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(Source: BBC America)

Doctor Who once again takes on the mantle of the President of Earth to take on the monks from Extremis. The Doctor is still blind from Oxygen and keeping it a secret from Bill. He’s also not keen on telling the UN or the generals in charge of the armies of the US, China and Russia either. With only Nardole and his sonic shades to guide him, he’s bluffing through another end of the world crisis.

The proverbial pyramid is just like the TARDIS. It’s a traveling craft disguised to look like something else. The monks there know the Doctor already. Their objective is simple, show the humanity their future and offer their help, in exchange for unconditional surrender – what they call true consent.

The thing that nobody seems to get, except Bill of course, is that you have to do it for love. Not for fear, not for strategic convenience, but for love. It’s tacky, it’s cheesy but it kinda works.

The way it goes down is kinda telegraphed early. It all seems to come down to the Doctor as well as surviving scientist Erica. The problem was the end of the world is brought on by a deadly toxic chemical if it goes airborne. To prevent that, they create a bomb which the Doctor sets on the lab. The problem is that the last door to get out of the contaminated space has a four digit numerical lock. No, it’s not a keypad. It’s four dials so the Doctor is not able to guess where the numbers are.

Nardole can’t help this time. He’s a cyborg but he needs to breathe. He’s human enough that the poison has taken him out. Is Nardole dead?

Another old lesson in not keeping secrets that almost gets the Doctor killed. You can’t blame Bill for taking up the monks’ offer. The world needs the Doctor, but the Doctor needs Bill Potts.

Highs/Lows/Combinations:

  • If he had come clean earlier and told Bill he was blind, they’d be working on a solution before this would happen. To echo Bill, this was just stupid on the Doctor’s part.
  • Bill’s dating life can’t survive the secretary of the United Nations any better than it could the Pope in the simulation.
  • The closest that the US president will ever get to be mentioned, hopefully, is when Bill mistakes which president the secretary is referring to: “He’s not orange.”
  • The show brings onboard the military commanders of the US, China and Russia as the major world powers. Too bad the UN doesn’t have its own Unified Intelligence Task- WAIT A FREAKIN’ SECOND. Wouldn’t this have been the perfect reason to bring back UNIT to the show?
  • On the positive side, perhaps we’ve yet to see UNIT since the crisis may have been averted but the Earth is now going to be controlled by the monks.
  • Erica! Can we keep her on the show a bit longer?
  • Poor Nardole, we hardly knew ya. Is he dead? Or is he coming back on the account that he’s a cyborg?
  • Are the monks more than just a threat? There’s been a few comparisons to past enemies of the Doctor – or future ones. Could they be the ancestors of the Cybermen?

That will do for now.