Smile

Get kicking. Fuck it don't even watch the episode. Imagine the episode you think it'll be and critique that instead.

It's from the guy who wrote the 'forests are alive' one and has the bloke from Two Pints in it.

Well that was pretty poor all around.

Positives

Bill and 12 are actually a good double act. They have been able to establish a proper relationship between them. Kind of a standard Doctor as the mentor, companion as the student relationship (literally) like 3 and Liz or 1 and Vicki. Still it works and suits Capaldi's old wise Doctor better than being a lovesick sap.

Also I quite like Pearl Mackie. She's brave but not smug, scared but not useless, relatable but not boring. Its just a shame that she didn't get more screen time with Capaldi.

Capaldi was great as always too.

Negatives

Wasn't the most inspiring plot was it? A mix mash of new earth and the happiness patrol (neither of which are exactly fan favourites). Also the Emoji robots were kind of shit. They'd have been okay as gag robots, but when they were bigging them up as monsters that would wipe us out it just made me laugh. Imagine if humanity who has survived the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans were driven to extinction by cute little emoji bots

Really quite poor to be honest.

I thought it was very middle of the road. I didn't like but I didn't dislike it, it was inoffensive. I watched it without a problem but I wouldn't rush to watch it again. It was an improvement over last week, in my opinion.

I liked that the episode had a slower pace and the majority of screentime was with only two characters, it was a breath of fresh air and a welcome change from the usual hectic ADHD episodes we get.

Ralf Little was a wasted guest star and I thought the episode went downhill when the humans woke up and started a shoot out. I thought the episode had some decent, if basic, sci-fi themes and would have rated the episode higher if the Doctor blew up the ship and they left and it ended with a reveal that all the humans were frozen on board.

That wasn't bad.
Great having a stripped down cast. Some of Bill's dialogue were lifted from the Lenny Henry Dr. Who spoof!
Had a wonky grin over the Scotland joke.
And I liked how it ended with the set up for the next episode.
So if this series works as a thirteen hour story... That won't work as there were time lapse in The Pilot.
The resolution was flat,but elephant in the room, miles better than In The Forest In The Night.
Or Of The Night. Doing my best to forget that existed.

It wasn't too bad, the two-hander thing for most of the episode was pretty welcome, perhaps it could have done with a few more deaths though...and I feel the reset button ending won't solve the colony's problems...felt too idealistic for The Doctor to assume the colonists will just make peace with the robots, and that poor kid will grow up without his mother. It does'nt magically solve anything. Consequences cannot be reset.

I do enjoy Bill the more she carries on though

I... thought it was quite good, actually. Nothing especially original - The Happiness Patrol meets The Empty Child, basically - but quite solid and entertaining. Capaldi seems far more like the Doctor this season than he's pretty much ever been allowed to before while playing second fiddle to bloody Clara, and Bill is perfectly acceptable too. The season hasn't been amazing "best season evah!" material so far but at the moment it's the best start to a season since 2011, and I am wary but surprised and vaguely optimistic at present.