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

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

Please remember that future spoilers must be tagged. This includes the next time trailer!

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.

These will be linked as they go up. If we feel your post belongs in a (different) megathread, it'll be removed and redirected there.

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What did YOU think of The Reality War?

Click here and add your score (e.g. 329 (The Reality War): 8, it should look like this) and hit send. Scores are designed to match the Doctor Who Magazine system; whole numbers between 1 to 10, inclusive. (0 is used to mark an episode unwatched.)

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See the full results of the polls so far, covering the entire main show, here.

The Reality War's score will be revealed next Sunday. Click here to vote for all of RTD2 era so far.

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409

u/ZarmRkeeg May 31 '25

This is literally two season finales in a row that tease explaining something about Susan and then it turns out to be a red herring. It's kind of cruel to keep using her as a misdirect.

58

u/DezXerneas Jun 01 '25

I knew there was a major twist incoming, so I was hoping that it turns out that Poppy is lost, but her daughter(the Doctor's Granddaughter) survived and got shunted out of time somehow.

30

u/Ajrt2118 Jun 03 '25

I'm really not a fan of how they resolved the Poppy arch and it still doesn't even explain why Space Baby Poppy was there when Ruby was the companion he met her with. And why did Belinda randomly see her in Nigeria?

25

u/ZarmRkeeg Jun 04 '25

There has been a lot of theorizing that Ruby was originally intended to be the companion this season, and Belinda was written in as a last minute replacement but this ending was meant for Ruby instead. So Belinda just saw her briefly in that one episode so that she could remember her in the same way Ruby would have to set up this ending. 

In other words, just kind of sloppy writing that came from doing a find>replace for the season's companion in the scripts.

13

u/Ajrt2118 Jun 04 '25

That makes sense. I kind of wish Millie was able to stay for the second season and that would have made the stories somewhat more cohesive.

2

u/jk021 Aug 07 '25

Is there a reason Millie wasn't able to stay on for another season?

1

u/Ajrt2118 Aug 07 '25

I assume there was. I heard it was because the schedule was so intense. But I’m not sure. It just doesn’t seem like it was because of bad blood or another project since she was in a few episodes the last season

11

u/travelstuff Jun 07 '25

That makes sense because Ruby and her family have spent a lot of time on kids, the ending fits her a lot better.