Doctor Who Recap: Face the Music

Allow me to co-opt the lyrics of a viral TikTok song, because … what the Hellion? So much is packed into this week’s adventure. “The Interstellar Song Contest” attempts to tackle ideas related to racism (species-ism?), genocide, terrorism, resistance to oppression, revenge, justice, capitalism, colonialism, and propaganda — and that’s before we even get to the long-awaited return and reveal of two major characters. But for an episode that’s taking this many swings, its big moments are not that punchy. It’s like an unsatisfyingly gentle massage: I appreciate that we’ve found all these points of tension, but we’re not pressing hard enough.

This week, we’re at a space station for the Interstellar Song Contest, which is what Eurovision is called in the year 2925. Real-life TV presenter Rylan Clark is still around thanks to a cryogenic chamber, and Belinda and the Doctor sit down to enjoy the show as the vindicator takes a reading. Observing from the audience, Mrs. Flood pulls out a device and remarks that the vindicator is “ready and primed” as “the final link.” But before we learn what she’s talking about, our attention is directed to a different plan being enacted.

Kid, a Hellion from the planet Hellia, is taking over the broadcast control room with the help of armed drones and his lover Wynn, also a Hellion. Their species have horns and discrimination against them is normalized; they’re widely stereotyped as cannibalistic monsters who practice witchcraft. People think the Hellions destroyed their own planet, when in actuality, the mysterious Corporation did so in order to harvest Hell Poppy flowers for honey flavoring. The Corporation sponsors the musical competition, and Kid (so called because his mother was shot before she could tell anyone his name) has come to punish all attendees by raising the roof of the station. When he does, 100,000 people fly up into space and freeze. Three trillion Interstellar Song Contest viewers are still watching the dress rehearsal, unaware that Kid wants to kill all of them next by transmitting a delta wave onto their screens.

Some people are still safe in the space station, though. Wynn secretly pressed a button to save competitor Cora Saint Bavier and her collaborator Len, and though the Doctor and the TARDIS flew into the air, Belinda ricocheted to safety. Cora informs a panicked Belinda that transmission signals are blocked during the show so that people don’t cheat while gambling, which means no one is coming to help. Except … of course someone is. The Doctor’s still conscious. While in space, he sees a vision of his granddaughter and former companion Susan Foreman (!!!) telling him, “Grandfather, go back. Find me.” It feels like a waste to reintroduce Carole Anne Ford this way, with choppy, seconds-long clips instead of a fuller scene, given how long people have been waiting to see the last surviving member of the first Doctor Who series again. But it’s enough to kick the Doctor into action. He uses a confetti cannon to blast back to the station, Wall-E style, where he meets the couple whose seats he and Belinda took.

Nurse Mike and hologram expert Gary conveniently have the exact set of skills needed to help the Doctor, who immediately lowers the stakes: It turns out all those floating people aren’t dead, because he previously triplicated the mavity field to keep them suspended in a revivable state. After a delightful cameo from holo-Graham Norton, the Doctor begins hacking into the station’s system. When he sees Kid on the screen, he declares that the Hellion has put ice in his heart. “I will cast your body out into the void. And I will stand and watch you freeze to death,” he says, concerning Belinda, who is watching with Cora thanks to Len’s tech expertise.

Cora recognizes Kid and Wynn, and confesses that she’s a Hellion who has had her horns removed by force. She decides to go up to the control room to try to talk Kid down, but the Doctor beats her there and destroys the delta wave device. And then he’s the vengeful, violent one: The Doctor has had empathy for other villains before, but just tells Kid that his “cold, filthy heart just likes to kill” and begins torturing him with the help of a hologram and a glove. Even when Susan pops in his mind to tell him to stop, he screws up his face and continues. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, who said in “Lucky Day” that the Doctor would never let her set a Shreek on Conrad, would definitely be surprised to see him like this. It’s jarring, and it upsets Belinda when she arrives with Cora, though she still rushes to give him a hug.

Before Wynn and Kid are sent to face “the justice monolith,” the Doctor says he thinks the ice that Kid put in his heart will be there forever. He later explains to Belinda that he was triggered by Kid’s genocidal desires, given what happened to the Time Lords. Which, fair enough. But it feels out of character that he shows no interest in holding the Corporation accountable for its role in radicalizing Kid and Wynn. He doesn’t really address or ask about the plight of the Hellions and their home planet. And we don’t linger long on what he did to Kid. (The next time his literally shocking behavior is referenced, he and Belinda both admit that it scared them… and a couple seconds later, are laughing about a “tasty chef” she matched with on Hinge.)

The final act of the episode is quite optimistic. Mike and Gary (who seemingly both now want the Doctor to join them in a throuple) get to play to their individual strengths again as they bring hundreds of thousands of people back to life in Rylan’s chamber. Rylan tells the universe that while the Interstellar Singing Contest isn’t happening this year, one singer is still going to perform. It’s Cora, finally ready to reveal her true identity. And instead of a silly pop number about her big feet, she sings in her native language in remembrance of the civilization that was destroyed. It’s a song, she says, that the Corporation tried to hide.

Although bigots in the audience heckled Cora moments before she started singing, her voice makes everyone tear up and applaud. The song is evidently powerful enough to combat years of Hellions being treated as the “scum” of the galaxy. The message appears to be that Cora is an example of the right way of bringing attention to her people’s cause, but this happy resolution is complicated by the fact that Cora herself told us that Hellions aren’t even allowed to sing. Based on what we’ve heard about the Corporation so far, I highly doubt they’re going to react in a nice and normal way to being called out as three trillion potential customers watch. It sounds ideal to achieve harmony through a peaceful musical performance, but what happens if people aren’t willing to listen or even let you on stage? How do you resist then? Kid’s extremist approach can’t be the only alternative, but the episode doesn’t really try exploring any other nuanced options.

From here, Doctor Who suddenly remembers that it wants us to be eager to watch the two-part season finale. Holo-Graham reveals that the Earth disintegrated for an unknown reason on May 24, 2025, so the Doctor makes yet another promise to Belinda: He’s going to save her home. When they land, the lights turn red, we hear the cloister bell, and an explosion blasts the TARDIS door off. If that cliffhanger wasn’t enough, we also get a mid-credits scene with Mrs. Flood, who steps out of the cryo chamber on the verge of death.

“Let battle begin,” she says, bi-generating into a Rani and The Rani, a renegade Time Lady and classic villain who was previously portrayed as an obsessive scientist with no moral compass. Once again, this is a character whose return the Doctor Who fandom has been speculating about and manifesting for years on end. To bring her back mid-credits with only two episodes left in the season is an interesting choice. Archie Panjabi tells us that things are about to get bad for the Doctor, because she’s about to go somewhere and do … something. We’ll just have to wait for the payoffs in the finale. See you next week on the day that the Earth dies.

Cut for Time (Lord)

• I need the extended version of Dugga Doo’s song on streaming services immediately.

• The shots of poppies before Cora sings are really beautiful. I know that flower is also used to remember fallen armed forces, but I associate it as a symbol of the resilience of the Palestinian people. It’s difficult not to think about this episode in the context of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and it feels even more timely given that it dropped during the week of this year’s real Eurovision Song Contest, which was originally supposed to feature Ncuti Gatwa as the U.K. spokesperson and has been protested over Israel’s participation.

• How did Rylan get here if the entire Earth disintegrated in 2025? Besides Belinda, he’s the only other human who appears to still be alive. The Doctor wasn’t curious?

• For some reason, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach every time Belinda brings up her mom and dad. Maybe I’m paranoid and this is setting up a heartwarming reunion, but she mentions them so consistently that I’m worried we’re building toward some sort of sad or shocking moment — people losing or feeling abandoned by their family members has certainly been a theme.

• Mike and Gary are cute together! They had a nice arc, from being on the verge of a break up to declaring their love after hearing the delta wave to deepening their relationship after getting to see each other in their element. I do think it’s hilarious that they apparently left Mrs. Flood floating in the air while they sat and watched Cora perform. What, we couldn’t wait until everyone was back to start the show?