Doctor Who: Series 10, Episode 3 – “Thin Ice” (2017)

This episode was written by Sarah Dollard, who penned last season’s “Face the Raven,” and the ending of that episode notwithstanding – which I’m sure Moffat wrote anyway, considering its season arc relevance and general Moffatness – I enjoyed it a fair amount.  As such, I was looking forward to seeing her work again, and I’d say delivered quite handily this year.

The TARDIS materializes on the frozen Thames just in time for the 1814 Frost Fair.  The Doctor and Bill get in on the festivities, but it’s only a matter of time before things get all crazy and sci-fi.  There are mysterious lights beneath the ice that appear to be sucking people under, and our heroes quickly discover a beastie to go with them.  In this case, though, the real monster may not be the creature below the surface.

This being Bill’s first trip to the past, it’s only natural that they bring up her race in reference to time traveling.  Overall, they handle it decently, I think.  The view they take is rather too sanguine for the period – of course the baddie is the only person who’s openly racist to her, although it comes with a great observation by the Doctor and Bill – but I think they make up for it by emphasizing how non-homogenous Regency London was.  Even if the circumstances are pretty sugarcoated, I appreciate the Doctor acknowledging that history is a lot more diverse than history books would have you believe.

As for the story, I’d say it’s a good one all-around.  There’s some scariness, an interesting mystery, some fine laughs, and what I think are probably the most well-defined one-shot characters of the season so far – for all that I’ve sincerely loved the last two episodes, they are a bit thin on characters other than the Doctor and Bill.  As usual, however, the interactions between Bill and the Doctor are the real draw.

There have been many episodes like this one, the episode in which it gets seriously real for the companion where the Doctor is concerned.  Up until this point, there’s naturally been danger and high stakes and huge moments, but this is where they start to realize that running with the Doctor can end up being a dark road to take, and the Doctor himself, while still the madcap adventurer they’ve come to know, has also seen and done a lot of hard things over the course of his very long life.

Seeing this play out between Bill and the Doctor feels raw and real, possibly my favorite variation on this theme since “The Fires of Pompeii.”  Bill is horrified when she starts to understand just what this life entails, and although the Doctor makes no apologies for what he does, he also doesn’t pretend it’s easy.  Over the course of the episode, we see Bill coming to terms with a lot, and I think she comes out on the other side with a much fuller picture of who the Doctor is.  Not as shiny as she’d initially thought, perhaps, but still a good man doing his best in a universe that doesn’t often give him a break.

I’ll pull out this line again from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:  “Who said anything about safe?  ‘Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.”  I think Bill gets that, and it’s why I think she and the Doctor continue to be good for each other.