Love enslaves the day as decomposing despots educate unelected representatives on the merits of consent
Doc joins the world’s most depressing bookclub, and where are these scientists getting their dynamite?!
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Doc is being given a tour of Middle Earth, sorry, the Fatality Index’s latest in termination tech, an orgy of overkill which even a Time Lord’s peskily persistent cells can’t regenerate around. Right on cue, Missy is brought out for the execution, but whose two hearts and three brainstems are in for the shock of their many lives?
Seems unlikely it’s the Doc, because in the present day when he’s not haunting the Vault in the dark, opening just any old enigmatic spam emails sent to his specs and downloading their attachments willy-nilly, he appears to be lurking in his favourite unlit lecture theatre like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
But some Top Trumps cardinals and Il Papa himself have a freshly translated heretical text for Doc’s eyes only that they’re all too terrified to read: the Veritas! Restored to comprehensibility at the expense of all who receive its soul-destroying message. Is the Doctor’s sequence of randomly generated numbers finally up?
Hi folks
Hmm, so Doctor Who does we’re living in a simulation trope. Well, this one actually works fairly well even if it plays a fine balance between setting up the threat for the next few episodes and the undermining of the threat in this one. Still, quite a dark one when you think about especially the drunk scientists with the dynamite and Nardole coming to the crushing realisation of what’s going on.
The Doctor is still blind after the events of the previous episode (pin) and trying to hide that he is now blind which I like as the Doctor doesn’t like admitting that a) he got things wrong and b) he’s hurting. I like that even a ‘shadow’ of the Doctor is still Doctor-y enough to think of a plan. Also the Monks’ cybersecurity is quite poor isn’t it? Perhaps they forgot to turn on the firewall.
But let’s talk about the Monks. Creepy with their wizened look though they do actually remind me of the stone people from Fires of Pompeii. They work quite well as the zombie-like monsters that scare you in your dreams, well that’s one way of describing what’s going on.
Pin: when was the simulation created? Just after the events of Oxygen? If before, the simulation would have had to have predicted that the Doctor was going to lose his sight. Hmm.
A quite strong ep that stands up on rewatch (something I was worried about) 4.1/5
Cheers
Kieren
Hey WhoBackWhen!
After a couple weeks away I’m back to ROCK my review of Extremis. This was such a unique concept for an episode. It carries over directly from the previous adventure with The Doctor still being blind and leads to some really great moments, especially between him and Nardole. This is Nardole’s best episode so far. He gets to be funny as well as show that he’s not just a comic relief. He’s very stern with both Bill and The Doctor while remaining charming the whole time.
The episode gets to be funny, with moments like The Pope showing up in Bill’s bedroom (gotta love that Catholic guilt) but it has its truly disturbing moments as well, such as the shadow test in Cern, which was done with such intensity it’s genuinely upsetting every time I watch it. The idea of a simulated test invasion is really clever and executed so well and you don’t see the twist coming until Nardole starts disappearing. I also love any episode with Missy and seeing The Doctor freak out the executioner with his kill count was fantastic. Missy being alive in the vault sets up great stuff for this season.
Overall I give this episode a solid 4.1 out of 5 sets of finally useful sonic sunglasses. This was a really good set-up episode. Too bad the rest of the storyline doesn’t live up to this one, but that’s a review for another day. Until next time, ROCK ON!
-Eddie Rock
@TheEddieRock
Things I liked:
Beefs:
Summary: Wooooooow. Mind. Blown. Plus Missy. What more could we want (answer: a Seventh Doctor cameo)
Rating: 4.9/5 looney suicidal people who wish they’d read some Mills and Boon instead.
Hey Michael,
So sorry — we had already recorded our episode when your mini came in. Holy Moly, what a rating! Bravo, Sir!
What would Mario do, were he to learn that he was part of a simulation? Hmm, I’m thinking it would involve shrooms and wanton abandon, but it’s a conundrum that bears revisiting in a future ep.
Thanks for the excellent mini and for being such a spiffing chap!
L