DanaK

Exactly. While people rightly complained Yaz didn't have her own storyline, she subtly did a lot of stuff helping the Doctor and using her skills, and the Doctor used her as a sounding board quite a lot. She also seemed more intensely loyal to the Doctor than the men seemed, often not wanting to leave her side during dangerous situations. I just wish all that wasn’t done so subtly, but it was some pretty good work by Mandip

I don’t know if Yaz necessarily has romantic feelings for the Doctor and I don’t believe the Doctor chose her because she thinks Yaz would have feelings for her. However, I do agree Yaz has developed an attachment to the Doctor, which became a little unhealthy in those 10 months she was trying to find her. She was clearly unhappy in her life prior to meeting the Doctor, feeling she wasn’t given much to do in her job and only a few years distant from an apparent mental breakdown. So she gets to travel with the Doctor, starts to look up to her as someone she would like to be like, and clearly enjoys the things she experiences and helping people. As for the Doctor, it seemed clear to me almost from the start she saw Yaz in a more special way than she did Ryan and Graham, talking to her more and seemingly favoring her more. Maybe it’s because the men had each other, maybe it’s because she saw Yaz’s eagerness and desire to jump in to help with things, but it seemed clear to me the Doctor was mentoring Yaz in a way. If Jodie is leaving at the end of Series 13 (or in a subsequent special), Mandip will probably leave at the same time or soon after. So I’ll be interested to see what happens with Yaz’s journey in this upcoming season. Hopefully she’ll get to the point that she’s ready to resume her life on Earth, though making changes to make her more satisfied, like maybe working with a revived UNIT or something else instead of what she sees as an unfulfilling life as a rookie police officer in a midsize city

Man, this show. Emotional and funny and entertaining

I enjoyed the episode. I do find Abishola rather rigid but like others, I do find her and Bob trying to navigate being together interesting. I did find Kemi annoying in the car, but thought the Bob/Kemi talk interesting and fun. I laughed at Aunty taking offense at Bob being stuffed or whatever it was that was said

Fun episode. Was not expecting the sister’s new focus, but I guess I should have. I’m not sure that escape room was safe with those moving walls

Good interview in the Guardian on Sacha Dhawan's battle with anxiety and his getting help for it https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jan/05/doctor-who-sacha-dhawan-master-battle-anxiety-great-getting-help-scary?CMP=twt_a-culture_b-gdnculture

Chibnall should be able to continue his arc with the next Doctor easily enough; after all, in spite of a different body and personality, they are the same person with the same memories. If so, hopefully it means he won’t have to try to cram all the arc into S13 and it will leave the viewers intrigued enough (assuming enough are) to want to watch how it goes with the next Doctor I should note, I don’t think Chibnall himself has said his plan spans x years or y number of seasons, so we don’t really know exactly how long he planned for. I for one expected him to get his arc done as quickly as he could and leave to get back to his own projects, and that he and Jodie would leave together. So I was surprised that it looks like Jodie will be out the door before him but I think he’ll manage fine with a new Doctor. That’s assuming of course he’s really staying

Another Doctor Who player has died. British actress Barbara Shelley has died at 88. She played Sorasta in "Planet of Fire", the 5th serial of the 1984 season

Not bad, though I don’t really like time jumps of several years (and they seemed to make the Covid thing last a little too long). At least the exchange student seems to be gone. Probably for the best that this is the last season though Was that the same actor who played Ryan before? He seemed to look a little different

I guess my first take is “Maybe, not sure”, especially with the asides to the audience (though that totally worked for me with Better Off Ted” from a few years back). So I’ll see how the next episode or 2 pans out and decide then whether to stick with it

The Mirror is reporting that star Jodie Whittaker has decided to leave at the end of Series 13, which would make her run 3 seasons, similar to most of the previous leads in Modern Who. The 13th Doctor will supposedly regenerate into 14 at the end of Series 13. The article also states show runner Chris Chibnall would be staying for now. Obviously consider it rumor for now until we get an official announcement, plus it’s the Mirror, but the writer usually gets it right with Doctor Who rumors https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-star-jodie-whittaker-23255685?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mirror_main Sad for me if true because I really have liked Jodie and she’s my favorite Doctor so far (I haven’t see Classic Who). At the same time, having had a chance to see some of the things she did prior to Who (including Broadchurch), I’m excited to see what else she does and what major awards she wins ETA: Radio Times is reporting on the Mirror’s article and added that the BBC declined to comment when they asked them about it

Yaz seemed clearly obsessed, so her reaction was extreme, especially compared to the boys, who were more accepting and over it. Yaz's talk with Jack clearly showed she was having a hard time letting go of being with the Doctor and going on adventures, especially since the end was so sudden. Given Yaz's past issues with mental illness, I hope Series 13 follows up on Yaz's mental state a bit and her inability to let go just yet. Of course, it's not easy letting go when you've suddenly had to stop after having the whole universe to explore. Sarah Jane Smith had a really hard time after the Doctor left her and her reunion with the 10th Doctor, 15 or so years later, was bittersweet.

That's why I have subtitles turned on when I watch Doctor Who. I can't understand half of what's being said otherwise. Yaz/Mandip is really hard to understand at times

I disagree, Rosa was pretty well received overall. There was/is some flak about the villain being weak

Another thing I really liked was the scene with Yaz, Ryan and Graham when the Tardis returned after being away from them for 10 months. The music, the blowing wind, the look all made this arrival pretty special and a big friggin deal.

Did anyone get a small sense that the Doctor's Tardis had changed a little bit? Nice to see John's name in the title sequence. I saw some speculation or hope that it might happen I'm not sure the alternate Tardis was destroyed. The Doctor threatened that she was sending the Daleks (and the Tardis) to die, but then an ending comment in that scene suggested she was just sending them into exile or to be trapped in some part of space. @elle I think the look of the alternate Tardis was that it was simply the one that brought the fam back to Earth and it was simply one of the spare Tardises standing around Gallifrey

Posting this just because it gives me the laughs

It appears they will be releasing the soundtrack of the special by Akinola. Translated: "Very soon we will have the original soundtrack of According Akinola from Revolution of the Daleks !! More information coming soon ...#DoctorWho"

Per Deadline.com, comedian/actor John Bishop is joining the cast in Series 13 as a new companion named Dan https://deadline.com/2021/01/doctor-who-john-bishop-joins-the-tardis-season-13-1234663916/ John apparently had Covid at Christmastime so I hope he recovers quickly and doesn't suffer lingering effects

I'm not sure I fully understood the thing with the other inmates in the prison (like, are they in special cells and only the Doctor can take a walk?) but it was fun having some interact with the Doctor Regarding John Bishop. See the post I'm making in the Series 13 topic

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Lots of explosions and Daleks and the Dalek mutants, lots of Jack, corrupt officials upping security with something they don't understand. Robertson being an ass and somehow ending up the hero, the Doctor and Jack working great together, the Doctor saying goodbye to Ryan and Graham. Finally some hugs! It was a lot of fun for a special Jack broke the Doctor out way sooner than I expected so I was pretty happy to see a lot of the Doctor given that the promos suggested she wasn't in the special a lot. I was sorry to see part of the fam leave because I liked Graham quite a bit and Ryan wasn't so bad; I did like their relationship quite a bit. I was glad neither of them died and they found a purpose on Earth. A bit emotional that both saw some vision of Grace As far as the Doctor's time away, her driving skills made it a bit hard to get back to Earth as soon as she wanted. She was imprisoned for decades but it was 10 months or whatever to the fam

I believe an article said they were jumping ahead 3 years. That’s a little too much jumping for me

A short Happy New Year’s message from Jodie/the Doctor

As weird as the marathon lineup may be, BBC America is running promos of the special a lot It does seem they will be showing all or most of Series 12 on Friday leading up to the special