Reviews of the Bosch

Just last week, I criticized the somewhat repetitive nature of “Wish World” to the previous series’s penultimate episode “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” , and from there thought I could guess the major points of the series finale. The joke is on me though. I did not expect at all what would ultimately happen. I’ll go into it in more depth, but by far the biggest thing is that “The Reality War” turned out to be the stealth final episode for Ncuti Gatwa and the Fifteenth Doctor. This has never happened in the modern era of Doctor Who  -every Doctor’s exit from the show has been presaged by some announcement in the press that the lead actor is leaving. As true of Jodie Whittaker as it was of Peter Capaldi as it was of Matt Smith as it certainly was of David Tennant as it even was of Christopher Eccleston. It’s just not something you surprise the audience with. But Russell T. Davies and Ncuti Gatwa did just that, and the fifteenth series finale winds up being our premature goodbye to this...

Doctor Who  does Pleasantville . That is essentially what the initial conceit of “Wish World” boils down to as it conjures up a conservative paradise of a reality where the nuclear family dominates, women are near universally subservient to men, disability and marginalized identity are unacceptable in public life, and any doubt in the system is an egregious taboo that must be punished. And of course there is a ‘friendly’ white male overseer to keep everyone in their place. Doctor Who  has done a few dystopias in its time, but it is rare that one is so concise as this, that seems equal parts ludicrous hyperbole and exhaustingly authentic. If it weren’t for the fact both this Doctor and companion were people of colour, I’m sure they would be excised from this perfect world as well (and I’m honestly surprised Belinda’s grandmother was still allowed to wear a sarong in a white Christian country). It is of course a leapfrog off of “Lucky Day” , where Russell T. Davies really dived ...

I am not a Eurovision guy. I appreciate it in concept from afar, but have never really engaged with the phenomenon openly. Good music though there may come from it and like clockwork a token oddball act of the moment, it’s never quite been interesting enough to resonate to me. I also do not live in Europe, so I’ve got no skin in the game. But I can understand the appeal, especially on a camp factor. This was after all the venue that introduced the world to ABBA. And on that level I understand completely why this incarnation of Doctor Who   -the campest we’ve seen since the classic series- would be drawn to that world as subject matter for an episode. I just didn’t expect I’d like it all that much. Anyway, “The Interstellar Song Contest” might be the best episode of this series. It did not go in the direction I assumed, which was as either a light, fluffy full-on musical episode paying homage to Eurovision fever (and possibly featuring an appearance from the contest’s U.K. stal...