Doctor Who Discussion: “It Takes You Away” and “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos”

The first Jodie Whittaker season of Doctor Who comes to a conclusion, though we’ll get the usual Holiday Episode soon, and another season in… 2020!

“It Takes You Away” poses a fascinating, atmospheric mystery with a bizarre and, IMO, not very satisfying conclusion. “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos” brings several elements of the season together.

Here’s the place to discuss both….

…Including debates over the decision not to kill a certain villain, the likelihood of dodging killer moths by hiding around the corner, and the possibility of a next-season visit to the Sealab.

5 replies on “Doctor Who Discussion: “It Takes You Away” and “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos””

  1. It Takes You Away was fantastically weird. Started off charming, added a mystery, went a bit Dark Souls and ended up with a talking frog. It deserves it’s own discussion, really (:

    I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, saying it wasn’t series-end-y enough, or whatever, because it wasn’t a two-parter or the stakes weren’t high enough. Funny thing is the same people have been complaining about previous series for being too over the top with the stakes becoming ridiculous and each season having to top the previous (save a planet -> save this planet -> save the universe -> save all the universes, etc).

    This one was simple. It tied in with the first episode (no surprise) and it’s been setting up a bit since the previous episode, what with Graham getting a stark reminder on why he’s here.

    I’m fine with them not killing what’s his face. They were obviously not going to kill him. This is Doctor Who. We know the destination — the story is about how we get there. We know Graham wants to kill him, will try to, but eventually won’t. But will he try and fail? Will The Doctor stop him, possibly through trickery? Will someone else physically stop him? Or will it be in a way that brings Ryan and him closer together, to the closure he’s wanted since the first episode?

    And isn’t that why we watch Doctor Who in the first place? We have plenty of Revenge Fantasy shows if we want to see the Hero kill the Villain with a smug one-liner.

    • I think it could be argued that the stakes were higher, because we were seeing a struggle for Graham. The Doctor spent the series trying to make these three people better, and this was our chance to see if she did. The single person deciding to be good over evil (my question from earlier aside) is a much higher stake. “Can the Doctor help at all?”

      I am not sure that is an argument that can be won, but the argument could be made.

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