The Wrong Woman

Dalek Universe #1.2

Released: 14 April 2021

Listened: 12/1/22

Surprise, the Doctor has regenerated into a woman, but it’s Gemma Whelan, not Jodie Whittaker. Obviously, something funky is going on here, but it’s a lot of fun to hear Whelan act like a newly regenerated Time Lord, reveling in the mania and rushing all about. (Spoiler: It’s not the Doctor, it’s the Monk, or rather “the Nun” as she prefers to be known now. Once you know, it’s hard to miss, because Whelan’s dialog is very nearly as plummy as Rufus Hound’s is.) Outside of that, there’s an awful lot of timey-wimey going on in this story, most of it continued from the previous, and John Dorney usually does a good job of keeping his timey and his wimey straight. It becomes clear to the Doctor that he’s been brought back to before the Time War, which is an impressive trick, and without the TARDIS, he’s stuck here. And we know how well he responds to being stuck. Mark gets to be rather superhero-y in this one, and also seems just a touch more arrogant than the last story, even though he’d deny it. Once the big twist is resolved, the rest of the story is good, but doesn’t quite come up to the same level.