Having just watched the episode 'Knock Knock', I can safely say I am enjoying the banter in the TARDIS between Bill and the Doctor the most. The two have a great dynamic, one that comes off very natural and is very refreshing to see. Just in this episode the Doctor assists with Bill's moving and the conversation casually leads into one about Time Lords and their funny dress sense. It is such a delight to watch, as Bill has so much still waiting for her to learn about the Doctor.
For this review I thought I'd do a combo, saves me time ;p
***Spoilers!
Doctor Who Series 10 episode 2,3,4
So the last three episodes were 'Smile', 'Thin Ice' and 'Knock Knock'. I feel there is some very back to basic titling system going here and I can say I'm digging it. Getting into it, of these three episodes the standout was of course 'Thin Ice'. There were some great moments and scenes in all of three but in the end the watcher must always take way the entire feel of the episode and the story it tries to tell. By comparison, 'Thin Ice', was well paced and compelling touched on real world issues giving the story weight and dimension. The stand out scene was when the Doctor delivered his eloquent speech on the true measure of human progress.
The Doctor: Human progress isn’t measured by industry. It’s measured by the value you place on a life. An unimportant life. A life without privilege. The boy who died on the river, that boy’s value is your value. That’s what defines an age, that’s… what defines a species.
A common theme, noticed throughout all three of these episodes, and also the first episode 'The Pilot', is death, or more specifically death by being eaten. In 'The Pilot', Heather is eaten by the alien fuel/water, in 'Smile' the skeleton crew is devoured by the Vardy; in 'Thin Ice', poor civilians become fish food and in 'Knock Knock', we have unsuspecting renters becoming the food source for alien-wood-lice! As the Doctor says, “Hardly anything’s evil. Most things are hungry. Hungry can look a lot like evil from the wrong end of the cutlery. Or do you think your bacon sandwich loves you back?”. What is interesting to see is how Bill reacts in the various episodes in the face of these fatalities. With Heather, Bill seems to have brushed it off fairly quickly, despite knowing that Heather was dead. Perhaps seeing the alien had taken Heather's image and form, lighten the impact? Understandably in 'Smile', the remoteness of the skeleton crew would merely invoke a respectful condolence, in contrast to 'Thin Ice', where is Bill brought to primal horror and shock as she witnesses the death of the small boy at the Frost Fair. Her utter disgust of the Doctor and his indifference was much warranted and wake up call in the midst of all the fun and games with time travel. But her reaction in 'Knock Knock' is one that is the most out of character to date. In 'Knock Knock', Bill also witnesses a good friend die less than a metre in front of her but her reaction is some how tamed in comparison to the one we see in 'Thin Ice'. Yes, everyone is saved in the end... but still.
...Seems I'll have to leave it here for now. I know it falls short of a review but I think I may have become a bit rusty!
Ta
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