It's finally here the day that alot of us have been waiting for as the Doctor Who series finale has just finished airing. With regardless of what you all think of the series as a whole this one finale is one of the better episodes of this series and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the episode that sees series fourteen of Doctor Who come to a close with the episode in question being called simply just "Empire Of Death" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is with Sutekh back and about to unleash his latest plan to destroy the earth it's up to The Doctor , Ruby and Mel to find a way to defeat the god of death once and for all. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty person ally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad with the plot of this episode proving way both this and the previous episode were two part episodes as there's no way in heck that the plot of both episodes could be told in one episode with the plot of this episode being a wonderful plot to end this series on as it's a plot that really does feel like that it belongs in a series finale as that's just how epic the plot of this episode really with the plot of this episode being really rather entertaining and and well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor , Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday and Doctor Who legend Bonnie Langford as Mel Bush. Also starring in this episode is Susan Twist as Susan Triad , Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart , Genesis Lynea as Harriet Arbringer , Doctor Who voice acting legend Nicholas Briggs as The Voice Of The Vlinx , Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble , Lenny Rush as Morris Gibbons , Alexander Devrient as Colonel Ibrahim , Jasmine Bayes as Corporal Alice Sullivan , Eastenders legend Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood , Sian Clifford as Kind Woman , Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday , Angela Wynter as Cherry Sunday , Tachia Newall as Colonel Winston Lemuel Chidozie , Fela Lufadeju as Bailey Sinclair , Faye McKeever as Louise Miller and Gabriel Woolf as The Voice Of Sutekh.
Now then interms of what I personally thought ; felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episodes cast members turning in some really good performances which is something that really shouldn't be all that surprising as the acting in alot of this series episodes have been really good with the true standouts in not only this series but also this episode being Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday who just turn in some truly fantastic performances in this episode with alot of the actors in this episode turning in some really good performances as well but none of them can really hold a candle to just how good both Ncuti and Millie are in not only this episode but also this first as a whole as well with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performances will come out of them naturally which is something that really does raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is Automatik VFX and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Real SFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty very good with the CGI in this episode both obvious and hidden being movie quality CGI heck they didn't even film in London and yet because of the fact that the CGI in this episode is that good the London skyline is added into shots where it would be visible and your not going to notice it and while yes there some dodgy looking effects to be found in this episode weas somethings looking a bit to fake those are in the minority and don't represent the majority of the effects that are in this very episode with alot of the episodes effects being really good with Sutekh himself looking really good and looking alot better then what he had any right to be which really isn't all that surprising as thanks to all of the Disney money Doctor Who can now afford some actually good looking CGI effects something which they really couldn't afford even five years ago.
What wasn't really expected was the fact that this episode basically does what Avengers: Infinity War also did. That being the fact that alot of the cast of characters do end up being killed of in this episode however what made the scene in Avengers: Infinity War worked was the fact that alot of who got killed of were main characters where as here there all side character or guest characters and as a result of that is the fact that a scene that should be an emotional gut punch for us the viewers doesn't really work all that well as as there not characters that are important to the show imagine if say Ruby Sunday was one of the characters that got killed of then it would be shocking and it would make you wonder if she's going to brought back and yet because it's either side characters or guest characters that get killed of the scene lacks the emotional gut punch that a scene lack this really should have and while this wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't a key plot point but as it is a key plot point it's a scene that really should have been worked on and tweaked alot more then what it was.
One of the best mysteries that this series had going for it was who was Ruby's mother and while yes this episode does indeed answer that question. The reveal of who her mother was is rather underwhelming as while it is shocking that her mother wasn't anybody important or any body that we already knew it's a reveal that could have been handled better as we only get the reveal in the last ten minuets of the episode when something like this should have been built up alot better and played a bigger part in the plot of the episode instead of just having it appear in the last ten minuets of the episode which only cheapens the reveal as this is something that's been a really big mystery throughout this whole series and it should have been treated as a big deal as that's exactly what it's been built up to be and yet because of the fact that they threw that all away just for the sake of having the big reveal happen in the last few minuets of the episode when something that's been treated as a big deal really should have played a bigger plot of the episode.
One of the things that the episode gets very wrong is he fact that The Doctor breaks his own promise by killing Sutekh. This is just one example of the bad writing that does plague alot of this episode as The Doctor would never kill an enemy of his heck even in Genesis Of The Daleks he has a great speech where he questions if he has the right to wipe out an entire race and chooses not to do it because it would make him no better then The Daleks themselves and it's the same thing here as by killing Sutekh The Doctor becomes no better then him with his death being just one example of alot of the bad writing that is all over this episode as The Doctor just knows that Mel has turned evil and plans with Ruby to get the TARDIS back all of which is done of screen and while yes they do show Mel touching The Doctor which clues him in to Mel being dead it's the part after it where he says Ruby and they start making there plan that comes out of nowhere as while yes it does make for a solid surprise it's also something that not only should have been handled better but also something that should have been shown on screen as well.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty four minuets and five seconds. Which is a solid running time for this episode to have as the episode really does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of plot and while the episode could have done with cutting down on the episodes many endings as alot of them do make the episode drag a little bit as they don't really add anything and are there just for the sake of being there which makes them feel alot like filler scenes this episode is also a really good example of being a two part episode as there's absolutely no way that this whole story could be told in one episode as there's just so much story for one episode but at the same time this episode also would have benefitted from being a three part episode with the scene where all of the side characters and guest characters get killed of being the cliffhanger for the second part as this would allow for alot of the characters to have some development as characters like Rose Noble once again gets the short end of the stick as she only has one line of dialog near the end of the episode and if this episode was a three part episode then she and others could have gotten some character development but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the action in this episode being some of if not the best action that we got all series just because of the fact that this was a two part episode and as a result of that is the fact that the episode had some really high stakes which made the action in this episode not only more exciting but also more shocking as the characters could have failed at any point and if they did then they would have died which did make the action all of the more shocking to see and while yes the action could have been alot better considering that Doctor Who has never really had great action anyway the fact that we got some really good action alone does really show you what this show can do from an action standpoint when they have to money behind them to do whatever it is that they want to do from an action point of view in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!
Overall this episode was a really solid end to a really solid debut season that despite having it's ups and downs has been alot better then alot of the Jodie Whittaker seasons as the writing on this series has bee alot better then both series eleven and series twelve have been combined in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as ell as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review ad as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand l score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the mages that I personally used in this very review from the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page , the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode and are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.