Ascension of the Cybermen

"If they capture you, they'll convert you."

Writer: Chris Chibnall

Format: TV

Broadcast: 23 February 2020

Series: 12.09

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

The aftermath of the Great CyberWar. The Doctor arrives in the far future, intent on protecting the last of the human race from the deadly Cybermen. But in the face of such a relentless enemy, has she put her best friends at risk? What terrors lie hiding in the depths of space, and what is Ko Sharmus?

Verdict

Ascension of the Cybermen was an excellent episode to serve as the first part of the Series 12 finale! After the set up in The Haunting of Villa Diodati, I thought this served as a fantastic penultimate episode for the series. It does a superb job in bringing a fear factor back to the Cybermen that perhaps has gone missing in some episodes of the modern era. I think Ashad serving as the Lone Cyberman and leader of the Cybermen is magnificent and I thought the interaction with the Doctor once again here was outstanding. Jodie Whittaker got to shine once again in the role and she also did a terrific job in selling the CyberWar. The way the Doctor delivers the line to her companions concerning humanity being at the end of its tether with literally just seven humans left this side of the galaxy was quite something. The scene in the far future looked impressive and I liked how the last surviving humans were those who had just been running away. And still the Cybermen came. I really liked that we saw a return to the Cybus design of Cybermen serving as Ashad's guards as they're definitely the best design of the modern era. The warrior class serving as a modern take on the design synonymous with The Invasion also looked great and I liked how their arrival spelled imminent danger as there were literally thousands of them dormant. I didn't enjoy the Cyber Drones element of the initial attack though and that was probably my only qualm with the episode. The scenes with Brendan took on a whole different meaning viewing with the foreknowledge of what goes down in The Timeless Children but my girlfriend didn't have quite as good a memory as myself she was still a little stumped when I tried to explain what it was representing. I think it's incredibly clever in representing the Doctor's arrival on Gallifrey and the task of the Division. The representation of the first regeneration is also so subtly brilliant. I have such an appreciation this time around for those scenes. They're fantastically done. I liked that Graham and Yaz were split up from Ryan and the Doctor and both trying to get different ways to Ko Sharmus was terrific. It was a nice little twist that it turned out Ko Sharmus was a man rather than a planet and his position at the Boundary was superb. He was there to help those surviving humans to cross to somewhere safe where the Cybermen couldn't follow, and he'd been there such a long time. Ravio and Ethan were really good characters and I enjoyed how the latter was an expert in jumpstarting the Cyber ships as all he had known was the CyberWar and from as early as he could remember, his father had taught him how to dismantle their ships. It told us a lot about the predicament of this time period which was very good. I thought the image of Gallifrey through the Boundary was a marvellous way to end and even with that occurring, the prospect of bringing thousands of Cybermen to the Boundary itself spelled danger. It was all leading up to the finale terrifically and was very tense and full of excitement. The emergence of the Master from within the Boundary was magnificent and the tease of everything we knew was about to change is just delicious. Overall, a fantastic episode! 

Rating: 9/10