Doctor Who: Spyfall, Part Two (2020) - Review

Wow. After what I found to be a bit of a slow-burn opening episode, Doctor Who: Series 12 kicks into gear in week two, with the second part of 'Spyfall' - an episode that not only concludes the story in a satisfactory way but also ends on such a somber, ominous note that I can't help but feel very excited to see what showrunner Chris Chibnall and the rest of the team have in store for us over the coming weeks.

But first: the negatives. There's a number of elements in 'Spyfall: Part Two' that, be it for reasons that will become clear later or not, didn't make much sense. In Part One, Daniel Barton (Lenny Henry) was set up as being 93% human, and this episode explains that the other 7% of him is Kasaavin energy. But what was the energy doing to him, or for him, exactly? Why was he working with the Kasaavin  in the first place? What motivates him to want to annihilate all of humanity? Yeah, Lenny Henry is really menacing in the part, but his character never feels fully-rounded, despite his great interactions with the Master (Sacha Dhawan), and at the end he just...disappears. I can only assume that he'll return later down the line, as Chris Chibnall does seem to be paying-off key plot-points across this series.

There's also the Kasaavin themselves, who despite a menacing first impression ultimately feel a bit useless. They're a very ambiguous monster, and whilst Chris Chibnall throws around some interesting ideas with them, they never really do anything, or possess any kind of unique character. They're a pretty forgettable monster, but one I'd be interested to see return later down the line...which, once again, I feel is a possibility. They very much reminded me of how boring the Monks were in Series 10, who too felt pretty underdeveloped as villains.

Speaking of villains though, let's get to the good stuff. Sacha Dhawan was absolutely superb as the Master, balancing a suitable amount of menace with a touch of insanity and even a little dose of uselessness. The Master always tries to aspire to be a much better villain than he or she actually is, and often strikes deals with aliens they can't actually defeat when push comes to shove, so to see this feeling of inadequacy in Dhawan's performance was great. I was initially hesitant as to how he had disguised himself as an SS Officer - Dhawan hardly resembles the idealised Nazi "Ayran race", after all - but this was handily explained away as a perception filter, which ultimately formed part of his undoing. Him living through seventy years of human history may seem like a cheat, but given that the Master is known to plot and scheme over decades and even centuries (heck, he must've spent years living as 'O' before 'Spyfall: Part One'), I think I can let this slide. Chibnall writes a very classical Master, and a far cry from Michelle Gomez or John Simm's more manic incarnations, and I actually prefer this approach. He feels inherently like the Master, and his interactions with Jodie Whittaker were a joy to watch.

Jodie Whittaker herself gets a whole episode on her own, fending for herself and defining just who her Doctor really is. Whittaker demonstrates such incredible range here, despite Chibnall's script putting her through the wringer, and comes out the other end feeling like a more developed and well-rounded incarnation of our favourite Time Lord. She's brilliant acting opposite Sacha Dhawan, and sells the penultimate and final scenes perfectly. As is revealed, the Master has discovered the truth about "the Timeless Child" teased in last season's 'The Ghost Monument', and has destroyed all of Gallifrey over it. Where is this plot-thread going? Who knows, but this is a damn good set-up. Seeing Gallifrey destroyed may lead fans to worry over the series ret-conning the planet's return in 2013's 'The Day of the Doctor', but I think that A.) Chibnall can do whatever he likes with the show, and I'm all up for seeing what his take on Who is, and B.) we don't actually know where this storyline is going yet, so I'll reserve judgement for now on that front.

As a B-plot, we also get the "fam" dealing with the situation on present-day Earth, and their scenes felt more like light-relief for what is quite a heavy story. They're all lots of fun to watch, even if the laser gadgets felt like a step too far into farce territory for my liking. But hey, if Bradley Walsh dancing away with laser shoes can't be done in Doctor Who, what can? Furthermore, we also had a few historical characters tagging along for the ride, who, whilst superfluous, did key-in to the story in interesting ways. 'Spyfall: Part Two' throws around ideas about technology, and whilst I don't feel it does a particularly interesting job critiquing it, there's some nice educational elements for the kids about Ada Lovelace (Sylvie Briggs) and Noor Inayat Khan (Aurora Marion).

Overall, I thought that 'Spyfall: Part Two' was a big step-up from the first installment, and sets up a lot of interesting storylines for the rest of the series to follow-up on. It was a very well-directed by Lee Haven Jones, with consistently strong production values, and whilst the script wasn't airtight, it was very enjoyable and left me feeling very excited for Doctor Who's future. 8/10