Doctor Who recap: series 37, episode 10 – The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

‘None of us know for sure what’s out there. That’s why we keep looking. Keep your faith. The universe will surprise you. Constantly.’

All’s well that ends well, hey? We wouldn’t expect anything other than for a Doctor Who series finale to end on a rush of life-affirming positivity. And yet, remember that week in 2008 after The Stolen Earth went out? The fake-out regeneration and the return of Rose and Davros and everything else? How it really felt as though we were a nation on the edge of our seats for a week in a flurry of ‘what the bleeding hell was that about?!’

The level of secrecy around this series has been unprecedented (for this episode, for the first time ever, we were not granted a preview screener, so you catch me somewhat on the hop) building speculation that something big was coming. A shock death? A fleet of Daleks? Missy? But with no plot threads left dangling, and no cliffhanger running at all, this finale felt simply like another episode to get on with airing, and I can’t help feeling a little bit meh.

In many ways, this finale matched expectations absolutely. Ranskoor Av Kolos was by no means bad. Far from it: the tension towards the climax, on its own terms, was the stuff of heart palpitations. But it was essentially a run around a planet we’ve never heard of, facing a monster we barely remember from 10 weeks ago, with no huge shockers whatsoever.

The Doctor’s actions in Sheffield come back to haunt her as the team answer nine separate distress calls from the new planet, the name of which translates to “disintegrator of us all”; Mark Addy turns up as an honourable but blighted spaceman; events seem to be somehow masterminded by Phyllis Logan as the Ux (a race whose bleeding heart non-intervention brings a certain special from Gallifrey to mind), until it’s revealed that her strings are being pulled by Tzim-Sha/Tim Shaw/the Stenza after the Doctor displaced him from Sheffield. Not surprising since the Stenza was clearly the most expensive prosthetic of the year, so it was hardly going to be a single-use item. Earth briefly gets threatened with destruction – it’s sort of the Doctor’s fault, except it isn’t, but then it is a bit.

‘We’ve got unfinished business with that monster.’

I am probably being cruel because I’m a bit annoyed. This finale did full circle round to the events of the premiere, in that it brought some resolution to the loss of Grace. It does a disservice to Bradley Walsh to express surprise at his stealing of the show once again. Anyone concentrating knows what a bravura actor he is capable of being. But the steely determination with which Graham vowed revenge on Tim Shaw was certainly a new level of gravitas for his buffoonish character. Even the Doctor was so unsettled about his intended course of action that she marked his card in no uncertain terms: follow this course of action and you’re off Team Tardis. I wondered if he would actually go through with the murder, although of course, he didn’t, put off by Ryan milking it further by telling his new “Grandad” that he loved him.

All this emoting left Yaz as once again little more than the Doctor’s lapdog. A smart, capable lapdog, and the only one of the three I can buy into the Doctor actually liking very much. There was a sequence towards the end where Yaz started looking awfully pale and wobbly and you started to wonder – will they actually go there and kill her off? But no. Team Tardis remain defiantly unmurdered, to go fight another series.

Fear factor

We shouldn’t do down Tim Shaw either, for his excellent production design or for his speechifying, probably the closest this series has come to proper campery. The two-hander sequences between him and the Doctor were especially strong, reminiscent of those long, billowing sequences between the Doctor and Davros. Except, of course, Tim Shaw is no Davros. We can’t all be Davros.

Deeper into the vortex

• Newest on the Doctor’s list of achievements: she probably half-invented the wellington boot.

• Who else makes up the Congress of the Nine Planets?

• In another thrifty piece of monster renewal, the Sniperbots are back, which suggests perhaps a further link between Ranskoor Av Kolos and the planet of Desolation?

• As if to remind us even further of The Stolen Earth, the Doctor references that very episode in one of her war stories for Yaz.

• “It it can be rebuilt, I’ll allow it.” This Doctor really needs to work on her consistency when it comes to weapons tech.

For all that I may sound Grinchy this week, I should also express the utmost respect for to Chris Chibnall, Matt Strevens and the team for a wildly successful relaunch that has surely secured Doctor Who its future for another generation. We’re harsh because we care, guys.

And thank you to all of you for your passionate, occasionally crazy comments and interactions. It continues to be an absolute pleasure to host these recaps, and I will see you all again in the new year. Speaking of which ...

Next time!

The New Year’s Day special has been named Resolution in advance listings. But the current hot speculation is that three words have been omitted from that teaser title “... of the Daleks”. We know nothing, obviously, and wouldn’t expect to just yet. There is certainly no giveaway in the trailer. But it would be just the right time for the show’s most iconic monsters to make a return, wouldn’t it?