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Title: Doctor Who ΓÇÿLucky DayΓÇÖ review: Pete, I owe you an apology

Date: Sat, 03 May 2025 19:00:37 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-mov...

Spoilers for ΓÇ£Lucky Day.ΓÇ¥

When the writers for this season of Doctor Who were announced, one name in
the roster put me instantly on edge. Pete McTighe may have a distinguished
filmography but, in this house, heΓÇÖs known as the person who wrote
ΓÇ£Kerblam.ΓÇ¥ ThatΓÇÖs the Chibnall-era episode summed up as ΓÇ£Space Amazon
is great and the people protesting poor working conditions and mass-layoffs
are the real villains.ΓÇ¥ Imagine then, my delighted surprise when ΓÇ£Lucky
DayΓÇ¥ doesnΓÇÖt just get its politics right, but it does so with molotov
cocktails in hand.

James Pardon/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf

ItΓÇÖs 2007 and the Doctor and Belinda land in London as the clock strikes
midnight on New YearΓÇÖs Day. The Doctor, Vindicator in hand, gets another
set of coordinates before realizing a small boy, Conrad Clack, saw the TARDIS
land. He hands Conrad a 50 pence piece and tells him itΓÇÖs his ΓÇ£lucky
day,ΓÇ¥ before the boy sprints back to his mother. But sheΓÇÖs not interested
in his story about a magical blue box, striking the boy and saying sheΓÇÖs
had enough of his lies.

Conrad next encounters the TARDIS 17 years later when he spots it parked down
a dark alley. There's a nearby door with a broken lock and he ventures inside
to a closed down department store, where heΓÇÖs stalked by an unseen monster.
After a few seconds, the monster brushes past Conrad, leaving green slime on
his neck ΓÇö which is how it marks its prey. When the creature, the Shreek,
emerges into the open ready to strike, itΓÇÖs zapped away by the Doctor and
Ruby.

From the shadows, Conrad watches the Doctor hand Ruby a vial of antidote as
she, too, was marked as prey. He stalks them back to the TARDIS and overhears
their conversation ΓÇö half an hour prior, she was hanging out with the
Beatles, putting this just after ΓÇ£The DevilΓÇÖs Chord.ΓÇ¥ He snaps a
picture of Ruby and puts it online, asking the internet if anyone has seen
this woman.

He tracks down Ruby at some point after she stops traveling in the TARDIS,
and invites her onto his podcast. Conrad tries to flirt with his guest, and a
quick montage shows them date and start to get serious about each other. He
even confesses he was present during that first encounter with the Shreek,
and Ruby hands him a vial of antidote. She says the Shreek, which had tagged
him with green slime, was preparing to return to this dimension to hunt him
again. But UNIT ΓÇö the DoctorΓÇÖs military allies here on Earth ΓÇö captured
it (off-screen).

The pair go to a countryside village where Conrad introduces her to his
friends in a quiet pub. But, as night draws in, the lights begin to flicker,
and the blink-and-you-miss-it blurs of scary monsters appear outside. One of
ConradΓÇÖs friends, Sparky, goes missing, and Ruby calls UNIT who leap into
action despite no signs of a Shreek incursion. Conrad confesses to Ruby he
didnΓÇÖt take the antidote, wanting to prove to her he was as brave as the
Doctor to win her heart.

When UNIT arrives, soldiers face off with a pair of Shreek monsters until
they reveal theyΓÇÖre just ConradΓÇÖs stooges in rubber suits. Conrad isnΓÇÖt
an innocent caught up in a crisis he canΓÇÖt comprehend, heΓÇÖs a conspiracy
theorist streamer claiming UNIT is a sham organization. HeΓÇÖs the type to
engineer stunts and deceptively edit the resulting footage to smear his
targets. I wonΓÇÖt name the real world figures Conrad is inspired by as
weΓÇÖd get angry emails from their lawyers, but IΓÇÖm sure you can work out
who they are.

ConradΓÇÖs encounter with UNIT was livestreamed, and thereΓÇÖs another
montage of people talking to their generic social media followers decrying
the organization. HeΓÇÖs arrested, but quickly released, and given a welcome
press tour by the British media, including a favorable BBC News report and a
joke on the UK version of The Masked Singer. Conrad even gets consoled during
an interview on The One Show ΓÇö a prime time talk / magazine show ΓÇö by its
real presenter Alex Jones (not that one).

UNITΓÇÖs overseers in the UK government and Geneva buckle to public pressure
to put UNIT under close scrutiny. As its head, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart says,
imagine the fate of the world if any dictator got their hands on UNITΓÇÖs
arsenal of captured alien technology. Someone senior at UNIT demands the
caged (and real) Shreek captured off-screen be removed from London and
brought up to the helipad ready for transit. Meanwhile, Conrad has a man on
the inside, who has been radicalized into believing his own employers are a
sham, who helps him break into UNIT HQ.

Kate refuses to lock the building down, insisting that itΓÇÖs time the issue
was solved once and for all. Conrad, with a stolen UNIT rifle in hand, tries
to bait Kate into attacking her on camera with some vicious slander about her
father, the legendary Brigadier. Kate is happy the Doctor isnΓÇÖt here, since
he wonΓÇÖt stop her from doing what the audience has been demanding she do
for the last few minutes. She opens the cage holding the Shreek and lets it
go for Conrad.

Like all two-bit bullies, Conrad crumbles in the face of real danger and
starts begging for mercy but Kate refuses. Sadly, Shirley hands Ruby a taser,
which she uses to knock out the Shreek before it can bite ConradΓÇÖs head
off. Now that his life has been saved, Conrad goes back to playing up for the
livestream, boasting that UNITΓÇÖs ΓÇ£special effectsΓÇ¥ have gotten better.
At which point the Shreek wakes up and bites his arm off.

ThereΓÇÖs a sharp cut, and next we see Conrad waking up in a prison cell with
a contraption around his arm, presumably keeping it joined to his elbow.
Suddenly, he hears the TARDIS noise and is brought aboard for the Doctor to
tell him that heΓÇÖs a bitter, sad person who will die in prison. But Conrad
is unrepentant and says he ΓÇ£rejectsΓÇ¥ the DoctorΓÇÖs ΓÇ£reality.ΓÇ¥ After
heΓÇÖs returned to the cell, heΓÇÖs visited by Mrs. Flood, who confirms what
he saw was real, and that sheΓÇÖs letting him free as itΓÇÖs his ΓÇ£lucky
day.ΓÇ¥

Lara Cornell/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf

It does appear as if I owe Pete McTighe a fulsome apology and must assume he
isnΓÇÖt at fault for all of the reactionary politics of ΓÇ£Kerblam.ΓÇ¥
ΓÇ£Lucky DayΓÇ¥ is both a worthy sequel to ΓÇ£73 YardsΓÇ¥ and a sign that, if
Doctor Who is just weeks from an enforced hiatus, then itΓÇÖs going out
swinging. ItΓÇÖs got a lot of targets, including the BBCΓÇÖs habitual
reputation-laundering of unsavory characters. The notion of who is in ΓÇ£the
wrongΓÇ¥ is made explicitly clear here, too, and Conrad occupies the same
political (and narrative) circles as Roger ap Gwillam (Albion TV gets a
reference).

Like a lot of this yearΓÇÖs run, the episode feels like an overstuffed script
which was then cut down to fit a specific runtime. But the structural work
underpinning things feel more solid here, so while a lot of the connective
tissue is absent, itΓÇÖs not to the detriment of the story. KateΓÇÖs decision
to unleash the Shreek may have been well-telegraphed but itΓÇÖs better than
the solution appearing out of nowhere because thereΓÇÖs five minutes left to
run.

ThereΓÇÖs an element of the show playing to its strengths, and the genre
savviness of its audience here as well. If you know the beats of a girl-meets-
boy romance movie, then youΓÇÖll spot this is a cracked-ish mirror version of
that. And we donΓÇÖt need much evidence of ConradΓÇÖs villainy ΓÇö calling
the Doctor, UNIT and Kate a bunch of frauds to make money from his online
audience ΓÇö since we know they are our heroes. Plus, anyone who slanders
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, after all, deserves to get whatΓÇÖs coming to
them.

ΓÇ£Lucky DayΓÇ¥ is smart about how it introduces us to Conrad, too, giving us
obvious red flags from the get-go. Adult Conrad has no reservations about
taking a picture of a stranger and sharing it online for the internet to
identify on his behalf. ThereΓÇÖs a hint of judgment in how he asks about her
relationship to and with the Doctor, mirroring the way Alan Budd flirted with
Belinda in ΓÇ£The Robot Revolution.ΓÇ¥ In fact, itΓÇÖs an interesting
counterpoint to that episode, since we get enough time with Conrad early on
to learn to at least be wary of him, rather than it being a fairly
unsupported third-act twist.

If thereΓÇÖs one downside, itΓÇÖs that the episode leans on the trope that
survivors of abuse perpetuate that cycle of abuse. Conrad gets hit in the
head by his mother and while itΓÇÖs hard to assume a pattern of behavior from
one scene, it didnΓÇÖt seem like it was the first time. Much as we saw in
ΓÇ£Lux,ΓÇ¥ there are limits to the storytelling possibilities inherent in a
series about an immortal science clown traveling anywhere in time and space
in a blue box.

This episode is also focused on RubyΓÇÖs post-TARDIS life, which has left her
in a vulnerable position. As she admits at the end of the episode, her time
with the Doctor was spent in a constant state of panic and peril. SheΓÇÖs
tired, sheΓÇÖs alone and the first man she tried to form a relationship with
turned out to be using her. ThatΓÇÖs bound to leave a scar, but the after
effects of a trip in the TARDIS is rarely discussed in the context of the
series itself. The majority of the classic series' companions lacked detailed
interior lives, while modern day ones often move on to other ΓÇ£excitingΓÇ¥
things rather than back to a normal life.

Mrs. Flood Corner BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf

It does appear as if the structure of the series isnΓÇÖt just Russell T.
Davies relying on a familiar rhythm but something more deliberate. ΓÇ£Lucky
DayΓÇ¥ is the fourth in a row that shares themes and elements with the same
numbered episode in last yearΓÇÖs lineup. ItΓÇÖll be interesting to see how
much of next weekΓÇÖs ΓÇ£The Story and the Engine,ΓÇ¥ and the following
weekΓÇÖs ΓÇ£The Interstellar Song ContestΓÇ¥ shares with their counterparts
from the first series.

ItΓÇÖs plausible that the time fracture that was featured in ΓÇ£The Robot
RevolutionΓÇ¥ has, somehow, knocked the series off its previously-planned
course. That either within the showΓÇÖs fiction or in its metafiction,
weΓÇÖre explicitly seeing parallel versions of those previous episodes. If
you recall from that episode, too, the Doctor says he was told to meet
Belinda by an unknown person. What if he was chasing down ConradΓÇÖs lead,
and if so, would that be enough to create a paradox (even if the TARDIS can
avoid such obstacles)?

Then thereΓÇÖs the fact Conrad says he explicitly rejects the DoctorΓÇÖs
ΓÇ£reality,ΓÇ¥ which feels like a telling way of wording things. Especially
as this seasonΓÇÖs two-part finale is titled ΓÇ£Wish WorldΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£The
Reality War,ΓÇ¥ although that title is hardly a massive clue. After all, last
seasonΓÇÖs finale was ΓÇ£Empire of Death,ΓÇ¥ as opposed to ΓÇ£The one in
which it turns out Stuekh has been clinging to the TARDIS roof for God knows
however long.ΓÇ¥

IΓÇÖm not sure I want to read too much into Mrs. Flood releasing Conrad since
that, like last week, could simply be a topper to the story. It may be that
sheΓÇÖs simply letting him out to wreak more havoc and undermine UNIT and the
DoctorΓÇÖs goals rather than anything specific. Not to mention that if Mrs.
Flood is a dimension-surfing entity hell-bent on destroying the Doctor,
sheΓÇÖs hardly going to have much use for a schmucky YouTuber.

This week, the BBC announced that ΓÇ£The Reality WarΓÇ¥ would not be getting
its customary early in the day stream online. Instead, itΓÇÖll hit the
iPlayer and Disney+ at the same time as the UK broadcast, and both episodes
are being lined up for a small cinema release. ThatΓÇÖs reserved for big
event episodes, and it adds more weight to the rumor Gatwa has already left
the show. Not to mention heΓÇÖs starring in the play Born With Teeth from
August 13 through November 11 ΓÇö which would prevent him from shooting a
season for 2026.

Outside the mystery box elements of the show, this season feels as if itΓÇÖs
having a meta conversation with itself. ΓÇ£Lucky Day,ΓÇ¥ for instance, takes
a similar premise as ΓÇ£Love and Monsters,ΓÇ¥ a Doctor-lite episode focusing
on one of the so-called ordinary people who are peripherally involved in the
DoctorΓÇÖs adventures. Conrad is initially presented as one of the lost souls
who are drawn to the Doctor ΓÇö you could almost describe them as fans ΓÇö
but who donΓÇÖt shine brightly enough to get the Time LordΓÇÖs special
attention.

Oh, and I canΓÇÖt think of any reason beyond silly fan service that
ConradΓÇÖs streaming outfit is called ΓÇ£Think TankΓÇ¥ beyond a deep cut nod
to 1974ΓÇÖs ΓÇ£Robot.ΓÇ¥ After all, thereΓÇÖs almost nothing in common
between the two entities and their goals are ostensibly in conflict.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-mov...
pete-i-owe-you-an-apology-190037017.html?src=rss

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