This is the first part of a two-part story. It continues the Lone Cyberman arc and also picks up the Timeless Child arc and starts to bring both threads towards their climactic point in the 2nd part.
Whilst Chibnall's era was very flawed, in my opinion, I found the setup of these arcs and the suspense building through Series 12 was superb. It had me hugely intrigued and excited.
This episode has fewer problematic aspects than a lot of Chibnall era episodes and it is fun with exciting action. The Cybermen themselves are powerfully portrayed as a truly formidable enemy. Their leader, Ashad, is menacing and is a great, interesting villain.
Jodie is at her best, showing some edge and strength. The companions are also on good form. The humans they meet are all well acted, especially Ko Sharmus.
There are negatives for me though:
The Cyber-drones aren't great.
Ryan's basketball style explosive throwing is cheesy and unconvincing.
The spacecraft luckily crash landing through an open hangar entrance that is very narrowly big enough just seems rather too lucky and could have been depicted better.
There are moments of daft dialogue (as usual in this era) but not as much as in a bunch of other episodes.
The mysterious scenes of an abandoned child who grows up and joins the Garda (police) in Ireland are pretty pointless and convoluted. It only ends up confusing matters further. Intrigue it built up was not paid off.
On the plus side though, the music is great, as it has been throughout this era, I think. The effects and filming also continues to be of mostly high quality apart from a few slightly silly gimmicks like the Cyber-drones and over-use of flaring lighting in this episode.
The cliffhanger is exciting and sets up the finale very well.
My Rating: 7.5/10.
Series 12 Episode Ranking: 6th out of 11.
Whilst Chibnall's era was very flawed, in my opinion, I found the setup of these arcs and the suspense building through Series 12 was superb. It had me hugely intrigued and excited.
This episode has fewer problematic aspects than a lot of Chibnall era episodes and it is fun with exciting action. The Cybermen themselves are powerfully portrayed as a truly formidable enemy. Their leader, Ashad, is menacing and is a great, interesting villain.
Jodie is at her best, showing some edge and strength. The companions are also on good form. The humans they meet are all well acted, especially Ko Sharmus.
There are negatives for me though:
The Cyber-drones aren't great.
Ryan's basketball style explosive throwing is cheesy and unconvincing.
The spacecraft luckily crash landing through an open hangar entrance that is very narrowly big enough just seems rather too lucky and could have been depicted better.
There are moments of daft dialogue (as usual in this era) but not as much as in a bunch of other episodes.
The mysterious scenes of an abandoned child who grows up and joins the Garda (police) in Ireland are pretty pointless and convoluted. It only ends up confusing matters further. Intrigue it built up was not paid off.
On the plus side though, the music is great, as it has been throughout this era, I think. The effects and filming also continues to be of mostly high quality apart from a few slightly silly gimmicks like the Cyber-drones and over-use of flaring lighting in this episode.
The cliffhanger is exciting and sets up the finale very well.
My Rating: 7.5/10.
Series 12 Episode Ranking: 6th out of 11.