Episode 121: “Orphan 55”
Debating Doctor Who - A podcast by Allison Shoemaker and Alasdair Wilkins
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Allison is busy being a cool person in California, so who should join Alasdair to discuss "Orphan 55" but the great Caroline Siede? Yup, the original duo are back to talk about why this episode had some definite potential but just really didn't work. We dig into how the episode has more ideas and more characters than what it knows what to do with, and how oddly empty the big twist--of about three big twists--ends up feeling. We make a bunch of comparisons to Davies-era episodes, including a very rude comparison to "Midnight" that Alasdair recognizes is going to be deeply unfair to pretty much any episode. We cover a lot of ground here as to why this episode typifies things the Chibnall era is still trying to figure out about itself, and what it already is making good progress on... starting with the Doctor herself.