Sunday 25 June 2017

Doctor Who Series 10 First Impressions: Episode 11 (World Enough And Time)

Holy shit. What a state of flux to be left in.


I'm seein' double! FOUR Masters!
By now I'm used to playing in a state of flux when it comes to these two-part episodes. I'm still casting my mind back to Nov. 2014 and Dark Water, when this was a new thing for me to write about. Since then we had an entire series worth of two parters, and more. Some turned out good, some turned out bad. Dark Water seems like a good comparison point to start with World Enough And Time. In a way, we're hitting a lot of those plot beats again. The death of a character. Cybermen and body horror. The end episode reveal of OH SHIT IT WAS THE MASTER ALL ALONG. Writing it out like that, it sounds like I should be infuriated at the episode for rehashing all this shit; much like I was when Lie Of The Land happened. I'm not, and that's probably because the rest of the episode glues together. This was a hell of an episode of television, despite one or two little gripes based on past experience and that state of flux we're left in before the other half drops. As of now it's in my top three... somewhere, but I don't know which one of my previous top three to bump off for it. I won't worry about that yet until we get to the series ranking in a week or two. For now... World Enough And Time.

Beginning at the beginning usually works, and I just want to say some words about that cold open. It's a shocker! The Doctor's regenerating all of a sudden and we don't know why! This could have been a game changer, an utter surprise that leaves us guessing about what happens next if not for the one little niggling fact that TOBY WHITHOUSE PULLED THIS SAME TRICK THREE WEEKS AGO AND LAUGHED AT US FOR FALLING FOR IT. Lie Of The Land is so fucking bad that it reaches into the future and tars a better episode. Now, granted, I trust Steven Moffat to have a better resolution to this regeneration than HA HA HA YOU FELL FOR IT SUCKERS... but the fact remains. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you ain't. I am in no way invested in this shit because the last time I did I got laughed at for it. More interesting, then, is the opening's brief flirtation with being Missy Who. This was teased in the trailer last week (and we'll speak more about that trailer at the ending) but it ended up being a very short part of the episode; only enough to get to our real story. Still, as an opening, it's stellar. From Missy rolling out saying "I'm Doctor Who" to calling Bill and Nardole "Exposition and Comic Relief" to her insistence that Doctor Who is actually his real name and the episode continuing to bring it up... it's all great. Of course, things go south. There's a blue man ready to shoot Bill for being human, and the Doctor has to come out and give his big inspiring speech to save her life. He promised he'd look after her, and that he is. He's the Doctor and he saves people, and his speeches always--


Bang.


Missy Who was a cute idea that could have sustained itself for an episode, I'll grant. It being substituted for an extended plot featuring Bill stuck at the back end of the mystery colony ship is fine, because the replacement narrative is just as interesting. Brought back from having a literal hole shot in her via a mysterious chest unit, Bill's stuck in a creepy hospital with all sorts of bandaged folks using speech to text to say shit like PAIN and KILL ME. Yeah, there's time shenanigans on the go here since the ship is close to a black hole, so time moves faster for those on the bottom decks... Bill included. This is fast becoming a plot summary overview, but I'm just going to roll with it. The bulk of the episode is spent down here with Bill and her new friend, Razor, and it works. We know Bill has spent a lot of time down there while the Doctor takes all of 10 minutes to explain the plot on the upper decks... but how much? It's at least a year, if not more... and the only friend she has is the caretaker, Razor. Razor's a really fun guy with a lot of good lines, but more on him in a moment. Hey, here's a fun fact! Star Trek also had an episode called "World Enough And Time" that was supposed to be made in the 70's but eventually got made in 2007 as a web show... thing. It also has weird time shenanigans in it! This is also the time where I mention that I've been getting into Star Trek. And that, since Smile, the channel I watch Doctor Who on has been airing the Star Trek movies weekly before the show. I think I may have made some sort of fusion singularity.


And then come the revelations once the Doctor and pals get down below. Razor betrays Bill and gets her in the hands of the doctors to prep for some new "conversion" process. Razor then meets up with Missy and has a chat and... SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS! IT'S HER PREVIOUS INCARNATION! John Simm is back, a fact we've known since the Series 10 trailer. If that wasn't enough, more suspicions are confirmed. The Mondasian Cybermen. The original foes who beat the Doctor in 1966. A fifty year-old monster design, brought back. This we knew as well... both in the Series 10 trailer and last week's. Both gave the surprise away, despite the episode building to them as a clear pair of OH SHIT moments. But then, the third OH SHIT moment remained unspoiled. Bill Potts, our cool sci-fi savvy pal who's fun to be with, has been cyber-converted. This is very heartbreaking and quite unfortunate. Full judgment will be reserved until the other shoe drops and we're out of flux, of course. This could be undone. If it is not undone, then we have killed off the gay black woman companion. Way back in Hell Bent, I said this about Clara's death and revival.

We all wish for better companion exits, but not all of them can go out like this. I accept that. But, every once in a while, can't we have a little fun? We can't do this all the time, but we are owed. Just this once, we are owed our treat of something better.

I change my mind a bit. This is Doctor Who. This is the show that, in the Moffat era, is all about finding the impossible and doing it and somehow making just about everything work out in the end. Not like this. If Bill's cyber-conversion is undone, many will no doubt complain about Moffat pulling more shit out of his ass. That, to me, defines the Moffat era. What cynics call "pulling shit out his ass" I call "uncompromised hope in the face of despair". I don't want the gay black woman companion to die because that's a bit of a trend in fiction and it, frankly, is not cool. This is and still will be a fantastic episode despite that, but a spade's a spade and killing off your lesbians is overdone and not cool. I accepted Clara's death in stride, and was surprised with something better. I will spend my time in this state of flux hoping for something better. Hoping for Bill's happy ending. Despite the Cybermen, despite that old 60's Cyberman voice saying I AM BILL POTTS, despite two incarnations of the Doctor's original dark mirror, I have hope that it will all be okay. I put my faith in our hero Time Lord.

Help me, Doctor Who. You're my only hope.

Next time: One shall stand. One shall fall.

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