So I wanted to talk about Doctor Who but then that finale happened and threw things off quite a bit. Spoilers ahoy:
Let's get the big part out of the way: Ncuti Gatwa was completely brilliant and compelling and made for the most engaging version of this character ever, a real growth in so many ways, and he is really going to be missed.
I think it's a serious shame that the last two (three?) Doctors have had some of the thinnest material that did them no justice (I'm talking 13, Ruth and 15), and RTD's return wasn't so much a herald of another era of greatness, but just how much the well has run dry for ideas.
That said, there is a lot to praise for the way a gay showrunner and his queer Black lead went full throttle with putting DEI in the faces of a company (Disney) that (Andor notwithstanding), is showing a lot of compliance with a certain fascist regime. The reminders of how racism is still VERY much a problem in our world and the Doctor getting a lesson (in a way that 13 sort-of-did-but-not-really over sexism) during a time when that history would be erased by the current administration? Of course Disney didn't promote the show for shit.
Whatever Gatwa's reasons for leaving so soon, I hope he goes on to bigger and better things. He really did bring joy back to this character and rose above an awful lot to get there.
Now, as far as Jo Martin showing up (in The Story and The Engine) and Jodie Whittaker having a moment with what should have been her successor? It really doesn't make up for how they were pretty much dismissed and the way the "degeneration" was handled, but it was still wonderful to see them and to have that acknowledgement.
Might write at some point about some of the finer points of this season and some of the issues brought up, but no energy for it.
I'm so glad we had Ncuti as The Doctor.
Which leads to *his* successor and I'll say it straight up: there is no way it's Billie Piper.
The way this has been handled (and how coy they've all been in the press) makes me think they do not have a successor yet (maybe because the order for another series hasn't been given), and they're going to do a little filling in. Maybe there's hope of Ncuti returning. I don't know.
Pretty clear they weren't going to give it to Jo Martin (The Story and The Engine put her in his past), which is a shame, so just has to suffer over that, but Piper? Clearly not morphing "from" him but being keyed on, like an overlay and saying Hello directly to the audience?
It's filing in till they have a direction. At least I really hope so.
My personal choice for the next Doctor? Thandwe Newton, please, and if possible, a new showrunner. A woman, maybe. For funzies.