Doom’s Day Review

Doom’s Day

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Doom’s Day

Doctor: First Doctor, Second Doctor, Sixth Doctor, Eighth Doctor, Ninth Doctor, Twelfth Doctor

Companion: Charley Pollard, Brian, Jackie Tyler

The follow up from Time Lord Victorious goes in an unexpected direction featuring a brand new assassin Doom trying desperately to find the First Doctor.

The Review

Doom being hunted by Death

Doom’s Day had one brutal rollout. The main criticism of Time Lord Victorious was its rollout was confusing, things came out of order (though covid could largely be blamed) and some things like most of the Victorious Days stuff were late adds that were folded in. This time, there are 24 hours to the story and they’re coming out sequentially. The introduction being an extremely low-budget fourth-wall breaking video by Sooz Kemper, the avatar of Doom, was cause for immediate ridicule. Still, I was willing to give it a chance, but it started painfully slow. Fresh off a triumphant achievement in Torchwood, James Goss’ first hour was incredibly underwhelming and more confusing than anything. Then hours 2-5 came in Four Hours From Doom’s Day, a Doctor Who Magazine supplement that rushed through the hours. Seriously, in hour two we don’t even know what Doom’s job was but she chats to River. Oh, did I forget to say: the badly named Doom is an assassin who only has one hour to complete a job lest Death catches up to her. Literal Death.

The many faces of Missy

Things were marginally improved in Hours 6-9 taking place in a Titan comics two issue miniseries called A Doctor in the House? featuring Missy. Missy was in her ‘trying to be the Doctor’ phase and was mainly just getting irritated by Doom getting to do all of the killing. While I’ll never complain with Missy (and even a Twelfth Doctor cameo), the actual overall storyline seemed frustratingly unclear. As well, every Titan Comics EU release and this one have had the exact same writer and art style team, and they’re serviceable but it’s B-quality work. Also, Doom’s actual personality seemed elusive. Hour 10 was AI Am the Doctor, told in slides in a limited time weekend event only in a predatory mobile game called Lost in Time. The first event I didn’t even realize would be limited time and I started a day late, relying on the generosity of someone who uploaded the slides on YouTube. Believe it or not, I don’t hate the limited time events as it made it feel like Doom’s Day was an ongoing saga, but there need to be opportunities if you miss them. In this one Doom supposedly meets the Thirteenth Doctor and K9, but the Doctor turns out to be Kamelion, who K9 saved from Planet of Fire I guess. If the Master survived that story, why not them too.

The most random crossover ever?

Thankfully, things picked up with the book Extraction Point, written by MG Harris. Finally, there was space to give some more explanation as to what was going on: somehow Doom’s timeline is collapsing, and she specifically needs to find the First Doctor. The others won’t help her (presumably because they remember being the First Doctor and meeting her again), but will assist in saving the universe. Doom actually gets some much needed characterization, revealing her conflicted thoughts about being an assassin (thinking sometimes it does help society, other times not so much), and that maybe her really talent is being a singer? The book turns out to be a love letter to Series 1 and the Ninth Doctor, with the overarching villains of the Slitheen and checking in on good ‘ol Satellite 5. Hour 14 brings in the Second Doctor (who never meets the Ninth), which comes off as a bit random, but since he’s close to the First does allow Doom to wring some more info out of him. It was a fun book that made Doom into an actual character. Hour 15 was back to mobile game events with Wrong Place at the Right Time being a little vignette about Doom killing a man who will become a martyr inspiring a revolution to overthrow an authoritarian regime. Again, limited time event not necessarily bad, doing it in that game was rough. So many ads for Merge Mansion.

Hey, more Twelfth Doctor is always a win in my book

BBC Audio’s contribution was Four From Doom’s Day, four half-hour read stories. The first one united Doom with Ian and Barbara aboard a cruise ship in some Cold War intrigue, which was…fine. The second story was about an ancient Ice Warrior queen which was also perfectly fine. I got some more enjoyment about the return of Time Lord Victorious‘ break-out character: Brian the Ood. Set in San Francisco 1999 but on Halloween this time, hearing Ood dealing with Doom did some to make this feel part of the TLV-verse. The highlight was the final story featuring the Twelfth Doctor called Dark Space with Doom meeting a time-sensitive who has visions of the Doctor constantly stopping their dreams of conquest. This boxset exemplifies the crossover, the stories all work, but with the overall plot still frustratingly a mystery it doesn’t feel like the story is moving in any propulsive direction.

Doom in The Dalek’s Master Plan

The idea of returning to the delightfully alien and weird galactic council of The Daleks’ Master Plan is a good one, except this story doesn’t entirely do that? (Full disclosure, I had a nasty headache listening to this one). Dawn of an Everlasting Peace is really the story of Doom helping a poor woman in her three year old son who has been aged by taranium into an old man and is trying to expose the conspiracy. Too much of the story is spent dealing with Fynix, the annoying cat-voiced leader of the Sixth Galaxy. On top of that, if I wasn’t super versed in lore, it would be super easy to completely forget that this is supposed to be about the Master Plan. We don’t even get a Mavic Chen or Daleks reference! Additionally because we know the First Doctor saves the day, the best Doom can do is make that woman and her kid’s life better. Also, still frustratingly lacking on Doom related character development.

Maybe my favorite story of the whole thing?

I was very happy to get to A Date with Destiny, because it meant I could now point to at least one thing that was high quality form this whole adventure. There are two reasons: one, Doom tangles with Destiny, who is also an assassin. We get some more exploration of the culture of assassins, and find that many of them have stupid names, which is all great fun. There was also the ominous hint that maybe Doom’s laconic handler Terri is the true villain, which I actually hadn’t considered. The second is Camille Coduri is somehow even better now as Jackie Tyler as when she was on tv. She perfectly nails the portrayal of someone who isn’t book smart, but is street smart and independent. Having her in this story was a delight. There were a few small references too, Jackie’s neighbor Peggy is mentioned in Army of Ghosts, and a mission Doom turns down is to kill legendary EU character Abslom Daak who made a cameo in Time Heist too. This story actually gave some development to Doom and leaned into the stupid world of the Lesser Order of Oberon. Pleased to say: good job.

The Howling Wolves of Xan-Phear I think runs into the same issue that hurt Dawn of an Everlasting Peace and really this whole arc: we still don’t know enough about Doom. Structuring this crossover around an original character might’ve worked, but we still have very little backstory to Doom and her only motivation for meeting the Doctor is just not go get killed. This story is perfectly fine, we meet a race of wolf people with an insanely powerful howl who have manipulated by the Silence, because they want to be able to literally shut up the Doctor at Trenzalore. The audio design is good, Sooz Kemper’s performance is good, but at this point I’m desperate for some answers and we get zero in the story arc. This story does do some interesting things with the Silence in finding a way to mute them to stop their psychic suggestion, but when Doom wishes the Doctor were hear to save her, we wish for it too. We do get a bit farther (maybe) on the evil Terri plotline. I hope this actually goes somewhere.

The last of the Big Finish quartet is The Crowd, where Doom meets the iconic pairing of the Eighth Doctor and Charley. Again, this raised questions about how much the different writers of Doom’s Day were communicating because Doom is a lot more casually amoral here while the Doctor utterly despises her. The setting in 1170 Canterbury is fun, and the idea of the Crowd, a mysterious group feeding off national tragedy is a good invention for a villain. Still, Doom repeatedly is fine killing tons of people as casual crossfire in her fight, and compared to how generally amiable past Doctors has been, Eight hates her guts. Also, we got no pay-off from the mysterious Terri hint by Destiny, though her and Doom’s relationship is stretched to its limit. While a fun enough listen, there’s only one story left and the idea of ‘why’ is still there. Doom wonders why the Doctor has led her on this day, and honestly, so do we.

The story ends with Out of Time, another short story and thankfully significantly more well-written than the opening chapter. Surprisingly, it’s a relatively satisfying ending: Doom’s dying because she was sent to assassinate her past self. The whole time the First Doctor has been waiting patiently in order to settle the mess, and it turns out the Terri hint was true: she scheduled the assassination of everyone else in the Order of Oberon (except Brian, surely!) after being tired of being disrespected. The Doctor has Doom go back in time and stop her from killing herself, and ‘death’ kills Terri instead.

Ultimately, Doom’s Day suffered from a critical lack of focus: it was often confusing what the plot line was supposed to be and especially the first half often had cheap throwaway stories. As well, the idea of making an assassin the main character was a weird choice for Doctor Who, and I was often confused on how much sympathy we were supposed to have for Doom. I would’ve tried to reveal the mystery about Doom sooner too. Still, being one of five people to follow this story through, I do have some attachment to Doom and would like to see her show up again. The story at least came out in order, but I still think this was just a weird framing narrative to ostensibly celebrate the 60th anniversary. Due to largely negative fan reception (mainly to the cringe fourth-wall breaking inter-story updates, I doubt many people actually read or listened) this might be the last multi-platform story. I hope not, as during the year-long layoff from Doctor Who this kept something in the conversation.

7/10 Ultimately, I can’t go higher than a seven, it was too uneven and often mediocre. The best stories were Dark Space and A Date With Destiny especially for leaning into the very stupid world of time-traveling assassins.

Good choice to end with the First Doctor

Twice Upon A Time Review

Twice Upon A Time

Two Doctors meeting their ends

Story 276, Episode 840, 2017 Christmas Special

Doctor: The First Doctor, The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, The Captain. Projections of Bill Potts and Nardole

Twice Upon a Time is not what anybody expected. There is no big fight, no big battle, just thinking. Sadly, the great capstone to the Capaldi era already happened.

The Review

The Captain. Him being the Brig’s dad is fine.

Precious little actually happens in this episode. The crux is that The Captain (the Brigadier’s dad) played quite well by Mark Gatiss has been kicked out of his death in World War I. We find that the glass figures the Testimony are taking people’s memories before they die from throughout time and letting them live on. Not that evil! Included are the memories of Bill, who isn’t really here. That includes a visit to the Dalek net by visiting Rusty from Into the Dalek which is such an odd choice for a returning character. Then the Captain is returned to his death a few hours later, in time for the Christmas Armistice. Then, the two Doctors choose to regenerate. To me, it’s pretty clear that Moffat intended The Doctor Falls to be the regeneration, because, well, it’s a much better finale episode as this is basically a long epilogue. So that’s a big problem, regeneration episodes should be epics like The War Games and The Parting of the Ways, even with all its problems Time of the Doctor sure is a ride.

Bill, Clara, and Nardole are all memories, but recast Ben and Polly are real! They look nothing like Ben and Polly

Let’s talk about the First Doctor. The opening showing ‘709 episodes ago’ and the closing showing the fragment of the regeneration to the Second Doctor was amazing, especially having seen The Tenth Planet just yesterday. David Bradley looks a lot like him, his voice is a bit high, but what can you do. His best moments is when he’s talking to Mostly Bill about why he left Gallifrey, not saying exactly why but saying that he was interested in seeing why good always triumphs. He’s the problem here, the First Doctor acts like a sexist idiot. Now, I understand wanting to reference the past of the 60s, but as someone who’s seen all of the First Doctor…he is never as overtly sexist as he is in this episode. Telling Bill she is a member of the fairer and weaker sex is just completely un-Doctor-like, even for the First Doctor. It’s kind of disrespectful honestly. That’s not who the First Doctor is. Now him being really young, the Twelfth Doctor feeling a lot more formed than him makes sense, but he feels just so much less.

The regeneration itself

I think the thing that felt the most disappointing about this episode for me was that after all that build-up not much really happens this episode. For a lot of people, that poignancy and melancholy really sat well with them. Maybe I’ll come around on this episode one day, but compare this to the operatic soaring finale that is The Doctor Falls. The Doctorsacrificing himself for all those people, fighting the Cybermen, and finally completely dying. I think a big problem is that there is not a. a character arc to reckon with, like Tennant coming to grips with his vanity or b. a lot of plot threads to propel it along like with Smith. Capaldi’s Doctor is so completely fully formed in a way that certainly no new series Doctor has been, not just his incarnation, but he really feels like the culmination of the journey the Doctor has been on. It makes sense why he wouldn’t want to go. Seeing Nardole again was lovely, seeing Clara again was necessary but weird because Jenna Coleman clearly was not there. I guess I just can’t get as excited for a regeneration, even of my favorite Doctor when the build-up is sitting quietly and a hug. The Doctor Falls was an all time classic, this is disappointment.

Peter Capaldi is my favorite Doctor, and I feel bad that I dislike his regeneration episode so much. So much so that I think it may be one of worst, to no fault of his own. He gets no real epic plot, and it just happens. However, the Doctor has gone on a long journey from ‘I don’t want to go’ to ‘Doctor, I let you go.’ As someone who has felt like he’s gone on a personal journey the past few years, Capaldi doing the same meant a lot of me. God speed, see you at the 60th Anniversary.

6.5/10 What really happened in this episode? Everything and nothing at all. The Doctor Falls was leaps and bounds better. We barely got anything of the new Doctor!

The Thirteenth Doctor!

 

World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls Review

World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls

The fall of the Doctor

Story 275, Episodes 838 and 839, Series 10 Episodes 11 and 12

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole, The Master (Missy)

This story starts off interesting enough in the first part showing the Cybermen forming like we’ve never seen before, but really hits its stride when the characters other than Bill are really allowed to shine with her.

The Review

 

Missy pretending to be the Doctor to she if she’s good is just absolutely delightful

This is the most character focused finale, since, uh, the last one. And the one before that too. Let’s focus on the outright plot first. The team + Missy respond to the distress call of a massive massive ship (seen in a beautiful establishing shot) trapped on the edge of a black hole. And Bill immediately gets shot by a panicked janitor and has a big hole in her chest. She gets taken down by mysterious figures for repairs, and it turns out the ship is time-dilated because of its proximity to the black hole. After ten years she is made into the Cyberman before the Doctor gets to her. The Doctor + CyberBill + Nardole + the Masters (more on that!) make it halfway up in a ship to floor 507, an idyllic farm. There the Doctor sacrifices himself to save them from the rapidly-evolving Cybermen and dies. It’s actually pretty simple as far as finales go, and being constrained all on a spaceship is pretty cool. Very The Parting of the Ways.

“I waited. I waited for you.” Oh poor Bill. Oh and the woman and guy are the same person. This show man

Most of the first episode is focused on Bill living out her life as Cybermen are slowly developed alongside Mr. Razor, who is the Simm Master. Now I knew John Simm would be in this episode, but damn he had me fooled until he told Missy he figured out who she was. Other than that…I was disappointed with the Doctor not getting to do much and how obvious the Cybermen reveal was. Compare it to Dark Water, a better episode than World Enough and Time because the Doctor got to do things! And investigate! The time dilation was cool, but I wish the Doctor could do more. The reveal of Bill becoming a Cyberman, gloriously rendered as the original Mondasian versions with her saying ‘I waited’ is just sad. Still, there was not as much punch as Dark Water which still gets me giddy every time I watch it. Then the rarity of rarities, a Doctor Who finale two-parter gets better in part two.

Capaldi finally gets a lot of moments to deliver. Simm almost copying his costume is a nice touch

Really, not much happens. The Doctor prepares a village for an invasion, it happens, and he sacrifices itself to delay the Cybermen. But it is the character moments that really shine through. Bill is depicted as she sees herself in a lot of her scenes, as herself and not a Cyberman. Nardole gets more great secondary moments, telling people to remember the Alamo (or not), and that he always quickly starts a black market. It’s Capaldi who finally gets some emotional moments, he explains to Bill who she is, but then his speech to try and get the departing Masters to stand with him is beautiful. He does not do anything to win, he does everything to do what is right. The Doctor shares some great moments with Bill, who tells him she’d rather die than be hated for her appearance and tells him that she likes 20-something girls…but would’ve loved the Doctor. All this happens as the sun starts falling, and nighttime is upon us.

In the end…Missy decided she had enough of the Master. But Simm gets the last, long laugh

The death of the Masters is one of the best things you’re ever going to see. Missy really has to decided to stand with the Doctor, and stabs the Master as he goes to flee in his TARDIS. Simm was delightfully villainous all episode, no remorse for what he’s done, completely evil. Missy, played perfectly by Michelle Gomez, draws him close and leaves him to die. Simm isn’t done, and fatally injures her with his laser screwdriver so she can never stand with the Doctor. They both lay dying, and start laughing and laughing. Perfection. Nardole is left to shepherd the humans to safety, and maybe live with one of the women there. It’s an understated ending, but a good one for the character. At complete dusk, the Doctor and Cyber Bill take their places and fight the hordes of Cybermen to their last.

Peter Capaldi: THE Doctor

Bill ends up dying, but is saved from death by Heather, the puddle, and they go to have space lesbian adventures. People are bitching again that Bill got a happy ending, Moffat can’t kill a character blah blah blah. It’s Doctor Who, there’s always a happy ending. It’s a bit close to Clara/Ashildr, but the tone is so so different. We might see her again, but it’s a fine to ending to a good run by Bill. This season, Pearl Mackie never missed a beat, but I thought she didn’t get as much time on her as I thought she should get. But boy, the Doctor gets the best. Him shouting the names of all the places he’s defeated the Cybermen as he blows them up. Getting pounded to the last, he tells them he is the Doctor and destroys them all. The Doctor starts to regenerate, but says to forget it, and passes into a coma. “No stars…pity…I hoped there would be stars”

It just feels so right.

The Doctor bursting into life, and starting to rage against the dying of the light feels so real. I understand the controversy of Tennant in The End of Time not wanting to go, but somehow it feels so real for Capaldi. He is tired of doing all this, tired of having no continuity, makes sense after seeing the previous Masters squabbling with each other. It is immense, it is beautiful, and then I cheered when the rumor was true. Out of the cold in 1986 undoubtedly is David Bradley as the First Doctor reborn. Doesn’t sound quite the same, but damn it’s good. Can I watch every Hartnell story until then? We’ll see. This story had so many moving parts, but like the best stories ended up small. Series 10 has had its ups and downs, not let its main characters live like I wanted, but by the end, it felt like the end had come.

World Enough and Time is imperfect, and in a way so is The Doctor Falls. But it just bursts and breathes with such character moments that really feel earned. For that, it has my undying respect.

9.35/10 An army of Cybermen, two Masters, two companions, heck even two Doctors but it’s a story that never loses sight of its characters, as fantastic as they are.

The original

The Eaters of Light Review

The Eaters of Light

Capaldi finally visits Scotland!

Story 274, Episode 837, Series 10 Episode 10

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole

Rona Munroe writes a delightfully unique episode in the ancient highlands of Scotland that manages to hit all the right notes.

The Review

The first, ill-fated Roman Bill encounters

It seems as weird to say something as simple as The Eaters of Light is as good as Extremis, but that it is. Looking for the lost Ninth Legion, the Doctor and Bill get stuck with the Scots while Bill hides from the Eater of Light with the remaining young Roman soldiers who ran from it. They serve to bridge the divide between the two cultures (even if it comes from incredible luck as Bill and the Romans pop right out in the cairn where the Scots were camped out). The thing this episode got absolutely right was the tone, it was perfect and the atmosphere provided by the gorgeous Highlands was quite a sight to behold. In some ways the episode is a meditation on what it means to have honor in a community, as all the Scots and Romans who have survived are children.

The monster: could kill the universe. All you need to know

The monster is almost irrelevant to the little moments in the script. Nardole talking about the Mary Celeste, the Doctor’s deadly seriousness, the looks on Bill’s face when Lucius says he’s 18 and the oldest one there. The one scene that didn’t work for me was Bill explaining sexuality and Lucius saying they were all bisexual. Not for lack of historical accuracy, but because it seemed forced. We don’t need a ‘Bill’s a minority’ scene every episode, and there’s better ways to do it. The end with the monster being forced in the portal and the Romans and the Scot gatekeeper Kar (a wonderful performance) is great. Seeing them do what the Doctor has done, fight until the end of time to save people they care about, it hit home. Even the talking crows repeating the name ‘Kar’ as their cry for eternity somehow felt heartfelt and not idiotic.

Unlike the previous two episodes ending on abrupt scenes with Missy, this time Missy’s final scene was much better. Having waited in the TARDIS and seen what happened, she seems dismissive. The Doctor tells her off quite gently, that she always understood the universe but never stopped to hear the music. When he catches her crying later, it is really touching. Maybe it is a diabolical plan, but it seems that the Doctor is right, there is good in everyone. You just have to hear the music.

9.3/10 One of the best small-scale episodes the show has done in recent history, it manages to be memorable and effective with an emotional climax. Bring on the finale.

“We can be friends again”

Empress of Mars Review

Empress of Mars

Only on Doctor Who!

Story 273, Episode 836, Series 10 Episode 9

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole

Doctor Who has a typical light-hearted fun episode in what may be the swan song for the kind of those episodes, Mark Gatiss. It isn’t revelatory at all, but does what it set out to do.

The Review

Iraxxa is a bit of a ham, and also has a weird scene wanting a woman to woman chat with Bill

The story’s premise is quite simple but weirdly classic Doctor Who. The Doctor and Bill (Nardole gets sidelined) arrive on Mars in 1881 after a very fun cold open at NASA seeing ‘God Save the Queen’ written on Mars. They meat a group of Victorian soldiers being aided by a lone Ice Warrior to find supposed riches. Of course it’s all a play to awaken the Empress of the Ice Warriors (Iraxxa), and she begins activating the Hive and all hell breaks loose. It’s one of the more simplistic stories recently but doesn’t take a real misstep. Ferdinand Kingsley is delightfully evilly charismatic as scheming Neville Catchlove who exposes the supposed head of the expedition, Godsacre, as a deserter.

Catchlove is the best kind of villain, charismatic

Maybe the best part of the episode are the visuals, the hordes of Ice Warriors are exactly what I wanted to see from them after Cold War had but one. The red rock of Mars looks as good as it did in Waters of Mars, and the Ice Warrior death ray turning people into bouncy spheres is silly and kind of nauseating all at once. The conclusion with Godsacre killing Catchlove and asking to give his life for his men to be spared is pretty simple, but works. Now I haven’t seen the Peladon stories, but the cheerful voice of Alpha Centauri welcoming the Ice Warriors to the universe just really felt good to me. There’s an intriguing bit with Missy helping Nardole return the TARDIS to Mars. I’m going to say this, in a season lacking a real humdinger of a climax, expectations for the finale are high.

This episode was pretty simple, but did exactly what it set out to do. While I admire The Lie of the Land trying something so new and crazy, it’s a relief when the one-off adventures just work.

8/10 Mark Gatiss has been a fine writer, and turns in another dependably solid episode.

“Welcome to the universe.” 

The Lie of the Land Review

The Lie of the Land

“Maybe he is a good writer?”

Story 272, Episode 835, Series 10 Episode 8

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole

Doctor Who throws up its first miss in many years as The Lie of the Land makes all the wrong choice in a completely ridiculous solution to the Monks story that undermines the previous two episodes.

The Review

Who are they really? How are they so powerful? What is their plan? Why do they immediately run away like wusses?

The Monks have taken world, it’s a totalitarian state, how can they be beaten? Quite easily in fact, you’re in luck! First off, the episode completely misses on the Monks, because we learn nothing about them. They take over, for what? In fact, a Monk never speaks! What?! Second, for all their advanced simulation device and everything, the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole all escape quite easily and make it to the hitherto unmentioned cathedral pyramid transmitting the Monk’s fake news. Despite a pretty great scene where the Monks are shown fighting the soldiers the Doctor recruited, the solution turns out to be that Bill’s memory of her mom overpowers everything, and the Monks go ‘nope’ and flee immediately.

I mean I knew it was 95% a fakeout, but what’s the goal here? To show newbies a regeneration effect?

The show has the fascinating concept of the Doctor turned evil informing the planet that the Monks have indeed always been here. The show should’ve cut that out or made it the episode’s focus, as it so immediately resolved that it cheapens the Doctor’s test of Bill to ensure she’s fighting the mind control. There’s even a fake-out regeneration to mess with her I guess where he just bursts out some energy. Even more bizarre is the solution (unlike Turn Left or Last of the Time Lords), the timeline is not reversed! All this happened! The Monks were here, there were ‘memory policeman’, for six months, and everybody just kind of forgets about it. Now that’s a heck of a leap. Basically everything was ridiculously easy for the main cast, and the Monks barely get time to be villains. Such a downfall from their harrowing first appearance in Extremis.

“What took you so long?”

There’s a third piece of this episode, and that is Missy, as the vault is finally glimpsed. She is restrained both literally in the show and in Michelle Gomez’s performance as a Master that is starting to feel bad about all the evil she’s done. This is a pretty interesting idea to be honest, and the payoff is hopefully going to be great in the immense finale. With Mondasian Cybermen, Missy’s definite escape, and John Simm out of nowhere, that’s a lot, even for a finale. The main cast acts everything well again, but I feel that the show is not really delving as deep into Bill as they could be. She’s bright and entertaining and this episode should’ve done that, but it seems more and more I’ll remember Bill as a fun but inconsequential companion which is a shame as Pearl Mackie is great.

This episode completely misses the runway in the landing of the Monks arc, and ends up crashed in a forest or a river. After all the build-up, the talk of the Monks as such terrifying threats, they are dealt with quite easily (in a way undermining their incredible powers), and then they run away AND THEN everybody kind of forgets it ever happened? I wish I could forget this is how the Monks Trilogy ended.

5.75/10 The lowest grade I’ve ever given a story so far. Mainly because of how much it managed to completely tank the Monks arc, and potentially the season. If you think Series 10 has been better than Series 9, who are you?

Oh Bill, I so wish you could stay for the 13th Doctor and develop more, but you seem fated for just this season

The Pyramid at the End of the World Review

The Pyramid at the End of the World

“Bringing it”

Story 271, Episode 834, Series 10 Episode 7

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole

Doctor Who gives a tense episode that might end up not being as good as re-watch with knowledge of what is going to happen. It has a pretty fantastic ending, probably the best the season, buoyed by Peter Capaldi and Matt Lucas’ wonderful performances, but leaves much of the Monks still frustratingly limited.

The Review

 

Erica is a great actress and scientist, Douglas is only one of those things

Say what you will about this episode, but don’t call it boring. The show again has somebody interrupt Bill and Penny’s date, this time the UN Secretary General which is hilarious. With the mysterious pyramid appearing the midst of disputed territory, the Doctor going to ‘bring it’ is pretty damn awesome. What I’m less enthused about are the actors for the US, Russian, and Chinese generals who are pretty stiff in this episode. However, there is a secondary story running with scientists Erica and Douglas working on a biological project, and it soon becomes clear that they’re going to end up doing something awful. The reason is, the Monks say the world is about to end, and show the generals and main cast the simulation machine showing so. If somebody lovingly consents, the world will be saved but ruled by them.

The Doctor telling the Monks he can save the day in the pyramid (spoiler alert: he does)

If people were hoping for an epic firefight against the Monks, they turn to be a more interesting enemy than that. The Secretary General and generals all get killed off for not lovingly consenting. The Doctor and Nardole quickly jump to bacteria being a threat, which is quite lucky, but the Doctor has a genius plan to figure out which one. He has Nardole turn off all their CCTV cameras, and waits for the Monks to turn one back on. Matt Lucas, completely owns his scenes, what an addition. I say that because the ending as the Doctor helps Erica (Douglas got turned to goop by the life-destroying bacteria he made), Peter Capaldi is rarely better. His talking a mile a minute, he’s flirting with her, he’s getting it done, it’s great. A lot of people have complained about plot holes/idiot plot, which is fair, but not the main cast.

“I’m blind Bill. I’ve been blind since Chasm Forge”

Then, the Doctor cannot escape the lab he is about to blow up because he has to turn the numbers on a keypad. He can’t see it, he’s blind. Now people ask, why doesn’t he transmit the feed to Bill? You know, that’s the only thing that kind of undercuts the ending but it’s happening so dramatically and such a time crunch that it makes you not focus on it. I’m also not sure it’s possible, but whatever. Nardole has passed out, and the Doctor is going to die. For me, it’s powerful to see the Doctor’s hubris that he thinks he can still win being blind being stopped by something as pathetic of a physical combo lock. So, Bill consents to the Monks to save him, and they promise to ‘see our world’. It’s maybe not the smartest decision, but it packs a wallop. For me, the ending really just works.

The big thing that does not work in this episode is the whole military plot and quick jump to bacteria. Douglas being an idiot works, and Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, and the music make what could be a contrived ending work. We’re still disappointingly light on the Monks, but hopefully that changes next week.

8.9/10. The climax of this episode in my mind is beautiful and heartbreaking. The Doctor’s arrogance comes up against something so stupid, and Bill makes a big sacrifice to save/ruin the day.

Bill interrupting a fourth wall leaning monologue by a guitar playing Doctor was pretty funny

Extremis Review

Extremis

Virtue is virtue only in extremis

Story 270, Episode 833, Series 10 Episode 6

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole

This episode is one of the most psychologically scary in a long time, and is quite a whirlwind journey. Extremis does a lot, and it manages to just about pull it off while introducing a creepy new villain.

The Review

 

The sonic sunglasses are back! If you hate the sunglasses, you hate fun and it’s just that simple

At first this seems to be a story about the Vatican. A setting Doctor Who has never gone to for obvious reasons, it is done very tastefully even while the temptation to bash religion was there. The Pope running in on Bill and her new date and speaking rapid fire Italian, great. Cardinal Angelo (a great character in limited screen time) continuing to offer to hear the Doctor’s confession is a great moment. Though Benedict IX being female and a lover of the Doctor is just very very weird, the descent into the forbidden library is rendered awesomely. The Veritas is just straight scary, an ancient text that drives people to kill themselves after reading it? Now that is a heck of an idea. Then, things start to get weird (in a great way).

Matt Lucas and Pearl Mackie keep bringing it every episode, especially for Mackie when Bill’s not been as important

Bill and Nardole go off on their own as the Doctor uses some device to temporarily give him eyesight, and that is when he is chased by the horrifying looking Monks. They take the Veritas, but a believer had typed it out and the Doctor takes the laptop. Meanwhile, Nardole and Bill go in one of the Monk portals and find a room with other portals leading to important locations worldwide. One is CERN, who having read the Veritas are chillingly planning mass suicide. There we meet the Shadow Test, where you randomly think of a number with others, and if you all say the same thing…you’re not real. Nardole tests if he is a simulation by putting his hands past the projectors…and dissolves. This stuff is all pretty insane, I’m still skeptical of the uber-rich’s current obsession that we’re currently in a massive computer simulation but this was scary stuff.

From the White House where Who’s version of Trump has committed suicide, the virtual Doctor sends the warning to the real world

The climax sees Bill talk to the Doctor who has listened to the Veritas book on tape, and explained that we are in a simulation being used by the Monks to practice invading Earth before executing the real one. As simulation Bill is destroyed, the Monks tell the virtual Doctor that it is clear they will win. However, inside a simulation, the virtual Doctor is still able to use his sunglasses to send his experiences to the real Doctor as a warning, who prepares for war. It’s pretty smart, and a very neat idea. The idea that even a simulation of the Doctor is so ingenious to find a way to win. Again, I’m still searching for that epic moment that Series 10 hasn’t given me so far, but the fight with the Monks is far from over. We went from Da Vinci Code to The Matrix, and by golly it worked.

Planet of executioners? Quite awesome

Now there’s another part of the episode that’s interesting. It’s a flashback to before the season about the Doctor attending Missy’s execution overseen by cool looking executioners. Michelle Gomez is restrained in this episode, simply begging for her life, and being saved by the Doctor when Nardole arrives armed with River’s journal to tell him not to execute her. Apparently she is indeed inside the vault, though because we haven’t actually seen it open I’m not convinced there isn’t a possibly John Simm-sized twist coming. It worked fine, wasn’t distracting, but it’s amazing that Missy was the least memorable part of the episode.

This episode was pretty dang good. The show resisted its urges to talk down to the religious in the Vatican, provided one of the show’s greatest mysteries in the truth of the Veritas, followed by a very creepy scene as CERN performs the Shadow Test. Some people have found it complicated, I did not, some people thought that it being ‘a simulation’ cheapened it, they’re missing the point. The Monks thought they knew their own simulation, but the Doctor is always the Doctor. Oh and Missy was in it I guess.

9/10. Still waiting for the moment of awe in this season, but the kind of complete all around robust quality of Series 10 is quite impressive. And Capaldi? The best Doctor for my money.

The Monks! A bona-fide new villain, may end up with there with the Weeping Angels and Silence as a great villain made by Moffat

Oxygen Review

Oxygen

“You are about to be exposed to the vacuum of space”

Story 269, Episode 832, Series 10 Episode 5

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole

A beautifully rendered episode in deep space does not hit upon a moment as powerful climatic as Mathieson’s previous episodes, but features a shocking sacrifice from the Doctor.

The Review

 

Now this is space!

This episode is gorgeous, everything about it is a beautifully rendered dirty, grimy spaceship. The conceit of the episode is that a company has put a price on oxygen for its miners at this outpost, and now the miners have become so inefficient that replacing them with automation would boost productivity. It was outright critical of capitalism, and I understand some people’s complaints about that. When most of the entertainment industry is far left, you get stories about this. It didn’t bother me as it seemed to critique an obvious gross misuse of capitalism (what fan of capitalism would like monetizing oxygen?) The guest cast does its job well, but is unmemorable the way most guests casts are.

The notZombies, just corpses in suits

Finally, finally, Nardole has a role that makes sense! He seems to be the Doctor’s morality chain to keep him focused on the Vault, and is dedicated to that even if after 50-70 years the Doctor is starting to fade. Also, how cool is it to have the Doctor’s office and lectures as a kind of home base? Love it. Pearl Mackie is still amazing as Bill, she’s doing great work and her horror as her suit kept malfunctioning was very well acted. That horrific sequence when she is exposed to the vacuum without the helmet, and you see everything fading from her point of view with the Doctor desperately trying to free her helmet sure is something.

Bill is horrifyingly put in danger

The sacrifice the Doctor makes, surviving a long time in the vacuum with only brief uses of his helmet (giving it to Bill mainly) is very powerful, especially with his blindness. The resolution to the episode is fine, I was never worried Bill would die, but I did like the Doctor making him and the remaining cast too powerful to lose. I do appreciate that only Bill was still alive and not the whole crew, would be a few too many episodes in a row of that. Then the ending is shocking, I did not expect the Doctor to still be blind! How this is going to play out I have no clue, but it sure is a shocking twist. Overall, a good episode, came oh so close to greatness.

Mummy on the Orient Express had the Doctor taking on the Foretold, Flatline had the Doctor naming himself the man who fights the monsters, The Girl Who Died had the Doctor proclaiming ‘I can do whatever the hell I want’. Its moments like those that make a great Doctor Who episode, and even with the Doctor’s poignant sacrifice, Oxygen can’t deliver one of those moments. Looks gorgeous though.

8.8/10. The Doctor’s lectures would sure be awesome to go to!

“[Nardole] I’m still blind!”

Thin Ice Review

Thin Ice

This duo is so incredible

Story 267, Episode 830, Series 10 Episode 3

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companions: Bill Potts, Nardole

We head to the past and tackle some racial issues in a story that seems to never really cohesively gel together.

The Review

 

The eyes of the serpent

Bill and the Doctor are just perfect together, Pearl Mackie and Peter Capaldi’s relationship is amazing. Capaldi’s been blessed with excellent companions, it’s incredible. The journey to the 1814 Frost Fair is an act in two parts, exploring the fair and uncovering the giant serpent underneath then finding Lord Sutcliffe. Fish are dragging people under the ice to feed something, and the Doctor and Bill get some help from poor street urchins. The serpent apparently causes frosts, and is being chained and it’s poo is a great food source for the ventures of Lord Sutcliffe. The Doctor frees the creature, Sutcliffe goes in the Thames and is eaten and the serpent guys goes to Greenland.

The Doctor and Bill meet Lord Sutcliffe post-punch

The big problem with this story is it never manages to find a tone that would make it work, it’s like The Beast Below in this sense. It alternates between whimsical and serious, with Bill worried about slavery and surprised at how multicultural history was. The Doctor gets in a sadly fake-looking punch on Lord Sutcliffe when he’s revealed to be a racist, then gives a great speech about progress being valuing life and not pure industry which is sort of anti-capitalist but is far more pro-sacredness of life. I’d identify the biggest problems as the street urchins and the lack of actual danger, as well as some hard cuts that just don’t seem to jive together.

A harmless Frost Fair con man

Of course at the end we return to Nardole, who is very upset at the whole thing, as the Doctor and Bill’s change of clothes gives it away. He then goes down to the vault and something is knocking which is definitely not good. The idea of giving us some unknown motivation for the Doctor is interesting, but I’d prefer to know what he’s up to. Bill has some genuine moments of humanity asking the Doctor if he’s killed, and it seems like this episode should be good. The biggest flaw is very little actually happens, that’s true in Smile too, but it focused on the character’s relationships while Thin Ice wanted us to care about what was a very simplistic story.

There is not much really going on in the storyline, and the direction was oddly choppy and didn’t really have a consistent feel. Disappointingly one of the worst episodes of the past few years, but still fine.

6.75/10. The Doctor and Bill especially looked stunning though. Far cry from Unquiet Dead.

Maybe Pete’s in there?