Fear is temporary. Love is slavery." The title of this episode promises a grand display. Indeed, the end of the world is at hand, but not as we'd expect it. Following last week's mind-bending work from Steven Moffat, this time he joins forces with Peter Harness to write a far more straightforward storyline, but also something intriguing. Here, we have a traditional alien invasion for Doctor Who, but one that is instigated far differently from the usual attack and defend. Here, we have the interesting race, known simply as the Monks, who wish to have consent to take over the planet. It's an original idea, and one that plays out with a nice simplicity.
Here, the running joke with Bill's girlfriend, Penny, continues thanks to some wonderful comedy involving the abrupt arrival of the UN Secretary General. This is a stunning start to the story as it shows how widespread the threat is, promising to have far-reaching consequences. Returning to Turmezistan is also a great idea, allowing the viewers to revisit this neutral country once again, since the last time when it used during the Zygon Invasion. Thanks to some beautiful visual effects, and great work from director Daniel Nettheim, the aesthetic of the shots are mesmerising to behold, especially that landscape view of the pyramid, standing tall in the centre of the desert. We even have some accompanying music that resembles Bond to settle the right atmosphere. I've criticised Harness' work in the past for being too scientifically-innacurate to be taken seriously, but in this episode he's toned things right down, and even made a slight quip against his previous work thanks to a line by the Doctor - "as dead as the moon". The writers have clearly thought a lot about the origin of this Doomsday Clock and how two separate events, linked to two combined characters causes that clock to move forwards. As Erica accidentally breaks her glasses and Douglas has a heavy night out, both factors are the building blocks for a near-pandemic scenario in which a contagious bacteria is grown inside a research laboratory, and thereby notifying the monks of Earth's impending demise. As for the resolution, the science of sterilisation may be simple, but the idea around it is sound, and it even increases the threat levels to maximum in an episode that goes from being slow and calculating to fast and furious. Jokes aside, the political aspect of the episode is less complex, is unfortunately let down by stereotypical roles for three military leader representing the US, China and Russia. But, despite their naive decision that countermand the Doctor's, the idea of the monks and their power to take over the world and the lives of Humans simply by receiving consent is an intriguing one, and I'm excited to find out exactly what the process is of taking over the world. It's a type of invasion that we haven't really seen before (and for Doctor who that's saying something). This lack of interesting characters also meant that we had to rely on our three heroes, but with the Doctor, Bill and Nardole that's not very difficult. Each shared the spotlight this time around, with Pearl Mackie giving us her best performance yet, as Bill makes a fateful decision to hand over the Earth to the monks to save the Doctor. This is a massive twist that I was not expecting, and it does mean that (looking ahead to next week), that there are severe consequences. Time will tell what these are, but the episode tells an enlightening story that gives us another taste of the Monks and their unrivalled power. Apart from some political missteps, I'd call this a successful Who story that neatly balances the old and new style of the series. That cliffhanger is also a corker, and I'm intrigued to see how Nardole will survive his encounter with the bacteria and how Earth will survive dominion under the Monks. 8/10
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