When one Doctor biologically passes the torch to another, they do so in fire: a cascading, revitalizing burst of energy that blinds, dazzles, destroys, changes, and births in equal measure. Although Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor already went through all that—of a sort—late last year for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary and at Christmas, his debut season feels like the show doing exactly that itself: a rebirth that is bursting at the seams with energy.
Both “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord” move at a remarkable clip, and in an effortlessly breezy fashion. While this works highly in the favor of characterizing the Doctor and Ruby’s relationship together, it doesn’t quite always work in terms of presenting a few adventures that challenge the audience to think all that much about what’s actually happening on screen.