This season’s penultimate episode delivers a fairly solid story, makes effective use of location filming, provides clues to the latest destruction of Gallifrey, and introduces a mystery that will obviously be central to the conclusion: Who is Brendan? If nothing else, we have a Doctor Who episode that, for the most part, should please viewers both traditional and new.
We’ll post a proper review next week, after Part Two airs. Meanwhile, here’s a place to offer opinions, ask questions, and explain your timeless theories about Brendan’s identity.
How about: Brendan is the original Time-Lord. All founding Time-Lords are incarnations of him, and so many that they have become a population (others, like Susan, would be born later, of course). No, I don’t believe that, but it’s probably not the most outlandish claim being made by fans. What’s yours?
I got the distinct impression that they want us to think that Graham is going to stay behind at the end assuming a particular character survives part two. I don’t have any particular opinion on that matter, though.
On the subject of Brendan, I don’t have any fully formed theories. However, I suspect a link with our old friend Captain Jack. I also got to wondering if that Irish setting was what it looked like at all.
The ending definitely has me wondering about the reality of that Irish setting, but I’m not certain what it might actually be.
I left my comments over here, but I think Bendan’s going to be more Cyberman than Time Lord. Or he’s a human that went through the Boundary, and that town is a construct of the Time Lords to deal with the influx of humans Ko Shogarath (or whatever his name was) sent through.
Also leaning towards a Cyberman rather than Time Lord/Capt. Jack connection for Brendan, especially if you consider the scene with the [spoiler]headset and the gradual transformation of Bill Potts[/spoiler], but I’m also pretty sure that Irish village wasn’t as it seemed, so not entirely convinced it’s that simple either.
Then again, given the final appearance, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if *anything* was really as it might at first seem and we’ve just been fed a whole shoal of red herrings that’ll turn out to be painfully obvious in hindsight.
That remains a problem with Doctor Who-type universes. When pretty much anything can happen, it’s difficult to make intelligent guesses regarding what the solution to a mystery might be. But at least this one has me intrigued, and the themes have been integrated into the story.