Doctor Who: “The Interstellar Song Contest” is Bold but Flawed – 2nd Opinion, Take 1
Gustaff Behr reviews the sixth episode of Series 15.
“The Interstellar Song Contest” is a bold, visually dazzling entry in Doctor Who‘s fifteenth series. Eurovision isn’t something I’m all that familiar with so, much like the Bridgerton episode last year, I had no clue what I was in for. All I knew was that I really didn’t want the Doctor to start singing. So hey, silver lining.
You understand where most of the budget for this season went just from the first couple of frames. Series 15 is definitely stronger than Series 14. Unfortunately, a lot of the old problems still stick around: the overuse of crying, the weird emotional beats, and the Doctor being sidelined as the hero of the story. Thankfully, this week he actually gets to save the day…though, of course, he cries about it twice before doing so…
- Times the 15th Doctor has cried: 18 (across 16 episodes)
- Times he’s actually saved the day: 4 / 16
Ncuti Gatwa puts in a genuinely solid performance here, especially since he finally gets something to do beyond tossing out “babes” and “honey” like confetti. Believing Belinda has died (if only), the Doctor taps into a darker, more vengeful mode, culminating in him torturing the villain, Kid. And honestly? That was cathartic. It’s exactly the kind of murky moral space I wanted them to explore with Conrad back in “Lucky Day.”
Bonus points too for how the episode doesn’t just let that moment slide. The other characters actually react to how disturbing the Doctor’s behaviour is. He seems totally unaware of how uncomfortable he’s making everyone, especially Gary and Mike, who look like they’re ready to bolt every time he glances in their direction.
That said, I do have to knock a few points off. Moral ambiguity only works if the writing’s consistent, and here it really isn’t. Kid didn’t actually succeed in killing or directly harming anyone (PTSD in this show apparently no longer exists, given how nonchalant all those people brought back from space seem to be), and yet he gets the full wrath of the Doctor. Meanwhile, Conrad literally did hurt thousands of people and just got a scolding. Make it make sense.
The episode’s premise: a galactic music competition reminiscent of Eurovision provides a vibrant backdrop that quickly gives way to a plot that’s about as complicated and dangerous as a ten-piece jigsaw puzzle. The sudden shift from camp spectacle to high-stakes drama is reminiscent of episodes like “A Good Man Goes to War” where the main conflict is over before you’ve finished your popcorn, only to be swapped out for something supposedly more urgent but not necessarily more compelling.
Visually, the episode is a total knockout. The sequence of 100,000 people getting sucked into the vacuum of space is genuinely breathtaking and kind of horrifying. You really feel the scale of the threat at that moment. Or at least, you would…if the show actually had the guts to kill someone. But nope. Everyone survives, which deflates the moment and makes the Doctor’s big angry reaction feel kind of overblown. Like, yeah, he’s mad, but it’s hard to buy into it when the stakes turned out to be basically zero. And this episode, now having done this, must be held up in comparison to “Hell Bent”, “Face the Raven” and “A Good Man Goes to War”, moments where the Doctor went absolutely off the rails in defense of those closest to him being harmed.
Belinda doesn’t do much this week, again, and what little she does do just makes her even more unlikeable. She literally watches the Doctor get sucked into space, possibly to his death, and her first reaction isn’t “Oh my god, he’s dead,” it’s “Ugh, I’m stuck.” Like… hello? One of you just died, the other is still alive. At this point, it’s not even polarizing anymore, she’s just straight-up insufferable. I despise this character so much.
We finally got the return of Susan Foreman this episode. Long overdue, but so welcome. I just hope she’s not limited to some fleeting mental projection. From the looks of things, though, we might actually be getting a proper family reunion next week and I’m ready to get emotionally wrecked if it delivers. Please be more “Doomsday” than “Empire of Death”.
What I’m less thrilled about is the reveal that Mrs. Flood is the Rani. Not because I dislike the Rani, far from it. I love both Kate O’Mara’s and Siobhan Redmond’s versions, and from what little we’ve seen, I’ll probably enjoy Archie Panjabi’s take too. The problem isn’t who she is, it’s how we got there: bi-generation. Again.
Using bi-generation a second time already cheapens what was meant to be a mythical, once-in-a-blue-moon event. Regeneration is supposed to be a passing of the torch, one incarnation bows out, the next steps up. Now we’re stuck with two Ranis at the same time (and if “Two Ranis” isn’t an actual line next week, then what are we doing here), one of whom barely acts like the Rani at all.
I also really dislike how boring and uneventful the Rani’s bi-generation was. Like, really? Her double brainstem got damaged? That’s it? Honestly, it felt less like a regeneration trigger and more like she was “killed” off by exposition. It just feels like such a waste given how few times we get to see other characters regenerate. If you’re gonna bi-generate the Rani, at least make it interesting. Take a note from Big Finish, where creativity still lives and breathes. One of their stories had a Word Lord, a Time Lord-esque villain from a universe made of language instead of matter regenerate because a future Seventh Doctor tripped out his CORDIS on the lost 27th letter of the English alphabet, sending him spiraling into language itself. That’s how you kill someone off in style.
All I’m saying is: if you’re going to regenerate a character, don’t half-ass it. Make it weird. Make it memorable. Give us something.
Really, the whole “Mrs. Flood” mystery has honestly been one of the weakest arcs in this era, and turning it into yet another bi-gen headache just piles onto the mess. Why is Rani #3 being so weirdly submissive to Rani #4? They’re the same person. And when, exactly, did she gain full meta-awareness and start breaking the fourth wall like Deadpool in a wig? Why’s she hanging around pretending to be some kooky old neighbour when she’s got her own TARDIS? And speaking of, how did she survive the Time War? Are we just recycling the same Chameleon Arch excuse used for the Master and the Monk?
Maybe we’ll get answers. Then again, maybe we won’t. I’m still waiting for them to tell me why Ruby Sunday can make it snow. I’m not holding my breath…
