The Vanquishers had a lot to do - far more than any other series finale, as this was supposed to be a single six part story. It was a rather scrappy episode, which was fitting for what has been a rather scrappy series. I get the impression that Chibnall was making things up as he went along towards the end - introducing characters late in the day and pushing a lot of plot on them, whilst others who were around from the beginning were left on the periphery for much of the time.
Take Diane, for instance. She appeared to have some significance, but was then just forgotten about. Likewise Bel - not introduced until the third episode, but needn't have been there. Vinder, who was underused throughout, could have had some other reason for getting involved without the need to introduce a whole extra character.
The Sontaran invasion did at least make some sort of sense, and did build upon events from earlier in the story. Last week it looked as if it (and the sudden prominence of the Grand Serpent) was just being tacked on as the story was running out of steam.
A lot of questions remain unanswered, not least just what has happened to the Universe? The Flux turned out to be anti-matter, which apparently can be slowed down by putting lots of matter in its way (!) and it has eaten up a significant part of the Universe. What was left, we're told, isn't much and is mostly shattered - so what does this leave for an on-going series?
The Flux was right up against the Lupari shield above the Earth, so surely that means the rest of the Solar System has gone - including the Moon.
The Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans appeared to have gathered in their entirety, then been destroyed - so how can they return in future stories? (We already know that the Daleks are back at New Year, Chibnall clearly having zero imagination when it comes to these special episodes).
Did the Doctor actually commit genocide when she allowed the Flux to destroy the Sontarans, and by intentionally failing to save the Daleks and Cybermen? This is the Doctor who explicitly announced themselves a pacifist in her first series.
A confusing start to the episode as one minute the Doctor, singular, is being pulled in three directions, then there are actually three Doctors. (Anti-matter menace, three Doctors, "Contact"... Seen this somewhere before, surely).
How sensible is it to have the Williamson Tunnels as a tourist attraction, when they contain doorways to various alternative futures, mostly rather nasty ones? They must still exist, otherwise Grand Serpent's exile on the other side of one is a nonsense.
Why would the Doctor be so dumb, and cruel, as to encourage romantic feelings in Yaz? And why go on and on about her lost memories, then not want to know what they were once she got them?
Disappointments include the demise of Prof. Jericho, who was so entertaining last week - but at least he got a good death. Azure and Swarm were defeated too easily, and even looked as if they were happy about being destroyed by Time. Also the unsubtle way in which we were told that the Master will be there for the Doctor's regeneration story next year. And what is the point of hinting that the Doctor won't be able to regenerate next time, when we all know that's never going to happen.
As foreshadowing of a Doctor's demise goes, this was far from subtle.
One thing which stood out as really, really stupid was the corner shop thing - the Sontarans having a chocolate addiction. If this was intended to be humorous then I'm afraid it failed miserably.
So that was Series 13, the final one from Chibnall and Whittaker. A brave decision to use the shortened episode count (the result of Covid restrictions) to tell a single epic story. A couple of much stronger, more stand-alone episodes. The Sontarans were rehabilitated (to an extent), and we had some interesting new characters introduced. Dan and Karvanista were great, as was Jericho. Other characters were underdeveloped. The main villains, whilst great in design and in performance, simply hung around, being threatening, for six weeks, just to be dissolved by the click of a finger.
At New Year we get "Storage of the Daleks" or some such thing, then apparently we're off to Imperial China at Easter, before the Master returns to see out the 13th Doctor's tenure round about October 18th, when the BBC marks its centenary.
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