BBC's Doctor Who season 12 premiere recap: Spyfall, Part 1

Whovians, was that an epic Doctor Who season 12 premiere or what?!

Doctor Who wasted no time getting into the thick of things with its season 12 premiere. What a way to start off not just a new year, but a whole new decade. From start to finish, the nearly 90-minute premiere had all the makings of a classic Doctor Who episode, all the way up until the final twist.

What makes the premiere even better, you ask? The fact that it’s inspired by none other than James Bond–Spyfall, Skyfall, get it? The subtle nuances relating back to the James Bond franchise make for some great moments throughout the premiere.

The episode kicks off with mysterious agents seemingly picking up the Doctor’s companions and the Doctor herself. We’re unsure what the mission involves, but it takes us to the legendary Stephen Fry, who serves a cameo in the season 12 premiere.

As it turns out, spies are the target of some alien race that is hell-bent on erasing and rewriting DNA. In the middle of this strange mystery, is some big tech exec named Daniel Barton who owns a major search engine company.

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This Barton character seems curious, especially considering he’s only 93% human, and he’s connected with the alien race (that appears as blinding white lights in the shape of humans). Isn’t this classic Doctor Who material?!

Yaz and Ryan are sent off to look into Barton while the Doctor and Graham head to Australia to meet with an old acquaintance of the Doctor’s. It’s a man named O, who she’s kept in touch with over the years. But O isn’t who she thinks she is, at least not anymore, but more on that in just a bit.

All roads lead to Barton who the group manages to track down at his birthday party, and then later to his private plane. It is here where secrets are revealed, BIG secrets.

But before I get to that, I want to know a bit more about Yaz being sent off to a different realm. A realm that is filled with nothingness, and reminded me a bit of a place where dementors might live. Something tells me that this may not be the version of Yaz we know and love, and will have repercussions later.

Okay, so let’s talk about this big reveal, and I mean BIG reveal. Throughout the episode, we come to connect with O, he’s just this adorable little friend the Doctor made way back when, right? WRONG. In fact, he’s not really O at all. He’s…drum roll…THE MASTER. Yes, THE MASTER. The very same Master that the Doctor knows from back in Gallifrey.

Apparently, on O’s first day at the MI6, the Master took over O’s body, and it’s been him ever since. I don’t think the Doctor ever knew a version of O that wasn’t the Master. Crazy, right? But wait, it gets crazier.

Sacha Dawan, who plays O/The Master in this episode is absolutely spectacular. He portrays the childlike evil of the Master seamlessly, and it only makes the reveal that much better. The hints are scattered throughout the episode in very discrete ways, but only a true Doctor Who fan and a hardcore Whovian would have picked up on it.

One moment that stands out, in particular, is when O points out that Graham has no idea where the Doctor is from. I think the Master loves the idea of trying to outshine the companions, and this is a great place to start. Of course, there’s also subtle lines of dialogue in which the Doctor refers to O as her “old mate”, which doesn’t make much sense if you think about it.

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So what happened to the real O? Well, the Master shrunk him down, something he often did back in the classic Doctor Who series. Don’t you just love these connections? I know I did.

Taking it back to the moment on Barton’s plane, where this big reveal takes place. The Doctor takes notice of something O said as they were running to the plane. He was having a hard time running and said he was never a master sprinter or anything. But wait, O actually is just that. The Doctor even read it in his file.

The gig is up at this point, and the devious look of anger and excitement take over O’s face as he reveals who he really is–and that his house is flying right next to them on the plane. Barton doesn’t seem to be the pilot anymore and has somehow disappeared, courtesy of the Master. Oh, and there’s a sonic-proof bomb on the plane, so the Doctor can’t dismantle it with her screwdriver. They’re pretty much SOL at this point.

Just as the plane begins to crash, the Master says something very cryptic to the Doctor, right before he vanishes–“One last thing, something that you should know in the seconds before you die: Everything that you think you know is a lie.”

Uh, what the hell does that mean?

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Not to mention, the bright aliens show up and transport the Doctor away into a different realm, similar to the one Yaz was in earlier in the episode.

OH, and I’m pretty sure there is some connection here with the Cybermen (who are back this season!) because they too once appeared as glowing figures, didn’t they? Perhaps, there’s no connection, but I can’t lie when I say I hope there is.

I guess we’ll have to wait until this Sunday to find out more! But, wow, what a reveal–it was one for the ages.

Doctor Who airs new episodes every Sunday on BBC America at 8 PM EST!

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