WiC Watches: Doctor Who season 12

Episode 1210: “The Timeless Children”

After decades of wondering who the Doctor is, we have our answers! The Doctor Who season 12 finale was nothing short of amazing; a thrilling, emotional ride all the way until its final moments.

I never imagined that there would be a time in this series that the Doctor’s origin story would be revealed. We’ve always been given tidbits of information about the Time Lords and their home, Gallifrey. But we’ve never known much more than that.

The season 12 finale breaks this secret open in a way that most Whovians would have never seen coming. And it was all depicted in a hauntingly beautiful manner by Sacha Dhawan, who plays the Master, and of course, Jodie Whittaker, our very own Doctor. Their onscreen chemistry is palpable.

When it comes to the Doctor, we’ve always followed the timeline the original show began for us, with William Hartnell as the very first Doctor back in 1963. We didn’t really dwell on the idea that there was ever a Doctor before that. Why? I don’t know, we just went along with it and took the story for what it was.

This season blows that idea wide open, with the finale revealing that there were regenerations before William Hartnell — many, many regenerations. And according to the Master, the Doctor is the very first Time Lord.

The idea of previous, unknown regenerations was brought up when we met Jo Martin’s Doctor back in Episode 5 of this season. She was also the Doctor, but we just didn’t know when. The season 12 finale answers that question: she predates the versions we’ve seen from William Hartnell onwards. So technically the 13th Doctor isn’t the first female Doctor!

Through a series of flashbacks, the current Doctor learns that the Time Lords erased people’s memories. And then, of course, at some point, the Doctor regenerated into the William Hartnell version and life moved on. But before these memories were taken away, the Doctor was part of something called the Division. The Time Lords weren’t exactly on board with that, and eventually, it’s why the Doctor leaves Gallifrey in pursuit of helping other planets.

And it gets even crazier. In the finale, the Doctor uses all her memories to break out of the Matrix the Master has stuck her in. As she does, we see images of past Doctors flashing on the screen. She’s lived this life of 12 regenerations, but yet, there was a series of regenerations before then. But the Doctor can’t recall a thing, and she vividly remembers growing up in Gallifrey alongside the Master. He’s quick to assure her that it indeed happen, but it was just one of her many lives.

Mind. blown.

A quick history lesson by the Master reveals how this all actually went down. As we know, the Time Lords have the ability to regenerate when on the brink of death. As it turns out, this ability was stolen from an alien being, a child found by a woman named Tecteun.

She was a Shabogan — how people of Gallifrey were referred to before becoming the Time Lords. Basically, this child’s ability was stolen and stitched into the genetic makeup of the people of Gallifrey. That is when they began to call themselves Time Lords.

But who was this child? Are you ready for it? It was a version of the Doctor that was completely forgotten: the Timeless Child! Ahhh, I know, I told you, this was episode was insane with the twists.

What we still don’t know is how many regenerations took place between that very first version all the way up until William Hartnell. That’s likely one of the questions showrunner Chris Chibnall wanted to leave us with. The only thing that we do know about that gap is that Jo Martin’s version of the Doctor fits in there somewhere.

And let’s not forget that between all these revelations was the ridiculously huge Cybermen army on Gallifrey. Oh, and did I mention, the Master shrunk Ashad, absorbed the Cyberium into himself, and then turned this army into a bunch of regenerating Cybermen?! So they basically never die. Thus the only way to “save” the day is to use the death particle embedded within the mini-Ashad. The Doctor naturally takes on that responsibility and arranges for the companions and the refugees to take off in the T.A.R.D.I.S they found back to Earth. Everyone but Ko Sharmus (the mystical, elderly man from the last episode) leaves. Ultimately, he sacrifices himself.

The Doctor gets out of the situation alive, although it looks like the Master didn’t make it (although we’ve heard that before). But she ends up in an even worse bind. As soon as she gets back to her T.A.R.D.I.S., Judoon soldiers show up and transport her to maximum security prison.

Uh, how is she going to get out if everyone thinks she’s dead?! And the holiday episode will have…DALEKS?!

The season 12 finale was riveting, as was the season as a whole; this was probably the best one since the Matt Smith and David Tennant days. Whittaker is a perfect choice for this role, and she’s exactly who I would have wanted during this big reveal. The emotion and pain she brought to it were incredibly relatable, and I cannot wait to see how the story unfolds when we meet back up for the holidays.

Until then, Whovians!

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