The guardian wasn't overwhelmed with it.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...yfall-part-two
Doctor Who recap: series 38, episode two – Spyfall part two
Where were the Bond antics? Where was Lenny Henry? And where was the plot?! What a disappointing, befuddling second outing
‘Always a good reminder, when you’re alone, in the unknown, all hope lost’
“Previously on Doctor Who” is usually the most comforting of phrases. And yet Spyfall part two collapsed under the weight of its own bombast mere moments after those words were uttered. I complained last series about the seemingly pedestrian nature of this new Doctor Who compared with the more bonkers moments of Steven Moffat’s pomp. Now, that feels like a case of careful what you wish for. Sure, the second instalment of Spyfall was a riot, but riots are supposed to at least be explicable. There was little of that on display here.
Normally I would kick off with a recap of how they all got off the doomed aircraft, but even Graham, Ryan and Yaz were as clueless about that as the rest of us. Along the way, we took several trips to the White Light Nuns’ spooky netherworld, teamed up (for no discernible reason) with computer pioneers Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage and took a trip back to the second world war where Hot Camp Master was disguising himself as a German soldier.
Yaz.
The ‘fam’ were as clueless as the rest of us ...
Aside from killing his mother, Lenny Henry was barely to be seen after being hyped up as the Big Bad, though the Big Bad Tech through-line was laid on with a trowel to make up for his character’s lack of screen time. Meanwhile, the “fam” also spent most of the episode similarly missing in action. I was left wondering what did happen this week, other than a trip to burning Gallifrey and another back in time for tea. And, other than the odd trick with a laser shoe, there was barely a Bond trope in sight either. A befuddling instalment.
‘When does all this stop for you?’
The relationship between the Doctor and the Master is among the most storied in Doctor Who lore. Once best friends at the Timelord Academy, the two took, as Thirteen puts it, “very different paths” and have been each other’s missing piece since the character was introduced in the 1970s. Had actor Roger Delgado survived, there were bigger plans for the Master that never came to pass. He appeared intermittently in the intervening years (played most notably by Anthony Ainley and John Simm) but never really caught fire again until s/he was rebooted and regendered as Missy, played by Michelle Gomez. Missy’s story turned out to be one of redemption, but Chris Chibnall seems to be ignoring the notion of the Doctor’s best frenemy having “gone good”. Hot Camp Master is not showing much in the way of redeeming features thus far. But there is still an awful lot to play for.
Fear factor
The White Light Nuns are named as the Kasarven – though neither Lenny Henry nor the Master seem to have any say over how to handle them after all the buildup. We don’t even get much of a glimpse of their true nature – yet another crucial element to sink without enough screen time. They’re probably not a long-term returning monster, I would wager.
Mysteries and questions
If one thing is at least clear, it’s that something is afoot when it comes to the long game. We enjoyed a somewhat unexplained visit to Gallifrey to watch in horror the as the Citadel burned. Hot Camp Master admitted culpability, before expanding on his warning from last week that “everything you think you know is a lie”. He then denounced the founding fathers of Gallifrey as traitors amid “the lie of the Timeless Child”. Looks like we’ve got ourselves a series arc, Scooby.
Deeper into the vortex
Why is she suddenly worrying about wiping herself from Ada’s memory?
• The Doctor has rarely worried about wiping her/himself from the memories of temporary companions in the past, so why get so concerned about Ada here?
• Ada Lovelace was quite the woman. Correctly identified by the Doctor as the founding mother of computing, Lord Byron’s daughter also chalks up one of the most random historical cameos in Doctor Who history.
• “All that’s needed is to reformat the whole of humanity. Luckily, there’s an app for that.”
• Seriously, am I the only person flummoxed by this entire episode?