To say that last night’s finale of Doctor Who was a game-changer for the series would be a serious understatement. In fact, Chris Chibnall somehow managed to keep us at the edge of our seats for an entire hour by introducing twist after twist and ending on a high cliffhanger note.
Season 12’s last episode, titled “The Timeless Children,” led to the Doctor and the Master coming face-to-face one last time on a destroyed Gallifrey. As the sadistic villain had previously promised, everything we knew about Doctor Who changed when we realized that William Hartnell’s First Doctor wasn’t actually the first incarnation of the Time Lord.
As it came to pass, we learned that the indigenous people of Gallifrey were a primitive race. When a scientist figured out space travel, she came upon to a boundary that separated this universe from another. There, she found the Timeless Child, with the ability to infinitely regenerate herself. The scientist, who went by the name Tacteun, studied this child and figured out the secret to regeneration. This ultimately led to the rise of the Time Lord society as we know it.
The Master reveals that the Timeless Child is the Doctor, and every subsequent Time Lord shares her DNA code. Since they needed a more noble origin story, the Founding Fathers of Gallifrey hid the truth and even removed the Timeless Child’s memory of the past. This essentially implies that the Doctor has lived countless lives, and there may be many incarnations other than the fourteen we’ve come to know. For instance, Jo Martin is a secret one from the past that she doesn’t remember.
But that’s not everything. As the Doctor was facing this game-changing revelation, the Master lured the army of Cybermen to Gallifrey where he used their conversion centers to build a new breed from Time Lord genetics and Cyber technology. The Thirteenth had to stop them, though, lest they become an unstoppable force that would destroy the entire universe.
After releasing the Death Particle and killing the Master and the new Cybermen, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS. Suddenly, however, a Judoon platoon appears and transfers the Doctor to an intergalactic max security prison, ending on a cliffhanger.
But it seems that some fans were rather furious with this conclusion, and they took to social media to voice their anger. Below, you’ll find just a sample of what folks are saying:
“That’s how it ends? Really? #DoctorWho,” commented one viewer.
“Getting sent to prison and teased with Daleks. It all changes. It all stays the same. I dont think I”ll be there next time. #DoctorWho,” added another.
“What’s going to happen to the fam then if any of them leave I don’t want them just to not appear in the next season I want an explanation #DoctorWho.”
“JUDOON PRISON???!!!!! You can’t end it there FFS #DoctorWho.”
This is garbage. I'm sad for Jodie, she's an awesome actress and I had high hopes to see her improve the doctor. But the writing sucks so much 😖 she always is confused, now she has to deal with a hollow character.
— Marquitux (@anubis4d) March 2, 2020
#doctorwho continues to disappoint. The Doctor is pathetic and sad, origin means nothing anymore, and #ChrisChibnall writing continues to suck, just like it did on #Torchwood and #Broadchurch The @BBC could do so much better.
Explanation: https://t.co/wDHU0m84El pic.twitter.com/h0uUrTMndE
— Erik Nagel (@itseriknagel) March 2, 2020
#DoctorWho season finale opens up worlds of new questions and possibilities for the show, all of which suck ass
— ＴＨＲＩＬＬＨＯ (@antifahomuhomu) March 2, 2020
Fortunately for fans, though, the show did tease that the Doctor would eventually escape and confront the Daleks one more time in a Holiday season special episode, titled “Revolution of the Daleks.” And until then, we’ll have plenty of time to digest everything that happened in the finale.
Moreover, Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker will return for another season of Doctor Who in 2021, so let’s hope that we’ll get some of our answers by the time they’re through with the next run.