Doctor Who Season Finale Review: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (Season 11 Episode 10)
In its final outing of the season, Doctor Who pulls together some of the bits and bobs from the last nine episodes and comes up with a solid finale. Doctor Who Season 11 Episode 10, “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos,” isn’t as bombastic as previous Doctor Who finales, but it does still have some high stakes.
One of the things that I think is catching viewers off guard with this season of Doctor Who is the way the stories are written to be so self-contained. There are so many great stories to tell, but it often feels like they could exist on their own isolated world, save for a bit of character development.
This can be a good thing, it could pick up new viewers to the series and get them drawn into a new era of the show, but I think it also leaves something on the table for fans who have followed the series for a while.
As a viewer, it’s hard not to miss the mystery of Season 5’s cracks in the universe, or Season 4’s ominous notions mentions of missing planets. Those moments created a tension in previous seasons that was missed.
However, “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos,” is a solid outing for the Doctor and her fam. It reaches all the way back to Doctor Who Season 11 Episode 1, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” and shows us what happened to Tim Shaw.
Naturally, while the Doctor wants to figure out exactly what the Stenza is up to, Graham and Ryan have Grace on their minds. Grace’s death in the first episode was a sad moment, and we hardly even knew her, but her presence throughout the series has us wanting to see vengeance for her.
Bradley Walsh really shines in this episode. He’s not afraid to display the side of Graham that is continuing to grieve. Considering that Graham’s reason for traveling was that he didn’t want to stay in the empty house he once shared with Grace, bringing her death into the finale let us close a loop on a chapter of their grief.
Ryan and Graham’s growing relationship has been enjoyable to watch in these last few episodes. Tosin Cole’s moment where he tells Graham he loves him, is the perfect way to elevate the first time he called him granddad in Doctor Who Season 11 Episode 9, “It Takes You Away.”
Likewise, the moment that they band together to put the Stenza in a stasis chamber instead of killing him is an ideal Doctor Who ending.
While the Graham and Ryan scenes were a good thread, there was definitely something missing. The overall plot of the Stenza felt like it warranted a little more exploration.
Overall, this probably could have been done with some more consistent writing and threading throughout the episodes giving us some hints of what’s to come. The Doctor has always been a very smart being, and I think that she’d have picked up on a few of these blips in the universe if planets were missing.
The idea of capturing planets also resemblances Davros’s plan in the Season 4 finale, and when the Stenza attempts to take Earth next there is definitely a familiar vibe. The solution to send the planets back using the best technology from several races was another romantic plot point to send this season out on.
While the season finale wasn’t a high-action romp, it did go out on a good note. I’ve enjoyed Jodie Whittaker’s performance this season, and I think she does hit some of the comedic notes we’ve come to know from Doctor Who really well. The series can benefit from a more cohesive storytelling where some mythology is layered into the plot as well.
But until the New Years’ Day Special we have the Doctor’s final words to rest on:
DOCTOR: None of us know for sure what’s out there. That’s why we keep looking. Keep your faith. Travel hopefully. The universe’ll suprise ya. Constantly.
Stray Thoughts:
- Going into this episode, I realized that we have spent very little time in the Doctor’s new tricked out Tardis. I feel like we’re really missing something there given how the set was designed to be very physical, but I also kind of just want to see it churn out custard crèmes for the fam.
- Who’s going to be first to market with a neurobalancer? That tech sounds so cool and so scary at the same time.
- We can now add wellies to the list of things The Doctor invented.
- Watching the Doctor pull grenades out of her pack was new. I don’t recall the Doctor ever handing that kind of stuff out before.
What did you think of this episode of Doctor Who? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Doctor Who airs Sundays at 8/7c on BBC America.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.