REVIEW: Doctor Who: Series Fourteen

This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

I don't care what Russell T Davies, the BBC, or Disney says, I'm not calling it Season One.

The first series of Russell T Davies's second tenure as showrunner was... rough. It definitely had its ups and downs, highs and lows, but it's definitely better than anything released since 2018 during Chris Chibnall's tenure.

Russell T Davies's penned episodes were mixed for me. The series starts off with Space Babies, and while I didn't dislike it as much as everyone else, it was still a rough start to the series. The Devil's Chord made up for it though, with Jinkx Monsoon's phenomenal performance of Maestro. 73 Yards was a confusing attempt at mythological folk-horror, and Dot and Bubble, while it had a brilliant message and ending, did not stick the landing for me (Lindy was so unbearably annoying that I never want to watch the episode again). The two-part finale started off brilliant with The Legend of Ruby Sunday, and Empire of Death ended on a strange, unsatisfying note.

In all honesty, the highlights of this series for me were the guest-penned episodes. Steven Moffat's Boom and Kate Herron and Briony Redman's Rogue were absolutely brilliant, definitely my favorite episodes of the series. I'm very excited to see Moffat's Joy To The World this Christmas, and I hope that Herron and Redman are brought back for Series Fifteen.

Acting-wise, Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson blew it out of the water. Particularly Gatwa's performance in Boom, Dot and Bubble, and the finale and Gibson's performance in 73 Yards and the finale were perfect. However, their characters, particularly Ruby Sunday, felt a bit lacking. Whether that was the amount of screentime given to the characters or the writing itself, I feel left wanting for more from this series.

The overall series arc, the mystery of Ruby Sunday, was so amazingly built up yet concluded in such an unsatisfying way. Her parentage being random, normal people leaves many unanswered questions, such as her ability to cause snow around her. The answer to her mother pointing at the sign was also confusing and, quite frankly, stupid. Also, while her departure from the TARDIS was well-acted and emotionally beautiful, it was soured by the fact that we already know that she will be returning for the back-end of Series Fifteen.

Of all Russell T Davies-penned series, Series Fourteen is definitely closer to the bottom of my ranking. Series One, Two, and Four remain superior, and it's about on par if not below Series Three for me. That said, it's not a bad series. Compared to Moffat's Series Seven, or Chibnall's Series Eleven, Twelve, or Thirteen, it stands pretty well on its own. But compared to Russell's prior work on Doctor Who, I was expecting more. I give Series Fourteen 4 out of 5 Stars.

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