13.11: Resolution

In which we are all very surprised by the fact it’s a Dalek.

Broadcast: January 2019

Watched: July 2022

“Now, must remember, how long’s a rel?”

It only hit me that we’re not *supposed* to know that this was a Dalek story when I started watching it (oh, right, that’s why it’s not Resolution of the Daleks isn’t it). The word isn’t used until minute 16, the actual Dalek appears much later... Apparently the BBC announced it was a Dalek episode on Christmas Day. So it feels like the plan was for it to be a surprise, then someone panicked about the ratings?

Another odd structural thing about this episode: I thought at first the pre-credits were back, but no, it’s actually no credits, we just dive straight in. The – pretty good – opening also gives us the first appearance of a Chibnall trick we’ll be seeing a lot more of (Spyfall, Praxeus, Flux): travelling the world to exotic destinations, not via TARDIS but via “captions”. 

Anyway, the actual episode: all action, keeps moving in such a way that it’s exciting and compelling in exactly the way the previous one wasn’t. The Doctor spends a lot of it stuck in the TARDIS, with Charlotte Ritchie carrying the story, but she’s great so it works.

Tosin Cole is really good in the B-plot – the scenes of him with his dad are a bit overlong, but he makes them work. Graham (character, not actor) is a bit too good, it feels like he should be resisting the urge to punch Aaron in the face rather than gently talking stuff through with him. 

The two stories literally intersect in the last act – in that Ryan forgiving his dad is the thing that resolves the Dalek story – but there’s no thematic link, they just sort of collide. I’m not sure it makes sense, but it’s watchable and fun in a way Chibnall doesn’t always manage.

Soooo... is this the real finale? It’s far more exciting than the last one, it was only broadcast three weeks later, and it includes the ultimate resolution (oooh, the title) to the Ryan family relationships story.

Other things:

• Oh, it’s Nikesh Patel from Starstruck. No wonder he grew that beard. The Lin/Mitch love story feels very Whitaker. (David, not Jodie.)

• Love the Doctor's new scarf. Also the fact the first thing she says on meeting Ryan's dad is “You let him down”.

• Ooooh. Have someone announce that he’s gay and then he’s dead two lines later? Not great, Chibnall

• I had remembered the joke about UNIT having shut down being about austerity, but it's actually more like Brexit (“All UNIT operations were put on hold following financial disputes and subsequent funding withdrawal by the UK's major international partners”) – do we come back to this in Flux? The cutaway to the family annoyed about the internet is mildly amusing but feels like a joke lifted from something else?

• The redesigned Dalek is better than the Moffat era one. So there's something this era scores more highly on.

• At one point in this there are seven people travelling in the TARDIS – why? Just, why does he does this to himself?