Doctor Who: The Reality War Review - 4 Ups & 7 Downs

Buried deep inside this absolute mess of disconnecting scenes is a much more interesting story. To me, the most compelling aspect of this episode was the reveal that Time Lords are, in fact, sterile, and that the Rani was looking for a way to repopulate Gallifrey (still could have, y’know, used the wish baby – just spitballing here).

This dangles a really interesting little dilemma in front of Fifteen that he really doesn’t seem all that interesting in chasing up, even if it’s not via the Rani’s means. It brings additional stakes into making sure Poppy survives as well, as she could be the key to all this. It’s a great little hook for the story this episode was trying to tell (emphasis on trying), and despite me being deeply worried about RTD’s promise to shake up Gallifrey lore, it’s not a change that I particularly mind.

The sidelining of this idea might be worthy of a down, but I’ll hold out hope that maybe the thread hasn’t been entirely abandoned yet, what with Susan still bouncing about somewhere. Perhaps it’s being saved for Season 3.