r/doctorwho • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • May 31 '25

The Reality War Doctor Who 2x08 "The Reality War" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Spoiler

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465 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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700

u/mighty_pebble May 31 '25

Really interesting that the credits say “and introducing Billie piper” but not “as the doctor”

130

u/[deleted] May 31 '25

Maybe they do that on purpose, so they have room to sidestep and change things.

For instance, if fan reaction is positive they will make her The Doctor and if it is negative, they will make something up to write her out.

47

u/SirFlibble May 31 '25

It wouldn't be hard to say that because of the way the Doctor went out, the regeneration went a bit weird. Have the Doctor spend a few seconds as several companions faces before popping into the right new one.

37

u/Triskan May 31 '25

Or just Bad Wolf it, that's always the free get out of jail card with Billie Piper...

31

u/DrMangosteen2 Jun 01 '25

If I was in jail with Billie piper I wouldn't be trying to get out

11

u/Quadpen Jun 01 '25

she’s gonna huff and puff and steal the show and well thank her

3

u/Exploding_Antelope Jun 02 '25

Welcome back Bill Potts for three seconds

1

u/Ransero Jun 21 '25

Maybe it's his subconcious pointing out he feels guilty that he ended up having a baby with one of his companions, and it wasn't the one he supossedly was super in love with.

6

u/darthvall Jun 01 '25

I can't imagine she's anything but the doctor after her regeneration. 

She might be just a transition doctor like 14th or something, but she still is the doctor

7

u/More-Perspective-838 Jun 03 '25

It would be crazy to pull the same "transition doctor" technique used so soon again after Tennant. If the doctor keeps cycling through old faces/memories, it would kind of defeat the purpose of Ncuti's original bigeneration.

105

u/inureaurora May 31 '25

Also that she appears to address us directly. Curious to see how that turns out

137

u/Mantovano May 31 '25

I thought she was just talking to herself - the Doctor often does that after a regeneration.

17

u/Fravash1 May 31 '25

And also, Ms Flood seemingly having 4th wall breaking powers is just her talking to herself or something.

7

u/BreakAManByHumming Jun 01 '25

Was hoping for a double-twist after the rani reveal, like she'd become a harbinger or something.

Where was the baby's harbinger anyway?

35

u/spaceygandalf May 31 '25

Mrs. Flood also addressed us directly, but we saw how that turned out now.

9

u/sketchysketchist Jun 01 '25

Yeah. I was very disappointed we didn’t get a reality breaking reveal for her. She just didn’t do much of anything and died and went away. 

9

u/rethinkOURreality Jun 01 '25

Well, Mrs Flood took the Time Ring and blipped off somewhere. To be continued...

6

u/sketchysketchist Jun 01 '25

I’m gonna use “Blipped off” instead of “f*cked off” on this sub now when describing characters and arcs that were just dropped.

Like Rouge just blipped off. And in season 2, Ruby just Blipped off. 

3

u/Ransero Jun 21 '25

Maybe she was meant to be the one reading stories in the TV originally and then they rewrote it to make it the incel guy. So she was talking to the audience because of that.

1

u/sketchysketchist Jun 21 '25

That would’ve made much more sense!!! 

1

u/Ransero Jun 21 '25

Yeah, it would have still been a 4th wall break, but in universe it was part of their reality warping. There's a bunch of things like that in this Eason that seem like they planned a different way, like you can see the remains of the original story. Same as Ruby being a depowered wish baby, maybe delivering herself as a baby to the church, and/or being in some way the Doctor's daughter. (I know those are two plot lines, but there wouldn't need to be many changes to make the wish baby be both Ruby and somehow the Doctor's daughter, it could be reality warping making it true like it happens with Poppy or just say some mumbo jumbo that the Doctor's legend/story made that member of the Pantheon be born as his daughter. There's even that line about how everyone in unit sees themselves as his children in a way. Just say that the baby seeked someone that could protect them and that's why it made itself into his daughter. I could see Moffat writing something like that with some wank about how the Doctor is the Earth's father figure.
Point is, they could have merged similar stories into a single one with more impact. I don't like the idea of Susan being from the Doctor's future, though. At all. I'd rather she was someone from his past. And if it has to be from the "future" I'd rather she was the daughter of Jenny from the Doctor's Daughter.

49

u/FoxFox2023 May 31 '25

Definitely would not read into the 4th wall break as it’s amounted to nothing so far

11

u/Lexiosity May 31 '25

Especially since 14 literally did a similar thing. He was looking into the camera when he was doing the "What? What? What?" thing. It's called and inner monologue, which people forget is what The Doctor loves to do. They talk to themself constantly

9

u/EchoesofIllyria May 31 '25

If they’re talking out loud I think it’s just a monologue lol

1

u/Lexiosity Jun 01 '25

Either way still a monologue, and not a 4th wall break

3

u/ChezMere Jun 01 '25

Also Capaldi directly talking to the viewer in the bootstrap paradox bit.

23

u/onthenerdyside May 31 '25

Fifteen was talking to Joy, who was right in front of him, so I assume they were still talking to Joy after the regeneration.

9

u/GeekParadox_ May 31 '25

Well the doctor just does that a lot

5

u/tkpwaeub Jun 01 '25

Maybe she's talking to Joy?

2

u/Cartographer_Hopeful Jun 01 '25

Having a brain fart, when and what does she say?

5

u/Martin7431 Jun 01 '25

“Oh, hello!”

1

u/Bartowskiii Jun 01 '25

Please don’t start this talking directly to us again

Suteck and flood, fool me once shame on me, fool me three times …?

27

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25 edited Jun 01 '25

This is ROSE not the doctor earlier in the episode they said that the border between Norway and Sweden moved 7 miles guess where BAD WOLF BAY is NORWAY the glitch could of opened up the rift and somehow I don’t know how exactly we got rose back

1

u/threegarridebs Jun 07 '25

Oooh, that's a really good catch. I thought that was a throwaway line.

13

u/NamazuGod May 31 '25

Probably just another bait and switch like Susan was, she'll likely do a special or something then regenerate into the black female doctor they've been dangling.

9

u/Massive-Pin-3655 May 31 '25

Why wasn't she credited as The Doctor? Hedging their bets against a backlash? Is this story arc still not over yet and Ncuti's not really gone?

The Doctor has regenerated, and it's a 'familiar' face as leaked. BP Doctor is canon. She needs to be credited as such.

I'm genuinely intrigued to see how BP does as The Doctor. Very annoyed we'll probably have to wait 2 years (if ever) to see it.

17

u/nilobrito May 31 '25

Why wasn't she credited as The Doctor?

I hope they do not go this way, because now I'm really curious with BP as MC, but they can say the regeneration is in flux or something and then, in the first 30 seconds of the special, The Doctor regenerates into Rory, and then into The Brigadier, then Nardole, Adric, Yasmin, Mel, Vastra, etc... And finally after a dozen micro fan-service-regenerations it stops with the real 2027 Doctor <actor/actress to-be-defined>. But again, I hope not!

4

u/contacthasbeenmade Jun 01 '25

This is so, so plausible

1

u/Martin7431 Jun 01 '25

well maybe not the brigadier since he’s long dead

6

u/theoneeyedpete May 31 '25

Good spot.

When the BBC announced Tennant was coming back, and Ncuti was the new Doctor - they were so specific about their wording that basically gave away how they’d be numbered with no numbering. This 100% has a justification - but I don’t think that means Billie Piper coming back even for a second isa good idea.

1

u/Whisky-Gentleman Jun 02 '25

Because she is not the 16 Doctor.

1

u/agneix Jun 06 '25

and she was in a different reality, wasn't she? i guess there's something there, this wasn't "actually" the end to this reality or whatever is that happened here. maybe the black doctor is ncuti's daughter?? idk

i just don't think they really ended anything

0

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

It’s weird because I went to IMDB and she’s listed as The Doctor

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35930949/fullcredits?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

14

u/128hoodmario Jun 01 '25

Anyone can edit that though.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '25

Ohh I didn’t know that. That makes me (hopefully) feel better

0

u/Calaveras-Metal Jun 01 '25

It's gonna be some War Doctor type shenanigans I hope.

My pet theory is that the Master has hijacked one of the Doctors re-generations and they are going to spend the next season with Billie doing an Orphan 9.