Doctor Who (2024) - Season 2

Disney gives us another fluctuating Doctor Who (2024) season. It’s time for a different type of review of a different type of show. With the vastly different episodes of different stories and quality, why not briefly discuss each episode separately?

Different storylines, different quality levels

For those who want to be surprised and not get spoiled, here is the brief overview: The season starts out stronger than the last one, but episode quality still varies wildly. Episode 3 sticks out with head and shoulders. Again, the political messaging has the subtlety of a sledgehammer, which limits the impact of the messages. The new companion starts out very strongly, but fizzles out in the end due to poor writing. Showrunner Russell T. Davies (RTD) is still not great at writing endings. Now stop reading!

For those who want the per episode review, I promise they are plot spoiler free, although they do sometimes talk about the quality (not content) of an ending.

Episode 1: A chaotic but fun starter episode which introduces the new companion Belinda Chandra played by Varada Sethu. Not the best or most polished storyline, and far from original, but enjoyable. A decent start.



Episode 2: If you like meta, you will like this episode. One of the better ones from Ncuti, and it is different from what you have seen in Doctor Who so far. I enjoyed it a lot, although it does suffer a bit from a rushed ending.

Episode 3: If you watched 2005-Who, and you don’t want to watch the entire series, at least watch this episode. Easily the best Disney-Who episode, which got that 2005-Who vibe going.

Episode 4: This one sees the return of a previous companion. Again, it is a very different episode from what we have seen in Doctor Who so far, and quite well-executed. Sadly, it has the subtlety of a sledgehammer, which takes away from some of the message.

Episode 5: The beginning was great and got me hooked, but it went a bit off the rails about halfway through and got confusing. It also seems like RTD is officially accepting everything from Chibnall (previous showrunner, with a less-than-positive standing in the fandom) as cannon, for better or worse. Still, overall I enjoyed the episode, but it is a weaker one this season. A pity, because of the great start.



Episode 6: Decent, not as good as some of the others this season but not bad, and drenched in some sledgehammer subtlety political messaging. Stick around for the post-credit scene here!

Episode 7: This is the first part of the finale. It starts out really well, and is intriguing. The second half starts being a bit too much about exposition. But: different things are really starting to tie in together, cleaning up some open endings from season one and two.

Even though RTD rarely delivers on it, we keep looking forward to those promises

Episode 8: Unfortunately, the final episode again falls flat. The episode was all over the place, with so much cramped into one episode, especially the first half. Why so much of everything? We could have done with half of the cameos, and without all the fight scenes. The second half is much better in terms of pacing, but the events are still a bit… odd? In the end, we see once again that the current showrunner RTD can start up a good story, but rarely bring it home.

That last five seconds, though, makes a good promise for a season three. Even though RTD rarely delivers on it, we keep looking forward to those promises. So despite the flaws and shortcomings of this season, it was an enjoyable ride, and I am looking forward to that next season.