Doctor Who: Thin Ice (10x03)

Definitely a solid episode. I really enjoyed the story, and there were a lot of great lines. We even got another piece of the puzzle filled in concerning the vault. Let's take a closer look.

Cons:

I am not complaining that Doctor Who is choosing to tackle issues of racism, but I do have to be the person who raises her eyebrows at a few of the implications here. First of all, we have Bill sitting by and being quietly hurt when a man spews racist vitriol at her, while the Doctor gallantly - and quite out of character for a pacifist - punches the racist white guy in the face. Maybe it would have been nice to see Bill stand up for herself in this matter? Also, it was slightly eye-roll-y that the one racist person we saw was an evil caricature. The implication seemed to be "look how bad people were in the past. I'm so glad things are all fixed now." I would have liked to see Bill encounter some more subtle forms of racism in this world, so that she could remark on how things both have and haven't changed in the intervening centuries. It's just... if you're going to go there, maybe try and paint a more accurate picture of the struggles people of color are facing.

Pros:

That being said, for the most part I really liked the fact that this episode took the time to show us a London of the past with lots of black people running around. Bill remarks that it's a lot more black than in the movies, and the Doctor says "so was Jesus. History's a whitewash." That was a great moment. I think my favorite commentary moment, though, was when they first exited the TARDIS into the past. The Doctor was ready to rush in, while Bill was anxious, because in the 1800's slavery still exists, and things could be really dangerous for her. The Doctor gets this look on his face, because the unique danger to Bill hadn't occurred to him. I like that Bill was aware of her own circumstance, and that the Doctor had to be reminded. Racism isn't a thing he has to worry about on earth, being a white man. It was nice to see the Doctor tripped up by his own privilege.

The story in this episode dovetails nicely off of the end of last week. The Doctor and Bill had emerged into a winter-y frozen landscape with an elephant walking through, and the Doctor says that this is London. In last week's episode, the implication was that we were in some alternate timeline, or way in the future or past or something, but the camera pans out this week, and we see that this is actually just part of a crazy festival going on in 19th century London. That was a great little twist.

I'll admit that the actual story of a giant fish monster thing living under the ice and feeding on innocents wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, but at the same time, I liked how it all resolved. The big bad mean human was taking advantage of the power produced by this creature, and was luring poor orphaned children to their deaths. The creature is trapped and hurting, and in the end of course we find out a way to stop the bad guy, free the fish monster, and save London from being eaten by it. This story is very reminiscent of Amy Pond's first off-world venture, where she helps the Doctor to save the giant Sky Whale thing that's carrying a whole colony of humans. In the choice between humans and a majestic creature, possibly the only one of its kind, the Doctor chooses both.

Or, rather, Bill chooses both. The best moment of the episode comes when the Doctor asks Bill to "give him an order." She's his representative for humanity at the moment. He's just there to serve what humanity would want. Bill is scared of freeing the giant sea creature, because she knows that it could kill countless humans. But she trusts that keeping something enslaved is wrong, full stop. She tells the Doctor to free the creature, and it all works out. This was a powerful moment, executed much better than other Moffat-era examples of forcing a companion to "make the hard choice." ("Kill the Moon", anybody?)

Also, we get a feel-good ending where the Doctor forges some documents making one of the orphan kids the long-lost heir to the evil dead bad guy, so now all of the orphans have food and money and stuff. Very Oliver Twist of you, Doctor.

Finally, in the end we see that Nardole is very unhappy with the Doctor for going "off-world" when he's supposed to be guarding the vault, despite the fact that he did come back in time for his tea, so he really wasn't gone for any time at all. Nardole goes down to the vault, and we hear somebody knocking from inside. Dun, dun, dunnnn. Whatever is in there, it's alive! I'm reserving judgment until we get the big reveal, but so far I'm really digging it.

A few more small things: this episode, more so than last week's, represented the traditional "companion's first journey" episode. I liked the comedy as Bill is asking all of these questions about the implications of time travel. She talks about the butterfly effect, and the Doctor quips about "Pete," Bill's friend who was standing right next to her. He stepped on a butterfly, and now Bill can't even remember him! That was hilarious.

On a more serious note, we see Bill dealing with the reality of death, as she sees a small boy pulled under the ice and to his death. The disturbing part of all of this is that the Doctor saves his sonic screwdriver, but doesn't even seem to attempt to save the young boy. Bill wonders how many people the Doctor has seen die, and he says he doesn't know. He also refuses to answer when asked how many people he's killed. The Doctor has a great line where he says "I'm 2,000 years old, and I've never had the time for the luxury of outrage." This is of course total crap, as evidenced by the outrage the Doctor feels just moments later when confronted with the villain's racism. But it was a powerful line in a powerful scene, perhaps made even more impacting because we know it's not quite true. This element of the episode reminded me of Donna's first off-world trip, the Pompeii episode. Her horror at the inevitability of death, her desperation to make the Doctor do something to help, all felt very similar to what Bill went through in this episode.

I should also mention that this episode managed to be full of funny and quippy moments without coming across like a comedy act. The comedic timing between the Doctor and Bill is really excellent. Their interactions are far more interesting to me than this Doctor's relationship with Clara. Some highlights are Bill asking the Doctor if he has weird alien powers, and then upon seeing his look, asking "What, was that an impolite question?" At one point, the Doctor is trying to get information from a shady dude, and the guy makes a weird face when the Doctor asks about tattoos. The Doctor says: "Are you against tattoos? I'm against tattoos too! I think that we are bonding." Great line.

That's all I've got for this one. If these first few episodes are any indication, I'm in for a special treat with Bill. She's a great character, and she's one I hope will cross out of the Moffat-veil and in to a new and brighter era of Doctor Who.

9/10