BBC, Doctor Who
How did Doctor Who’s season 10 match up? We did an indepth look at each episode.
In Season 10, we had episodes that ranged from fantastic to clunkers, from heartfelt to funny, and from rewatchable to forgettable. In other words, we had a normal season of a television show. Some might say that this was one of the worse seasons of Doctor Who, but I thought that the new companion gave a new breath of fresh air to the show.
This was an incredibly hard post for me to do, which is why it took until September to do what most websites did in July. Instead, I did the Superlatives, which took a more significant view, before ranking the episodes.
Here it is folks (finally!), Season 10 ranked from worst to best episode.
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12. Pyramid at the End of the World
You may or may not be surprised to find the episode that the middle of the super incredible arc Moffat came up with for season 10 is counted as the worst episode. I even tried to rewatch it today to give it a different ranking. However, I couldn’t do it.
The episode is just boring. It doesn’t help that it follows Extremis, which was an episode written by Moffat and incredibly hyped. Everyone was wondering what was going to happen, because, to be fair, Extremis made very little sense. So in a way, we all expected Pyramid at the End of the World to clear it up. Tell us who the Monks were, maybe even explain the Veritas and the simulation world. Instead, we got an episode that confused us even more.
While we did learn about the Monks, they seemed to be underwhelming. What exactly were they doing there, and why did they use a Pyramid was my first question. We know that they were basically trying to force the world to do something so the Monks could step in.
It was basically an entire exposition episode that at the very end, finally became interesting. Bill realizes she’s the reason the Doctor can’t see and gives into the Monks.
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11. The Lie of the Land
This episode has so many things against it. Starting with the fact that I can’t remember the episode without concentration. Normally, I like to think that I can remember episodes pretty well, but this was a pretty simple one. “The Monks have taken over, the Doctor is “their hostage”, oh no, how will we get him back?!” Type scenario. We’ve seen it too many times to fall for it again!
Point One: The trope. The “oh no, the Doctor’s given up and become evil” trope. That was way too far fetched, even for us. The Doctor has never fallen for any kind of situation that does that. It’s the point of the Doctor. Is that something about his alien technology assures you that he’s gonna get away scratch free.
Now, maybe being Bill, and having a new companion ever year or so, we have to remember that they don’t know that, but it was just frustrating that we had to deal with that.
Point Two: The regeneration trick. Should we have known better? Yes. Now we know that originally, Peter Capaldi was going to regeneration at the end of The Doctor Falls. Which falls into “the Doctor regenerating earlier than expected” line that Moffat kept playing. Instead, we all thought, for some reason, he was going to regenerate extremely early before the new Doctor was even announced.
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m annoyed as hell that I keep falling for these stupid things that Moffat does and says, but the fact that the Doctor tricked Bill seemed very odd, and out of character. Also, you can’t just use regeneration energy for fun. And if you could use regeneration energy at all
WHY WASN’T IT USED TO FIX YOUR BLINDNESS, DOCTOR?
Point Three: Bill shooting the Doctor. Come on, you’ve been with the man for over half a season now. The man doesn’t do guns. He’s not gonna easily fall for the Monks, what would shooting him actually do? Then, the Doctor’s mad at her for trying to fix it! Everything about this whole episode and arc just seemed wrong.
There were positives in this episode like how her mother or her thoughts of her “made up mother” were able to break her connection to the Monks, allowing everything to go back to normal. But above all, both these episodes were overall no.
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10. The Eaters of Light
In general, there was nothing wrong with this episode, which is why it’s C! Passing! It did everything it needed to do to be a good episode. Except for the fact that it was a little boring. Had it been at any other point of the season, I think the message and everything that happened in the episode would have been taken a lot better.
However, it was the last episode before the penultimate episode and honestly, we were all just waiting to see if the Master would make an appearance. So, needless to say, all of us were distracted, I think.
Homages and Hope
But there were some great parts about this episode. The over all theme that people need to “listen to the music” was a great lesson. There were comedic moments given by Nardole. I also loved the different LGBT members of the Ninth Legion. Also, going to Scotland to find Roman Centurions seemed a bit like a goodbye episode to the Ponds, even if they weren’t mentioned.
Nardole was also featured greatly, and I always appreciate a good Nardole episode.
The best part about this episode was the end, when they were back in the episode. Missy finally stops and hears the music (bagpipes, of course!) and starts crying. The Doctor catches her and they have some small banter before he says “or maybe it’s time for us to become friends again.” With Michelle Gomez’s acting mostly known for being comedic, she showed her soft, vulnerable side, and left us completely heartbroken and on her side. We wanted the Doctor to just forgive her and give her a chance!
Unfortunately, I think if you ask most people, the Missy/Doctor part is all they’ll remember.
9. Thin Ice
It’s around the middle of the rankings where things get a little fuzzy. These aren’t necessarily set in stone, and probably change day to day. But today, I’m saying Thin Ice ranks #9 on the list of episodes.
Overall, it was a good episode. It built on the companion/doctor friendship like an episode should. It tackled white-washing in history, which is a great thing for Moffat to do. Although people criticized the episode for its political correctness, white-washing is a topic that is currently popular in television and cinema.
It also did show a wonderful side to the Doctor that we’d never seen before. It was in this episode that we were able to see what Bill could potentially bring out in the Doctor. Would she be able to change him? Would we see a different side of the Doctor, after two seasons of a darker Twelve? It would turn out that Thin Ice was just the beginning of showing us what Bill and Twelve’s relationship was capable of.
So if it has these qualities, why is it so low?
Besides the white washing and the Doctor punching the racist man, this was a pretty forgettable episode. After it aired, people seemed more concerned with the fact that this exact spot had been mentioned in a previous episode. Instead of talking about the episode, we were talking about fan theories about whether the Twelfth Doctor would run into himself on River’s birthday!
Even though I’m quite the River fan, it seems possible that if we’re talking mostly about an episode from four seasons ago, something’s not right.
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8. The Pilot
This is probably going to be the most controversial placement in this list. Let me get something clear, I love this episode. And I love the fact that we saw Heather again later in the season. As an episode on its own, I thought there were too many issues to put it any higher. Especially when there were bigger plot points!
Even though it was heartbreaking to see Bill and Heather part at the end of the episode, because of the following issues, it all felt confusing.
The issues:
First, the biggest issue is that it seemed to go overboard with the fact that Bill was gay. We saw her giving out chips in the lunch line to a girl. Then we saw her talking to her foster mother(?) about it – sort of. Then, obviously, the Heather plot. All we would have needed was the plot with Heather to understand that Bill is gay. Especially since they had made such a big deal about it before we met the companion in the first place!
Second, the introduction. There was something off to me about the introduction to the TARDIS. It’s normally pretty standard, and for me, there’s some continuity in that. Bill’s comments about the TARDIS interior (calling it a “posh kitchen”), were very odd, and very confusing. You’re in the most insane place in the entire universe!
Finally, the episode felt a bit rushed. I know there were scenes cut out, but one scene shouldn’t have made the episode feel so rushed! Also, I’m personally a fan of calling the episode A Star In Her Eye…makes much more sense than The Pilot. But that’s just me.
Later…
In the Doctor’s Fall, Bill turns into whatever Heather was turned into. But The Doctor says that’s not life anymore. So how is she supposed to come back in Twice Upon a Time? Especially when Heather needed water to surviveinn other places?
(C) BBC/BBC Worldwide – Photographer: Des Willie
7. Oxygen
Right in the middle, we have Oxygen. This episode had many great aspects to it, and many confusing aspects to it. The Doctor, Bill, and Nardole (this is Nardole’s first adventure) go to a space station where zombie astronauts are trying to kill everyone. In what can only be described as a capitalist world where even air costs, they only have a certain amount of breaths for the allotted time in the suits.
Bill’s space suit is acting odd, continuing to freeze and not letting her move when she needs or wants to. (Foreshadowing?) Eventually, when they’re trying to hide to keep from losing their amount of breaths, and not being turned zombie, Bill’s space suit freezes. The only option is for the Doctor to give her his for the spacewalk, but even the Doctor needs oxygen. He’s turned blind.
Not that it really matters, because Bill is eventually turned zombie, and dies from electrocution when they touch her to try to change her. When the Doctor changes the algorithm for the space station to self-destruct when they run out of breaths. Quickly, the zombies give their oxygen and Bill can be revived! Yay!
However, we find out at the very end of the episode that, for some reason, even the Doctor can’t fix his blindness, and is potentially blind for the rest of his lives.
Why is this episode so low?
This episode would probably be assumed to be higher on the list since it’s the catalyst for the entire first half of the series. However, I put it in the middle because what makes it a catalyst (the Doctor turning blind) is also a cheap shot, in my opinion. In reality, the idea that there’s nothing to fix the Doctor and he couldn’t have regenerated or used some energy is unbelievable.
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6. Knock Knock
I fought with where to put this episode for longer than a person should. In the end, know that 4-6 are basically tied as “Great Episodes”.
Knock Knock won our “Most Underrated” episode, and for good reason. It’s a fantastic episode. It brings back what Doctor Who is supposed to feel like. The creepy crawlies in the episode are enough to give you the chills and imagine bugs are on you, there’s a creepy landlord in it — everything that has the making of a creepy episode of Doctor Who. It’s great! That’s what Doctor Who was founded on!
There was also a great lesson in the end. A story about the love between a mother and son, and how, in the end, love is the greatest motive to do anything. Good, or bad. It showed us that not all villains are evil, some have good intentions and just go about things the wrong way.
But it’s number six!
There was one huge flaw in this episode. Bill. Throughout the season there were episodes that could have been great, except for the fact of how Bill was written. This was one those. Bill spent the episode seeming to resent the Doctor, all the while he was trying to protect her from the fact that it seemed odd that a castle magically opened up for college students.
It kind of seemed like he had the right idea.
(C) BBC/BBC Worldwide – Photographer: Simon Ridgway
5. Empress of Mars
Empress of Mars was overall a great episode. Anything that ends with -of Mars in Doctor Who is bound to be great. The best part about it? It gave a distinct Classic era feel to the show.
Ice Warriors: a Classic villain that has been in the series for years. Sometimes they’re against the Doctor, sometimes they’re an ally. They’re easily one of the most interesting aliens in the Doctor Who universe.
Girl Power: This is the first time that a female Ice Warrior has been seen, let alone featured. It was great to see the female leader of the Ice Warriors look to Bill for help, over the men in the room.
Alpha Centauri: For the Classic Who fans, this was probably the best part. At the end, when the Ice Warriors win the planet, he sends out a help signal. Who answers but Alpha Centauri – a character seen twice before, only in the Classic Series. It was a great Easter Egg for every Classic fan. Even better? It was voiced by the same woman who had voiced the alien before.
Suprise! It’s Missy: At the end of the episode, everyone got a shock! Missy had escaped from the vault (with Nardole’s help), to help him fly the TARDIS back to Mars when he’d had help. This went ways in helping the Doctor believe her and started the storyline of Missy in the TARDIS.
(C) BBC – Photographer: Simon Ridgway
4. Smile
This is probably the most biased episode in this whole list. I know many people wouldn’t put Smile up so far, but it was one of my favorites!
Smile was the second episode this series. And while nothing truly exciting happened in the episode, it was just all an around feel good episode. It all fell back to the times where we would travel with the Doctors and meet a new alien that wasn’t trying to kill us.
It also won our best alien superlative for the emoji bots, the cute robots that were just around to help out the humans. They just happened to go out of control. They reminded me of the adipose from the previous seasons because they were mostly innocent. All they did was get out of control when they misunderstood their command.
Was it the most exciting episode? No, but it was just a good, fun episode. It was exactly what an episode of Doctor Who should be once in awhile. Nothing super crazy, nothing to do with a conspiracy. Just a good standalone episode to get to know the companion.
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3. Extremis
I know it’s weird having the last two episodes of the arc at the bottom of the list and Extremis so high. But it goes to show what the arc could have been if Moffat singlehandedly wrote it himself instead of putting it off to other writers.
Overall, Extremis is a great episode. It’s exciting, it features a new alien, and a brand new world, literally. There are issues with parts of the episode, but overall, had the arc continued this way, rather than go off on the odd tangent that it did, it would have been a much better arc.
One of the reasons the episode was so hyped was because we finally found out who was in the vault. It was Missy like many had predicted the entire time. We figured out why the Vault was there, how it got there, and what it was for. We also learned that the Doctor was trying to turn Missy good. Will it work?
The episode was overall pretty overhyped, but between the shocking revelation of what the Monks had been planning, the separate world, and Missy, it ranks pretty high. I only wish they had done more with it. To this day, there are still parts of this episode I don’t quite understand. Whether that’s a good thing or not is to be determined.
Reasons the episode is #3:
- Not only did we see a serious plotline with the Doctor, we got to see the world of Bill and her dating life. We got to see Penny (although most of us are #TeamHeather) and Bill’s attempt at dating.
- Peter Capaldi’s ability at showing what being blind does to us mentally and physically. It was a perfect representation. Even though he had sonic glasses, seeing what being blind did to the Doctor in terms of his memories and regrets was heartbreaking.
- Nardole is a certified bad ass.
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2. The Doctor Falls
The second best episode was The Doctor Falls. The only reason this episode isn’t the best episode is because of the plot holes that I’m hoping are fixed during the Christmas episode. After World Enough and Time, everything seems to be going wrong. The Master and Missy are on the same side, and they’re wondering how they should kill the Doctor.
Bill’s turned into a Cyberman, and Nardole is nowhere to be found on the Hospital floor. Finally, Nardole flys up with a shuttle and despite the Masters repeated (literally) attempts to fly without the Doctor, who got knocked out. Bill brings the Doctor up to floor 507 where they were able to find a solar farm where people are living and hiding from the Cybermen.
People were vocal about how the Master and Missy were used, and how they should have been used more. I’m of the same mind, but seeing the two together still had the iconic effect. And they were hilarious. Even if they were used for comic relief, they were very beautifully evil comic relief.
Reasons the Episode is #2:
- Pearl Mackie’s acting. She did a fantastic job in the episode as she tried to continue to be Bill while the Cybermen were taking over her brain.
- The great banter between the Masters, also extra points for taking time out to do their make upp!
- The Doctor’s Speech about doing what’s right. It gives me chills every time.
- And, of course, the part where the Master gets…excited seeing Missy being evil. Like. HBO excited. Actually, any scene with Missy and the Master.
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1. World Enough and Time
We end our ranking with the number one episode of the season, World Enough and Time. And that’s because it was a story that kept you on your toes without really knowing what was going on. Even knowing that Mondasian Cybermen were involved didn’t really help you out. Plus, you had enough of an idea that the Master was around, waiting. If you were smart, you picked out exactly who he was from the beginning.
The episode flourished with comedic moments and heartbreaking moments all at once. We got to see Missy try to be good, try to attempt human flirting and generally try to be a good person. Despite Bill and Nardole’s worries, it was never Missy they had to worry about.
The episode sort of threw us off by having Bill get killed rather than Missy, who was the expected one. Then, we got to watch as she formed a friendship with “Mr. Razor”, who was really John Simm in some makeup.
Heart Racing
The best moment of the episode, the moment that had everything racing and everyone screaming at the television was when the Master and Missy finally met. When the Master took off his disguise as Razor and dropped the bomb about being Britain’s most famous prime minister. How many of us were screaming?
There was very little wrong with the episode. Everything was explained perfectly, both from the Top of the shuttle and from the bottom. New Series watchers got to learn about Mondas and everything that would become of the horrible creatures from the planet. Even though it was mostly exposition, and normally episodes that are only exposition are boring, this episode was far from it.
Personally, my heart was racing the whole time, which makes it the best episode in the series.
And that’s series 10! I didn’t include the Doctor Mysterio episode because I didn’t count it as part of season 10. If you would like a review of it, I can. This month we’ll be doing Superlatives of Season Nine (as voted on by Twitter)! Expect the first one up later today!