The Doctor + Exploding TARDIS + Regeneration + Alien thing + Train = big smash through train roof and on to said alien thing. That is some truly excellent aim by the TARDIS.
In the midst of her new regeneration taking shape, the Thirteenth Doctor begins describing what it feels like, and ends up reaffirming that she is still absolutely the Doctor:
"There’s this moment when you’re sure you’re about to die. And then you’re born. It’s terrifying. Right now I’m a stranger to myself. There’s echoes of who I was and a sort of call towards who I am. And I have to hone my nerve and trust all these new instincts — shape myself towards them. I’ll be fine, in the end. Hopefully. I have to be. Because you guys need help and if there’s one thing I’m certain of — when people need help, I never refuse."
The Doctor is left without a sonic screwdriver, and also doesn't have the TARDIS around to make a new one. So she just goes ahead and makes her own out of Sheffield steel, which after a brief surge at first works perfectly. It should be pointed out that as she was working knowing she and the others had DNA bombs inside them and that Tim Shaw was out searching for something, the Doctor must have made the sonic in 10-15 minutes, considering Ryan and Yaz had just finished watching Rahul's videos.
The Doctor talks our hapless, height-fearing crane operator into making a leap.
The crane scene ends up being a rather tense and exciting set-piece, despite being in such a mundane location. You really feel the sense of height and danger as the Doctor and company scramble to save the crane operator. Chibnall and company switched to anamorphic lenses to give a more cinematic feel, and it shows.
After the crane operator's jump is foiled, the Doctor is forced to jump between the cranes herself. Jodie Whittaker performed the stunt herself.
"I know exactly who I am. I'm the Doctor. Sorting out fair play throughout the universe. Now, please, get off this planet — while you still have a choice." She is the Doctor.
The Doctor did what the Doctor does best, use an opponent's own power and cruelty against them. Which is to say that she removed the DNA bombs from herself and her new friends and made sure they transferred to their opponent, then gave him the choice to stop doing what he was doing. And when he refused, and tried to kill everyone, he sealed his own fate.
The Doctor has a personal one in this moment too, because after Tim Shaw activates the DNA bombs and begins subjecting himself to a very painful death, she still tosses him the teleport recall, allowing him to go home where he can possibly save himself from a gruesome death. Previous Doctors, post-Time War, have been very unforgiving, forgoing giving second chances or being merciful in favour of just letting an opponent who blew off their chance to surrender peacefully die. This Doctor is taking her predecessor's last words to heart and being kind in the truest sense of the word, a far cry from her tormented past selves.
When Epzo holds Angstrom at gunpoint to stop her from getting into the boat, the Doctor strolls up and (when Epzo refuses to put it down) decides to break out an old skill of hers by jabbing him in the throat with her pinkie, causing him to lock up in paralysis.
The Doctor:[to Angstrom]Venusian aikido. I'm a Grandmaster Pacifist.
After Ryan's failed attempt at tackling the robots head-on, the Doctor tells him that he'd picked up the wrong thing from the ground, picks apart the fallen robot Ryan had taken a gun from and uses its own power source to set off a huge EMP, knocking all the robots in the area flat and unresponsive.
Graham: Okay, now that was impressive. The Doctor: Thank you. I aim to please.
Epzo gets one for convincing the man running the race to declare joint winners, telling him in no uncertain terms that he would find a way off the planet, and if they weren't given their due, he'd make sure the rest of his life was short and painful. Despite him having no practical way to do this, he is intimidating enough that the guy backs down.
The Doctor's reunion with the TARDIS, complete with a new console room and spiffy new paint job. It even dispenses a custard cream from the console as if to say "Welcome home."
Another one for the TARDIS. She was exploding and on fire the last time we saw her — despite that, she still managed to see all of Time and Space at once and materialise to a planet where she knew the Doctor would end up and then force herself there, time and time again, for over a thousand years!
Despite a world that was "made cruel" and an earlier teleport directly into deep space, this episode manages to deliver an Everybody Lives ending.
Rosa Parks is a walking moment of awesome all by herself, from her introduction in the episode to saving the TARDIS crew from a blustering racist to her defining moment in history. The Doctor expounds on her life after they left, pointing out the asteroid that bears her name and stating point-blank that Rosa Parks changed the universe for the better. The sheer respect afforded to the event is also quite notable in the show's history. Just like the Christmas Truce a few episodes ago, it's made clear that the Doctor herself had nothing to do with this, and it was purely a human being acting on her own agency to stand up to injustice, with our heroes only working to put history back the way it was always meant to go. The episode even takes the time to refute the sanitized version of the event that Parks herself was always angry with, that she was simply tired after a hard work day rather than taking a deliberate and pre-meditated stand against racism.
The TARDIS consistently resisting Krasko's efforts to get inside, to the point of erecting a force field to keep him out. When he tries to use his temporal displacer on her the TARDIS not only remains unaffected, she lets out one of her distinctive VWORPS that sounds somewhere halfway between a growl and a "Seriously?" with a cocked-eyebrow.
It just shows that, yes, the TARDIS is obselete by Time Lord standards, but by everyone else's standards? They haven't got a hope in hell...
In-universe for Ryan when he finds himself shaking hands with Martin Luther King Jr.
For perhaps the first time in the series we get an extended look at what the TARDIS looks like while flying through the Vortex, and it is glorious; the ship is tumbling and spinning and shooting through the time stream in the midst of a veritable kaleidoscope of color and the steady roar of her engines.
A smaller one for Yaz: when Kevin the bodyguard is pointing his gun at Najia and her, Yaz makes sure to always stay between him and her mum.
After the Thijarians catch the Doctor stealing the container of the mysterious purple substance that they had put on the dead holy man earlier, the Thijarians try to warn her off by angrily yelling that she has "desecrated the Hive". The Doctor is undeterred, delivers an indignant speech declaring that the humans they seem to be targeting are under her protection, and then, after teleporting herself, Ryan, Graham, and Prem off the ship, steals their transmat locks and uses them to block the Thijarians from going past the forest into the village.
Thijarians: You have desecrated the Hive! The Hive is sacred! The Doctor: Do you have to push your words into our heads like that? 'Cos it really hurts! And no, we haven't, actually. It's you who are desecrating this planet. I know who you are, I know what you do. And it's not happening here! Leave these people alone! They're under my protection now! Thijarians: You cannot prevent this. The Doctor:[grinning] You just watch me.
The episode is almost a throwback to the "pure historical" tales of the early Doctor Who series. There are aliens (besides the Doctor), but they aren't actually interfering, they're just there to observe, like the Doctor and her companions. The bulk of what happens is just history unfolding, and we're here to watch. Combined with tackling a historical event that isn't talked about often in popular culture, it makes for a remarkably impactful episode.
Equal parts Funny and Awesome, Eleven's Fez returns!
The Kerblam! Man successfully tracked the TARDIS through time and space. It truly is an Unstoppable Mail Man.
The conveyor belt scene, with some of the most impressive CGI in the series yet.
There's something a bit awesome about the fact that, after years of Doctor Who using bubble wrap as a cheap special effect, the deadly weapon in this episode is explosive bubble wrap.
When one of the robots attacks Charlie, everyone tries to help, the Doctor sonicking the head to try and deactivate it while the others try to pull the robot off him. None of this works, but Judy Maddox, Head of People, steps in, grabs the head, and yanks it off, saving Charlie.
After informing her companions about the importance of not interfering in past events, the Doctor promptly dives in to try and rescue a woman being drowned in a witch's trial.
This episode features the Thirteenth Doctor's first real encounter with sexism, and she doesn't like it one bit, vocally and loudly complaining about how she's condescended to, patronised, or hindered from being able to get on with the job because she has to defend herself — she directly addresses the absurdity of it all and the disconnect in the treatment of men by comparison. This all culminates in her getting dunked for witchcraft, where Becka Savage sneers at her and asks her if she knew that the ducking stool was invented to silence women who talk too much. The Doctor's having none of it.
The Doctor: Yeah, I did know that. Which is daft because talking's brilliant.
When the ducking stool is lifted after dunking her, she's no longer chained to it, as she'd pulled out a few tricks she'd learned from Houdini to escape, no worse for wear.
A CMOA of Jodie Whittaker herself, who ended up spending six hours on a very cold day soaking wet.
In perhaps the biggest sign ever of how well-equipped Jodie Whittaker is for this role, she's able to perfectly sell having an emotional and metaphysical conversation with a cheap frog puppet.
Graham telling the Doctor he'll kill Tim Shaw if he can. The Doctor tells him in no uncertain terms she'll kick him out of the TARDIS if he does. Graham, however, is not scared by the Doctor's threats one bit.
The Doctor: I won't let you do that. Graham: You ain't going to have a say in it.
Ryan and Graham giving Tim Shaw A Taste Of His Own Medicine by imprisoning him in one of his own stasis pods.
Graham lowering the gun while facing Tim Shaw, not out of fear, but by consciously deciding he would, in fact, be the better man. He shows absolutely no fear as Tim Shaw advances on him, clearly meaning to kill him. Of course, timely intervention by Ryan and a lucky shot by Graham, and both of our companions walk out of the encounter none the worse for wear, and both still honoring the Doctor's instructions not to kill the would-be tyrant.
The fact that an army of 9th century humans were able to overwhelm a Dalek, break its casing, and cut it into pieces. Supplemental MOA for the Order of the Custodians for making sure the pieces would be guarded. In case you're wondering how this was done, an image seen on screen reveals that they managed to immobilize it and roast the mutant inside the casing by setting a bonfire around it.
A villainous moment for the Dalek that it was able to use old parts and Lin's "assistance" to create functional armour for itself, mirroring the Doctor's work in building the new sonic.
Followed shortly by The Reveal of the Dalek's reconstructed mechanical form, as it blasts through a metal door near the Doctor and glides in to swelling ominous music and its trademark Machine Monotone voice. Bear in mind that this episode includes the Daleks' first appearance in the Thirteenth Doctor era, and the first time that one has been a major villain for multiple seasons (or series) of the show.
The Doctor and the Dalek scout facing off, culminating in the Dalek realizing just who it is dealing with.
Dalek:You are weak! Humanity is weak! The Doctor: Except — I'm not human. Have a scan! Dalek:[scans and detects the Doctor's two hearts, and starts backing up]Who are you? Identify! The Doctor:[grinning] Oh, mate. I'm the Doctor. Ring any bells? Dalek:[backs up again, then causes the sonic screwdriver to spark]Sonic device override! The Doctor:[as she takes off running for cover] I'll take that as a yes! Dalek:[opening fire]The Doctor is an enemy of all Daleks! EXTERMINATE!
Just in case you forgot how dangerous a single Dalek is, the moment where it takes out an entire platoon of soldiers and a tank, complete with rapid fire lasers and missiles.
After giving multiple chances for it to stand down, the Doctor has the Dalek sucked out of the TARDIS and straight into a supernova, while keeping things stable enough for Ryan to save his dad.
This Kirk Summation delivered by the Doctor, which perfectly encapsulates why the Daleks will never have their way:
Thirteenth Doctor: No matter how many times you try, no matter how long you wait... I will always be in your way, backed up by the best of humanity.
. A forest, a hooded figure coming forward, a key appearing in a palm and then pulling back the hood to reveal... the first female Doctor.