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I've been avoiding writing this review because, unusually for a Doctor Who story, this episode left me unhappy. It was a perfectly decent episode, not without its idiocies and inconsistencies, but I like far more idiotic and inconsistent Doctor Who tales. It had a good core idea that hasn't been done in the show before and was well-directed and well-acted.

The central premise, of the podcast host who seeks to expose UNIT's "lies", made for a pleasantly unpleasant villain... It was all too close to everyday reality though. This kind of thing is happening all around us all the time, and Doctor Who had no solution to offer beyond "trust the shady military organisation" which isn't the most comforting of thoughts. Once it was all over, I was just depressed.

Quality-wise, not the low point of the season, but certainly the episode I have least desire to rewatch.

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From:

ffutures

The final "here's the proof that monsters exist and are not actors in suits etc." bit is of course invalidated by the fact that it's obviously well within the capabilities of a BBC effects team, so should be just as easily faked in the Doctor Who universe...

From:

purplecat

In general, I would say, RTD has always been oddly bad at depicting how social media and large organisations work in practice - given one of his strengths is writing about people and their interactions. Both those weaknesses were on show here, but the thrust of the story - UNIT was ripe for an expose of some kind and would probably handle it badly when it happened - was believable enough, even if lots about the actual set up made not a lot of sense.

From:

a_cubed

The manipulation of Ruby was very difficult to watch, for me. YMMV.

From:

purplecat

Indeed, though I never quite bought Ruby's trauma. I've not figured out why.

From:

a_cubed

I've known some adopted people and her issues were very consistent with what I know of them.

From:

purplecat

Oh! I hadn't realised that the PTSD was supposed to be linked to the fact she was adopted. I'd assumed it was more directly supposed to be the result of her travels with the Doctor (and, I mean, obviously PTSD is an entirely understandable result of travelling with the Doctor, its just that within the fiction of the show its not really been an issue for companions before, so I think I'm grappling with why Ruby's experience was supposed to have been so much ~~worse~~ more traumatic for her than anyone else's).

Edited Date: 2025-07-31 07:57 am (UTC)

From:

a_cubed

They approached the "abandoment" issue with others a little bit(*), but my interpretation of why it was so bad for Ruby was that as an abandoned baby she was acutely vulnerable to that, exacerbating the extended post-con blues/PTSD. The point with Conrad is that her abandonment issues are tied up with her PTSD from the experiences with the doctor. She finds it difficult to connect deeply with people which is why his fake connection and betrayal hit her so hard.

I think NuWho generally has struggled a bit with companions leaving. The original show had its moments, such as the First Doctor leaving Susan behind deliberately, but they often seem to struggle to find a reason and a method for splitting companions off. Amy and Rory was a good one, although I think the explanation was fumbled. If the Doctor had sai Amy and Rory would become anathema to the TARDIS instead of New York (they could just travel out of New York if the city was the problem).

(*) Sarah Jane in her first re-appearance in NuWho, Amy and Rory and the discussion with Rory's Dad.

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purplecat

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