Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Huge Questions After 'The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos'
9. Did It Tie Up The Loose Ends Of The Series?
Since 2005 there was always a sense that everything was building up to the endgame finale when episodes could be rewatched in a new light. The Long Game became a prequel to Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways and from then on we watched episodes for clues about the finale. These arcs, with the exception of series 6, were not so integral to the plot that we would have to watch the episodes in broadcast order. But there was no way the finale itself would have made sense in any other slot.
This year’s finale did not have to be the last in the series. We all suspected Tim Shaw would return, but it wasn’t a big enough deal for us to want it in the finale. After all, he wasn’t the only disappearing villain without a comeuppance. The poetic justice of seeing him locked inside one of his own trophy cabinets was a good resolution to his story, and it brought some justice for Grace’s death. It was a neat bookend for the series in this respect. The impact of Graham’s grief, however, and Ryan’s struggle to accept him as granddad were already resolved in the previous episode and it felt like a step backwards in Graham’s journey to see him wanting revenge.
Other loose ends were left untouched. If Ranskoor was Desolation there could have been a narrative link to the TARDIS’s abandonment of the Doctor in episode one.