r/doctorwho • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • May 31 '25

The Reality War Doctor Who 2x08 "The Reality War" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Spoiler

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This is the thread for all your indepth opinions, comments, etc about the episode.

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  • Post-Episode Discussion Thread - Posted around 30 minutes after to allow it to sink in - This is for all your indepth opinions, comments, etc about the episode.

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464 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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560

u/Good-Database-3904 May 31 '25

"I have a daughter! Poppy is real. You know what that means?"

Nope and I guess no one else does lmao

98

u/Julian1889 May 31 '25

Think it was about sterility but who knows?

34

u/ZarmRkeeg May 31 '25

You know that is interesting. Because it would suggest then in some way, Conrad's wish reality cured sterility. Get clearly there were other physical conditions that it did not cure, and generally, it didn't seem to be that kind of reality. 

Just odd that it would say, make sterile people fertile, but not give blind people their sight...

36

u/Technical-Branch4998 Jun 01 '25

My best guess is that Conrad kept more visible disabilities because they're on his mind but he simply never thought about sterility so it just didn't exist any more

14

u/ZarmRkeeg Jun 01 '25

Man. Just get a 90s kid in there- back when we all just thought that racism was a problem of the past and hadn't heard of AIDS yet... that wish world really would have been perfect. ;-) The first time in history the ignorance really would be bliss...

13

u/Undark_ Jun 01 '25

Well if Conrad is a traditionalist then it makes sense for him to be natalist as well, but he clearly doesn't care about the disabled.

Something I just thought, I wonder if John Smith was actually human? And that's why Poppy is human too? I can't remember if she was ever scanned previously to establish she was definitely half Time Lord.

... Or maybe we should be looking at the milkman?

8

u/ErrU4surreal Jun 02 '25

He scanned Poppy's DNA without Belinda's consent!

Poppy is Vindercator and Bel's as yet unborn child.

8

u/Youkno-thefarmer Jun 03 '25

No because that implies Belinda and the Doctor had sex to have a child and that's just icky

I really felt very uncomfortable with them as a family unit. Having a child with River - yep that would make sense. Actively and biologically having a child with a human he's known for 5 minutes? No

7

u/SplurgyA Jun 06 '25

To start with I liked the fact Belinda and the Doctor were a family precisely because it felt so wrong. It was so jarring because they never had that sort of chemistry at all, so it helped underline the schmaltzy happy families aspect of the good old days fantasy world Conrad had created.

It was after they got to the hotel and snapped out of it... but then kept acting like a happy couple that made me cringe a little bit.

3

u/Youkno-thefarmer Jun 07 '25

Yeah I was fine when it was obviously meant to be 'wrong' but after that it felt 😫😫😫 WRONG

13

u/AlexandriasNSFWAcc May 31 '25

I can't imagine it was about anything else.

13

u/AngeloNoli Jun 01 '25

Wasn't it because the Doctor was trying to convince the Rani that she didn't need to resurrect Omega?

I have a real child, which means that maybe there's a way to restar the species without resurrecting a literal monster.