***The following review contains major spoilers for 208, "The Reality War." A recap is also available***

“The Reality War,” the season finale of Doctor Who, dropped later than usual this Saturday on Disney Plus, as this afternoon it was simulcast with the UK. In the episode, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) faces off against the Rani (Archie Panjabi) as she prepares to open a door to Omega (voiced by Nicholas Briggs). The Doctor must not only stop the threats and save the planet, but rewrite reality to save an innocent life that could mean the end of his own.

There is a lot to unpack with the episode, which was jam packed with craziness and timely-wimey that only the Doctor can bring. First off, out of the gate, I loved Anita (Steph De Whalley) coming from the Time Hotel to save the Doctor. She was a great one-off character originally, and I also was delighted with the bits in this episode of old footage with her visiting other incarnations of the Doctor. Although her arrival was a way to a quick resolution to the conundrum that the Doctor (and the rest of the world for that matter) found himself in at the end of the previous episode, with him plummeting to the disintegrating Earth, it worked and left room for the rest of the action in an already extra-long episode. It also brings more examples in this season that have been throwbacks to earlier episodes in the current Doctor’s run as well as the classics.

The following contains spoilers for 2.07, "Wish World"

In Bavaria in 1865, the Rani (Archie Panjabi) visits the cabin of the Zufall family on horseback. She greets Otto Zufall (Atilla Akinci), who is the seventh son of the seventh son and himself has seven sons, his wife, Violett (Leni Adams) having just given birth to the latest. Letting them think she is the midwife, she asks to hold the baby, only to say she is taking him. When they protest, she blows on them, turning Violett into flowers, the other six children into ducks, and Otto into an owl. Taking the baby, she leaves, telling him that they have things to do in 160 years time with one very special wish.

In London in 2025, Belinda (Varada Sethu) and the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) wake up next to each other in bed and kiss each other good morning. He tells his wife he could stay there forever, but he has to go to work. Poppy (Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps), their daughter, comes in saying “meow” because she wants a cat.

Belinda turns on the television and on the screen is Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King) saying the weather across all the different countries all over the world is going to be nice, that’s his promise. Conrad says it’s time for the day’s story, holding up the book: Doctor Who and the Daily Wish, by I.M. Foreman. They move to the kitchen, and he continues on another television, talking about the Time Lord who ran away.

The following review contains major spoilers for 2.06, “The Interstellar Song Contest.” Detailed episode recap is also available.

In the all-new episode of Doctor Who, “The Interstellar Song Contest,” which dropped hours ago on Disney Plus, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) arrive on the Harmony Arena Space Station where they are hosting the galactic music competition filled with entertainers from around the universe. Belinda, who up until this point has been keen to get home as soon as possible, decides to stay for some fun, but unfortunately it becomes a night she won’t soon forget when they must battle to survive the event that could kill a whopping three trillion.

This week’s episode was a really fun one. From the fantastically crazy array of alien species to the brightly colored costumes, to the outrageous original music (I think I’ll probably have “Dugga Doo” in my head for awhile), the over-the-top spectacle was grand, like a Met Gala on steroids. It definitely showed how much money Disney is putting into the production, and it really worked well in this instance. As an American, I may never have seen Eurovision, but I appreciated that they got Rylan Clark to be the host of the fictitious expanded event and even had the hilarious Graham Norton appear as a hologram. I could easily imagine how it could become something like this in the distant future. In addition, it’s neat that the episode is airing the same day as the final part of the real counterpart.