Ascension of the Cybermen

The end of humanity, the rise of the Cybermen, and one random Irish police drama that makes you wonder if you sat on the remote.

Extended Storyline

We open with a cheery montage of death. Yes, nothing says “family sci-fi” like baby-hospital footage spliced with ominous narration about the Cybermen wiping out nearly all of humanity. These are dark times: Earth is basically gone, space is scattered with the corpses of civilization, and the Cybermen are ready for their encore.

The Doctor, having been warned not to give Ashad the Cyberium (oops), tries to fix the mess by helping the last scraps of humanity survive. She’s armed with tech to defend against the Cyber-threat: “neural inhibitors,” flying drones, the usual. Unfortunately, Ashad comes prepared. He commands a swarm of “Cyberdrones” — basically Cyberman heads flying around like demented metallic beach balls of doom. They swoop in, destroy the defenses in about thirty seconds, and scatter the humans and Team TARDIS in all directions. So much for the Doctor’s master plan.

From here, the story splits like a really messy IKEA instruction manual:

Thread One: Team TARDIS, Broken Apart

• Yaz and Graham wind up with a handful of human refugees, stuck on a battered ship headed toward “Ko Sharmus,” a supposed safe haven. Naturally, the ship is falling apart, they’re running out of power, and morale is lower than Byron after a bad poetry review. But Yaz steps up in a big way here, taking on a quasi-leadership role. Graham, meanwhile, contributes as only Graham can: gallows humor and mild confusion.

• The Doctor and Ryan crash with another group of humans and head toward a derelict Cyber-carrier — a massive starship graveyard where millions of Cybermen are stored in stasis. Because if there’s one thing the Doctor loves, it’s poking around an ominous morgue full of killer robots.

Thread Two: Ashad Gets Biblical

Remember Ashad, the Lone Cyberman? He’s back — and now he’s basically a robo-Messiah. With the Cyberium in his veins, he rants about his holy mission to rebuild the Cyber-Empire. His pitch: “Forget emotionless logic, let’s build Cybermen with rage, faith, and zealotry!” Because apparently Cybermen weren’t terrifying enough without evangelical vibes. His personal pet project? Cyber-conversions that preserve just enough humanity to make them extra horrifying. Imagine zombie robots that can scream. Pleasant dreams.

Ashad activates the “Cyber-Carrier” — waking up the army of dormant Cybermen. Cue lots of stomping metal feet and ominous music. The Doctor realizes this is way worse than she thought: the Cybermen aren’t extinct, they’re ascending.

Thread Three: Brendan, the Irish Copper

And then there’s Brendan. Sweet Brendan.
In what feels like a Channel 4 drama accidentally spliced into the BBC broadcast, we meet an Irish couple in the 20th century who adopt a foundling baby. That baby grows up to be a cheerful Garda (Irish policeman) named Brendan. We watch his life in snippets: joining the force, catching thieves, earning respect. Then he’s shot in the line of duty, falls off a cliff… and survives without a scratch. Years later, he’s forcibly retired — only for two shadowy men to strap him to a chair and wipe his memory.

No explanation. No context. Just vibes. Brendan is clearly important, but for now, the audience is left shouting at the TV: “Wait — did I change the channel? Did Netflix autoplay something else?!”

Thread Four: The Approaching Doom

Back on the Cyber-Carrier, the Doctor is frantic. She knows what’s at stake: if the Cybermen rise again, there won’t be enough humans left to resist. She cobbles together a desperate plan: sneak onto the ship, sabotage the Cybermen, and maybe save her scattered companions. Unfortunately, subtlety isn’t the Doctor’s strong suit here. The episode ends with her surrounded by endless Cyber-armies waking up from stasis pods, Ashad giving his best religious-conversion speech, and the Cyber-Empire’s rebirth looking inevitable.

Meanwhile, Yaz and Graham’s group manages to limp their way toward Ko Sharmus, which is rumored to hold the key to safety. But of course, with this much ominous buildup, “safe haven” will almost certainly translate to “catastrophic trap.”