Doctor Who Ascension of the Cybermen cliffhanger explained - digitalspy.com

Note: Wibbly-wobbly spoiler warning for Doctor Who season 12 episode nine.

Ever since Doctor Who first teased the Timeless Child way back near the start of season 11, time has dragged on and on as Whovians everywhere patiently waited for answers. Now we're approaching the end of season 12, it looks like we're finally getting them – and then some.

'Ascension of the Cybermen' kicks off during the aftermath of the Great Cyber-War. Our good Doctor and her fam have travelled there to stop the Lone Cyberman from using the Cyberium to end humanity for good.

The group are separated following an attack and eventually, the Doctor and Ryan end up on what they believe to be a planet called Ko Sharmus. However, that name actually refers to a mysterious new figure living on the planet, alone and cut off from the rest of the galaxy.

BBC

Viewers soon learn that Ko Sharmus fought in the Cyber-War until he was captured and sent for an "upgrade" to join the Cybermen as one of their own. Fortunately, he escaped the camps and eventually reached this unnamed planet, where he formed a settlement along with other human survivors.

There, they discovered a mysterious portal known as The Boundary that's supposedly connected to the other end of the universe. Each settler went through in turn until Ko was the only one left. Rather than join the others, he chose to stay behind and wait to guide others who may seek refuge from the Cybermen.

Before we had time to even begin questioning Ko's story, the Doctor realised that the Boundary is connected to Gallifrey, her home world. Except this version of her planet remains intact, which came as a surprise given how the Master recently burned it all down in his quest for answers.

As if that weren't shocking enough, Sacha Dhawan's Time Lord then popped through the Boundary too, surprising the Doctor and her companions with a "good entrance" (no, a great one), along with a dire warning:

"Be afraid, Doctor. Because everything is about to change... forever."

Ben BlackallBBC

Frustratingly enough, this is even more vague than the Master's previous warning in Spyfall: "Everything we were told was a lie. We are not who we think. You or I. The whole existence of our species – built on the lie of the Timeless Child."

What's clear though is that these two occurrences are intrinsically linked, both to each other and the wider mysteries that surround Jodie Whittaker's Doctor.

In a recent episode of season twelve titled "Can You Hear Me?", an Eternal named Zellin forced the Doctor to confront her deepest fear, trapping her in a vision of the Timeless Child. Here, we saw the Time Lord's repressed memories clearer than ever, providing us with our best look yet at what the Timeless Child could actually be.

As far as we could gather, this "child" stood before an ancient Gallifreyan building, long before the planet was destroyed. Given her resemblance to Jo Martin's surprise character, it seems likely that the first Black Doctor is actually a grown-up version of the Timeless Child.

But why can't our Doctor remember her? And what does this have to do with the Boundary?

Well, the Gallifreyan structures seen through the portal bear a very strong resemblance to the one seen in the Timeless Child vision, and eagle-eyed viewers might have spotted a familiar-looking portal float above the child too.

Ben BlackallBBC

Clearly, the Boundary is directly connected to the past version of Gallifrey where the Timeless Child resides. But what does that mean for the show's future?

The Master's first warning implied that the Timeless Child mystery is bound up somehow in the origin of the Time Lords themselves, which Screenrant rightly pointed out must be linked to their TARDIS technology. If so, then the Boundary may actually go by another name, the Eye of Harmony – which is what first imbued the Time Lords with the ability to travel through time.

According to legend, this was created by the Time Lords when they slowed down a star's collapse before it became a black hole, thereby creating a limitless energy source to power time travel. Could that be what we're seeing in the Timeless Child visions?

If the Boundary is indeed the Eye of Harmony, then those visions could represent the beginning of time travel itself, a key turning point for the Doctor Who universe. But why would the Time Lords want to keep the specifics of this a secret? And why would they try to erase all memory of the Timeless Child's involvement with it?

The answer to that could lie with what Ko Sharmus revealed earlier in the episode. Whether the Boundary really is the Eye of Harmony or not, we do know that humans have previously travelled through this portal, who then surely must have wound up in a past version of Gallifrey.

James PardonBBC

Could the Timeless Child be one of these humans? If so, this would imply the Time Lords somehow exploited a human child to fuel their technology, thereby transforming her into the Timeless Child. That's certainly something to be ashamed of, and this might also explain why our Doctor is always so keen to protect Earth in particular.

If we're going to get really wibbly-wobbly, then one might suggest these humans even joined Gallifreyan society, which would make the Doctor part-human.

Of course, this theory doesn't explain everything. If the Timeless Child was a human, then how did she grow up to become Jo Martin's Doctor? Or is this secret incarnation actually someone else entirely?

And how does the Master fit into all this? At the end of this episode, he's returning from a trip to Gallifrey, and whatever he was up to, we can guarantee it wasn't anything good.

Let's hope Doctor Who provides all the answers we seek before the Cybermen ascend completely. This next wait between episodes might be the hardest one we have to endure yet.

Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.

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