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Right then: Bloodtide. You know it’s going to be an odd one when the TARDIS lands in the Galápagos Islands and the first person Evelyn meets is Charles Actual Darwin having an existential breakdown. And the first thing the Doctor does? Immediately senses Silurian shenanigans, because it’s not a Colin Baker story unless ancient reptiles are about to start lecturing you on natural history and genocide.
This is a story that plays it calm. No pantomime villains, no orchestral swells every time someone says “the future of humanity.” Just good old-fashioned quiet dread.
Evelyn is the MVP here. Again. Her dynamic with Darwin is the soft heart of the thing—part philosophy class, part therapy session, part “I’m too old for this but I’m doing it anyway” maternal support. She walks Darwin through the horrifying realization that evolution might not be God’s little clockwork hobby but instead a chaotic, brutal, and morally neutral system that ends in him. And then keeps going. It’s deeply human and played with so much sincerity that you almost forget there’s a secret reptile base underneath all this.
Meanwhile, the Doctor’s off negotiating with lizard monarchs and trying to talk down a Silurian leader who casually claims she cultivated the human race like a houseplant. She’s cold, arrogant, and disturbingly plausible. Her species has been asleep for millions of years and now wants the keys back, and honestly? Who can blame them. Humanity has not exactly been the best tenant.
This is Silurian territory through and through—moral ambiguity, ancient grievances, uneasy diplomacy. It echoes Doctor Who and the Silurians, but swaps out the Cold War tension for evolutionary theory and theological panic. The twist? Darwin is now part of the philosophical battleground. It’s not about guns, it’s about belief, responsibility, and who owns the future.
The sound design is effective without being overbearing (thank god after the migraine-inducing FX from Dust Breeding). The pacing’s measured—sometimes a little too measured—but it gives the characters space to have actual conversations rather than plot-dump at each other like caffeinated Wikipedia pages.
The flaws? Sure. The plot’s familiar. Some side characters don’t leave much of a mark. The whole “Silurians as genetic overlords” angle is interesting, but it doesn’t quite get the thematic deep-dive it’s begging for. And the ending, while emotionally satisfying, wraps things up a bit too neatly.
But Bloodtide knows what it is. It’s not here to reinvent the fossil record. It’s here to reflect, to let Evelyn shine, and to watch Charles Darwin quietly lose his mind in real time while Colin Baker delivers ethical monologues in a rainbow coat.
Final Thoughts:
Would recommend, especially if you like your Doctor Who thoughtful and slightly sad.
4 out of 5 evolutionary crises.