Doctor Who series 10 episodes 6-7 review - Extremis/The Pyramid at the End of the World

We continue our look at Doctor Who with a surprising dip in quality, I won't lie. Here are my Ravings

OK, we’re beginning the 3-parter of the series and… Well, it was kinda interesting

Let me start with the biggest problem I had with this episode. Why did they choose to tell is in this episode that Missy was in the vault? It had nothing to do with the plot. Sure, they put in some vague repetitive dialogue and explains Nardole’s role in things but the truth is neither of these were important enough to justify why this episode had to be the one that explained sh*t. The Vault has nothing to do with the episode.

Also, the workaround the Doctor’s blindness – not the taken from the future stuff but the sonic sunglasses returning to provide analysis of the environment is a little beyond my tolerance for stupid. If you can’t see, you can’t see, it doesn’t matter if it’s a projected image and the sonic sunglasses weren’t specifically designed to help a blind man see again.

OK, let’s get to the actual plot of the episode, The Doctor gets a message from the pope, a piece of text known as the Veritas. Anyone who reads it ends up ‘killing themselves’ and it’s up to the Doctor and team to investigate.

Look, I know a lot of people really liked this episode, I think it looks good, it’s got great atmosphere, some of the jokes are funny, I guess and I still like Bill.

OK, this is a Moffat dumb episode, people. You know, the kind that thinks it’s smart but think about it for 2 seconds and everything falls apart. OK, so the Doctor is in the Vatican, desperately trying to find a way to read the Veritas before anyone else dies, there’s portals that lead into other places and some vague generic aliens. The Doctor struggles to cope with being blind, Bill struggles to get a moments piece and really needs answers and… and it turns out to be a simulation by aliens intent on invading.

So the aliens have managed to simulate Earth’s history, so my first question, how do they know about the Doctor and more importantly, how did they know about him being blind. Also, how come they were surprised when he said he was blind? It takes away a lot from this episode to discover it’s a simulation, all the tension is gone, even if there might be real consequences down the line.

Beyond that, these aliens studied all of Earth’s history to invade Earth, why? Learning more about us as a species is great but you’ll have to study data covering millenia, there must be simpler ways of finding out about humans. Also, if it is a simulation why does the Veritas, which essentially tells people that they’re simulations, exist and why did it take so long for a move to be made?

Also, seriously, what was the point of revealing Missy being in the vault in this much detail, also how did the Doctor from the simulation know, the events happened on another planet. Also, how did he have River Song’s diary?

Visually interesting and not half as bad as some of Moffat’s other works but this episode does have a sh*t story to it. But it’s a bump in the road, I hope, as this trilogy of episodes continues.

Rating 4/10

Well, the last episode was a piece of sh*t and this time Moffat’s joined by the guy who wrote Kill the Moon and no I’m never getting over that, ever. How did they do?

Honestly, it’s a better episode, though not a perfect one.

A pyramid shows up out of nowhere in a ground monitored by 3 rival armies. As President of the Planet (*sigh*) the Doctor is taken to investigate. It’s the monk aliens they still haven’t bothered giving an actual name for. They warn the soldiers the world is ending soon but won’t reveal how, only that they can stop it only if they give their consent.

You see these aliens have an interesting plan, they use their simulation to predict a vulnerable moment in Earth’s history, land a ship to use as a distraction, keeping military attention and keeping the eyes away from the potential danger. Warn the soldiers about the end of the world and offer to end it but only if they give their consent and see it as a sacrifice, because a sacrifice is made out of love, and they want the world to love them. If it’s made for more strategic reasons, the consent is impure and they’re dead.

As many of the militants consider the deal, it’s up to the Doctor to find out what’s really causing the end of the world and stop it, but will his lack of sight prove his undoing. Yes, but we’ll get to that.

OK, let’s start with the simulation being a load of sh*t so this plan is already flawed but for the sake of judging this fairly, let’s overlook that extremely contrived sh*t from the last episode. Trust me, it’s not easy.

Nardole does… really next to nothing in this episode, again. It’s almost like he’s only here to have a famous actor in the group, oh wait, that’s exactly why he’s here! Get him more involved, he’s more the Doctor’s puppet and later he’s dying of the virus, yeah, I’m sure that’s gonna last. His comic relief just isn’t all that funny

Now Bill I think has an interesting role here, she has to speak for the Doctor after the aliens have killed all the generals who were acting out of strategy. The Doctor has worked out what’s going to destroy the earth, which we’ve been clued into thanks a side-story about the lab, someone idiotically leaving their bag in the door to prop it open, bad eyesight, decimal points being wrong, safety protocols being completely no-existent etc, intercut between the main story.

The Doctor does put a stop to it, but there’s a twist and it plays to the Doctor’s blindness. Bill makes a decision that by the look of the next episode will alter the course of history.

It’s a good episode, but not a perfect one, dragged down a little by the chains of the previous episode but at least there were actual stakes in this one. Of course, I’m taking ½ a point off because Peter Harness wrote Kill the Moon, so let’s get to the final score

Rating 7/10