It’s actually truthful to surprise if that is some type of setup, meant to trace to eagle-eyed followers that the Piper we noticed on the finish of season 15 isn’t taking part in the Physician or some secondary determine like The Second, however the fashionable period’s authentic companion as soon as extra. However does it make sense? Properly, sure and no. Showrunner Russell T. Davies second flip on the sequence’ helm has seen him revisit lots of Physician Who historical past, reintroducing traditional villains, bringing again acquainted characters, and even revisiting a few of his personal earlier tales. (“The Properly” is primarily a sequel to the season 4 episode, “Midnight.”) However Rose Tyler’s story isn’t precisely unfinished. Certain, technically she’s nonetheless thought of a lacking individual on Earth, however in her alternate universe, her father’s nonetheless alive, her mom joined her, and she or he’s acquired a Tenth Physician of her very personal. That’s just about as joyful an ending as anybody may hope for on this present. What story is basically left to inform right here? Might revisiting that episode even inform us something about her journey that we don’t already know?
Plus, there’s the David Tennant of all of it. Look, Piper’s presence, it doesn’t matter what character she seems to be taking part in, was at all times going to ask hypothesis that Tennant would possibly pop again round for an additional spin within the TARDIS alongside her, notably since his Fourteenth Physician is actually simply hanging out at Donna Noble’s home at this level. Sure, it’s true that Tennant simply got here again for the sixtieth anniversary just a few brief years in the past. However love him or hate him, he’s nonetheless the preferred modern-era Physician, and the prospect of seeing him reunite with Piper onscreen as soon as extra is a tantalizing one for any fan. And there’s a sure logic to attempting to make use of him — and whichever one of many three totally different characters he’s performed on the present — to try to clean over a few of the historic bumps the franchise is presently going through. Wouldn’t it work? Truthfully, it most likely would. However would it not be the only option for the present and its future? That’s a murkier query.
In any case, whereas this Christmas episode will definitely have loads of free ends to tie up and plot holes to clarify, on the finish of the day, it additionally has to look to the longer term. Whether or not or not we’ll meet the Sixteenth Physician on this installment is a query solely Russell T. Davies can reply, however even when we don’t, the hour no less than has to go away issues in a spot the place it feels just like the present can proceed organically — and survive with out Piper (and even Tennant’s) assist. Can one episode ever hope to serve that many masters? As with a lot about this franchise in the mean time, we’ll have to attend and see.
