Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a LONG year, but FINALLY, Doctor Who is back! And with the Season 12 premiere comes new foes, shocking returns, and the same lovable team that I can’t believe it’s been a year since I’ve seen.
Season 11 wasn’t just Jodie Whittaker’s debut season, it was very much a reset for the whole franchise as showrunner Stephen Moffat moved on. And because of that, the show took more of an episode by episode approach, much like it used to do in the early days of the series. This got a…mixed reaction from fans who liked more long term storytelling. To that end, Season 12 is promising big classic villains, and “Spyfall” does deliver that, as well as many compelling mysteries.
In short, the spy agencies of the world are being attacked by beings so powerful…that they’re able to erase and rewrite human DNA! That honestly is terrifying. And even The Doctor herself isn’t sure what’s going on. Yet she’s now the only one who can stop it, but even then it’s not easy.
The benefit of the two-part episodes is that we get to see a lot more buildup in everything, and there certainly are a bunch of mysteries. From the ominous “beings of light”, to why they’re only targeting spies, how the evil corporation Wal-Mart…I mean VOR fits into all this and more, it very much felt like a James Bond spy movie. And Doctor Who was having fun with all the references. Including bringing MI6, having the head person be a letter (“C” this time), a casino scene, car chases, and of course, suits, bowties, and classic lines, “Doctor, THE Doctor…”
Jodie Whittaker and crew continue to shine as the Doctor Who crew. And while much of it was light-hearted, there were some amazingly heavy moments. Like when Yaz was “dead”…and yet not dead. Or when a certain “enemy” returned from the “dead” and left the Doctor and companions in a really rough position.
Ok, I’ll get right to it, I’m very uncertain as to how I feel about the return of The Master. On one hand, the guy who’s playing them is doing a very fun (and very Bond-villain esque) performance as The Master. Including completely fooling her multiple times. My problem is that it makes you wonder how we got from Missy in the Capaldi run (where the Master/Mistress was turning good) to the more egomaniacal villain from the Tennant days. I hope we get the explanation, and I hope it’s not just a reaction to certain fans saying they want classic villains again.
Overall though, the episode was very fun, and I’m so glad Doctor Who is back. So how are they going to get out of this situation? The good news is, we only have to wait a few days to find out!
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
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