There are a pot of analog between “ Wish World ” and last year’s“The Legend of Ruby Sunday . ”They are both , of course , penultimate episodes of their several seasons ofDoctor Who . They are also both work up around the restoration of a classicDoctor Whovillain , and paying off a mysterythat had play outthroughout their respective season . Unfortunately they also both partake in a pretty disastrous parallel : they ’re both aimless wait game that have little kernel on their castanets as they reckon down to a last minute cliffhanger reveal .
“ Wish World ” has even more of a trouble than “ The Legend of Ruby Sunday , ” however . That latter episode could at least hinge some tensity and atmosphere on the fact that we did n’t already eff that the last bit were building up to the reveal of Sutekh ’s getting even ( unless you read the rumors , that is ) . “ Wish World , ” for the most part ( more on that later ) , is construct up to a striking moment its consultation already knows while its main part does n’t : for the Doctor to encounterthe return Rani , and translate what that may mean . And that just makes it a veryweirdexperience , even before you get to the automobile mechanic of howDoctor Whois ticking down to that big reveal .
The titulary world of “ Wish World ” is a modern-day Earth before its on the face of it fated annihilation , except it ’s a sideways interlingual rendition of it . Thanks to the aid of a convenient magic babe the Rani goes and break up up in medieval Bavaria in the opening moments — the 7th boy of a 7th boy of a 7th son , which does n’t sense very Evil Science Villainess of her , especially when the babe just basically starts countenance her bend realism in whatever manner she want — noted Utter Bastard Conradfrom “ Lucky Day ” is the apparent eleemosynary dictator of the world , broadcasting from a off-white palace upon richly in London to decide the province of the world , weather condition , and creepily pleasant animation of everyone in it with a little help from this magic wunderkind .
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Those subjects let in the Doctor and Belinda , who are now Mr. John Smith and hiswifeBelinda , living a retro - modern nuclear phratry dream with their babe girl Poppy as Belinda revels in being a stay - at - home mum and Mr. Smith depart to work at UNIT , now a unifiedinsuranceteam rather than a vanguard against foreign threat . The creepy-crawly vibe of this overtly heteronormative existence is in part the point , it turns out : everyone makes very pointed acknowledgements about the role of women being proficient daughters , good wives , and then good mothers , and when “ Mr. Smith ” passingly key out a male co - worker ( none other than Colonel Ibrahim , blissfully unaware of who he ’s meant to be ) as handsome , realism almost turns in on itself around him , as if the simple thinking of something not cisgender or heterosexual is an affront to this world that Conrad has wish up for everyone .
It bend out we can also add “ Hates Disabled People ” to the Bumper List of Conrad ’s Shitty Bigotries , because away from retrograde thoughts about cleaning woman and queer people , his bigotry around disabled people has lead to an underground society of disabled the great unwashed who , because they are “ unobserved ” by Conrad in so much that he does n’t ever think or wish about them , are practically invisible to the world around them … except Ruby Sunday , who ’s likewise unaffected by what ’s going on around her , letting her team up with Shirley and her friends in the disabled camp to start attempt to figure out what ’s going on . Good job Conradreally sucksin some very specific way !
This is just about where “ Wish World ” balk out of trying to narrate much more of a story , which is a shame , because the weird creepy-crawly vibe are quite sound , even if they also have in mind continued exposure to Conrad ( again , no disrespect to Jonah Hauer - King , he ’s justincrediblygood at playing a adult male with utterly rancid vibes ) . After “ Mr. Smith ” has his copse with the torment of black compulsory heterosexualism ( spur on again by a hazardous , random returning cameo fromJonathan Groff ’s Rogue , who get a substance out to the Doctor to assist him doubt the nature of the Wish World by basically aver “ I am gay and in a hell dimension but please remember thatyou like world ! ” ) , his entire role in the episode is to sit around swirl with doubt about the nature of his existence until he remembers that he ’s the medico . After she links up with Shirley , Ruby ’s “ investigation ” essentially slams the pasture brake on its own impulse so the two of them can basically look up from below the giant bone palace as it sits above London .
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And then there ’s the Rani , or rather the Ranis plural , who are sit down up in that aforementioned off-white palace , who are also largely just biding their time , as the late incarnation of the renegade Time Lady practically solicit the Doctor to figure out the macrocosm that she ’s master through Conrad is a falsification , so he can commemorate who he is , and more significantly , whosheis . But it ’s a weird vibe of the less intentional sorting than those give off by Conrad ’s Bigot Paradise . The episode is , fundamentally , retick down until you get to that moment of actualization between the Doctor and the Rani , even after she spends much of the third routine of “ Wish World ” exposit to his face in an effort to get the artifice to crumble around him once and for all .
But because we already know that she ’s the Rani , and that the Doctor is not an insurance salesman named John Smith , there ’s no tension or mystery in what ’s being built towards , you ’re just a knowing hearing wait for the skid to flatten for the show ’s supporter , a shoe you ’ve known all along is sound to drop . At least “ The Legend of Ruby Sunday ” had the mystery story of Susan Triad to build a sense of dread around , even if there was n’t much more to the instalment beyond that — all “ Wish World ” has is a compelling creepy construct it for the most part cast out halfway through and then a literal ticking clock as we wait for the episode ’s concluding moments .
So it turns out “ Wish World ” needs to throw in another mystery reveal right at the last present moment , because the Doctor realize who the Rani is is not that much of an literal reveal to us any more . It turns out the Rani ’s bad ticking clock calculate down to May 24 has been power by collecting the doubts of anyone who ’s questioned Conrad ’s reality , the Doctor let in , juicing up the Vindicator the Doctor and Belinda have charge throughout the time of year even further to rive a hole through Earth and reality itself … open up a dimension where none other than Omega , the ancient , godlike co - father of Time Lord fellowship ( well , Timeless baby stuffnonwithstanding ! ) , awaits .
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Admittedly “ Wish World ” does get the leg up on “ Legend of Ruby Sunday ” by put its “ devastating demolition of jolly much everyone but our hero that will be inevitably unwrap next episode ” momentbeforethe cliffhangerthis time , as we check Earth break away apart and give way into the underverse , seemingly blipping everyone but the Doctor , Conrad , and the Ranis out of being , Belinda included . But the Omega reveal is more confusing than it is shocking in the moment , because it feels like it comes out of nowhere after the sequence builds towards an already dramatically compromise reveal . sure enough , we do n’t knowwhythe Rani is doing all this uncanny stuff with Conrad and a charming baby , but the episode never treat that as a whodunit to interrogate , it ’s just ticking in the background while the Rani yearns for the Doctor to recognize her .
So when Omega is call forth — we do n’t see him , it ’s just his name being dropped — what could ’ve been something “ Wish World ” build up to just largely come out of left field ( unless you already bump to see that Russell T Daviesteased on Instagramlast week that there was a secret third party in the nefarious intermixture between Conrad and the Ranis , but should you have to check the showrunner ’s societal mass medium for suitable dramatic tension ? ) . The Rani and the Doctor ’s encounter is all that “ Wish World ” was build up toward up to that point , and because it ’s building up to it for all of its runtime , the import itself does n’t really get to sit down beyond the climactic final minutes , overcharge it of what little tension could remain .
And so again , we ’re left waiting to see if next week ’s tremendous stopping point will retroactively make this hebdomad ’s prep feel deserving the clock - ticking … and if we reallyneeded the Rani ’s returnto herald Omega , and all the significance that then has for the Time Lords and Gallifrey at big beyond that . Thatfeelslike a circle to poke into , at least . Imagine if we ’d scram a two - part finis that really leveraged its time to do just that ?
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