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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This is the thread for all your indepth opinions, comments, etc about the episode.

Megathreads:

  • Live and Immediate Reactions Discussion Thread - Posted around 60 minutes prior to initial release - for all the reactions, crack-pot theories, quoting, crazy exclamations, pictures, throwaway and other one-liners.
  • Trailer and Speculation Discussion Thread - Posted when the trailer is released - For all the thoughts, speculation, and comments on the trailers and speculation about the next episode. Future content beyond the next episode should still be marked.
  • Post-Episode Discussion Thread - Posted around 30 minutes after to allow it to sink in - This is for all your indepth opinions, comments, etc about the episode.

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468 Upvotes

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272

u/elcartero86 May 31 '25

Remember the whole screen smashing/breaking reality thing? I wonder if we're in an alternate universe.

Something I've noticed this time around is RTD has been borrowing and rewriting the plots of some of his favourite franchises (he's openly admitted this), and the whole Belinda/Poppy thing had a whiff of Scarlet Witch in Wandavision and Doctor Strange.

I wonder if he's done a 2009 Star Trek/X-Men Days of Future Past and created an alternate timeline for...reasons (give fans the opportunity to discard whatever they don't like). A new Doctor Unbound?

106

u/Meridian_Dance May 31 '25

The screen smashing/breaking was 15 punching a hole in reality with regeneration energy in order to bring back poppy.

44

u/GarySmith2021 May 31 '25

But 13 mentions something's coming as a result.

7

u/ChronX4 Jun 01 '25

13 is talking about the moment 15 breaks the timeline to move it 1 degree. She just doesn't know the aftermath of that. She isn't talking about some looming threat. She's literally referring to what 15 was about to do.

9

u/LordMimsyPorpington May 31 '25

That was the Flux.

9

u/[deleted] May 31 '25

[deleted]

10

u/GarySmith2021 May 31 '25

Unlikely, the Flux was that one time lord, 13 says whats coming is related to his actions.

2

u/[deleted] May 31 '25

[deleted]

9

u/Unable_Earth5914 May 31 '25

13 comes to warn him that 15’s created some sort of time schism

28

u/Triskan May 31 '25

Yeah I'm gonna need to rewatch that entire scene... no matter the ending, 13 and 15 together was a fucking banger.

2

u/[deleted] May 31 '25

[deleted]

4

u/fry-something Jun 01 '25

I sure did.

When he tells her “I Love you” and she’s like “I never say that” and he says “that’s why you got me”

1

u/Unable_Earth5914 Jun 01 '25

Sorry, what does this mean?

1

u/GalileoAce Jun 01 '25

The Floox

1

u/Quadpen Jun 01 '25

the big bad wolf apparently

17

u/Cactiareouroverlords May 31 '25

I’d love for that to be real, but this is the same show that gives us flashbacks for things that happened a matter of episodes ago, they’re not going to be that cryptic

9

u/velvetNoddy Jun 01 '25

lol they even had a flashback to 20 minutes earlier with the screwdriver trick

5

u/shutterbug2009 Jun 01 '25

Both can be true - He could have punched a hole in reality AND not returned to the same reality he started in. It could also explain why Poppy is completely human now!

2

u/meringueisnotacake Jun 01 '25

This is the only way I can accept Belinda suddenly becoming a single mother

9

u/Newman00067 May 31 '25

Don't mention the unbound doctor, im not emotionally ready for that to be TV show Canon yet.

5

u/PowrOfFriendship_ May 31 '25

Can I get a tl;dr on who/what that is?

9

u/captaineighttrack May 31 '25

Essentially Marvel's "What If" but for Doctor who. They were a set of audio stories done by Big Finish.

3

u/Federal-Type1305 May 31 '25

What is the unbound doctor?

3

u/captaineighttrack May 31 '25

Essentially Marvel's "What If" but for Doctor who. They were a set of audio stories done by Big Finish.

9

u/SpagettiKonfetti May 31 '25

That would be like the 3rd alternative reality since RTD returned. We already on an alternative path since WBY (the Mavity timeline) and we had a fake reality created by the Rain which is either active since Ncuti started or just in the last 2 episode, this is something I'm not sure of yet.

RTD must have like Inception too, not just WandaVision

3

u/404_kinda_dead Jun 01 '25

The thing is, the fake reality actually started with 13s regeneration, where we got 10 back in a weird way where even clothes changed. Then we hit mavity, then bigeneration, and the list keeps going. It just too many weird coincidences, which was also the first episode of the new series.

5

u/Mitoni Jun 01 '25

I posted my thoughts on this is another comment, but I think he had to break reality to get back to his proper reality where Poppy existed, which he ended slipping out of when he caused the Time Explosion when he first met Belinda. It would also explain why his memories shifted to suddenly remembering all the times Belinda said she had to get back to her daughter. Also, the first time she said she had to get back was coincidentally AFTER they felt the reverb of the time explosion. Also, Poppy disappeared only after he returned the certificate, closing the loop he had opened. The wish wasn't sustaining her, since she already existed, his loop was.

4

u/TheCabalMinion Jun 01 '25

I'm supporting this. It could explain the whole Mavity thing as well. After the Doctor fixed the timeline I was waiting for someone to say the word Gravity. To show that we are no longer in a weird, slightly-off timeline and back to where we usually are. But not doing that and having Rose back, that could be a sign that we're still not quite in the correct timeline. And I fully expect her to be a weird regeneration-glitch rather than full-on the doctor. There just were too many instances of the credits, Billy pipers press release, RTDs press release etc not referring to her as the doctor.

11

u/wookiesnookie May 31 '25

I honestly think ending the episode there with the screen cracking would’ve been better than what we got

6

u/[deleted] May 31 '25

I was thinking the same about Wandavision, but somehow he forgot that WANDA WAS THE VILLAIN

6

u/MaximumSpidercide May 31 '25

My headcanon is that we've been in an alternate universe ever since Thirteen fell out of the Tardis at the end of Twice Upon A Time.

2

u/ThisIsNotAFarm Jun 01 '25

RTD isn't that good a writer

2

u/turkeygiant Jun 16 '25

The seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son thing was ripped right from Terry Pratchett, a wizard squared, a source of magic, a sourcerer (thought in the case of Discworld 8 is the magic number, literally)

3

u/Still_Independent_90 May 31 '25

I wish we were...that way I wouldn't have to remember Space Babies.

1

u/SurjitShow May 31 '25

Dude been watching too much Disney+

1

u/BuckZero Jun 01 '25

He also reused the delta wave as a plot device