way. On the other hand, I kinda dig it.
The big question I think is whether Billie is ACTUALLY the Doctor? That may sound ridiculous, but the show's clearly being coy. Note how the credits don't do the usual "Introducing X as the Doctor" thing? I wonder if it's actually meant to be Rose / Bad Wolf or something, somehow switched with the Doctor as part of all the reality warping stuff? I'm totally fine if she is the Doctor, who's just regenerated into that face, but I sense shenanigans. In a way, I kinda hope this is the case, as it implies this might not be the last we've seen of Ncuti.
If she is the new Doctor, it's funny how this comes right after seeing Thirteen, seemingly harkening back to that theory about an incarnation's experiences influencing their choice of regeneration. In fact, if you include Joy, then technically the last two faces Fifteen saw were both white blonde women?
I'm going to throw out a little theory here: I wonder if it is actually Rose, and by reshaping reality the Doctor's accidentally pulled her into this universe as a sort of wish-fulfilment thing, like has been teased the last two series? I know there was another worrying rumour that the BBC and/or Disney wanted to do something with Tennant (presumably Fourteen). The fact we didn't see him again this episode seemed to quash that, but maybe having Rose show up could be a sort of starting point for a limited-run in-between series with him, at the end of which Ncuti, or another actor, will return as the current Doctor?
I also strongly suspect that Billie's addition is a last minute thing. The rumour I saw also implied that Fifteen's regeneration was going to cut to black, similar to the original plan for Thirteen, if RTD didn't come back to showrun. If we link that with the Tennant rumour I bet this was a last minute pitch for a way to keep the show running, maybe, if we're lucky, just for Ncuti to take a break, or maybe more for behind-the-scenes production stuff with Disney to settle.
On a final note, with regards to in-between series, to get us through the hiatus however long it may be, which we don't really know yet, I am mostly looking forward to The War Between The Land and the Sea. Kinda disappointed 1. with Russell Tovey being back playing a different character (which honestly feels like RTD kinda treating himself), and 2. with whatever the fuck are those Sea Devil designs? Seriously, Legend of the Sea Devils wasn't a great episode, but the designs there were great. It feels like someone just wanted to rift off the Talokanil and Atlanteans from the MCU and DCU. Hopefully, there's at least something about this being a sub-species or a hybrid group or something. Supposedly Gugu Mbatha-Raw isn't playing Tish Jones either, which will really be a shame, as between her possible UNIT connections via Martha and her history with Harold Saxon etc., she would have been a good fit for the story - I'm kinda shocked RTD isn't bringing her back.
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