Today
we’re looking at Bill’s story in the last two episodes of the season, “World
Enough and Time” and “The Doctor Falls.”
All sorts of massive spoilers (I’m including some spoilers for “The
Pilot,” “The Girl Who Waited,” and “Asylum of the Daleks” as well.)
I think
my biggest reassurance about Bill’s fate here was that she “dies” so early into
“World Enough and Time.” I have definite
feelings about Moffat’s penchant for companion deaths (more on that another day,)
and you knew something bad was gonna happen with the “don’t let me die or anything” anvils falling out of
Bill’s mouth, but I clung to the belief that Moffat wouldn’t kill her so early
on in the story, so there had to be hope for saving her. Certainly this is the most drawn-out would-be
companion death on the show in terms of in-show time – it’s at least a
different angle to go in, with Bill temporarily (ten years! geez) sustained by the installed Cyberparts,
not getting the full conversion until the episode’s cliffhanger, and even then
retaining control of her mind through “The Doctor Falls.” It’s more of a slow, almost nagging specter
of death in the first half and strong body horror in the second half. Of Moffat’s companion deaths and “deaths,”
anyway, I’d say this was the most well-done.
That
being said, as well-executed as it is, it’s also derivative of, not one, but two stories from recent years. “World Enough and Time,” with the
time-dilated ship, plays on the same concept as “The Girl Who Waited,” with
Bill stuck in the faster-moving end of the ship for ten years, just sort of
living on hold until the Doctor can make it down to her. Then, with “The Doctor Falls,” and Bill’s
slow, sinking realization that she’s a Cybermen, we’re treated to a retread of
the device used with Oswin in “Asylum of the Daleks.” In both cases, we have a young woman who’s
been converted into a nightmare creature inside metal casing, but her mental
specialness(?) shields her from that fact, keeping her personality/autonomy
while being unaware of what she’s become.
Despite
the repetitiveness, it’s rough. When Bill first wakes up in the barn and that
lady is being so wary of her, I quickly twigged to what was going on, and I
murmured, “She doesn’t know…” And my
heart broke for her. Pearl Mackie is phenomenal in this
story. You really feel her horror and
grief as she realizes she’s a Cyberman, that she’s still technically alive but
will spend the rest of her existence unable to connect with people because
they’ll be terrified of her. The loss of
her old life, her desperate clinging hope that the Doctor can still fix this,
her anger when she finds out that he can’t – it’s all so horrible and tragic.
Then we
get the ending, with girlfriend ex machina Heather manifesting out of nowhere,
not only getting Bill and the Doctor back to the TARDIS, but also neatly
handwaving away Bill’s Cyberness with an “nbd” attitude. The two ladies with godlike powers from
sentient engine oil (about what other show could you have cause to write that
sentence?) then set off for a tour of time and space, only without the
inconvenience of having to pilot a time/space machine. Yes, it’s absolutely ridiculous – the Heather
save feels pulled completely out of nowhere, I hate it when endings skate over
Giant! World-Shattering! Consequences!
like it’s surprised they ever mattered, and it speaks to Moffat’s
tendencies to want both utter extremes for his characters at the same time (I
had a similar sense with Clara’s ending, though that one bugs me a lot more.)
However,
for a few important reasons, I’ll take it.
First, there’s the not-quite-finality of Bill’s exit. The BBC hasn’t quite announced whether Bill
is really gone for good, and given that the Ponds and Clara before had tons of
goodbyes before they actually departed, I have my fingers crossed that Bill will
be back (although her new godlike powers would require some awkward
storytelling to keep her from solving every episode’s problem in two
minutes.) And second, most importantly
of all, I was willing to take any
ending that didn’t leave Bill in a Cyberbody.
Aware but trapped? Absorbed into
the programming? Dying in battle, even
if valiantly? No way no how did I want
any of that for Bill – too horrible, too ugly.
So, I’ll accept the ridiculous sparkly-shiny-hand-wavy ending for Bill’s
sake, because she couldn’t go out like that.
She just couldn’t.
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