Doctor Who: Empress of Mars (10x09)

Unfortunately, this episode isn't exactly brilliant. Luckily, it's not as disappointing as last week's, but still. I was hoping for a more impressive comeback. Let's just take a look.

Cons:

The biggest complaint I can articulate about this episode is that it's just sort of... whatever. I didn't feel connected to the characters, and there were a few too many shortcuts in the plot for me to feel satisfied. For example, there's this Victorian soldier guy who it turns out deserted many years ago, but accidentally survived his execution. Now, he's doing the right thing by dying with honor in the service of his people. I get the sense that I was supposed to feel really emotional about this, but I really didn't.

This episode also banked a little too hard on the supposed wacky-ness of its premise. Oh my gosh, you guys, there are Victorian Red Coats on Mars! The thing is, Doctor Who does this sort of stuff all the time, so I wasn't exactly delighted and shocked at seeing "God Save the Queen" written out on the surface of the planet in rocks.

The last bigger complaint I have is that the TARDIS decides to peace out at the beginning of this episode, taking Nardole away from the action. He knows he needs to get back to Mars to pick up Bill and the Doctor, but he can't fix the TARDIS on his own, so he enlists Missy's help. It frustrates me that there was no explanation as to why the TARDIS conveniently decided to malfunction. This was a very contrived way to get Missy out of the vault. And Nardole was the one who was so insistent that she stay in the vault. I don't know... it all seemed a little too convenient.

One last small thing: I understand that everybody is going to have slightly different interpretations of the Doctor, and that's fine. But there are a few fundamental core values of the character that I hold very dear, and I feel like Moffat-era Doctor Who is frequently messing with those values. The Doctor says, in this episode: that it's "always been [his] problem, thinking like a warrior." Really? The Doctor always thinks like a warrior? To me that seems like a flagrant slap in the face to the Doctor's whole pacifistic message and moral code. Maybe I'm overreacting, but that moment really rubbed me the wrong way.

Pros:

As has been the case for the majority of the season, I do really enjoy Bill and the Doctor's relationship. We get a nice little dose of panicked, worried Doctor as Bill falls down a hole and the Doctor can't see her. We also see them working together to solve the mystery of this Victorian army on Mars, and how it fits in with the ancient race that still exists. And we get Bill dropping lots of movie references, none of which the Doctor gets, but which he accepts with good grace. I don't know... it's just such a sweet, uncomplicated relationship. It's what I didn't know I'd been missing for so many seasons.

I like the Ice Queen, and how she values Bill's opinions because she's female. That was a nice little moment, and I like that it wasn't over-wrought or belabored. We get a few sexist comments from the men, and we see a nice little inversion of the typical, since the ruler is a woman and thinks the opinions of men are unimportant.

We end the episode with an intriguing cameo from a very old Doctor Who race, the Alpha Centauri. I will admit to knowing nothing about this, but I can tell when an episode wants me to get excited, and I imagine this moment is similar to the first Dalek appearance in the revival series for those who have been watching for decades. I'm excited to learn more about a classic Doctor Who race. I get nervous when Moffat messes with the continuity and larger mythos of this show, but maybe it'll work out.

I mentioned above that I disliked the contrived way Missy made her way into this episode. However, I can never dislike Missy actually being there, because she's great. I was actually quite moved by the image of her standing in the TARDIS, apparently completely in control of the situation. That's a dangerous place for Missy to be. But instead of wreaking immediate havoc or going off the rails as we might expect, she seemingly consents to going back to the vault, and she quietly asks the Doctor if he's alright. It's an odd moment and I think the power of it will only grow when we learn why exactly Missy asked that question.

There you have it. This wasn't a good episode of Doctor Who, but it also wasn't a bad one. On balance, I can shrug it off and move on to next week.

7/10