Having an average episode with a great ending is how The Walking Dead has maintained its fan base for years now; it’s also a great way to describe the first episode of the twelve season of Doctor Who.
There was nothing practically wrong with the episode. It trundled along at a reasonable pace, the story was light but engaging and some of the jokes hit the spot. There was also nothing over spectacular abut Spyfall either, well that is up to the last minute but we’ll get to that later. Stephen Fry was underused, the action scenes felt more Jonny English than James Bond and it felt all over the place.
A couple of nice jokes that really hit were Stephen Fry’s ‘C’ mistaking ‘Graham’ as The Doctor and ‘O’s’ joke regarding his research on The Doctor ‘there’re inconsistencies’. The latter of the two would have been very pleasing to those who bemoaned the Moffat era of the show.
Then there was the ending, wow. It was a reveal that was up there with John Hurts War Doctor. The change in Sacha Dhawan’s in demeanour was spectacular. The reveal twist was unexpected and spectacular. On re-watching the episode is full of clues, but I’m yet to speak with anyone who picked them up on first viewing. From just those few minutes I got the feeling Dhawan’s Master will be one to watch.
So an average episode that gets an extra point for its ending.
Verdict: Score out of 10 – 7
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