I just finished watching The Reality War with my sister, who hadn't caught up yet, and I remembered how much I DESPISE the ending of this season.
First of all, I get the Doctor and Belinda being in a relationship in the FAKE world created by Conrad, because he's a homophobic, transphobic, ableist piece of shit who couldn't imagine anything else. I do wish we'd sat on the wrongness of that for a bit more, especially since Fifteen was portrayed by Ncuti as much more queer (which I LOVE, #NcutiDeservedBetter). And I get the Doctor being attached to Poppy and feeling responsible for her, because he used to be a father and a grandfather and he has deep unresolved trauma about that.
BUT.
Having Belinda Chandra, a woman who we only got 7 episodes of total (Lucky Day doesn't count), a woman who had NEVER, not ONCE, in the 5 episodes before Wish World, expressed any desire whatsoever to be a mother or have children, be a mother??? The whole time she was with the Doctor, her motivation was to GET BACK HOME. Because she cared about her job. Because she was a nurse (which is a stereotype that women are always nurses). Because she had a shift that she needed to get back to.
And having Conrad Clark, the misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist garbage human being that he is, who forced Shirley and many other disabled people to be homeless, who couldn't even IMAGINE Rose Noble (a trans girl), who forced the Doctor (a fucking TIME LORD who is not bound by gender or sexuality and is portrayed by a queer actor as queer) into a heterosexual relationship with his companion (who he cares about, but feels no romantic or sexual feelings towards), having Conrad get a HAPPY ENDING???
Ruby Sunday. Girl. Babes. I love you. But you, of all people, have the most beef with Conrad. He made you fall in love with him and you actually cared about him, and then he betrayed you and tried to hurt you and your friends (threatening you with a gun) all because he was pissy that he didn't get a job at UNIT.
Ruby is a very kind and caring character and I love that for her. However. Conrad did not deserve "to be happy". He deserved a punch in the face, a kick in the balls, and to live out the rest of his life in prison (LIKE HE WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPOSED TO DO), ideally in quick succession.
In the words of my sister, "it's like they killed all the writers for the previous episodes and then got a whole new team and were like 'here is a VERY BRIEF rundown of what this show is like and what's happened previously in it. You get no information on the characterization of these characters or their motivations. Go nuts."
