Doctor Who – Extremis Review

Spoiler warning, it probably is impossible to talk about this episode without giving a few spoilers. This episode is best watched without knowing what’s going to happen so please only read this review after watching the episode.

First off, Pearl Mackie once again was excellent as Bill Potts. Bill is a really likeable companion and she brings a great sense of excitement as she sees new things. But Pearl is also great at delivering the emotional beats that are necessary, there’s more to Bill than her one-liners.

Speaking of companions, I like Nardole. He’s been a good addition to the main cast and Matt Lucas brings a welcome dose of humour which is something that has been missing from the programme over the past couple of years. I also liked the revelation in this episode that River Song sent him to look after the Doctor. It’s nice to get a reminder that even though River has gone she certainly hasn’t been forgotten.

I think the plot of this episode can best be described as the Doctor Who version of The Matrix. But before we got to that twist this was an episode about a mysterious book that should not be seen. I liked the mystery aspect of Extremis, it was an intriguing concept which was interesting to watch unfold. I simultaneously wanted Bill and the Doctor to read the Veritas to find out what it was but also really didn’t want them to. I also really liked the twist when it turned out that everything we had been watching was actually a simulation and the Doctor was really sat outside the Vault all along. This is one of those episodes that will be good to re-watch once you know how it all ends.

Extremis has filled us in on what’s in the Vault. I was really hoping that the Vault was going to turn out to be a series long arc and so I was disappointed that we got a more or less full reveal in episode six. After Knock Knock it was not a surprise to learn that it was Missy lurking in the Vault but it was still interesting to learn the how and why. I really don’t like Missy but she wasn’t actually that irritating in this episode, the flashbacks to her where nicely used throughout the episode and I liked the way that they contrasted what was happening as the story unfolded.

Missy wasn’t actually the main villain for this week. Instead we got some zombie like creatures – I don’t know what they’re called yet but the BBC Doctor Who website is calling them the Monks. Their design kind of reminds me of the humanoid form of the Pyrovile’s from 2008’s The Fires of Pompeii. After the first few weeks lacked proper monsters these were interesting creatures to see. We don’t know much about them yet which is intriguing to watch. However they are clearly very powerful and they are planning a massive invasion of Earth.

I don’t know if it’s just because I’m out of the loop but I was surprised to find out that this episode leads into next week’s episode, I thought it was another standalone story. I actually really like the way that Oxygen, Extremis and The Pyramid at the End of the World will all link together. It reminds me of how back in 1975 The Arc In Space, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen all linked together. Each one can be viewed as a story in its own right but they all link together.

In conclusion, this was an interesting episode with an intriguing concept and finally some really cool monsters! Extremis also did a good job at tying up several dangling story threads whilst also setting up a second half. Once again Series 10 has given us another solid episode of Doctor Who!

Doctor Who – Knock Knock Review

I don’t think this week’s episode was the best, especially given how good the past few weeks have been, but it was good to see a story that gave us more of a glimpse into who Bill is. Also, warning you now but there’s some spoilers in this review.

From 1989’s Ghostlight, to 2007’s Blink, to 2013’s Hide, the haunted house that is actually being inhabited by aliens is a reoccurring story throughout Doctor Who. I think the choice to do this story trope with Bill’s search for student housing was an interesting one. I was expecting that to play out in a comedic way like 2010’s The Lodger but I think this episode actually had far more in common with Hide. The first part is a spooky story about a house where something weird is happening and then in the final part we find out that it’s actually not what we first thought and it is something more emotional.

Knock Knock had some very unnerving monsters. Not in the way that the Silence or the Weeping Angels are unnerving. Just it really made my skin crawl when we saw the space lice things swarming and crawling around. However, I’m still wanting a really big bad monster. But going by the next time trailer I might finally get the big bad monster as next week’s thing looks very similar to the Vashta Nerada.

Once again Bill was the star of the episode, Pearl Mackie once again delivered a great performance. I have a feeling that Bill Potts is going to end up right up there with Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler in the all-time best companion rankings. Bill keeps asking questions and seeing things in new and interesting ways. In this episode we also got to see how being with the Doctor has started to change her, much like when Rose Tyler returned home for the first time in Aliens of London. One of the problems with Amy Pond, Rory Williams and Clara Oswald was that we never really got too much of a glimpse into their lives away from the Tardis, and when we did it never felt that developed. Knock Knock gave Bill friends and showed her dealing with something instantly recognisable, student housing! And also it made me laugh when Black Magic by Little Mix was the song that came up on her phone, particularly as I’d been listening to it earlier!

I was wondering during the past week if Bill’s sexuality was going to ever be addressed again. So often in Sci-Fi/Fantasy when LGBT characters actually appear the writers will have a brief moment  then never mention their sexuality again – like Sulu in the most recent Star Trek film for example. However we had another reference to the fact that Bill is a lesbian in tonight’s episode.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I love that this series is partially set in and around a university. Having a companion who is a student is an obvious but great idea. Having the Doctor at a university is also an obvious but great idea. It’s just so entertaining to watch! Though maybe I’m biased as I am currently a student.

I was disappointed by the vault scene at the end of the episode. I was really hoping that the vault was going to be something that was only kept in the background but this week I felt it was a little too much. I think that it’s going to turn out that Missy is locked up in the vault and she’s going to break free from it soon.

Overall Doctor Who finally seems to be back to the standard it should be. Not every episode is an all-time great but this series is still proving to be definitely worth watching, long may it continue.