Excitement is heating up in the world of Doctor Who as the latest episode brought back a classic villain — the Rani, a powerful Time Lady and old enemy of the Doctor. The Doctor and Belinda also learn that the Earth was destroyed on May 24th, 2025, thanks to a hologram of TV personality Graham Norton. After they got into the TARDIS, they were met with an alarm and an explosion. What does this mean for the people of Earth, who is the Rani, and what does she have to do with the Doctor, and how did she survive the Time War?
Episode Run Down
This episode begins with The Doctor (John Smith) and Belinda waking up in bed together to start another beautiful day in their lovely home, with their daughter. As their day begins, they get a knock on the door from a familiar face that the Smiths don’t recognize. Ruby Sunday, the Doctor’s former companion from this past season, shows up, not knowing who The Doctor is but realizing she is familiar with him.
As the day goes on, we follow The Doctor, Belinda, and Ruby through their day. Ruby starts to doubt the world, with memories of the prime timeline leaking into her mind, remembering her adventures with The Doctor. Meanwhile, the Doctor goes through his day and starts to notice things aren’t alright as he makes comments that would get him in trouble with co-workers. Back at the house, Belinda starts having doubts due to her not remembering how long she was in labor with their daughter. Something strange happens when anyone has doubts; coffee cups seem to fade through every table, breaking on the ground.
While the Doctor and Belinda are trying to figure out who they are, Ruby’s memories start becoming clearer as she meets a woman in a wheelchair by the name of Shirley Bingham, who belongs to a homeless camp filled with anyone who doesn’t fit into the world’s design. Ruby tells them about her memories and remembers a man by the name of Conrad, who was last seen in the episode “Lucky Day.”
Who tried to take down the secret organization called “UNIT” and who briefly dated Ruby, it turns out the world is the way it is because of Conrad, by way of The Rani. The Rani went back to the year 1865 in Bavaria to steal a newborn baby who had been gifted with unbelievable powers. The baby is key to her plan, which she and her counterpart have been working on since before her birth generation.
The Doctor and Belinda are both arrested for doubting throughout the day, Belinda calling the cops on him, and Belinda’s mother calling the cops on her, and are taken in to meet The Rani, who tries to make The Doctor remember who he is, who she is, and their past.
Throughout the episode, the audience is told the story of The Doctor and The Rani, which is a good tool for those who don’t want to watch the series from the beginning. The Rani tells The Doctor her big plan, to bring back one of the first Time Lords in existence, Omega, an old enemy of The Doctor from the original run of Doctor Who from back in the 60s. The Rani is willing to see the worlds destroyed to bring him back. So, where does this leave our heroes?
Who is Omega
The character of Omega made his appearance back in the 1970s in the episode “The Three Doctors”, which featured Jon Pertwee as the 3rd regeneration of The Doctor and the return of the first and second incarnations of The Doctor played by William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Omega was the solar engineer in the creation of the experiment so loud that the Time Lords tried to time travel. He was left for dead by his fellow Time Lords in a universe made of antimatter.
The doctors come together not to destroy Omega before he can seek his revenge. It wouldn’t be until The Doctor’s fifth incarnation that we saw Omega come back to seek revenge against the Time Lords, but it is once again defeated by The Doctor. Omega has always been one of the big baddies in the Doctor Who universe, especially seeing how he can destroy this universe just by being in it.
To Be Continued
At the end of the episode, we see that The Doctor is finally remembering who he is, but he needs to stop The Rani as fast as possible before the world is destroyed. We come to find out that the doctor and Belinda’s daughter are not real, and we also come to find out that Conrad has made a wish to make the world as he sees it, thanks to the newborn’s power, which is linked to him. This gives reminiscence of the episodes, “The Sound of Drums” and The Last of the Time Lords”, where the Earth is set in a world where The Doctor’s enemy, The Master, has conquered all.
We also see that Ruby and her rebels are trying to figure out a way to get into the structure where Conrad is being held so Ruby can fully remember everything. But the world literally starts tumbling down along with the Doctor, and Belinda has been erasing somehow. So, how is the Doctor getting out of this? Will there be a happy ending this season? We will find out on the very last episode of Doctor Who for the season.
