Doctor Who spoiler review: Ascension of the Cybermen kicks off the two-part finale

Ascension of the Cybermen sets things up for the final episode of Series 12 in a big way. But is it a strong Cybermen story for Doctor Who? (Spoilers follow.)

Another week, another huge episode for Doctor Who. Which is unsurprising, as Ascension of the Cybermen does begin the two-part finale. While The Haunting of Villa Diodati lead directly into it, we get much more of a sense of epic scale with this episode.

Which is quite surprising, as Ascension of the Cybermen primarily focuses on an extremely small group of survivors. From the start (well, not quite the start, but we’ll get to that), Chris Chibnall gives us a clear post-apocalyptic story. Humanity has barely survived its war with the Cybermen. And it may end up being wiped out completely thanks to the efforts of Ashad – the Lone Cyberman we saw in Villa Diodati.

There’s a lot to enjoy about this portion of the story. It kicks off with the Doctor trying to do her best to save humanity before it sets the stakes extremely high. We also get a rather fast pace to the episode and it flows by rather quickly.

One element that’s a little weak are the survivors. Honestly, their role in the story – of just trying to survive – stands out more than the characters themselves. Worse still, Chris Chibnall tries to make these survivors of the future feel ordinary and relatable, something Russell T Davies was often brilliant at. But Chibnall lacks subtlety – the fact that one of the characters actually states, “We’re just ordinary humans,” more than proves that.

Overall, the team was used better in tonight’s episode than in most others.

Photo Credit: Ben Blackall/BBC Studios/BBC America

Improving on previous episodes

That’s my one key gripe about Ascension, though. There are many other decisions that work, and in fact, even improve on the previous episode.

For example, one issue I had with The Haunting of Villa Diodati was Ashad himself. Considering how emotional he acted, I was worried that Chris Chibnall didn’t know how to handle the Cybermen. So the fact that tonight’s episode addresses not just how emotional he is, but how the regular Cybermen would never accept him, makes him a much more interesting character.

Splitting the team up also worked extremely well. It divided the episode into two distinct plotlines (well, two that we understood – again, we’ll get to that in a minute). Seeing the action divided between the spaceship full of Cybermen and the Doctor finding a way to safety was an effective way of keeping the episode flowing at a decent pace.

It didn’t quite give all of the companions something to do, unfortunately. This week, Ryan definitely got the short straw in terms of adding little to the plot. Hopefully, that will change next week. But for this episode, splitting the team up was at least a step in the right direction.

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The life of Brendan

There is one other plotline in this episode I haven’t touched upon: the life of Brendan. (Yeah, like I wasn’t going to use that as a subheading.)

When this storyline began, it felt like a strange addition to the episode. But if I’m honest, it was an addition that I kind of liked. While it added nothing to the Cyberman part of the story, the way Brendan’s life unfolded was actually rather sweet. It was built up nicely and allowed us to watch his life story in little flashes. So the big shocking moments – such as surviving a miraculous fall, or being electrocuted by his adoptive father – had impact. To be honest, this sold the idea of an ordinary human caught up in a strange situation far better than the last survivors of the Cyber-Wars.

This episode left a lot of questions unanswered. Unsurprisingly, it also featured a major cliffhanger when that particular enemy returned. Overall, Ascension of the Cybermen has left me eager to watch the finale, so it did its job well. It’s not perfect, but it is a solid episode in terms of buildup. Here’s hoping that the buildup pays off next week.

Did you enjoy Ascension of the Cybermen? Did you enjoy the buildup to next week’s episode, or do you think it could have been handled better overall? Let us know in the comments below.