Doctor Who: Empire Of Death Review - 7 Ups & 5 Downs

I'm going to give a blanket 'down' for some of the minor plot holes throughout this episode, or explanations that I didn't find overly convincing.

Firstly, let's talk about the mechanics of this 'death wave'. How does this thing envelop the entire world, but the Doctor and Mel are somehow able to scoot around it on a Vespa, double back on themselves and enter UNIT HQ? How and why does it travel backwards through the family line? And if this is happening to the Earth at every moment the TARDIS has ever landed there, simultaneously, is time in flux?  Why does does it also delete facts and memory from existence? I feel like we needed a couple more lines to explain this, even if they were technobabble.

I really got my hopes up when the episode dropped back-to-back references to 73 Yards, and was really hoping that the radius of the TARDIS perception filter would shed some light on the events of that episode retroactively. In my review of that episode, I even offered to revoke my biggest 'down' if we got more answers. Unfortunately, it appeared to go absolutely nowhere, and even the inclusion of Roger Ap Gwilliam was nothing more than a very underwhelming way of finding out the identity of Ruby's Mum. Why even draw attention to this?

Lastly, at what point is Mel supposed to have 'died'? She's clearly still herself before she goes into the hallway, as she is visibly fighting off Sutekh's influence, but the Doctor notes she's already gone cold. It's all just a little confusing.