Doctor Who - The Eaters of Light Review

I’m honestly not really sure what I think of this episode which makes it a bit of a difficult one to review!

The Doctor, Bill and Nardole arrive in Scotland to find what happened to the missing Ninth Legion and of course there’s a monster on the loose which is why the Ninth Legion vanished. This series has given us a couple of historical episodes which is good to see again because historical episodes might not have the spectacle of space episodes but they can be just as interesting. The monster this week was spoken about more than we saw it. I think this was a wise choice as the glimpses we saw of it were not that scary but when it’s just spoken about as something that’s lurking in the shadows it suddenly becomes a much more interesting creature.

Bill was great once again. I think I’ve said this every week but week after week Bill has been one of the strongest parts of each episodes. Her academic curiosity kick-started this week’s adventure, the scene where she figured out how the TARDIS translates other languages was fun, and she showed just how competent she can be when she took charge of the Ninth legion. Once again this week her sexuality was referenced. I like the way it keeps being brought up every few episodes because it reminds us that it is an important part of who she is but at the same time it does not define her.

I like how the Doctor and Bill brought the Romans and the Picts together in order to start to resolve this week’s conflict. Communication is important in resolving issues and getting on with saving the world. I think possibly this episode had some of the strongest supporting characters that we’ve seen this series. The Ninth Legion for example actually felt like they were well rounded characters rather than just stereotypes of roman soldiers, though I struggled to believe that they were meant to be 18 and younger. However whilst I liked the part with the Picts and the Romans coming together I’m really not that impressed with the conclusion to this week’s episode. I understand what they were aiming for but to me it just felt rushed and left the episode on a somewhat unsatisfying note.

Also the part with Missy at the end just felt weird and tacked on at the end unnecessarily. This whole arc about Missy potentially reforming is just a bit weird because even if she does reform are we seriously meant to believe that the Master – one of the most persistent Doctor Who villains – has become good for good?

I think overall The Eaters of Light was a likeable episode with some good moments. However I honestly don’t think it was that strong an episode and I don’t think it was that memorable. I liked it but it could have been just a bit better.