Doctor Who Series 10 Episodes 2-3 review - Smile/Thin Ice

Doctor who continues its 10 season in its current run, here are my thoughts on episodes 2-3

The guy who wrote this episode wrote In the Forest of the Night, which started out cr*p and got worse on subsequent viewings, not so much worse that I’m planning to review it, Diamanda Hagan did that just fine and I actually want to review a Davies episode next for a change.

Just wanted to put that on the table and say I’m actually very impressed with this episode. Look, the idea alone made me laugh, emoji is one of those things I want to die down, not disappear completely but not become so popular that there’s an emoji movie coming out. That’s insane and I hope Sony loses big time on it.

But the episode. The Doctor and Bill, with Nardole not in the episode and seemingly not in the next one either, land in one of the first Earth colonies from when the solar flare happened presumably. The colony base is made up of tiny robots, which use little emoji robots and stickers to communicate with humans. The colony seems perfect but there is a lack of a human presence, something the Doctor quickly ends up worried about.

His worries are soon confirmed when he discovers the prep team have been turned into compost. Including a sad farewell to whichever member of the Chandra family that is. Seriously, the actress in the opening sting is played by Mina Anwar, who played Gita, Rani’s mother, in the Sarah Jane Adventures.

This is a nice episode as the Doctor’s perspective on the situation keeps changing. He sees a perfect society, then a trap for humans, then sees the original ship and realises he cannot continue his present course of action.

OK, clichés do happen in this episode, upon colonists finding out what happened they the best thing to be to do is get their boom boom sticks and go shooty shooty. Guess they learned from the best

*sigh* I’m not making a Donald Trump political joke, Donald Trump is a political joke.

I’m going way too off topic in this review aren’t I?

It’s a nice, story driven episode with an interesting resolution but carries a few clichés and I still hate the overuse of emojis in modern times

Rating 8/10

It’s Victorian-ish era story and there’s no Jenny and Vastra or Strax to be found. You have no idea how much I’m grinning right now.

So, in this story, it’s 1814, the biggest ice festival in many years and there’s quite a crowd upon the thames, but something sinister lurks beneath the ice and what does it have to do with idiot human rich people.

One thing that’s different about Bill compared to many companions is she wasn’t exposed to death in her first episode, in fact this is the first episode anyone has been killed in front of her, she gives a natural reaction of being freaked out and puts a few questions to the Doctor about what a life with him entails. I like that he was honest, even if he tried to dance around the question a little.

There are some great bits of comedy, with a call-back to Martha in the Shakespeare code as Bill asks about the rules of being in the past, with the Doctor mocking someone who doesn’t exist called Pete.

Speaking of call-backs, the set-up for this episode reminds me of the Beast Below. But that episode featured not scary things and calling the Doctor a space whale. Even Moffatt isn’t that episode’s greatest fan. Fortunately, this episode does a few things better, first off making it set on earth to make things less complicated, making the system of the creature eating people less complicated and allowing more time for the episode to have well-rounded character work.

And there’s a Kill the Moon reference too. I could deduct a point out of spite because I hate that episode so much but there are a few differences, it’s not an ‘unintentional’ allegory for abortion and the Doctor does stand around and do something, he just makes sure it’s Bill’s decision what he does

Give that that much of the episode involves young children, I will say they are generally fine actors, not that their parts give them tonnes to work with but they’re good by usual Doctor Who standards.

OK, about the ending, my patience for the mystery box arc is already at its limit. Nardole needs to be in an episode and his existence justified, and hopefully the 3-parter that’s on its way will end this mystery box arc before it becomes a bore.

Rating 8.5/10