Hello everyone and welcome to another Doctor Who discussion post, this time looking at season 12 episode 2, Spyfall part 2. I was filled with positivity after the first episode and am hopeful for a much stronger season than the last. The general consensus from fans seem to be positive but I was still going into this airing on the side of caution. It is hard to separate praise for the first episode as a whole from praise for the last five minutes and that brilliant Master reveal as that raised the overall stock of the episode undeniably. Plus the fact that in Modern Who, the set up or first half of two parters are usually stronger than the second part..was this the case here…

And the answer would be an unfortunate yes. This was not as good in the first episode as I felt that the pace was way off at times and I really did not like the resoloution. It was a very quick reveal at the end by the Doctor saying she had gone back in time before it happened to put a virus in when this very situation occured. She then used a similar trick for the plane escape, going back in time and prepping the plane for when it blows up later. In a vacuum this is a fine enough explanation but why does the Doctor just do this every episode? This is like what someone who doesn’t watch the show would suggest while watching an episode and you have to think of why they don’t do it. It really did feel lazy. The dialogue still didn’t feel tight enough either and most of it was the Doctor’s lines. I can’t not call it out.

Lenny Henry was not used great here either. What was in it for him? I got that he found a way to use humans as hard drives but why? Was he going to sell it to the aliens or the Master and in return they take him to a new planet. He becomes a inter-planatary business tycoon? I just don’t ge why he was doing it. It was like they didn’t need him, The Master and the aliens: there was one too many groups in the partnership.

There were parts I did like though as the episode was far from a total disaster. I liked the use of the different time periods and as always the costumes were always on point. It was fun to see The Master dressing up differently for each period too and his performance was once aain strong. He loves a good shout but he does keep you hooked and you listen when he speaks. I really liked the whole Galifrey arc they are setting up as well as the Time Lord secret regarding the Timeless child (they bught it back!). I just want to know if this Master is pre or post Missy! Surely he’ll be back for the finale. I hope so as he was a fun villain.

I also really liked the companions and their dynamic together. They worked well (but not too well) without the Doctor and they all had little moments that made me smile such as Ryan revealing their whole plan to the bad guys only to be chastised by Yaz for it. Graham was the standout though with his laser shoes, and his performance on that plane had me laughing out loud.

Overall it was still good but not as good as the first episode, they had big ideas that they didn’t follow through with. Honestly it felt like the Master was the main focus and all of the other parts kind of got shunted to the sidelines.

DD Rating: 6/10