Doctor Who Season 10, Episode 8: The Lie Of The Land

This week on Doctor Who, we finish the loose trilogy that started in Extremis and continued in The Pyramid At The End Of The World.

There are some good character moments in the episode, especially from the excellent Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts, but overall the storyline is lacking, and a sub-par ending for the trilogy.

The script tries to cram way too much into far little screen time, rushing from one scene to the next with no time for the audience to catch its breath. The episode is also riddled with contrivances, that pile up like cars on a California freeway. Sadly, the way the story's written it can't work without them.

The episode's also quite derivative, as it blatantly apes The Last Of The Time Lords, along with cribbing elements from Turn Left and even The Wedding Of River Song.

The worst part of the episode though is the Monks themselves. They're extremely weak and uninteresting villains, and I'm still not entirely sure what their plan was, other than generic world domination. They seemingly sit back and do nothing, even when the Doctor and Co. waltz right into their headquarters, bent on destroying them. 

The Monks finally make a token appearance in the third act and toss a few anemic lightning bolts and a couple soldiers, but that's pretty much it. Worst of all, when they're eventually defeated, they bugger off in silence, without so much as a "You haven't seen the last of us, Doctor!"

Lastly, a word or two about Donald J. Trump. He may have an all-time low approval rating, but our sci-fi TV series apparently can't get enough of the guy and his bizarre views on the media! Earlier this year Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. did a storyline featuring a Trumpian dystopia ruled by misinformation, and this week Doctor Who gets in on the act as well, with a similar episode all about "Fake News!" Thank Thor for Trump, I guess, else our sci-fi shows would be plotless in 2017!

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
We begin six months after the previous episode, as the Monks have taken control of Earth after Bill gave them her consent. Using subliminal mind control, they make it seem like they've been here for thousands of years, gently guiding human development. For some reason, the Doctor regularly appears on TV praising the monks, touting their benefit to humanity and reinforcing the lie.

Occasionally someone remembers the truth and is imprisoned for "memory crime." Bill's one of these people, but fortunately she's never found out or hauled off to jail. She reinforces her memory by having conversations with an imaginary, idealized version of the mother she never knew (WARNING! PLOT POINT ALERT!). She's sure the Doctor's involvement with the Monks is part of a plan to defeat them, but after six months her faith is starting to waver.

Suddenly Nardole bursts into her flat, with a lame and poorly-written explanation for how he survived the Agrofuel bacterium in the previous episode. He tells Bill that after he recovered from his illness, he went searching for the Doctor. After several months he found he's being held "on one of the old prison ships," which I guess are still a thing.

And just like that, Bill and Nardole decide to rescue the Doctor. They disguise themselves as part of a re-supply crew, and despite the fact that security on the prison ship is tight, they virtually waltz right into it. There's a tense moment as a Monk inspects the operation and actually stares right at Bill, but apparently it doesn't recognize her as the person who gave them consent.

Bill and Nardole sneak away and search the curiously empty ship until they find the Doctor in a cabin. Bill bursts in, happy to finally see her friend again. The Doctor takes a look at her and immediately calls his guards, who surround Bill and Nardole. She pleads with the Doctor to stop pretending to go along with the Monks and finally reveal his plan to defeat them. He coldly tells her there's no plan, and that he's willingly cooperating with them in order to save humanity.

Bill's so horrified by this revelation that she grabs a gun from one of the guards and shoots the Doctor several times in the chest. He falls over and his body begins to glow, as the regeneration process starts. This should of course mean absolutely nothing to Bill, who's never seen it before. Halfway through the process he stops and says "GOTCHA!" Apparently the gun was filled with blanks, and this entire scenario was cooked up to test Bill's loyalty. EVERYONE— including Nardole and the guards— are in on it. Somehow Bill restrains herself from shooting everyone with a real gun.

The Doctor then takes control of the prison ship and smashes it into a dock. Just how he managed to accomplish this, and why the Monks didn't try to stop him, is apparently none of our concern, as it's never addressed. He and Bill make a beeline for the University, where the Monks are waiting for them. Fortunately the Doctor's not headed for his office, but to the Vault below the school. I guess the Monks don't know about that?

The Doctor opens the Vault and reveals Missy imprisoned in a round Hannibal Lecter-type cell in the center of the room. She claims she had dealings with the Monks before and defeated them, and the Doctor demands to know how she did it.

Since Missy is allegedly trying to be "good," she decides to help the Doctor defeat the Monks. She can't just tell him the answer though, as she forces him to play a guessing game for the answer. Eventually the Doctor determines that the Monks beam their false history to the world through the statues of themselves they've set up in every city. The statues have a psychic link to the person who gave consent. Missy says all the Doctor has to do is find that person and render them brain dead, so the signal stops. Uh-oh.

The Doctor refuses to accept this plan, and looks for another solution. He reasons the Monks must have a machine that broadcasts their fake history hidden inside their pyramid. He says if he could hook himself up to the machine, he could send out the true history of the world to the populace, breaking the Monks' hold on them.

The Doctor, Bill, Nardole and a squad of soldiers infiltrate the pyramid in London. Inside they're attacked by the Monks, who kill several soldiers before inexplicably disappearing. The Doctor, Bill and Nardole reach the central chamber. Inside they find a lone Monk sitting in a chair, hooked up to a machine that constantly broadcasts its thoughts of fake history to the world. A series of screens on the ceiling display the lies the Monks are selling to the populace.

The Doctor grasps the Monk's head and forces his own thoughts into it. Slowly the images on the ceiling are replaced with real events, but then the Monk begins fighting back. The Doctor's thrown across the room by a massive psychic assault.

Bill tells the Doctor that even he won't survive a second attack, and says she needs to fix the problem she created. She walks up to the Monk and grabs its head. The Doctor tries to stop her, telling her she'll be killed, but it's too late. Bill is overpowered by the Monk at first, but slowly the screens begin filling with images of the fantasy version of Bill's mom. Since this version of her mother never existed, the Monks couldn't corrupt or control it, which I guess kind of makes sense if you squint.

The plan works, and the Monks' hold on the populace is broken. Humanity begins to revolt, and the Monks hightail it back to their pyramid and blast off into space.

A few weeks later, the Doctor notes that humanity doesn't remember the Monks, as they erased themselves from the public mind. He tells Bill she owes him a paper on The Mechanics Of Free Will.

Later, the Doctor sits in the vault with Missy. She sobs, saying she remembers the faces of everyone she killed.

Thoughts:
• As I predicted last week, this episode was very similar to the Season 3 finale, The Last Of The Time Lords

In that episode, the Master takes over the entire Earth and holds the Doctor captive, artificially aging him so he can't escape. Martha Jones, the Doctor's companion, wanders the Master-controlled Earth for an entire year. She tells everyone she meets about the legend of the Doctor, and encourages the public to spread the word.

Eventually she's captured and taken before the Master, who plans to kill the Doctor in front of her. As part of Martha's plan, the population of Earth sends their "good thoughts and positive energy" toward the Doctor at a predetermined time. He's then restored through the Power Of Love, which allows him to defeat the Master and reset time so the past year never happened.

Sounds familiar, eh?

Bill even styles her hair and dresses in black just like Martha Jones did in The Last Of The Time Lords!

• Why the hell would the Monks ever let Bill out of their sight? After all, she's the person who gave them her consent and allowed them to take over the world. She's literally indispensable to them, especially since they've established a psychic link that allows them to broadcast their fake history through her. One would think they'd keep HER locked up in a cell instead of the Doctor!

Nope! Instead she's allowed to wander freely in public, coming and going as she pleases. You'd think at the very least they'd have kept her flat under constant video and audio surveillance. Obviously not, as she and Nardole plan to rescue the Doctor, and no secret police bust in to take them away.

In a similar vein, one would think the Monks would give Bill an extra helping of mind control to make sure she never remembered the past. Apparently this never occurred to them, as Bill realizes the Monks are a sham and freely recalls the way things used to be.

No wonder these schlubs were run off the planet!

I suppose it's mildly possible that while the Doctor was imprisoned by the Monks, he may have used his influence to protect Bill from them.

• The Monks never really seem like much of a threat in this episode. They occasionally have someone imprisoned when they remember the truth about the past, but that's pretty much the extent of their enforcement. 

Heck, Bill and Nardole are able to walk right onto the prison ship and into the Doctor's cell, and the Monks never even notice!

Writer Toby Whithouse tries to smooth over the Monks' apathetic attitude by saying they're more concerned about the Doctor getting out than by anyone else getting in. That's an old, old, ancient story trope that thousands of shows have used over the years to make their plots possible.

Even worse, the Monks barely try to stop the Doctor and Co. when they infiltrate their pyramid. They fire a couple of halfhearted lightning bolts at the invaders before being killed, and that's about it. 

And one would think there'd be some sort of alarm when the Doctor enters their thought-broadcasting chamber. Even if the Monks didn't want to dirty their hands stopping him, they could have sent their secret police to stop him.

Once again, is it any wonder these maroons were run off the planet so easily?

• Last week when the Colonel told the Monks they looked like corpses, they said, "We have chosen these forms to look like you."

I was sure that meant they had a true appearance that was even more shocking than a moldy-looking mummy. Or I thought their identity would turn out to be a twist of some kind. Like they were secretly Cybermen or something. Instead we got nothing. So what was the point of the whole "choosing our form" line?

I have a feeling that despite what happens at the end of this episode, we haven't seen the last of the Monks, and there's more of their story to be told.

In a recent interview, showrunner Steven Moffat said that "The Monks" is not the race's true name. And we know that the original 1960s Mondasian Cybermen are supposed to pop up sometime this season. I may be totally off base here, but I'm still not convinced that the Monks aren't somehow secretly the Cybermen.

• Speaking of appearances, doesn't it seem odd that the public so willingly accepts a race of "benevolent guardians" who look like ghastly, rotting corpses? I'd think most people would be uncomfortable even looking at them, much less submitting to their rule.

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the Monks to have looked like impossibly beautiful angels or something?

• This is some heavy duty nitpicking, but what the heck. During the Doctor's opening introduction, we see a Monk standing behind a victorious Winston Churchill, implying they helped guide his decisions.

Hmm. Churchill appeared on the show several times during the Eleventh Doctor's era, where he looked like the man above. How odd. One of these men is clearly an impostor!

• Also during the opening narration, the Doctor says the Monks have been there for all of mankind's greatest achievements, even waiting for us when we walked on the moon.

This is all a lie of course, but in the world of the story, humanity doesn't know that. If the Monks have already done everything humans are attempting to do, doesn't it seem like after a while we'd all just... give up? Why try to go to Mars or invent cold fusion when the Monks have probably already done it? 

• Now and then the Monks' psychic hold weakens on certain people and they realize the revised history of the world is a lie. 

This is such a threat to the Monks that they pass the "Memory Crimes Act" of 1975, making it a crime to realize the truth. In fact, whenever this happens the Monks actually send out an armed squad of "Memory Police" to round up anyone who remembers the way things used to be. 

That seems like a bad idea to me. Calling them "Memory Police" implies that there's something they don't want you to remember. Seems to me like that's just gonna get people wondering and thinking, and then even more citizens will start remembering! Why pick a name that needlessly encourages the very thing you don't want to happen? Wouldn't simply "Secret Police" or even just "Police" be enough? Or why mark their vans at all?

• At one point Bill walks by a Magpie Electrical store, which features a window full of TVs broadcasting the Doctor's propaganda.

The Magpie brand first appeared back in 2006's The Idiot's Lantern. The Magpie logo's shown up several times since, on various TV sets, Sarah Jane Smith's computer, River Song's scanner, a shop on the Starship UK and even on the Twelfth Doctor's guitar amp.

Oddly enough it doesn't appear on the TV set in this episode, which is a Sharp brand. I'm guessing Sharp probably ponied up some product placement dough, while the fictional Magpie Corp. didn't.

• So why doesn't Nardole use the TARDIS to pick up Bill and then rescue the Doctor? We've seen in past episodes that he can fly it. The TARDIS isn't even seen or mentioned in this episode, and it's not until it's over that you notice its absence.

Obviously the writer hoped that if he never mentioned the TARDIS, viewers wouldn't think about it, and then wouldn't realize that it could have solved the plot problems in about thirty seconds.

• Nardole tells Bill that he's located the Doctor, saying, "The Monks have got him on one of the old prison boats. Hulks, they used call them."

Believe it or not, Nardole knows what he's talking about here. The UK launched the ship HMP Weare in 1997 as a temporary measure to ease prison crowding. It was closed down in 2006.

• Bill and Nardole find the Doctor on the prison ship, but he appears to have betrayed humanity by siding with the Monks. This upsets Bill so much that she decides to straight up murder the Doctor by shooting him several times, which seemingly causes him to regenerate. After a few seconds he stops, admitting he was simply testing Bill's loyalty.

Obviously this "Fake Out Regeneration" was done just to trick the audience and make us think we were getting a new Doctor a few episodes early. He certainly didn't do it for Bill's benefit. As far as I know she isn't even aware that the Doctor CAN regenerate, unless he told her about it between episodes. And even if he did, she certainly wouldn't know what regeneration LOOKS like. When he started seemingly changing, she should have just stared and said, "'Why's there a golden fountain pouring out of your head?"

This entire sequence was nothing more than a cheap stunt designed to trick the audience into thinking they producers were actually going to switch Doctors this week. Bad form, guys!

• So Bill just shot the Doctor— a man she admittedly loves— three times in the chest at near point blank range. And no one says a peep about it afterwards! Not even a "Sorry I tried to kill you in a white hot rage" from Bill.

In fact the Doctor seems to have anticipated she'd do it, as he ordered his guards to put blanks in their guns (never mind where they got those on a ship anchored at sea).

• Why does the Doctor's coat look noticeably worn and threadbare in this episode? He's only been a captive of the Monks for six months. How'd his clothing get so worn in that short amount of time?

• All season long the series has been building up to the moment when the Doctor seeks the help of Missy. It finally happened this week, and I have to say it was pretty disappointing, consisting of playing "Hot & Cold" with the Doctor instead of just telling him the goddamned answer he needed.

I was expecting him to let her out of the Vault, and the two of them would team up to take down the Monks.

Hopefully her involvement will increase before the end of the season.

• Inside the Monks' pyramid is a room where they broadcast their fake history. The ceiling of this room is filled with screens displaying dozens of images of the altered past.

One of the screens even displays an image of a smug, grinning Donald Trump! Too bad that image wasn't a lie by the Monks.

The fact that Trump is the president should have been a huge clue to citizens of the Whoniverse that the Monks' version of history was all a lie. No race that "gently guided and encouraged humanity" would allow such a nimrod to become leader of the free world!

Note to the producers: I prefer my Doctor Who to be Trump-free, thanks. No need to see that on the screen while I'm trying to be entertained.

• The Doctor plans to infiltrate the Monks' pyramid and hook himself up to their machinery so he can broadcast the true history of the world, breaking the spell over the populace. He also starts coming up with things he could alter while he's at it, like using his thoughts to eliminate racism and "people who talk in cinemas."

That sounds a lot like the way the One Ring works in The Lord Of The Rings. Even when used for good, the Ring would subtly corrupt the user, urging them to try and remake the world according to their own rules.

• Sigh... once again, Doctor Who uses "The Power Of Love" to defeat the baddies of the week. Something they've done many, many times before in the revived series. At this point Huey Lewis would have a good copyright infringement case against the BBC.

I really hate this trope, but it sort of makes sense in this case though. Bill has a fantasy version of her mother in her head, and because it's not a real memory, the Monks can't corrupt it. That's actually kind of clever. It seems though like this pure memory would only affect Bill though. I'm not sure why it would disrupt the mind control of everyone else on Earth.

• At the end of the episode, the Doctor says the Monks somehow erased themselves from everyone's minds before they left, and humanity's completely forgotten them.

Nice try, episode, but that doesn't make the least bit of sense. Didn't anyone notice they'd inexplicably experienced six months of lost time? Did everyone just shrug & go on with their lives? What about all the people the Monks killed during their reign? I guess the families of these victims never wondered what happened to them? What about the people in the prison camps? Are they still there, with no memory of why?

• Last week we saw that giving consent to the Monks was a dangerous decision, as they'd disintegrate anyone whose request didn't come from "love." Bill gave her consent to the Monks and somehow survived her encounter.

This week we're told that rendering Bill brain dead is the only way to disrupt the Monks' psychic hold on humanity. She links her mind with that of a Monk, but somehow survives the encounter with her brain intact.

Some fans are starting to think Bill's seeming invulnerability isn't just the result of dumb luck. There's a theory going around that when the Doctor went back in time to meet Bill's mom in The Pilot, he may have done more than just snap her photo. Some are convinced that the Doctor fell for Mrs. Potts and actually fathered Bill, making her half Time Lord and explaining her invulnerability, as well as the Doctor's intense interest in her.

Ugh... I hope that's not what Moffat has in mind here.

• This Week's Best Lines:
The Doctor: "The Monks have been with us from the beginning. They shepherded humanity through its formative years, gently guiding and encouraging, like a parent clapping their hands at a baby's first steps. They have been instrumental in all the advances of culture and technology. They watched proudly as man invented the light bulb, the telephone and the internet. They were even there to welcome the first men on the moon. It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. And they have defended us too. Who can forget the time the Monks defeated the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Weeping Angels? Two species, sharing a history as happily as they share a planet, humanity and the Monks are a blissful and perfect partnership. How lucky Earth is to have an ally as powerful and tender as the Monks, that asks for nothing in return for their benevolence but obedience."

Nardole: (to Bill) "I thought your mum (whispering) died. You know, when you were (whispers again) little."
(this line makes me laugh because of Nardole's unnecessary whispering of the word "little")

Bill: "Why do it? That's what I don't get. They invade somewhere, take control. Why go to the trouble of changing the past?"
Nardole: "However bad a situation is, if people think that's how it's always been, they'll put up with it. That's 90% of the job done."

Bill: "But I shot you."
The Doctor: "Yes, well, that was the plan, you see? Everyone exchanged their ammo for blanks."
Dave: "Ahem."
The Doctor: "Did you forget, Dave? You forgot? Well, that would have really blown the plan, wouldn’t it?"

Bill: (after finding out the Doctor was faking his involvement with the Monks) "And you were in on this too?"

Nardole: "It was partly his idea."
Bill: "Oh, my God. I’m going to beat the shi-"

The Doctor: "No! No! Oh, come on, come on, we’ve got the band back together again!"

Bill: (finally seeing the occupant of the Vault) "But it’s It’s just a woman. The way you and Nardole have been carrying on, I thought you had a monster in here, or something!"

The Doctor: "I do. Missy, Bill. Bill, Missy, the other Last of the Time Lords."
Bill: "Wait a sec. Why have you got a woman locked in a vault? Because even I think that’s weird, and I’ve been attacked by a puddle."

Bill: "I asked the Monks for help and started all of this, so I have to be the one to finish it. The only downside is, if that’s what we do well, it’s not worth me starting any long books.
Nardole: "Ok, well, er, let’s put a pin in it for now, as they say, and, er, see if we can think of something else."

Soldier: (under the influence of the Monks) "I’ll kill you first!"
(The Soldier suddenly collapses, as Nardole places his hand on his shoulder)
Nardole: "Tarovian Neck Pinch. Yeah, I studied their martial arts for a while, actually. Reached the level of Brown Tabard. Can’t do it with this hand though. Kind of bugs me. Course, this wasn’t my original hand, as you know. I won this in a game of... Yeah, let’s crack on."

The Doctor: (as he walks into the Monks' broadcast chamber) "Fake News Central!"

The Doctor: (calling to student to prove to Bill that the Monks erased themselves from humanity's memory) "You, Appalling Hair! This thing that we’re sitting on, what is it?:

Student: "Uh, we thought they were just like filming something here or something?"

The Doctor: "Thank you. Very helpful. Now go away, or something."

Bill: "Why do you put up with us, then?"

The Doctor: "In amongst seven billion there’s someone like you. That’s why I put up with the rest of them."

Missy: "I keep remembering all the people I’ve killed. Every day I think of more. Being bad... being bad drowned that out. I didn’t know I even knew their names. You didn’t tell me about this bit."
The Doctor: "I’m sorry, but this is good."

Doctor Who Season 10, Episode 3: Thin Ice

This week the Doctor takes his new companion Bill on her first trip to the past, to the Frost Fairs of Regency London to be exact. Naturally complications arise, as they encounter a seemingly deadly monster that's actually being held against its will, and killing purely in self defense.

It's a well-worn plot that the show's used many times before, most recently in The Beast Below. Heck, Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood even used the same storyline in Meat (and the less said about that episode, the better). 

Despite the familiar storyline, it's still a pretty good episode, due solely to the chemistry between Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie. Honestly I'd have been happy if they ditched the plot altogether and just given us forty five minutes of the two of them wandering around the Frost Fair. I'm definitely going to miss their interactions after Capaldi leaves.

Wow, three decent episodes in a row... what gives, Moffat? Did you start taking "writing pills?"

This week's episode raises some hard questions about both racial tensions and death. It doesn't necessarily answer these questions, but at least it spends a few minutes addressing the topics, which was surprising. So kudos for that. Bill holding the Doctor's feet to the fire over the amount of death he's seen and caused over his long life was one of the greatest moments in the entire history of the series, and something that's not often examined.

There wasn't much of Nardole this week, but his brief scene at the end of the episode gave us a pretty good hint (or possibly a red herring) as to who's inside the vault he and the Doctor are guarding.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
The Doctor and Bill return from planet Gliese 581d to London. As they peer out of the TARDIS, they see a real live elephant stomping down the frozen Thames.

Bill thinks they've on a parallel world, but the Doctor says they've landed in 1814 London, at the last of the Frost Fairs. Bill worries that her dark skin will cause problems in an era that still has slavery, but the Doctor assures her there's no danger. They don period-appropriate clothing and explore the Fair. Back in the TARDIS, its sensors pick up a massive life form under the ice. Too bad there's no way for it to warn the Doctor.

As Bill wanders through the fair, she occasionally sees bright green lights moving under the ice. She's afraid she's experiencing some kind of side effect from time travel, but the Doctor admits he's seeing the lights as well. They encounter a team of child pickpockets, and one nabs the Doctor's sonic and runs off with it.

The Doctor and Bill chase the urchins, and corner Spider, the one who stole the sonic. Suddenly the green lights appear below him, and begin moving around him in a circle. They move faster and faster until they create a hole in the ice, and he drops through. The Doctor tries to save him (or does he?) but only manages to grab his sonic before the child disappears under the ice. The hole immediately closes back up. The Doctor tries to question the other street kids, but they run off in fear.

The Doctor finds a distraught Bill sobbing some distance away. When he asks what's wrong, she says she never saw anyone die before. She notes that he doesn't seem very upset, and asks how many people he's seen die. He admits he doesn't know. She then asks how many he's killed, and he refuses to answer, saying sometimes it's the only option available. An angry Bill says that's not what she asked.

Eventually they track down the kids, who are led by a girl named Kitty. He talks her into taking them back to their hovel. There, the kids admit that they're paid to lure people to the Frost Fair, some of whom end up going missing. Kitty doesn't know who the man is who pays them, other than that he has a tattoo of a ship on his hand.

The Doctor and Bill "acquire" diving suits, then gear up and visit the Frost Fair after it's closed. When Bill asks why they need diving suits on top of the ice, and the Doctor says if all goes according to plan, the lights will come and take them under. Suddenly the lights come and take them under. Deep below the surface, they see a massive (alien?) sea creature, chained to the bottom of the river. It's surrounded by some sort of mutated angler fish (its offspring?), the source of the green lights. They swim melt the ice above, allowing people to fall through and provide food for their massive host. The creature spots the Doctor and Bill and moans plaintively.

They return to the surface, and eventually discover that Lord Sutcliffe is the man who pays the urchins to lure people onto the ice. They visit a workhouse owned by Sutcliffe, where hundreds of men dredge the river for the giant creature's waste. They mold it into bricks, which, according to the foreman, burn a thousand times longer than coal, and hotter than they can measure. The Doctor notes that this "fuel" is suitable for interstellar travel, and wonders if Sutcliffe is secretly an alien.

The two of them then pay a visit to Lord Sutcliffe's mansion, The Doctor tells Bill to let him do the talking, as getting info from a potential alien like Sutcliffe will require tact and finesse. They're taken to Sutcliffe's study, and he immediately treats Bill like a slave. The Doctor punches Lord Sutcliffe, knocking him out. So much for diplomacy!

The Doctor asks Lord Sutcliffe where the creature came from, and he says its secret has been passed down in his family for generations. He defends what he's doing, saying the city's industry runs on the creature's waste. Without it, they'd need coal, and thousands would die in the mines.

Sutcliffe orders the Doctor and Bill be placed inside a tent on the ice, which is filled with explosives. Sutcliffe plans to detonate the explosives (under the guise of fireworks gone wrong), collapsing the ice and sacrificing thousands to the creature. The Man With The Ship Tattoo ties them up and conveniently leaves.

Fortunately for the Doctor, Sutcliffe's men didn't search him, and he still has his sonic. He activates it, and a henchman hears it and runs into the tent. He grabs the sonic and looks at it, as its sound attracts the angler fish. The Doctor yells to the man to toss him the sonic. For some reason he does, just as the ice opens beneath him and he disappears. The Doctor uses the sonic to free himself and Bill.

The Doctor asks Bill what they should do next— free the creature, or leave. She asks why it's up to her, and the Doctor says he can't decide for her, saying, "Your people, your planet." She worries that if they release the creature, it could break through the ice and kill thousands. He tells her it's a risk, but says, "If your future is built on the suffering of that creature, what's your future worth?" She finally decides they should free it.

Bill finds the urchins, and together they try to chase everyone off the ice. Meanwhile, the Doctor dons his diving suit again, and attaches Sutcliffe's explosives to the creature's chains. Bill manages to get most of the people off the ice, but realizes she can't save them all. She suddenly has a newfound understanding of the Doctor, and his attitude toward death.

Sutcliffe sees people fleeing the river, and detonates the explosives. They free the creature, which breaks through the ice. Sutcliffe falls into the cold water, and is maybe eaten by the creature?

The Doctor and Bill watch as the creature, which does not eat anyone, sails down the Thames and out to sea. Later the Doctor invites the street urchins to Lord Sutcliffe's manor. He expertly modifies the deed to the manor, placing it in the hands of Perry, one of the urchins.

The Doctor and Bill return to the present, parking the TARDIS in his office again. Nardole appears with a tray of tea, indicating they've returned a few seconds after they left back in Smile. Nardole realizes they've gone off-world, and accuses the Doctor of breaking his oath to stay on Earth and guard the vault.

Bill looks up and old newspaper, and sees that Perry and the others lived the rest of their lives in luxury in Sutcliffe Manor. She's puzzled though as to why there's no mention of a giant sea creature sailing down the Thames. The Doctor tells her "Never underestimate the collective human ability to overlook the inexplicable."

Meanwhile, Nardole checks on the vault below the University. Something inside the vault knocks three times on the door. Nardole tells whoever— or whatever— is inside that it won't get out while he's around.

Thoughts:
• There are a lot of similarities between Bill's first visit to the past in this episode, and Season 3's The Shakespeare Code. And I do mean a lot.

When the TARDIS lands in Regency England, Bill worries that as a black woman, she may be in danger, since slavery's still very much a thing. The Doctor dismisses her concerns, saying she'll be fine:

Bill: "Wait, you want to go out there?"

The Doctor: "You don’t?"

Bill: "It’s 1814. (pointing at her face) Melanin!"

The Doctor: "Yes?"

Bill: "Slavery is still totally a thing."
The Doctor: "Yes, it is."

Bill: "It might be, like, dangerous out there."
The Doctor: "Definitely dangerous."
Bill: "So, how do we stay out of trouble?"

The Doctor: "Well, I’m not the right person to ask."

This is almost word-for-word the same thing Martha Jones said when she and the Tenth Doctor visited Elizabethan England in The Shakespeare Code:

Martha: "Oh, but hold on, am I all right? I’m not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?" The Doctor: "Why?"

Martha: "I’m not exactly white, in case you haven’t noticed?"

The Doctor: "I’m not even human. Walk about like you own the place. Works for me."Bill also worries about accidentally altering the future, bringing up the Butterfly Effect:

Bill: "So what are the rules?"

The Doctor: "Rules?"

Bill: "Yeah. Traveling to the past, there’s got to be rules. If I step on a butterfly, it could send ripples through time that mean I’m not even born in the first place, and I could just disappear."
Again, this is almost verbatim what Martha says in The Shakespeare Code:
Martha: "But, are we safe? I mean, can we move around and stuff?"

The Doctor: "Course we can, why’d you ask?"

Martha: "In those films, you step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race."
The Doctor: "Tell you what then, don’t step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you?"

Martha: "What if, I dunno, what if I kill my grandfather?"

The Doctor: "Are you planning to?"

Martha: "No!"

The Doctor: "Well then."

I suppose when you have two different episodes in which a black character visits the past for the first time, there are bound to be a few similarities, but this was definitely pushing it. 

• When Bill first looks out of the TARDIS and sees the Frost Fair, she thinks they've landed on a parallel world. The Doctor assures her they haven't, but he's visited alternate Earths before. 

The Third Doctor visited an "evil" parallel world way back in 1970s Inferno. The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler visited an alternate Earth they dubbed "Pete's World" (after Rose's father) in Rise Of The Cyberman/The Age Of Steel. Rose eventually even went to Pete's World to live.

• The London Frost Fairs were actually a real thing! Between the 14th and 19th Centuries, the Thames would regularly freeze over every winter. When it did, they'd hold a fair on the frozen river, and all of London would show up. They even had live elephants stomping around the Fairs from time to time!

For some reason though, the river never froze again after 1814— the year this episode takes place. Thin Ice attempts to explain this, implying that the creature was the one causing the Thames to regularly freeze. Once the Doctor freed it, no more frozen river!

• This isn't the Doctor's first Frost Fair. In 2011's A Good Man Goes To War, River Song tells Rory Williams:

River: "The Doctor took me ice skating on the River Thames in 1814. The last of the great Frost Fairs. He got Stevie Wonder to sing for me under London Bridge."
Rory: "Stevie Wonder sang in 1814?"

River: "Yes, he did. But you must never tell him."

Fortunately the Twelfth Doctor didn't run into his previous self in this episode!

• The Doctor and Bill go off to explore the Frost Fair. Back in the TARDIS, its sensors pick up a massive life form under the ice. It displays a warning on its view screen, which of course goes unseen by the Doctor.

Gosh, it's too bad this ultra-sophisticated time and space machine doesn't have any way to remotely warn him of danger. Some sort of communication system, like, oh, I don't know... a phone maybe? The TARDIS took the phone of a police call box, and even has a goddamned working telephone in it!

• In the street urchins' hovel, the Doctor entertains the kids by reading to them. His story choice isn't a particularly pleasant one, as he reads from the 1845 German book Der Struwwelpeter, about a tailor who cuts off the thumbs off naughty children with a giant pair of scissors!

Since the book came from 1845 and the Doctor's currently in 1814, I'm assuming he carries a copy of it around with him in his infinite Time Lord pockets.

• When Bill sees the boy fall through the ice and die, she lashes out at the Doctor for not doing anything to save him. She accuses him of not caring, which he assures her is not true. He tells her that sometimes it just isn't possible to save everyone, and he has to move on. It's the best part of the episode, and one of the best I've seen in the entire series.

Later on, Bill tries to get everyone off the ice and save them before Lord Sutcliffe detonates his explosives. She manages to get most of the people to safety, but realizes it's impossible to save them all. It's then and there that she realizes what the Doctor was trying to tell her.

It's a small little moment, but an important and very effective one.

• After they return to the present, Bill does an internet search for historical info regarding the giant creature they just freed.  A couple things here:

First of all, she uses the Search-Wise search engine to look for historical records. It's been a while since we saw Search-Wise, which last popped up in Rose, the first episode of the revived series. It's a fake search engine of course, used so the BBC doesn't have to pay licensing fees to Google or Bing.

Secondly, Bill's puzzled as to why there's no mention of a miles-long creature sailing down the Thames in 1814, and why it wasn't headline news. The Doctor says, "Never underestimate the collective human ability to overlook the inexplicable. Also, the Frost Fair involved a lot of day drinking."

This isn't the first time the Doctor's mentioned the human race's short memory. In Remembrance Of The Daleks, the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace notes that there's no record of the Zygon's robotic Loch Ness Monster. He tells her, "Your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception!"

In the nonsensical and execrable In The Forest Of The Night, the Doctor tells Clara, "The human superpower is forgetting extraordinary events."

• At the end of the episode, Nardole visits the mysterious vault under the college and has a one sided conversation with the occupant. We hear a series of knocks coming from inside the vault, so chances are the Doctor's got his arch enemy the Master locked up inside it. Makes sense right, especially after the events of The Sound Of Drums? Plus the trailers have shown us that at least one version of the Master (and possibly more) is showing up this season, so he/she seems like the likeliest candidate.

Of course that's probably what the writers want us to think, and the occupant of the vault could be someone completely different. I'm too worn out from The Flash's Savitar storyline to deal with another mystery right now.

• This Week's Best Lines:
Bill: (after arriving in 1814 instead of the present) "Hang on, why aren't we home? Can't you steer this thing?"

The Doctor: "I told you. You don't steer the TARDIS, you reason with it."
Bill: "How?"

The Doctor: "Unsuccessfully, most of the time She's a bad girl, this one."

Bill: "So, what are the rules?"

The Doctor: "Rules?"

Bill: "Yeah. Travelling to the past. There's got to be rules. If I step on a butterfly, it could send ripples through time that mean I'm not even born in the first place, and I could just disappear."
The Doctor: "Definitely. That's what happened to Pete."
Bill: "Pete?"

The Doctor: "Your friend, Pete. He was standing there a moment ago, but he stepped on a butterfly and now you don't even remember him."
Bill: "Shut up! I'm being serious!"

The Doctor: "Yeah, so was Pete."

Bill: "You know what I mean. Every choice I make in this moment, here and now, could change the whole future."

The Doctor: "Exactly like every other day of your life. The only thing to do is to stop worrying about it."
Bill: "OK. If you say so."
The Doctor: "Pete's stopped worrying."

Bill: (at the Frost Fair) "I hope you realise I'm going to try everything. Everything!"
Frost Fair Vendor: "Tasty ox cheek, piping hot! Lapland mutton! Lapland mutton, cooked right on the ice! Get your sheep hearts here! Juicy, juicy sheep hearts!"

Bill: "Yeah Maybe not everything."

Bill: (after seeing strange lights under the ice) "Are there side-effects to time travel? Like, physical symptoms?"

The Doctor: "Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah Sometimes you see lights under the ice."
Bill: "OK, so you've seen the lights."
The Doctor: "Of course."
Bill: "Well, why didn't you say something?"

The Doctor: "Well, you're enjoying yourself. I assumed we'd get to work eventually."

Bill: (chasing after the street urchins) "The boy's the one with your magic wand!"
The Doctor: "Sonic screwdriver."
Bill: "How is that a screwdriver?"

The Doctor: "In a very broad sense."
Bill: "How's it sonic?"

The Doctor: "It makes a noise."

The Doctor: "What's wrong?"

Bill: "What's wrong? Seriously, 'What's wrong?' I've never seen anyone die before!"
The Doctor: "A few hours ago, we were standing in a garden full of dead people."
Bill: "That was different."
The Doctor: "How?"

Bill: "They were dead already."
The Doctor: "Morally and practically, that's not a useful distinction. Unlearn it."
Bill: "Don't tell me what to think! "

The Doctor: "I'm your teacher! Telling you things is what I do."
Bill: "Yeah? Tell me this: You've seen people die before, yeah?"

The Doctor: "Of course."
Bill: "You still care?"

The Doctor: "Of course I care."
Bill: "How many?"

The Doctor: "How many what?"

Bill: "If you care so much, tell me how many people you've seen die?"

The Doctor: "I don't know."
Bill: "OK. How many before you lost count?"

The Doctor: "I care, Bill, but I move on."
Bill: "Yeah? How quickly?"

The Doctor: "It's not me you're angry with."
Bill: "Have you ever killed anyone? There's a look in your eyes sometimes that makes me wonder. Have you?"

The Doctor: "There are situations when the options available are limited."

Bill: "Not what I asked!"

The Doctor: "Sometimes the choices are very..."

Bill: "That's not what I asked!"

The Doctor: "Yes."
Bill: "How many? Don't tell me. You've moved on."
The Doctor: "You know what happens if I don't move on? More people die."

Bill: (to Kitty) "The Doctor he helps people. That’s what he does."
Kitty: "And you? What do you do? Apart from shout at him?"

Bill: "We were fighting. It happens."
Kitty: "Are you still fighting now?"

Bill: "No. I moved on."

Bill: (talking to the street urchins) "So, this guy, where would we find him?

Urchin: "He finds us."
Bill: "But a tattoo on his hand. I mean, we could ask around?"

The Doctor: "Boring! I know something that’s much easier to find."
Bill: "Where are we going?"

The Doctor: "All right, you guys, hang tight! Laters!"

(the kids look quizzically at one another)
The Doctor: "I was being all 'down with the kids' there, did you notice?"

Bill: "Yeah, my hair was cringing!"
The Doctor: "Awesome!"

Bill: "Please, stop!"

Bill: (after finding out they're jumping into the Thames in diving suits) "But we’re not going to be completely defenseless down there, though?"

The Doctor: "No, no, no... Well, yes. But don’t worry about it."

The Doctor: (to Street Vendor) "Have you ever seen a man around here with a tattoo of a ship? What’s that face? Is that a 'no' or are you against tattoos? I’m against tattoos, too. I think that we’re bonding!"

Foreman: (explaining how the creature's poop is turned into highly volatile fuel) "I keep my ear to the ground."
The Doctor: "And what is the ground saying these days?:

Foreman: "That this stuff burns a thousand times longer than coal?"

The Doctor: "Very good."
Foreman: "Hotter, too. Hotter than they can measure."
The Doctor: "Excellent! First class."
Foreman: "I’m right, aren’t I, sir?"

The Doctor: "Oh, there’s no stopping you. You keep this up, you won’t be working in this yard for very long."
Foreman: "You think not?"

The Doctor: (ominously) "I can almost guarantee it."

(it most definitely felt like Peter Capaldi was channeling Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor here, which is a good thing!)

The Doctor: (to Lord Sutcliffe) "I preferred it when you were alien."
Sutcliffe: "When I was?"

The Doctor: "That explained the lack of humanity. What makes you so sure that your life is worth more than those people out there on the ice? Is it the money? The accident of birth that puts you inside the big, fancy house?"

Sutcliffe: "I help move this country forward. I move this empire forward."
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."
Sutcliffe: "What a beautiful speech. The rhythm and vocabulary, quite outstanding. It’s enough to move anyone with an ounce of compassion. So, it’s really not your day, is it?"

The Doctor: "I don’t know the answers. Only idiots know the answers."