Many
people have written for Doctor Who
over the years. Some have penned only a single script and, for
various and sundry reasons, have never written another. Some have
written two or three, and still others have written many. Robert
Holmes and Terrance Dicks were among the most prolific writers of the
classic Doctor Who
series. Since the show’s return in 2005, there have also been
several writers to write many episodes, including Mark Gatiss, who
wrote this year’s “Empress of Mars”. Russell T
Davies wrote many episodes during his time as showrunner, and Steven
Moffat wrote several episodes during Davies’s time and has
written numerous since taking
over as showrunner.
However,
until now, there has been no writer to have written for both the
original and revived series. Rona Munro is the first to fill this
role. Munro wrote the final story of the original series’ run,
1989’s “Survival”. This year, she has returned to Doctor
Who with the delightful
episode, “The Eaters of Light”.
In
several of my reviews for this year’s episodes, I have commented on
Series 10 being the most consistently good series in some time. To be
honest, over the previous two episodes, I was beginning to waver on
that opinion. “The Lie of the Land” was
frustrating, and “Empress of Mars”, while a decent episode, was
not all that great either. “The Eaters of Light”, however, has
restored my faith in the series. It returns to delivering what the
early episodes of this series delivered: excitement, humour, great
characters, an engaging plot, and everything needed for a great
Doctor Who episode.
It’s
definitely possible to notice the stylistic similarities between “The
Eaters of Light” and Munro’s earlier story, “Survival”. The
episode doesn’t waste time with needless exposition, instead
dropping characters into one moment after the next and allowing the
audience to discover things as the characters themselves discover
them. There are quite a few moments of action and some moments move
rapidly into others, yet the pacing never seems rushed. There are
also calmer, quieter moments, allowing for character development,
whilst never seeming slow or padded out.
Intriguingly,
there are also some similarities plot-wise to “Empress of Mars”
which immediately precedes “The Eaters of Light”. Both stories
involve two groups initially at odds with one another who need to
learn to get along by the end. However, “The Eaters of Light”
accomplishes this much better than “Empress of Mars”, due in
large part to the fact that “Eaters” has much better
developed characters. In
“Empress”, most of the characters are not all that easy to relate
to, even the human ones. In
my review of “Empress of Mars”, I stated that the characters were
reasonably well-developed, though in retrospect, I’m not sure I
agree with that anymore. We never really get to know any of them very
well and thus cannot feel any significant sympathy for them.
Conversely, “The Eaters of Light” takes the time to let us get to
know the characters, and so they become much more alive, much more
relatable and sympathetic. By the end of the episode, we can
experience triumph at the valiant actions of Kar, Lucius, and the
others. We can cheer on Kar as she stands up to the Doctor to
insist on her destiny,
and also feel Ban’s sadness
along with him at the loss of his sister.
Indeed,
the characters are a major part of what makes “The Eaters of Light”
so good. Both the Picts and the Romans are developed as fully real
people, with individual emotions and motivations. Neither side is
made out to be fully villainous or fully virtuous, though the wrongs
on both sides, especially the Romans’, are called out and
challenged. It allows every character to feel like they are real
people Even the ones who get very little screen time, like Vitus are
easily identifiable, unique, and relatable.
The
regulars stand out well in this episode, too. Bill, in particular,
has a strong role to play, and it really helps to show why she is the
best Doctor Who
companion since Donna Noble (and may just edge out Donna—I’m
undecided there). She is independent and is able to stand up to the
Doctor when appropriate, but also knows when to concede to his
experience and knowledge. She is also intelligent and able to use
that intelligence to reason out explanations and solutions.
She
also has her own unique way of handling the discoveries that every
companion eventually makes. There generally comes a time when
companions realise that languages are being translated for them, but
Bill doesn’t just reason out that the Doctor or the TARDIS must be
responsible, she also notices something no one else ever has—“Oh
my god, it even does lip
synch!” Indeed, this is something virtually every science fiction
show with “universal translators” (Doctor Who
included until now) simply ignores, so
this moment is also a wonderful nod to nit-picky fans (amongst whose
numbers I include myself) who do notice such
things.
Nardole
has some great moments too (I like when he tries to put on the charm
against the Doctor’s objections), and it’s nice to see him not
side-lined again. After side-lining him for many of the early
episodes this series, it was a bit disappointing to see it happen
again in “Empress of Mars”. I’ve grown to like Nardole quite a
bit so I like it when he gets to do a few things.
It
is interesting to see him back to objecting to the Doctor’s travels
away from the vault again after his objections mysteriously
disappeared last episode. The Doctor does briefly call him out this
episode on not having a problem with Mars but having a problem with
ancient Scotland, yet to be honest, this feels more like a patch to
cover up the fact that “Empress of Mars” simply got things wrong
when it came to Nardole. It does make him seem a bit of a hypocrite
though when he reacts negatively to the Doctor letting Missy out of
the vault, when he himself did the exact same thing so recently.
Speaking
of Missy, she too gets some wonderful moments, despite only being in
a small portion at the end of the episode. Something I’ve really
liked about the Missy moments all series long is that we’ve been
seeing a different side to her—calmer, less manic, and more
introspective. Yet she’s still clearly Missy. Michelle Gomez’s
performance is simply stunning and viewers can viewers can easily
understand the Doctor’s
conflict over whether to trust her. She makes us want to believe she
really is changing for the better, despite the fact we know she can’t
be trusted.
Peter
Capaldi’s performance here is likewise heart-wrenching. We can
easily see just how desperately the Doctor wants Missy to be good.
Alongside
the human and
Time Lord characters, there
is another character in “The Eaters of Light”: the crows (which,
while actually a whole species of characters, narratively work as a
single character). This is another of the things that make “Eaters”
work so well. It’s willing to take risks and do the weird and
wonderful things that Doctor Who
can do so well. The idea that the sound crows make is actually them
remembering Kar is something that could so easily be cheesy and
sappy, but it’s made to work beautifully here. Similarly, the
bookending scenes with the two children in modern-day Scotland could
have also taken the sentimentality of the episode over the top. But
once again, they fit in naturally and lend a mythical scope to the
story. The final product ends up feeling like more than just a Doctor
Who story; it
also feels like something out of legend.
The
monster in this story is less a character than it is a focal point on
which these legendary characters converge, but it is also very
effectively realised, both in terms of its role in the plot, and on
the production side of things. The design is incredibly
evocative—I love the glowing tentacles—and
the cgi is extremely good (especially considering that a lot of the
cgi in recent Doctor Who
has not been all that great). The
final product is one of the most effective monstrous creatures to
appear on recent Doctor Who.
(There is a tendency to refer to all Doctor Who
aliens as “monsters”, from Daleks to Ice Warriors to giant fish
under the Thames. It’s something I do as well. But in this case, I
use “monstrous” to refer to the more bestial Doctor Who
aliens—things more akin to the beasts fought by heroes of legend.)
I
really can’t praise “The
Eaters of Light” enough. It takes a fairly straight-forward concept
of two antagonistic groups coming together to fight a common enemy,
populates it with relatable and sympathetic characters, and spins it
into a tale both epic and poetic. It is, quite simply, wonderful.
Woah its about to launch their season 10 and I haven't watched season 8 and 9 damn. I have to complete previous seasons as soon as possible.
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