10 Reactions To Doctor Who: The Return Of Doctor Mysterio
3. An Unsatisfying Resolution
Throughout the episode the Doctor has been reminding Grant
that he promised him he would never use his superpowers. It was of course an
impossible ask, but the Doctor knows that disturbing the natural order is never
a good thing. The Doctor’s alien admiration for humans makes him able to see
the extraordinary in the ordinary - we don’t need to defy our humanness in
order to have superhero qualities. The ability to forget and to fear are among
those qualities he envies enough to call them superpowers.
So as much as it was refreshing to see the superhero genre treated with respect rather than distain, nonetheless there is something deeply troubling about the expectation that Grant will never again be the Ghost.
The ending feels rushed and unsatisfying, and it’s not helped by the final twist where we are expected to believe that a soldier has been operated on, to keep the threat of Harmony Shoal alive. It might have been just another example of using a common trope from the superhero genre, but it felt unnecessary here.
Hopefully it is all being set up for a sequel because for now, the Earth of the Doctor Who universe has another defender, one who might even make the Doctor redundant.