Dr Who Series 14 Ranked

I think Doctor Who is my favourite series. It's far from the best thing ever filmed and episodes can wildly vary in quality, but what gets me is the sheer variety of stories one can tell with the premise. The show follows an immortal alien being, the Doctor, who travels through time and space with a human companion. It's been around since 1963 and the cast and crew keeps changing. The concept is so malleable that one can tell any sort of story, ranging from horror to political satire to stirring romance to historical tragedy, often with alien villains in the mix. The promise of Doctor Who is that everything can happen, and I tune in every time to see how much of that promise it fulfils. If you want to get into the series, I have an ancient primer here that'll help you get up to speed. 

Doctor Who series 14 sees the return of Russell T Davies who resurrected the long running show nearly two decades ago. He returns an even more accomplished writer with shows like It's a Sin and Years and Years under his belt and with a mission to re-energise the show. Ncuti Gatwa in the title role feels like a completely different Doctor, shorn of brooding and injected with youthful energy and emotionality, he's the most unique the character has been in a while. Millie Gibson ably fills the boots of the Doctor's new companion, Ruby Sunday, like the Doctor, a foundling, and manages to have infectious chemistry with Ncuti Gatwa. The show, too, feels like it has regenerated into something wilder, something that takes big swings that sometimes don't really hit. Here's my spoiler-free ranking of this series's episodes from least liked to most liked. 

Dot and Bubble
Mean spirited satire with an off-putting protagonist who does anything interesting only when the episode is in its climactic movement. Ends on a fantastic note, though. 

The Legend of Ruby Sunday
A stodgy episode that's forty minutes of exposition and pointless talking that gives way to a terrific, unexpected and terrifying reveal. 

Space Babies
This comes from the same well RtD drew from when ideating the Slitheen. It's audacious in its commitment to the bit, the bit being poopy jokes. I didn't mind it, but I don't think I'll be watching it again. Some horrific CGI is deployed to make babies talk. 

Empire of Death
The big series finale is not unenjoyable but whiffs a spectacular set-up for an easy resolution that I'm not sure entirely makes sense and isn't fun enough to override my reservations with it. However, the resolution of Ruby Sunday's quest to find her birth mother is a genuinely emotional moment, it lands despite everything wrong with the episode. 

Church on Ruby Road
Fun but slight introduction to this era of Doctor Who. It's action packed but ultimately unmemorable. 

Rogue
What would be a mediocre episode, bird people wrecking havoc in Bridgerton, is rescued by the sizzling chemistry between Ncuti's Doctor and Jonathan Groff's swashbuckling Rogue. The episode plods along, with some camp acting by Indira Verma as the prime villainess, but every time it's Groff and Ncuti alone, the screen sizzles. I just hope this isn't the end of their adventures.

Boom
A compelling, thrilling single set piece with Steven Moffat reliably throwing a ton of science fiction ideas to keep the premise afloat. The filmmaking lets it down a little, one dramatic moment rendered in slow motion had me guffawing, but this was a capable, solid forty minutes. 

73 Yards
The show dips into the well of weird for this decades-spanning Doctor-lite story. It's an awkward mix of Welsh horror and RtD's own Years and Years,  an awkward mix that I think the episode just about pulls off, albeit with some clumsiness. Millie Gibson is the centre of this episode that asks too much of her and she strains to deliver, just about anchoring this ambitious narrative from start to finish. It left some people with too many unanswered questions but I feel that adds to its mystique, I'm content never finding out what any of it meant. 

The Devil's Chord
A big swing that hits more than it misses, the Maestro, played exuberantly by Jinx Monsoon, is a sinister foe worthy of the Doctor. The show descends into musical pandemonium unlike anything on TV or streaming with a few standout sequences. A sort of hackneyed attempt to integrate the Beatles into the plot  and some uninspired lyrics keeps this from being a classic. A lot of it doesn't make sense but it's a propulsive episode and it ends with a musical battle that I was a total sucker for. 

Overall, I'm mixed on this series. It's got its strong points, but you could feel its short length chafing against the gradual arc a companion-Doctor relationship usually takes. There was nonstop adventure and not a second to hang up the boots and hang with the gang, I could never get entirely comfortable with the new team. The show also doesn't make good on the promise of the supernatural bleeding into the universe, other than 73 Yards and a passing mention of the Doctor studying rope science in the Christmas special. I'm mixed on Ncuti's Doctor as well. He just doesn't feel like an ancient being or an alien, he feels too human. I hope we get moments in the next series where the Doctor feels like the godlike immortal Alien we fear and admire, the sort of consciousness that has been witness to too many sunsets. Without it, it just doesn't feel Doctor Who. 

- Tarkas