Major spoilers as we pick apart the Thirteenth Doctor’s Regeneration, final moments and more.
Warning: contains spoilers forDoctor WhoThe Power of the Doctor
That was it!
The Thirteenth Doctors story hasfinally come to an end.
And what an end it was.
No toys were left in the bag.
And so, heres the necessary explainer.
How Did the Master Escape from Gallifrey?
So the last time we sawthe Masterhe was standing onGallifreyas it exploded, again.
How could the Master have possibly survived that?
When the Doctor asks, the Master says he survived through magnificent attention to detail.
What does that mean?
What Was the Masters Plan?
The Master has had some pretty whacky plans over the decades, but this was a whopper.
But lets take it step by step.
Step One:Clone that broken, angryCybermanthat you used for your evil plan in The Timeless Children.
Put him inside another Cyberman with a dimensionally transcendental interior, along with a whole Cybermaster army.
Step Two:Pose as Rasputin and infiltrate the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.
This would allow him to do two things.
A: It gives him a nice big room to deliver his evil plan exposition in later.
At the same time he kidnaps 22 of the worlds greatest seismologists and reduces them toGames Workshopminiatures.
Step Five:Get theDaleksto start drilling to the Earths core theylovedoing that.
So the Master is now the Doctoralek.
Do this to the tune Ra Ra Rasputin.
This is important: Do the dance.
This will destroy the Doctors legend forever.
Will they actually mind their legend being destroyed?
Never mind, Ive bought the Boney M CD now).
What Was the Doctors Counter Plan?
So obviously as the Master is working on his plan, the Doctor is planning a counter-strategy.
Step One:Low-jack all of her companions with nanotechnology programmed with a holographic AI version of herself.
(Note to self: Old companions memoriesmayresult in cameos from old Doctors resulting in touching reunion scenes).
Where the did the Doctors previous incarnations come from?
Here she encounters a stranger in a robe.
These were not picked at random these were the ones who resisted their regeneration.
At the same time William Hartnell famously didnt want to leave the role.
You might notice the absence of one regeneration-averse Doctor the Tenth I dont want to go!
Well get to that later.
What Killed the Doctor?
The Doctor returns to the Cyberplanet and releases the space jellyfish the Master was using as a power source.
She tells it to direct its energyintothe planet, to destroy it.
But notsoto death that there wasnt time for one last date with Yaz.
Did the Master Escape?
But its hardly the first time.
Maybe well see him on Gallifrey?
What Happened to Yaz?
And Who Was At That Final Meeting?
Yaz, doesnt really seem to do any of these.
The most we get is the Doctor saying, I think I need to do this next bit alone.
We also see Jo Grant (who reunited with the Doctors eleventh incarnation inThe Sarah Jane Adventures).
What Are Thirteens Last Words?
Honestly,Jodie Whittakers last wordswere one of the most inspired bits of this episode.
Is there any better summation of the regeneration process in the end?
Except… it didnt quite go according to plan.
Rumoursnobody in their right mind would take seriously.
Yes, the Fourteenth Doctor is…the Tenth Doctor?
Of course, this isntentirelya bolt from the canonical blue.
And the Doctor has already borrowed faces from Roman marble dealers and Gallifreyan palace guards.
And yet, theres still a feeling here that something has gone very wrong.
Particularly for a UK that isreallynervous about certain people getting their old jobs back right now.
Oh, andhalf the universe being destroyed.
Are we ever going to deal with that?
The Power of the Doctor is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.Read our review.
