I get why they have Doctor-lite episodes (or at least I get it's due to scheduling conflicts), but it's unfortunate when the season's only eight episodes long.

its just a Disney and /netflix thing

The eight episode seasons or the Doctor-lite episode?

the eight epsiode seasons

you can look at Loki for instance did the same thing

and many others

The Doctor showed up in 2007 - so close and yet so far.

Conrad seems like a different take on the guy from the first episode of 9's run. (the one who was obsessively tracking the Doctor) Not sure if he's a darker take; his mom seems to be abusive, though maybe I'm reading too much into it.

He's in a dark store filled with mannequins; if not for the snarling, I would have guessed there'd be Autons involved.

Conrad got vomited on by something called the Shreek (not to be confused with the Shrek), which is how it tracks its prey, and he didn't get the antidote - that's going to come back to bite him in the future.

I probably should watch the Wicker Man at some point. (the Christopher Lee one or the Nicolas Cage one)

I'm feeling a little suspicious about Conrad. The Shreek's locked up, so whatever's happening with the electricity isn't its doing (assuming that whichever Shreek vomited on someone targets that person, rather than another Shreek hunting for that person), and he and his friends just left Ruby all of a sudden.

This feels like a prank that's in extremely bad taste.

Especially when there's no signs of the Shreeks actually being there going by UNIT's equipment.

I thought Think Tank sounded like something I'd heard before in Doctor Who; I looked it up on Google, and it's the group from Robot. Given that those people were compared to flat earthers back in the 70s, and they had some ideas that seemed eeriely similar to Elon Musk (would-be fascists who think that the world should be ruled by scientists), that fits.

And of course, Conrad gets off scott-free (for now, at least) for openly encouraging terrorism. (though I'm guessing he legitimately didn't take the antidote and is going to be killed by the Shreek)

Conrad reminds me of Kyle Rittenhouse, the guy who wanted to shoot up a Black Lives Matter protest and then claimed he was "just defending himself" when he was caught. (despite going out of his way to go to the protest and bringing a gun)

He's demanding to be "shown the monster costumes" - I'd love it if they gave him his wish and put him face-to-face with a Dalek. (though I'm assuming UNIT doesn't have Daleks in captivity, given that they'd almost certainly break out)

I'm nearing the end of the episode; it got a strong emotional reaction out of me, so I'd say it's a good one.

I figured that when he finally met the Doctor, Conrad would either say something racist or insult Sarah Jane. (he didn't, though I thought he was going to when he said "you've had plenty of friends", but it's clear he's delusional)

Next time on Doctor Who:The Springfield Civil War Reenactment