Hey there! Hi there! Ho there! Happy Wonder Woman Day!
The new Wonder Woman movie is out this weekend and today has been designated as Wonder Woman Day to celebrate! We're looking to go see the movie this afternoon by way of celebrating...
Andrea's Birthday! Today is my lovely wife's birthday and in addition to seeing Wonder Woman, we'll be heading over to Geeksboro to see this week's new Doctor Who episode.
And speaking of Doctor Who episodes, when am I going to write about last week's new episode?
Well, that brings us to today's post.
In the past, I have posted about any given Saturday's new Doctor Who the next day. So far for Series 10, that's proven to be difficult. So here on in for the rest of Series 10, I will be posting about any given Saturday's new Doctor Who the next Saturday.
So before going to see tonight's new Doctor Who episode (9 PM Eastern Time on BBC America), here's a look back at what happened last week.
Warning: spoilers, sweetie.
After the break.
The Pyramid At The End Of The World
by Peter Harness and Steven Moffatt
So it's Bill Potts and Penny together again for the first time. This time is not a simulation. This time the date is real. And this time, the interruption of that date by a high ranking person is also real. The Secretary General of the United Nations is looking for the President. Bill is confused; she doesn't know the President and wouldn't have voted for him if she could. ("He's... orange." Great! The world of Doctor Who did not escape Trump either.)
But no, the President the UN guy is looking for is... The Doctor. As in "The President of Earth" in times of global crisis.
The same Doctor who is still blind after the events in Oxygen two weeks prior and is still determined to keep that a secret from everybody, even Bill.
The Doctor is found and brought up to speed on why he's needed as "The President of Earth" once more: between the assembled armies of the United States, China and Russia is a 5,000 year old pyramid.
That wasn't there the day before.
OK, that's weird.
So the Doctor, Bill and Nardole (providing exposition to fill in what the Doctor can't "see" through his sonic sunglasses) join the head of the UN and the generals of the three armies to check out this pyramid.
Uh oh. It's the Monks from Extremis. Apparently simulations are over and they're ready to lower the boom on Earth for realsies. But the Monks conquest of Earth can only take place if humans consent. Out of love.
OK, the Monks are ugly and creepy as all hell. Very hard to love is what I'm saying.
A show of force from the generals is easily stopped by the Monks. There's no question of their power and what they are capable of. But still, why would humans consent for the Monks to take over?
The Monks show our assembled team the future 1 year out: the Earth is devastated and all the humans are dead. The Monks say they can stop this but the humans must consent to be conquered.
To add to the tension, the Monks have reset all the clocks in the world to 11:57 PM. Or 3 minutes to midnight. Every clock in the world is a doomsday clock.
The UN leader steps up to offer his consent to the Monks to save the human race. The Doctor disagrees with this but no matter. The Monks sense the Secretary General is acting out of fear, not love and he disintegrates into dust.
Uh oh.
The army generals figure that the end of life on earth is precipitated by war breaking out between their assembled armies. They shake on it, agreeing to give peace a chance.
The doomsday clocks instead click a minute closer to midnight.
Well that sucks.
The Doctor thinks that the Monks are engaging in some serious misdirection, plopping a big hard to miss pyramid in a war zone when the true threat is something else, some small but nonetheless lethal.
Maybe I should mention the sub-plot?
A scientist named Erica on her way to work breaks her glasses. Douglas, her partner in the lab is nursing the mother of all hangovers after a night of excessive drinking. Erica can't see so Douglas needs to punch in numbers and stuff. A bit wobbly from all the drinking, he plugs in 111.8 instead of 11.18 which sends some science doohickey into overdrive and creates an extremely lethal biochemical agent that turns Douglas into goo.
Back to the Doctor who faces the indomitable task of finding the one biochemical lab that now has the world down to...Holey freaking cow! One minute to midnight! Doing a clever thing, the Doctor and Nardole get the Monks to point them to the right lab. The Doctor and Nardole are off while Bill stays with the generals to make sure they don't do something stupid like...
Give their consent to the Monks? Really, guys! But their consent is born of strategy and not love and they get zapped to dust, leaving Bill alone with the Monks.
The Doctor and Nardole arrive in the lab with Erica. Even though Nardole is not human, the doctor says he's human enough (The Doctor got Nardole's lungs "real cheap") and sends him back to the TARDIS. But whoops! Nardole's been infected and falls unconscious inside the TARDIS.
In the lab, the doctor is playing beat the clock to stop the contagion before an automatic lab protocol vents the nasty stuff into air. The Doctor's solution? Sterilization.
Or "blow stuff up" works too. The Doctor rigs up an explosive and plants it in the section where the contagion is. The blast will be contained in this area and will destroy the bio-killer. With a two minute delay, all the Doctor has to do is get past the airlock and to safety.
Hey, the plan's working! Doomsday clocks are moving back from midnight? Yay!
Or maybe not so "yay." To get past the airlock and to safety, the doctor has to enter a code to unlock the door. But he can't see to enter the code, Nardole is unable to help and Erica can't see the panel to guide him.
The Doctor, in contact with Bill, finally confesses that he's blind and has been for some time. The explosion will finish off the Doctor as well as the bio-killer. The Earth will be saved.
Then Bill asks the Monks, if she consents, will they restore the Doctor's eyesight? They say they can do this. Bill gives her consent and does not crumble into dust because she's acting out of love for the Doctor. The Monks accept her consent.
With seconds to spare, the Doctor's vision is restored, he enters the code and escapes just ahead of the contagion killing explosion. Then Bill gives the Doctor an order: he better get her planet back.
And.... we're out.
And whew!
Doctor Who Series 10 has been on quite a roll with each episode and The Pyramid At The End Of The World keeps up that quality trend. In fact, I might go as far as to say this episode is the best one so far.
There is so much humor, drama and action that packs every minute of a taut and tense episode.
The Monks have moved from simulations to the real thing and they are scarily effective. I've read some theories that the Monks are precursors to the Cybermen of Mondas. I see the connection, the Monks with their round open unmoving mouths echoes the design of the original Cybermen.
Nothing with the vault this week but there was no time. I see that will not be the case next episode.
Nardole better be OK!! He provides a twist on the usual role of the companion who is usually there for the Doctor to explain things to bring the audience up to date. Nardole's job is to describe what the audience knows already.
Nardole better be OK!!
Bill is put an unenviable position with the Monks. She can save the Doctor and all it will cost is the whole world. And yes, if the circumstances were reversed, the Doctor would've done the same thing to save Bill. First save Bill; next, save the planet. The difference is the human makes the decision but it's still based on the same criteria: the Doctor will make this better.
Or will he?
________________________
NEXT TIME...
The Monks rule the world.
The Monks have always ruled the world.
The Monks will always rule the world.
But Bill Potts is the only human who knows that isn't true. But what can she do? Where is the Doctor? Has the Doctor joined the side of the Monks?
Whu....?
We'll find out tonight with "The Lie of the Land".
Until next time, remember to be good to one another.
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