Well, there we have it guys. This series of Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi's final series as the Time Lord, finally came to a close last Saturday night with "The Doctor Falls". Although there's still his Christmas special left to come, this means that it's time for me to talk about the second suite of episodes from the series. I've already reviewed episodes 1-6, which you can check out by clicking here. This is my way of giving my full thoughts on the whole series, rather than giving a single article, since I feel like this allows me to talk about each episode individually and judge them in their own right. If I had to comment, I would say that the second half of this series was considerably weaker than the first. Although the first had a few weaknesses, they were far outmatched by it's strong moments. This half is more of a mixed bag, which dips and slowly builds up towards the finale episodes. It's been a mixed series to be sure, so to wrap up my thoughts on this entire series, let's talk about episodes 7-12 of series 10!
Episode 7: The Pyramid at the End of the World
Way back when the episode titles for this series were announced, I was talking with them in a group chat with some friends. My friend Louise highlighted this particular episode as the one she was least looking forward to due to the stupidity of the title, and the fairly poor synopsis we were given at the time. I agreed. That said, once we get past the behemoth title and take into account the episode's place in the so-called "Monk Trilogy", and the episode turns out to be far better than anyone dare expected. The plot of the episode is surprisingly mature in it's exploration of consent and what people would give up to live, even freedom. The episode also cements the Monks themselves as a truly intimidating force unlike in the previous episode "Extremis", and the narrative structure is engaging and interesting, keeping the audience guessing between the links between the action of the Doctor and the work of the lab scientists. As always, the acting is on point and the episode looks the part as well. That said, it's not all perfect. There's an obvious lack of logic on show, particularly in the final moments where there were a number of ways to solve this without the Monks' intervention, and the episode is fairly repetitive, particularly in humour. However, that doesn't make this a bad outing, and it in fact stands as one of the most solid of the series.
Rating: 8/10
Episode 8: The Lie of the Land
Well, this was disappointing wasn't it? Not only disappointing, I'd actually go so far as to say a bit of a mess of an episode. Quickly, with regards to the good parts of the episode, the soundtrack was easily the best of the series; the acting was fine (but not good from everyone besides the main cast); and the Monks and other visuals still look impressive. That racks up a grand total of 2 points. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about everywhere the episode went wrong. First of all, the pacing of the episode was ridiculously fast. We are simply thrown straight into this dystopian future 6 months after the Monks took over. We are given no time to get to know the
underground workings of this possible future, or the true mindset of the rest of the people, and therefore it felt considerably less impactful. This might have worked if Bill had simply woken up in this world, but we learn she has lived here for 6 months as well, and therefore she does not even act as the usual audience surrogate. The episode is also riddled with plot holes. Why would the Monks leave their pyramid completely undefended? Why would the Monks even consider leaving the Doctor alive after their takeover, especially after he has constantly proven himself a threat to them? Why has Steven Moffat once again resorted to his usual cringeworthy resolution of emotions being the saviour of the human race? And can anyone explain how, just how, the Doctor is able to pull off a regeneration fake-out all of a sudden? This was the ultimate tease to fans of the series, with the scene being strategically placed throughout all of the marketing to suggest to audiences that a regeneration scene was imminent. Ultimately, however, it simply made no sense and only served to create yet another plot hole in an episode full of them. Finally, at the end of all of this, one very prominent question remains unanswered: what exactly were the Monks and what were their end goals. Sure, they wanted to take over the Earth but...then what? I fear their true nature is one which will remain mysterious for the rest of the show. A truly disappointing episode to be sure, particularly as the finale to a trilogy of otherwise great episodes.
Rating: 2/10
Episode 9: The Empress of Mars
The pain continues with this one. Let me tell you a couple of stories about watching this. The episode opened in NASA and, as soon as the "God Save The Queen" message appeared, I turned to my parents who I was watching with and apologised, because we knew what we were in for. Not only that, but my dad fell asleep soon after but woke up before the episode was over. He groaned when he saw it was still going and then got up and went to bed. That about sums the episode up really. I honestly don't know what happened to this series around this point, as the episode makes countless mistakes. Again, the only good thing about the episode is the visual effects and production design of the episode. The Ice Warriors are completely practical, and we have to respect the incredible make-up and costume design, while the sets also look great. Unfortunately, that is purely aesthetic and doesn't make an episode. Everything else in the episode was dreadful. The story, as I've hinted, was absurd and ridiculous. The problem was that we have seen all of this before, and the whole thing was incredibly dull and bland. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the worst thing any TV episode or movie can do is bore you, because it has then failed at it's (in my view) primary objective to entertain you. The acting from everyone (main cast included) was terrible, but in particular from the Ice Warriors and the Victorian soldiers. Another thing, you know how TV episodes are meant to have characters who are interesting and developed? I could not honestly describe a single character in this episode as a character. They are all clichés, with incredibly predictable arcs and "development", if you can call it that. Generic villains, heroes, and conflicts in short. Not only that, but the episode does not advance the overarching story of the series in any way, only showing Missy briefly at the end (and pointlessly), and the whole affair felt like a filler episode. Uninspired garbage, and equally as bad as the week before.
Rating: 2/10
Episode 10: The Eaters of Light
Oh thank God, finally, an improvement on the last two episodes. Although classic series' writer Rona Munro's "The Eaters of Light" does not match the heights of the series so far (which is to highlight "Knock Knock", "Pyramid" and "Extremis"), it's a solid enough episode. The acting in the episode is great, besides Rebecca Benson's Kar unfortunately who I found to be an incredibly irritating presence (although that largely comes down to her having very little to work with in terms of writing), and the story is actually interesting. The monsters are interesting for how little they are explained, and the cinematography is actually very good. However, where the episode largely comes to pieces is the writing. The characters are not very well developed and no conflict within the episode is explored in any meaningful way. Once again, Matt Lucas' Nardole is an incredibly pointless part of the episode and could easily be removed. It's unfortunate at this stage in the game that I am still questioning this character's worth. The plot, no matter how interesting, yet again quickly disintegrates when you start to think about it as well. Also, the visual effects of the episode are strangely terrible, something which I do not find at all acceptable at this stage in a series where the effects have been solid for the most part. One final issue is the pointless appearance of Missy at the end of the episode. Although she is a great character and Michelle Gomez is a joy on screen, these appearances grew extremely tiring at this tail end of the series, and the scenes are clearly only shoved in to allow show runner Steven Moffat to give the illusion of an overarching arc. A mixed bag of an episode, but a solid one regardless.
Rating: 6/10
Episode 11: World Enough and Time
This episode had so much to live up to in my mind. From the start this was the episode I was most excited about. It had the most intriguing synopsis of them all, seemingly pitting the Time Lord against time itself as he sets out to fix a mistake he made. It also promised to make Michelle Gomez' Missy relevant for the first time this series. As well as all this, it boasted the return of the original Mondasian Cybermen and that of my favourite Doctor Who villain, John Simm's Master. So did it deliver? To put it mildly, absolutely! Under the superb direction of Rachel Talalay (who also directed Capaldi episode "Heaven Sent" and some episodes of Sherlock), the episode is a fantastic exploration of time and the consequences of time travel, as well as the true horrors of the Cybermen. This was a big character episode for Bill, who spends her time largely isolated from the Doctor and it is a great illustration of what companions the Doctor has abandoned must go through, but with a much darker endgame in this instance. The horrors of the Cyber conversion make for some of the creepiest sequences this series, particularly the volume scene, and the return of the Mondasians with their same sing-song voice from 50 years ago was a terrifying moment. And of course John Simm, for however little he was in this episode, was an absolute delight to have back as The Master! Clear chemistry with Missy from the off and giving a thankfully more toned down performance than in "The End of Time", he was clearly being set up to play a much bigger role in the finale. If I have one complaint, it isn't on the episode itself, but on the marketing. The whole episode felt like opening a Christmas present and knowing what it was the whole time. If the BBC unfortunately hadn't spoiled the return of Simm or the Cybermen, they would have made for more effective reveals in my opinion. However, that doesn't detract from the quality of the episode itself. Throw in the usual excellent acting and phenomenal production design on all fronts, and I can safely say that this is not only one of the best episode of the series and one of the best episodes of the Capaldi era, but I dare say that if I had waited a few weeks to make my top 20 episodes list, this would have broken it with no trouble at all.
Rating: 10/10
Episode 12: The Doctor Falls
Here we go, yet another finale of Doctor Who that fails to live up to the episode that came before it. Don't get me wrong, "The Doctor Falls" is by no means a bad episode and it is fact one of the stronger outings of the series, but I can't help but feel like it was uncertain in how to resolve each plot point from the excellent "World Enough and Time". Rachel Talalay returns to direct this instalment, and it's extremely clear here where she's comfortable. The emotional writing and smaller down moments between characters are superbly shot and acted all round, but the action is only competently directed. The cinematography is more jarring and it's coupled with some frequently (and strangely) awful effects work, particularly on the explosion on show here. It's clear the writers really didn't know exactly how to make the Cybermen the intimidating foe they needed to be here, and they came across as more cannon fodder than anything else; little more than tin soldiers for the Doctor to push over. Thankfully, it was these emotional moments that were the focus, particularly on Bill. However, that said, I hope I wasn't the only one hoping for a bit more death here. I've been called out for going dark in group chats but, honestly, there was a surprising lack of stakes here or reason to care for the most part. The fact was that I never felt like any of the townspeople, Nardole, or a number of characters had a really chance of biting it here. Once again, the acting was on top form here. Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie deliver some of their best work here, especially the latter due to her situation, and Michelle Gomez and John Simm make for a great double act as the Master(s). It'll be sad to see Gomez go and it was great to see Simm return to play an embodiment of pure evil once again (although he was rather pointless in the grand scheme of things). One final thing I'll mention is Bill's ending. It was jarring to a point to see Heather return, but it does feel like a strong send-off from which the character may or may not return, as the character is brought full circle from where she started 11 weeks ago. All in all, "The Doctor Falls" was an emotional and strong finale to the series. Although it's action was lacking, it more than made up for it in it's performances, down moments, and production design for the most part. Oh, and the ending scene. An interesting set-up for what is sure to be an emotional farewell to Peter Capaldi's Time Lord.
Rating: 8/10
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