Awesome / Doctor Who Series 13

War of the Sontarans

• Dan's parents revealing they've been part of La Résistance against the Sontarans.
• The Doctor tricking the Sontarans into parlay by giving them information concerning herself, but the Sontarans do not know she's a woman.
• Dan sneaks into a Sontaran base armed with nothing but a wok.
• Dan's parents learned about the Sontarans' weak spot from a drunk man who attacked one.

Once Upon Time

• Bel's story, evading and fighting Daleks and Cybermen all to find her husband, Vinder.

Village of the Angels

• Professor Jericho's sheer Nerves of Steel when faced with Weeping Angels.

Survivors of the Flux

• We see the Grand Serpent throughout the years, cleverly infiltrating and manipulating UNIT for decades.
• Yaz risks herself to smother dynamite meant to kill her friends.
• Yaz and Dan subdue an assassin who attacks them in their ship's cabin.
• We also see a UNIT commander stonewalling the Grand Serpent when he tries to take over, though he's later killed for it.
• Kate Stewart also defies the Grand Serpent when he dissolves UNIT, threatening to summon the Twelfth Doctor.

The Vanquishers

• The Sontarans, after being used as comic relief and a race of Dumb Muscle for years, coming up with a genuinely devious plan to survive the Flux, eliminate their enemies, and conquer the universe.
• Also, the Doctor for figuring out their plan and outsmarting them once more.
  • The Doctor also resisting torture by the Grand Serpent and immediately gaining power over him. She plays the torture chamber like a pro (which, after all this time, she certainly is).
• When the Sontaran commander realizes that the Lupari ships are no longer protecting them, he orders them back into position. Karvanista shows up on the screen and boasts that he's retaken control of the ships. It's especially satisfying after the Sontarans exterminated his people, making him the Last of His Kind.
• Jericho's calm acceptance of death when he realizes he can't escape the Flux.

The Power of the Doctor

• It wouldn't be a return of Ace McShane without her donning her iconic jacket and going HAM on a Dalek with a baseball bat! Let this sink in... Ace is the only companion to solo-kill three Daleks. Two of them with nothing more than a baseball bat and one with Nitro 9, with the help of Graham O'Brien. "Who're you callin' 'small'?", indeed.
  • She is also able to hide her old stuff beneath the floor panels under UNIT's nose. Even Kate seems surprised!
• Ashad reminds us all why the Cybermen are there to be feared, as he swaggers through UNIT HQ slaughtering troops left, right and centre, in a hallway scene that would make Darth Vader jealous. Ashad's leitmotif blaring at full blast only adds to the combination of awesome and Nightmare Fuel.
  • Particularly awesome since UNIT's job — one which they usually do very, very well — is to be prepared to battle and counter any and all alien incursions. That the Cybermen are able to crush UNIT resistance speaks volumes.
  • Kate, however, is able to barricade herself in the control center, keep all the Cybermen locked in the building, and with Tegan's help, destroy the whole building and all the Cybermen in it.
• Over the course of the special, Yazmin Khan becomes the Doctor in all but name. She gets the better of the Master, flies the TARDIS by herself, picks up companions and delegates what roles they should perform, AND brings them all back to their home time. Well, Croydon... maybe...
  • Special mention to the scene where she materializes the TARDIS under a parachuting Ace and she sails right through the doors.
  • Yaz doesn't hesitate to run out of the TARDIS, amid the destruction being caused by the Qurunx, and carry the mortally wounded Doctor back inside.
• The surprise return of Graham O'Brien, who has been freelance since Revolution of the Daleks. He voluntarily ventures into a volcano full of Daleks! That takes guts!
• Speaking of returns, Ian Chesterton appearing for the first time since 1965 in the support group of the Doctor's old companions.
• Thirteen's regeneration is the most visually-stunning yet seen, with a spectacular clifftop setting and iridescent flashes of color within streaming sheets of golden light, topped off by one more Triumphant Reprise of Thirteen's Theme.