TV Recap: The Rani Transforms Earth Into a World of Wishes in the Penultimate Episode of “Doctor Who”

The end of last week’s episode of Doctor Who, “The Interstellar Song Contest," brought about the revelation that Mrs. Flood is the Rani – not to mention the fact that she bigenerated into a new form, played by Archie Panjabi. If you don’t know who the Rani is, check out my handy dandy guide to the character here. Now, the Rani’s plan is finally coming to fruition in part one of the two-part season finale, “Wish World," which you can read my spoiler-filled recap of below.

The episode opens with a cloaked Rani riding on horseback in Bavaria, 1865. The Rani comes across a family in a house, and they seem to think she’s a midwife arriving to help the pregnant. The man is revealed to be the seventh son of a seventh son, and the family has seven children. The Rani seems particularly interested in their newborn child, Joonas (which the Rani thinks is a terrible name). She takes the baby, blows and makes a wish that “your wife is violets" and the wife begins to turn into flowers. The child is reportedly the “fountainhead of a power from beyond this universe," a power the Rani uses to turn the other children into ducks and the husband into an owl. The scene ends as the Rani says “we have things to do in 160 years with one very special wish."

We then cut to London in 2025, and the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) are in bed together, waking up wishing each other a good morning. The Doctor says how nice this life is, that they want to stay together forever, while Belinda begs him not to go to work. What’s even stranger is that the two seem to have a kid, Captain Poppy from last season’s “Space Babies" (who also mysteriously popped up a couple of episodes ago in “The Story & The Engine"). They turn on the TV to hear Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King) speaking, who proclaims the weather is going to be nice all across Great Britain and the rest of the world. Conrad wishes everyone a “Happy Morning" to which the Doctor and Belinda say back to the TV, as we cut to the title sequence.

Conrad begins to tell today’s story, “Doctor Who and the Deadly Wish," while Belinda and the Doctor seem to be having an oddly domestic life with their daughter. They note that tomorrow is May 24th, which is a big day that they will celebrate with balloons and songs. As the Doctor prepares to go to work, he is visited by Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) who asks if he knows or is the Doctor. He says that his name is John Smith (a long running alias for the character). Ruby doesn’t let it go, and John and Belinda seem very off-put by Ruby. Ruby tells them they don’t really have a daughter, and as Belinda goes to the phone to call that someone is “expressing doubt," the Doctor appears to recognize Ruby’s name but then shakes it off.

Ruby runs away and bumps into Mel (Bonnie Langford), who here appears to be the Doctor’s neighbor. She also does not recognize Ruby, and the Doctor tells her to ignore Ruby. As the two talk, Mel is shown throwing broken coffee mugs into a waste bin full of broken coffee mugs. Then, they look up into the sky and we see a giant, fossilized creature tramping overhead, alongside a spider-like structure, the Bone Palace, jetting into the sky. The Doctor asks “how can anyone doubt this glorious world in which we live in?"

Conrad’s story of the Doctor’s life continues to be broadcast everywhere, as the Doctor walks to work with Ruby trailing him. The Doctor is working at UNIT, which in this world is the Unified National Insurance Team, among them are Kate (Jemma Redgrave), Col. Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient) and Susan Triad (Susan Twist), who all seem to be part of this strange fantasy. The Doctor notices Ibrahim’s attraction towards Kate, and in doubting himself the Doctor reassures him by calling him a beautiful man. This is something that Ibrahim is immediately cautious of, saying “you’re a man, how can you find another man beautiful?" The Doctor appears worried and somehow breaks a coffee mug.

Belinda’s mother and grandmother arrive at their house to visit, and a strong moral of this world appears to be set up, basically that a woman’s role is “good little girl, then good little wife, then good little mother." That’s what Conrad says is right and Conrad is never wrong. Belinda’s mother talks about her labor with Belinda, and then when asked about her own labor, Belinda and the others can’t remember any details. As Belinda looks interestingly confused, a coffee mug appears to break. Belinda then runs off, into a forest where she lets out an anguished scream.

“It turns out Doctor Who wasn’t the only one left," says Conrad. “A time lady has survived." The workers of UNIT seem very excited when the Rani is seen outside on a hoverboard, flying towards the Bone Palace in a very Green Goblin-esque fashion. As they go to get a closer look, the Doctor says that he wonders who she is – something seen as sacrilege to ask by everyone around him.

The Rani arrives on board the Bone Palace and is greeted by her other self, who I’ll refer to as Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) for ease. In this control room, there are some strange feminine creatures who appear to be calculating something to do with doubts. Mrs. Flood makes a sandwich for Conrad while complaining about the bossy nature of herself. Conrad appears to be less in league with the others, and more so a pawn. He says that all the thinking is such hard work, and has no idea if the plan is working outside. The boy who wants the world to be better appears to be controlling everything from his own mind, from the weather to how people think. In the same room is the baby stolen by the Rani early, who is revealed to be sustaining the entire world. The child lets out a giggle that is identical to that of the other gods seen in the show before, such as the Toymaker and Lux. Conrad and Mrs. Flood both agree that the child is absolutely terrifying.

The Rani asks Mrs. Flood if the trap is ready to which Mrs. Flood replies “it’s just waiting to be primed." The Rani says that tonight, we will find the “One Who is Lost" and then the great work begins. Outside UNIT, Ruby comes across Shirley Anne Bingham (Ruth Madeley) who is seen begging for money on the street. Ruby believes she shouldn’t be talking to her, but then changes her mind. They both seem to know each other’s name, and Shirely takes Ruby to an encampment where the disabled and the dispossessed live. Ruby swears she’s never seen before, because something about this world ignores the poor and disabled – they don’t fit into the vision, and so they are cast aside. Everyone here seems to get some sort of glimpse of the real world. Like the others, Ruby keeps having doubts about the world, and that seems to be because of the Doctor. One of the people in the camp has a theory that it all comes down to Conrad, and Ruby wonders how he became the god of the Earth.

Shirely reveals that they have plans to bring down god, and Ruby is 100% on board with their goals. “But the Time Lady had an idea, she said it's not over, because I know a secret hidden away. And the secret came from the depths of Time Lord history, a secret so old and so terrible, everyone had forgotten, but the secret was beginning to wake." Having a drink at home and watching Conrad, the Doctor’s TV is interrupted by Rogue (Jonathan Groff), who returns after last season to try and give a warning to the brainwashed Doctor. Rogue tells him “tables don’t do that," which gets the Doctor thinking as he looks at a table full of coffee mugs and wonders why they’re all falling through the table.

Belinda seems concerned by what her husband is saying and emotionally calls to share that he’s been expressing doubts, and the Doctor is taken. Mrs. Flood shows up with armed men to take Belinda, after her own mother called her in as well. Shirley and Ruby are sneaking around underneath the Bone Palace, bringing out a relic tablet from the before-times, where they’re able to figure out that Conrad is broadcasting from up in the structure. Shirely theorizes that if the tablet can trace the signal, then maybe they can also block it too. The plan is to get Conrad to leave the Bone Palace, and Ruby thinks meeting him will help her remember everything.

The Doctor and Belinda are now on board the Bone Palace, and they’re told to step through some sort of forcefield by the same droneguards from last week’s episode. The Doctor and the Rani meet face-to-face and the Rani tries to jig the Doctor’s memory by showing him the Seal of Rassilon on the wall. “Don’t you ever wonder deep down in your hearts where your TARDIS is?" Belinda just wants to get home to Poppy, and the Rani tells her that she doesn’t really have a child. The Doctor remembers what Ruby said earlier, and the Rani seems excited that the Doctor is remembering, as May 24th draws near.

The Rani and the Doctor dance while the Rani reminds him of their history, as we see images of the character’s original incarnation, as played by Kate O’Mara in the classic series. Much of this happened due to the Doctor stirring the gods. When the Doctor woke the Pantheon, the most powerful god of all was born – the God of Wishes. No God of Wishes could have infinite power, which was boosted thanks to the vindicator – criss-crossing the universe to create a web of power.

But, as the Rani says, the world is full of mistakes and can’t sustain itself, because of doubts. The doubts are not the problem though, they’re actually the whole point. If you question hard enough, then doubts can crack open the whole world. The Rani reveals she needed the Doctor trapped inside the wish, for his doubt to become all-consuming to rip open the structure of reality itself. Tears in reality begin to open over London, as the city is torn apart and sent elsewhere. Once reality is broken on a scale as vast as this, the Rani can see into the Underverse for the “One Who is Lost" – Omega – the first Time Lord and the creator of the Time Lords.

John Smith begins to see flashes of his former lives, and remembers that he is the Doctor. The Rani has Belinda taken across the threshold, while the Doctor is trapped outside the Bone Palace as the Rani knows the Doctor will do anything to stop her. As London disappears around our heroes, the Doctor shouts out to the Rani that “Poppy is real. Don’t you know what that means?" As the Doctor falls towards the ground, the clock strikes midnight as the episode ends.

This was a really intriguing, high-concept episode of the show that clearly drew some sort of inspiration from WandaVision. I thought the return of the Rani has been executed pretty well thus far, although Mrs. Flood does seem like a bit of an afterthought. We’re getting the return of another classic series villain with Omega, so it will be interesting to see if all these converging plot-points can be tied together neatly in a satisfying way in next week’s finale. Come back next week to find out!