12.35: The Lie of the Land
In which the Doctor doesn’t regenerate – yet.
Broadcast: June 2017
Watched: May 2022
“Why have you got a woman locked in a vault? Because even I think that’s weird, and I’ve been attacked by a puddle.”
It’s… fine. The issue is, after the last two episodes it sort of needs to be better than fine, it takes a really interesting set up and then just sinks slowly, gradually, into fine.
As with a lot of iffy stories around this time, the issue is the uncertain tone. The first few minutes are amazing: the idea that the monks have inserted themselves into history is fascinating; Capaldi is really good at the sinister broadcasts; Bill imagining talking to her real mum is lovely and sad. When Bill finally gets to the Doctor, the moment he calls for the guards is horrible. “That was a coded message... If I’d played along, she’d have known that I was tricking you.” It’s genuinely heartstopping.
But then... Bill losing it and shooting the Doctor isn’t quite convincing (also, none of the guards react?). The fake out regeneration is a bit weird (other than the audience at home, who’s he meant to be tricking?). Then all of a sudden it’s meant to be funny, and Bill’s not meant to get mad for the absolute nightmare they just put her through.
This tonal uncertainty infects the rest of the episode. Later on, in the moment when one of their soldiers turns on them because the device meant to fight the propaganda breaks down, it feels like going to be dramatic... but it’s immediately undercut by Nardole just pinching him into unconsciousness and being Nardole at them. And then they technobabble their way out of it, with some help from a replay of the bit of Rings of Akhaten that didn’t work properly the first time round either.
All of which means that the genuinely interesting ideas – the long occupation; the way it happens through ideology, rather than violence; the rewriting of history – don’t get room to breathe. And even the dead mum monologues start to feel like a slightly awkward trick to get around plotting issues: the idea that it’s the power of Bill’s love for her mum which saves the world feels like it should click thematically, but actually it’s exactly as cringey as it sounds.
It’s a shame, really, because it’s only here where it becomes clear what this trilogy meant to be about – the monks need to be worshipped, want the credit for everything, and in Extremis the religious and scientific explanations for the world are identical (“Higher beings did it”). It’s meant to be a Doctor Who story about religion. But they can’t stick the landing.
Moffat had a big personal tragedy in the middle of this, of course, so it’s a miracle it works as well as it does, but still, it’s a pity. They never quite deliver on what Extremis sets up.
Other thoughts:
Amazing title, this week.
The psychic signal and the giant statues... is there a Last of the Time Lords inversion thing going on here? (It was the episode’s 10th anniversary, the Doctor literally says its name, and we get the Tennant incidental music.)
Oooh, Magpie Electricals is in the background again, for some reason.
Where’s Bill’s foster mum? Is she a memory criminal?
“I’ve had adventures too. My whole life doesn’t revolve around you, you know” – oh god Big Finish is canon. Still, Missy lying on the piano. Also playing The Entertainer after saying the Doctor needs to kill Bill. Cool.
Some good bits: Missy being apparently genuinely upset about discovering her capacity for guilt is surprisingly affecting. I also enjoyed the return of Nardole’s girly scream, and the fact he had an imaginary friend who ran away. The pyramid taking off is kind of cool.
Hang on, Bill did have “an agenda AND an ulterior motive” – so why did her motive get past the monks when fear and strategy did not? Come to that – why can’t the Doctor just take Bill away in the TARDIS? Won’t that also break the psychic link?
“It’s like a turning point,” Bill says. It does feel weirdly like this should be the finale of the first of the two Bill seasons.