I wouldn’t
go so far as to call this episode a dud or a misfire, but it’s my least
favorite of the season to date. While it’s
nowhere near what I consider the low points of the Twelfth Doctor era – “The Caretaker” and “Sleep No More,” for those who are keeping score – it throws
several intriguing ideas in a blender, and they don’t quite work coherently
together (a few spoilers for this episode, as well as the end of “Oxygen.”)
The
Doctor is still dealing with the effects of what happened last week (read: his not-so-temporary-after-all blindness)
and, because people on TV always have to make matters harder for themselves,
has decided to try and hide it from Bill.
With the help of Nardole and the apparently-resurrected sonic
sunglasses, he’s attempting to make like he can see, easier said than done when
he’s called upon by the Vatican to read an ancient, secret text that has driven
all its translators to suicide. The
Doctor, Bill, Nardole set off to get their hands on the dangerous Veritas text, but between all the creepy
robed monsters and mysterious portals of light, they quickly realize that not
everything is as it appears.
This is
probably the biggest “arc” episode so far this season, which is a few points
against it right there, because each new Who
showrunner’s collection of season arcs has had diminishing returns for me. As far as Twelve’s arcs go, the stuff going
on here strikes me as more interesting than “who is Missy?” in series 8 or “what is the Hybrid?” (ugh) in series 9, but at this point, I don’t have a lot of
confidence that it will resolve in a satisfactory way when all is said and
done. That said, I am impressed that
this episode reveals a great deal
about the whole thing with the vault and adds a new angle to the season arc
rather than teasing the same mystery episode after episode.
When it
comes to the story itself, it’s a mixed bag.
I love the concept of deadly texts that ruin the lives of everyone who
read them, and the secrets revealed by the Veritas
are fairly cool. But it gets kind of
muddied in the middle, there’s a bit too much going on in general, and although
it’s clearly setting up for a bigger showdown later on, the episode on its own
trails off to a fairly uninspired ending that smells faintly of Deus ex machina.
And while
I am intrigued by the idea of the Doctor dealing with more long-term fallout of
his reckless decisions, I don’t really like him being blind. He has enough high-tech cheats that he can
pass himself off semi-decently as a sighted person, so it only slows him down
moderately – though you wouldn’t know it from his dramatic shows of even
greater recklessness thrown around for shockingly little benefit. I dunno.
I think there’s a way you could do the Doctor being blind for a handful
of episodes, finding inventive ways to “see” and bluffing to his enemies so
they don’t think he’s vulnerable.
However, by hiding it from Bill, it’s become more of an interpersonal
drama. For now, the Doctor is tragically
“putting on a brave face,” only letting a very select someone in on his worry
and misery, and Bill is obviously going to be upset when it inevitably comes
out and she realizes how long he kept it from her. And the Twelve-Bill dynamic has been so fun and refreshing this season, and
Twelve has seemed just about the happiest he’s been since we met him (despite
having cabin fever from being stuck on Earth.)
I don’t appreciate anything that gets in the way of that.
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