@thane15 Deep thoughts as always Puro.  But if she takes the Doctor’s free will, doesn’t that make her no better than the Doctor was when he planned to mind wipe Clara, or later Bill herself, for their own good, when he felt there was no choice?  Hmm.

@countscarlioni Well, the clocks were moving backwards again… but you do have a point that either way the Monks were still dangerous.  Still, I think I’d accept the Doctor’s loss and fight them myself rather than sell out everybody…

@tardigrade  Oh, I agree with you that there were just too many issues with the script and story in this one for it to be satisfying.  The actors can only do so much, though with Capaldi that’s quite a bit!  I think you’re also onto something about budget issues — some of the special effects were quite poor (especially the withering pl…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave  If they can pull all of this together in a truly satisfying way it will make up for a lot.  If they can’t though, the last four episodes will have a lot of heavy lifting to do — especially with regards to Bill’s reputation.

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

@thane15  Hmm, I can’t say I thought the music was subtle, but then the whole episode was a doom-n-gloom buildup, and again I knew it was going to have an unhappy ending, so that affects things.  😉

Actually, I think a big problem with this episode was that it tipped its hand to the real crisis (the lab) way too quickly.  It would have been mo…[Read more]

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

(hmmm)  Looking over all these posts here and elsewhere, would it be safe to say that this is so far the most-poorly-received episode so far in Series 10?  Up to now I think “Smile” sort of had that reputation for being a bit thin, and “Extremis” was pretty controversial, but the sheer amount of complaints coming down on the logic and common s…[Read more]

I really enjoyed “Extremis”, but I think this was a big comedown from that thanks mostly to the saggy, padded, illogical script, which didn’t hang together in terms of the story or the characters’ decisions, which this thread has had a lot of thoughtful commentary on (positive and negative, I must stress).  I’m glad I watched it but I was…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

Yeah, I really would not be surprised to have an ending like that of “Last of the Time Lords” or “Wedding of River Song” (especially the latter, given all the conceptual beats it’s nicking) next week, or another offbeat reveal that allows the show to get away with a world-gone-mad and crazy!Doctor for a week.  The fallout from a situation like…[Read more]

@mirime  Oh, I agree that Bill felt some (unneeded) guilt over the Doctor’s blindness.  And yes, there’s some sense to figuring he was the last best hope for Earth, though the last line and the Next Time trailer suggest she’ll be disappointed.

But that brings up a big problem with the Monks — because they’re so powerful and all-seeing, the D…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

Awesome news everyone!  Rachel Talalay has been confirmed as directing this year’s Christmas special in addition to the season finale “World Enough and Time”/”The Doctor Falls”!

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

Looking elsewhere, this episode looks likely to go down as the “Kill the Moon” of Series 10 in the fandom — a seriously contrived storyline with a lot of bad science, and then Bill Potts had to go and do that thing.  Yeah, she’s plummeting in the companion popularity polls already.

(sigh)  I think the intent with her choice was akin to the D…[Read more]

(weep)  Poor, poor Doctor.  His pride went before a fall — but as in “Oxygen”, he was willing to accept the consequences.

But Bill couldn’t, and as the AVClub review points out, she made a “never give up” decision by saving the Doctor’s life despite the terrible fate that will be revealed in next week’s episode.  That Next Time trailer…(sob)

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...