I’m Confused By Doctor Who’s Timeless Child All Over Again After Season 15’s Surprise Cameo

Review

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, «The Story and the Engine.»Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, «The Story and the Engine,» brings back a confusing twist from Chris Chibnall’s era as the showrunner, but seemingly undoes one of the only parts of the divisive storyline that made sense. Of course, I’m talking about Doctor Who‘s Timeless Child arc. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being hugely confused by the massive change Chibnall made to the Doctor’s backstory during his time in charge. While the basics of the reveal were easy to , several plot holes arose and threatened to swallow the franchise whole.

Doctor Who‘s Disney era quickly undid some of the damage that Chibnall did by bringing back Russell T. Davies and explaining it was the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) who meddled with the Doctor’s timeline and made a variety of chaotic changes. If he’d wanted to, I think Davies could have left the Timeless Child behind after this token justification. However, Jo Martin’s return as the Fugitive Doctor in «The Story and the Engine» is just one sign that Chibnall’s legacy lives on. On that subject, I feel like Doctor Who is backtracking in a very ham-handed way.

The Fifteenth Doctor Shouldn't Remember Meeting Abena Because Of The Timeless Child

The Doctor's mind was wiped before the William Hartnell era

The Doctor almost never forgets a face. His sharp Time Lord mind often allows him to conjure a name out of the deep recesses of his memory. Therefore, it quickly becomes interesting when Fifteen (Ncuti Gatwa) struggles in «The Story and the Engine» to recall where he has met Abena (Michelle Asante) before. Although he eventually works it out, it doesn’t make any sense that he remembers her. Appearing, presumably only to the audience, as the Fugitive Doctor, the show’s main character reveals the last time the Time Lord and Abena crossed paths.

The issue here is that Fifteen seems to be drawing on experiences he shouldn’t remember. His memory was wiped by Division ahead of his regeneration into William Hartnell’s First Doctor. Jo Martin’s version of the Time Lord was pre-Hartnell, so Doctor Who seemingly forgets that Fifteen shouldn’t be able to access those memories in «The Story and the Engine.» The hard divide between the pre- and post-Hartnell Doctors was one of the only logical parts of the Timeless Child reveal, and now even that seems to have been confusingly softened.

Explaining Doctor Who Season 15's Timeless Child Plot Hole

Fifteen remembering Abena could imply something massive happening offscreen

«The Story and the Engine» never explains how Fifteen is able to recognize Abena, only that he somehow does. However, I have theories that could justify the twist. The first is that Thirteen’s meeting with the Fugitive Doctor during Chibnall’s era started to shake loose some of the memories that were once believed to have been lost. Specifically, maybe just some of the memories from the life of Martin’s Doctor are now available to Fifteen. It’s also possible that the combination of that and his reunion with Abena strengthened this phenomenon.

Another possibility is that the Fifteenth Doctor has recently integrated the lost memories given to Thirteen by Tecteun, but offscreen. Last time this part of the story was addressed, it was revealed that the Thirteen had opted not to add the wiped memories back into her own consciousness. Since then, David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa’s Fifteenth have had the chance to do what Thirteen chose not to explore.

I hope Doctor Who provides an explanation for how and why the Doctor is able to remember Abena in «The Story and the Engine.»

If both of these theories are wrong, then I hope Doctor Who provides an explanation for how and why the Doctor is able to remember Abena in «The Story and the Engine,» when the Timeless Child told the entire audience that such a thing shouldn’t be possible. As far as Doctor Who has claimed to this point, the person the Doctor was before, and is after, the memory wipe changes completely, even more radically than between regeneration cycles.

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