Jodie Whittaker’s finale brings Tasmin down

Jodie Whittaker Final Doctor Who adventure The Power of Doctor Nostalgia, action and fan favorites combined for an ambitious episode – but Tasmin got lost on the way.

Ahead of the episode – the final part of Whittaker’s three-part farewell – fans had high hopes for the Thirteenth Doctor and companion Yasmin Khan (Mandeep Gill) – nicknamed ‘Tasmin’.

After years of “shipping” fans, this year’s Easter special confirmed that the two have feelings for each other, and many were hoping for a happy ending of sorts.

While we didn’t get a Doomsday-style heart rip out, what did happen was disappointing.

All we got were the same wistful looks and unspoken words that have haunted Thirteen and Yaz’s relationship since the beginning.

Several returned in the episode Doctor Who icons, including the Master (Sasha Dhawan), the Cybermen, the Daleks, Ace (Sophie Aldred), Tegan (Janet Fielding), Kate Stewart (Gemma Redgrave), and several Doctors from yesteryear.

With so much going on, Yaz and Thirteen’s relationship just fell by the wayside, and the little interaction between them made any hopes for Tasmin obsolete.

Doctor Who has a long romantic history

Considering doctor whoTrack record and the fact that Thirteen literally told Yaz that he loves her more than his wife, River Song, it’s not a stretch to think we’d see more in the season finale.

Since returning to Doctor Who 17 years ago we saw the Doctor’s epic love for Rose (Billie Piper), the unrequited love for Martha (Freema Agyeman) and the grand love story of the Doctor and River Song (Alex Kingston).

The closest we get to Thirteen and Yaz is in the episode when they sat atop the TARDIS together as the Doctor faced the prospect of her regeneration – sharing their final moments together.

While the Doctor did explain to Yaz that there could never be anything between them at the end of Legend of the Sea Devils, a big romantic finale would have been classic World Health Organization to move

In ‘School Reunion’ we saw Rose being told by the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) that being together would never work – she ends up paired with the Metacrisis Doctor.

During the movie “The Wedding of River Song”, despite the risk of the entire universe collapsing and dying, he married River Song.

While I appreciate that Thirteen sticking with her resolve not to be with Yaz shows her character growth, it’s disappointing that she learned her lesson just in time to end the Sapphic relationship.

As for Yaz’s individual journey, even though we didn’t get to see her love for Thirteen come to fruition, there’s still something so precious about the individual arc she’s had.

It’s incredibly rare to see South Asians represented in the sci-fi genre, let alone Sapphic South Asians – and watching Yaz flesh out who she loves and what that means was truly beautiful.

Mandeep Gill did a great job of showing Yasmin loving Thirteen even after being rejected.

But it was very disappointing that there was no closure for Yaz. ​​​​​​While we never got to see her reach her full potential, and neither did Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie), I hope we see more queer South Asian characters in Doctor Who who become irreconcilable with themselves.

Despite Tesmin’s​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Apart from some of the dialogue and scene transitions seeming clunky as it has been in the last few seasons, Sasha Dhawan’s return as the Master was really great.

Whether it’s the iconic moment when he breaks into a dance to Boney M’s Rasputin, or his brilliant insanity, he took the entire episode to a new level.

Meanwhile, the energy and dynamic between Tegan, Ace and Kate was wonderful, with some quintessential Doctor Who energy.

And Tasmin aside, Whittaker did not disappoint with her touching final speeches, full of anguish and a desire to go on.

Doctor Who episode The Power of the Doctor is now available to watch BBC iPlayer.