Doctor Who: The Pyramid at the End of the World.

Two episodes of build up….this better have a good ending.

So this episode stocks more mystery on the monks and where they come from. Apparently, their form is determined by those viewing them and they can’t do anything unless invited to do so.

Again, it’s getting a bit political with the idea of giving away your freedom for fear of the alternative narrative given to you by those asking for it.

This episode is the product of a collaboration between Steven Moffatt and Peter Harness, with the influence of both coming through.

It focuses on an otherwise mundane task leading to the end of world, as the dad from My Parents are Aliens is so hungover that he makes a super-virus instead of a crop control gas.

So yeah “don’t drink and science” is the overall message of this episode.

I do like that the ironic twist is that it’s actually the Doctor’s actions that end up damning the world to monk control. Him being trapped in the exploding lab was the only reason that Bill surrendered to them in the end.  It’s a god switch up, especially as it follows the monk’s dooms day clock reversing, leading us to think that the treat has been eliminated.

Bill does come across as a bit selfish, being legitimately willing to sacrifice the world to save one man. But I do think that this will feed into the overall story arc. There have been hints that she (and her late mother) are more than they seems and are connected to Doctor in some other way. Since Missy is returning proper next week, it’s probably that the Bill mystery is far more important than the vault arc.

On that point, it could still be that Missy is behind the whole monk plot. By the looks of the trailer, agreeing to their help seems to have created a parallel version of Earth.

The Executioners made clear that Missy’s prison cell (the vault) is shielded from everything including time, so she’d presumably be unaffected by changes to the time line. She also mentions that someone would have had to open the door for the monks to get to Earth.  This could easily have been the Master.

But getting back to this episode, it’s good, if a little slow in places. It sets up the stakes well…again. So yeah…not bad.

Doctor Who: Extremis

So…Agents of Shield already did this and Rick and Morty did it too…

This episode’s purpose is to set up the stakes for the next one and to give the reveal that it’s Missy in the vault. Why is the reveal always Missy?

Ok, it’s possible that this is a red herring and the Doctor let her go and imprisoned something else in there, but it’s pretty annoying to think that the massive reveal we’ve been working up to is the villain who’s been featured in all the trailers.

But anyway the episode. Basically, we get to the end of this episode and see that the whole thing has been the Doctor has been watching a simulation of the Earth that’s so advanced that the subroutines (people) in it have become sentient.

It’s a good idea but like I said, Agents of Shield already did it.

It’s pretty well handled with hints throughout. In the flashback scene it’s mentioned that Time Lords are mysterious and hard to find. Then when the Pope turns up the present, the TARDIS won’t translate Italian into English. This is presumably because aliens responsible for the simulation aren’t familiar with it and don’t know the full extent of it’s abilities.

It plays out quite well, leaving us with a good cliffhanger for the next episode.

The Doctor now seems to admit that he’s probably going to need Missy’s help to stop the invading aliens, which may be Missy’s opportunity to prove what she implied when begging for her life. That whatever else she is; first and foremost she is the Doctor’s friend…or it could be something else.

Perhaps The Master is behind the whole thing, maybe our real series reveal is going to be that Missy is the product of resurrection rather than regeneration and that the Simm master survived The End of Time. This could all be part of their plan; immobilize the Doctor in one location, by making him think he’s already caught the greatest threat the universe and locked in vault. Meanwhile, the Master is free to do whatever he likes unchallenged. Then the Doctor picks up a crippling injury making the planet he’s on a far easier target, so the Master capitilises on the opportunity and puts together an invasion designed to secure the release of the other him (who is a her) to double up on their universe dominating capacity.

Or there is an alternative theory that I quite like:

Simm isn’t playing the Master. Part of Capaldi’s original arc was figuring out why he had the face of a man he had met before. It’s also been mentioned that the Doctor’s death scene will happen before the Christmas special.

So assuming Missy continues her arc of proving to the Doctor that he’s not at all different from her (which has already kind of been proven by the events of Hell Bent) maybe the Doctor will take one of her faces as a reminder. Maybe John Simm is the new Doctor.

Probably not going to happen, but it’d be a nice twist.

Overall this episode is good, it has some pacing issues, but the story is solid and cliffhanger is pretty good.